I remember it well, our life on the farm. It has been five years since we sold and moved where we are now. Our present house is just perfect with all the conveniences that we require. It includes a level entrance, both at the front and to the back garden with the Salvias, the Cyclamen numerous bay trees and hidden barbeque. But…it isn’t the farm! That fatal looking back came flooding in when I found the string of photos that the Estate agent took when he was engaged to try and sell our farm.
Here are some glimpses.
When remembering past we might tend to dwell on those that gave us the most joy, the best of experiences of laughter and joy, splashing in the pool with grandkids and friends. Picking wild flowers and the smell of lemon scented eucalypt with swimming in the dams and river. We also remember growing grasses with autumnal colourings of the poplars. We planted over two hundred of them. I remember ordering the poplars and arrived with a trailer thinking It might even take a couple of trips. I was surprised to be given two bundles of sticks of a hundred each. They were two metres tall and all did have some roots and subsequently all took after we planted them along the four hundred meter driveway to the gate.
We might have forgotten the years of droughts, looking at the sky, watch the rain fall a mere seventy kilometres away, might well have been a thousand. We could not understand how that small distance could make or break a farm. And yet, when rain broke the drought we would be dancing in the rain, it was all over and magic made spell, spun its voodoo.
The plant on the left of the picture is now growing on our stairs having survived a frost during a stay outside bringing it back to a stump at soil level. It is now reaching for the top of the ceiling again. The pine table and chairs came with us from Holland 1976. Wall hanging from Sumba (Indonesia)
The house never looked as tidy as shown. It was done for the Real estate photo shoot. With two stoves, cooking and heating was a delight. It has seen mountains of pancakes.
April 23, 2015 at 1:12 am |
Love it and really admire your paintings!
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April 23, 2015 at 6:49 am |
Thank Lesley.
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April 23, 2015 at 1:12 am |
I wish I could push a hundred “likes”! What as lovely home and farm. I know it must have been difficult to leave such a beautiful place. Your paintings are beautiful. I hope you still dabble. Thank you for taking us into your home Gerard.
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April 23, 2015 at 6:51 am |
Great farm and home, Kayti. It was difficult but we are happy here too. Who wouldn’t be with H and M. 😉
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April 24, 2015 at 11:22 am
Shame you couldn’t take the pizza oven…what a brilliant piece of work. I built a mudbrick octagon on the far south coast of NSW what a challenge dont live there now but my kids have grown and one has returned there with his partner to raise my grandson. Its a great life for kids!
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April 24, 2015 at 11:36 pm
Yes, the first time the arch of bricks was supported by plastic tubing which proved to be to weak. As I continued laying the bricks to close the arch on top, it started to wobble ominously. Sure enough, the wobble got worse, resulted in the whole lot collapsing. The second time next day, I had proper internal wooden arches slatted over to support the structure of several hundred bricks which I had cleaned up of the old mortar from previous day’s disaster.
After a week of letting it all set, I simply burnt the wooden supports inside the oven.
The pizza oven was bricks and fire blankets over it which I followed with mesh wiring and another thick layer of heavy cement render. So, almost like a thermos bottle keeping heat in for days.
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April 23, 2015 at 1:13 am |
I also reMember lovely visits to Rivendell Farm, and those pancakes. Yum. Dorothy Brett
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April 23, 2015 at 6:52 am |
We remember those good times too,Dot.
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April 23, 2015 at 1:30 am |
What a lovely house. I love, love, love looking at homes. I drag my husband to Parade of Home shows whenever we have any near us. So this was a treat to look inside yours. And the pizza oven? Fabulous!
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April 23, 2015 at 6:54 am |
Yes, Helvi misses the pizza oven more that anything. I built it twice. The first time the whole lot toppled over. Not enough internal bracing while building it.
We used to make pizza first, than the roast, after that a loaf of sour dough and next day dry tomatoes and bottle them in olive oil and herbs.
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April 23, 2015 at 11:16 am
Yum!
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April 23, 2015 at 2:12 am |
I can’t imagine selling a home so lovely as this one. I would still be grieving the beauty of the place. The inside looks so cozy and inviting. But you and Helvi had your reasons to sell and I reckon you are happy to live in town now. It is more convenient and a whole lot less work to keep your home in the city. The country has huge advantages when one is younger but after a certain age it begins to get tedious. Being near doctors, grocery store, and less work has distinct advantages. I loved the tour of your former home.
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April 23, 2015 at 7:00 am |
You are spot on. Now we are near shops and go for walks…and NO flies. Oh, the flies, the flies.
Also repairing fences, fixing pumps, slashing grass and weeds. The animals, no town water, electricity often down, starting up generators. Worrying about not enough rain ( for years on end)
With age comes, convenience of cinema, bookshops, hospitals and Xrays, walks with Milo and meet people. Cafes and parks. We love it now too.
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April 23, 2015 at 5:01 am |
Did you leave your paintings in the farmhouse?
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April 23, 2015 at 7:01 am |
No Uta, we kept some good ones. Gave some away and had a bon-fire.
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April 23, 2015 at 10:22 am
When you move from a larger place to a smaller place you have to get rid of so many things. For sure this is not an easy task.
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April 23, 2015 at 7:11 am |
It looks an ideal place to live. I can see that you would have had happy family times there.
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April 23, 2015 at 7:39 am |
It was lovely, Elizabeth. And exciting but so was every house we lived in. The farm in Holland, our first house in Balmain. It is also what you make of it.
Helvi would make a chook house feel cosy.
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April 23, 2015 at 10:17 am |
Did I know you for a painter ? – I did not. And you’re no amateur. either !!! Well done, say I; with a request for a post with lots of your paintings, all of which we can click on to enlarge, please …
🙂
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April 23, 2015 at 11:54 pm |
I started painting as a young man, entered many paintings in exhibitions, was mildly successful but could only keep doing it after moving to Holland where artist were more appreciated and could earn an income which was needed because by then I had a wife (lovely) and three children.
I continued painting for many years eventually doing smaller works by etching, printing etc.
However, after the farm selling I had the task of able to store so many unsold works it became a problem which I solved by giving most of my work away and burning the rest.
I changed over to word pictures which take less room to store and are more immediately appreciated thanks to IT and WP. So, there you have it. An artist in flux, go with flow.
I love writing down the words and am grateful for you all taking the time to read them.
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April 24, 2015 at 12:55 am
So you don’t have any kind of gallery of your obviously excellent work ???
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April 24, 2015 at 1:21 am
Oh, I have photos and used to keep a book where I have shown some of my work. One was even hung in the gallery of NSW back in 1972. That very large painting shown in the farm’s lounge room is now leaning against the wall in the garage next to the Peugeot with its colourful face against the bricks.
Fame and recognition eludes many M-R. My work might also not have been good enough. I did it.
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April 23, 2015 at 10:36 am |
It’s truly gorgeous. I think that’s all I need to say.
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April 23, 2015 at 11:56 pm |
That is so appreciated. H is a great interior designer. Most from Finland have a great sense for what looks good by keeping things simple and above all, honest..
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April 23, 2015 at 11:44 am |
Wonderful pictures. I can easily see why you would miss it.
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April 23, 2015 at 11:57 pm |
Yes, a lovely place. We sometime drive past. It all looks neglected now with driveway not being driven on for a long time. Who knows?
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April 23, 2015 at 2:25 pm |
What a beautiful place!
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April 23, 2015 at 11:58 pm |
A great place it was. Thank you Jackie.
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April 23, 2015 at 7:40 pm |
Beautiful reflection. Very poignant. I love your artwork. Thank you for sharing.
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April 23, 2015 at 11:59 pm |
Thank you, Julia, for your kindness.
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April 26, 2015 at 1:20 am |
What a spacious house and magical setting for your beautiful paintings. Thank you for sharing these delightful photos. H. talent in interior design shine forth!
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May 4, 2015 at 10:22 pm |
Yes, Barbara, Helvi has an eye for what looks good. No clutter but not impersonal either. Keep it simple.
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April 26, 2015 at 6:39 pm |
What a wonderful pair of artists, you and Helvi.
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May 4, 2015 at 10:22 pm |
Thank you Patti.
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April 29, 2015 at 7:12 am |
What a stunning place, absolutely beautiful. And your paintings! Wow wow wow!
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May 4, 2015 at 10:23 pm |
It is a great place. We sometimes drive past but the lane way to the farm fom the gate seems unused, strange!
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April 30, 2015 at 3:50 am |
Who couldn’t love anywhere called Rivendell? It looks so lovely, I don’t how you said goodbye to it. But perhaps the droughts helped. And (I imagine) the endless chores to keep it looking as it does in your photos.
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May 4, 2015 at 10:25 pm |
Yes, the keeping of over a hundred acres with fencing and the drought with dams drying out was getting too much. We lived on a nice farm in Holland too.
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May 4, 2015 at 9:48 pm |
Gerard, I had no idea you are a painter. Absolutely lovely and I hope you still do it a bit. Or a lot. Just wonderful.
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May 4, 2015 at 10:26 pm |
My painting days on canvas have changed in putting images in writing now. It takes less space and just as rewarding. Thank you Barbara.
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