Just writing about all the days long the River Murray
Reminded me of some dreams from many years ago
It's funny how certain things can bring back memories
I just recalled many times when I dreamt of swimming
With my childhood friends along the River Murray
Just like we used to do when we were kids: in the 60's
I remember playing games along the edge of the river
We played chasy in the water: tossing tennis balls
Seeing how far we could swim underwater: hiding
It just brought them back to me so clearly: like it was yesterday!
Sunday, 9 February 2014
P plates equals probation
Learning to drive a car is a
very exacting business. It takes a long time to be able to judge distances and speeds and how to manoeuvre the car between points on the road. Then
add more cars and more people and boy does it get really difficult to do
our very best. I feel that this how it is when we are Christians. Our dear God
gives us so many chances to stay on the correct path but there are always
people and things trying to make us miss our turns and get us on the wrong
roads.
It is so terrifying when we
embark on our life’s journey! Will I be able to get where I want to go? Will I
be able o get around the obstacles in my way? How will I know if I am on the
right track? We have road maps to help us get where we are going so we have
help us get on the correct road to where we want to go. Heaven this way! There
are signs for us to read but sometimes it seems that they are written in
foreign languages. I didn’t have any help in choosing my path. My parents didn’t
go to church unless it was for the usual occasions: weddings and funerals: that’s
about it!
My dad always showed me how
much he cared about everyone: he often invited people over for meals and offered to help people in other ways. He is still a wonderful and kind man.
Thank you dad for showing me to love and care for my fellow man!
My parents came here to Australia
I don’t like manual labour
any more than the next person but I do know that I feel happy when I have
finished my work and can look back and see what I have achieved. The
pleasure I feel makes all the hard work worthwhile. Being a mum makes it all
worthwhile! Seeing your children grow up to be good people is the same as
watching a crop grow to maturity.
How dear God must feel when
He sees us reach our levels of growth! How He must feel when we do something to
disappoint Him! Like any parent He watches and waits to see how we (the crop)
turn out! Like any proud parent He waits to see us reach each milestone as we
walk along the way. The path He designed for us; holding His breath as we
stumble and fall along the way. The tears He sheds for us as we wander off
the path and do our own thing! Dear Lord forgive me for all those times I
have made you cry for me. I am so sorry for hurting you! I hurt when my
children act selfish or silly toward each other and don’t realise how much
simpler it would all be if only we would love each other more than ourselves.
Easier said than done!
Why? Simply because of self:
ego! We compare ourselves to others and will always find someone better than
we are. We will always find someone worse than we are. If we compare ourselves to
Jesus then we will al fall short!
Even God must reach a point
when He has had enough of our entire petty goings on. This is what I have
learnt during al of my Bible studies. When His cup is full that will be that!
No more second or third or fourth chances! Is your time up? This is probation!
Your last chance to do the right thing before time runs out! No-one knows when
my time is up. No-one knows when any of our times are up! Now is the chance to
do something about my life. This moment is all I have and I am determined to
make the most of it! Tomorrow may already be too late!
Yesterday is past!
Tomorrow is the future!
Today is a gift!
That’s why it is called the present!
Too shy to say Boo!
At high school I was too
scared to even say Boo! Why? I was so scared of being noticed for any reason. I
was too embarrassed to be noticed because of my horrible brown school shoes.
Too embarrassed to be noticed because of the horrid hair cut my aunty had given
me as my graduation present for going to high school. Way too embarrassed because
of the awful perm my auntie’s friend had
given me & of course all the other usual embarrassments of going to a new
school & mixing with a whole heap of new students from all the other small
& large primary schools in the area. What could be worse?
Although I’d done well at Moorook
Primary School, I was just one of the masses of year 8’s at Loxton high: all
vying for attention from the teachers & trying to survive the transition
from small to large school: from Primary to Secondary school: from child to
adult via my education. Help! Yes, I was supposedly ready to enter this new period
in my life where I could blossom from caterpillar to butterfly but I wanted to
stay safely in my chrysalis stage & not make a peep as I struggled my way
from ugly little grub to beautiful butterfly! Let me stay cocooned inside this
safety barrier all through the awkward process & then just magically appear
as the end result! Let me not have to show myself or let anyone notice that I
am less than prefect! Please help me to hide amongst all the newbies & just
allow me to struggle with my already obvious differences & get through all
this strange stuff as quickly and as unobtrusively as possible.
Along with this intense fear
of being found different; there was also inside me this strong urge to be
noticed as I progressed in my studies. I wanted to be number one again; to be the
best in the class like I used to be in Primary school. I was soon to realise
that those days were over & that I was just one of many ordinary teens in
the whole sea of teens all having to swim our way through the turbulent mass of
life that I was now a tiny part of. I was no longer the smart one, just on of
many tiny fish in the seas of my new school. I was just the same as everyone
else & yet I was still me: just lost in the crowds of all the other similar
new year 8’s: all trying to fit into this whole ne scheme of things!
When ever I had female
teachers it wasn’t too bad. It was the male teachers who frightened me. This
was back in the days when teachers could throw chalk at you if you pissed them
off; when you would be hit on the head with a text book if you were being silly
in class. The really obnoxious boys would be regularly sent to the Principal’s
office for a caning. Though I never drew the anger of the teachers to me in any
of these ways I saw what happened to the others & was terrified that it would
happen to me if I ever stepped out of line.
This little chicken was
never going to draw the attention to her failings in any way, shape or form if
she could help it! This little chicken would just try to fly under the radar
& not be noticed at all!
So life continued & I
went along in my merry little way: trying to do what was expected of me;
nothing more, nothing less! I survived in this rat race & got reasonable
makes & desperately wanted to fit in & belong in some small way to this
group of my peers that I would continue to interact with throughout my high
school years. I missed my friend Martha
who was going to different schools where ever she & her mum were living at
the time. I missed having a friend that I could confide in & I missed the
feeling of safety that I’d grown accustomed to in my smaller primary school.
Everything was totally different & I just had to get used to it all!
Eventually I made friends
& started to enjoy my days at school but I was still very alone amongst so
many people. Just like at primary school: I found it difficult to become close
friends with girls in Loxton because of the distance. This made it difficult for
us to have a stay-over at any one’s place. As well as being 30 miles away I had
to ride my bike to & from the bus stop which was 2 miles from our home. Mum
& dad were always working & had no time to take us to the bus stop
& back so it was ride or walk the distance every day! I envied those who live
din the town of Loxton just like I’d envied the
girls who lived in the town of Moorook
Homework was another
problem. I had no-one to help me with any questions at home & I was always
too afraid to ask anyone at school. I was also too embarrassed to ask in class
& didn’t have the courage or even the thought of asking afterwards. Luckily
I was able to do reasonably well in most of my subjects & so I continued in
my limited way & managed to pass my studies. I was never in the top
percentage of students but I didn’t care because I was passing & that was
enough for me.
Bitter-sweet symphony
Sitting in my lounge chair, listening to Hayley Warner sing The Verve's: Bitter-sweet Symphony, I was overcome by a wonderful tingling sensation all over my body. Thank You Hayley for giving me inspiration: for being my muse. I have been struggling to find an appropriate title for my story & wondering how to reach out to all the young people going through their teens today. I know you are suffering just like I did in the 1970's because nothing has really changed. Teens are still going through the same emotions & worries that I was back then. They are still finding it difficult to find a place where they fit in. They are still suffering the teasing & bullying that I suffered going through puberty over 30 years ago.
Please hear me & learn from my mistakes! Life is too short to make all of those mistakes yourself. Please join me on my journey & listen to & understand what I went through & hopefully make a few less mistakes yourselves. I made enough for us all! I still remember, like yesterday; all the fears & excitement that went hand in hand with those unbelievable hormone surges that forever changed me from an innocent child into teen tear-away & finally an adult. Yes, those days when my brain pathways were as yet incomplete; those days of terror & excitement; fear & elation; that emotional roller coaster of my teens that never seemed to end.
I was teased at school because I didn't wear a bra: didn't need to! I was tiny, having never gotten to 5 ft & skinny with it. No boobs therefore no bra! Simple! I thought so until two well endowed girls decided to make my life a misery because I was different to them. were they prefect? I didn't think so, so why did they decide to pick on me? I don't know? But thanks girls for making me realise that I was different! Thanks for helping me embark on life's wonderful teen roller-coater ride feeling lees than I was supposed to be; according to you! Yes! According to you!
Where did you two get off making me feel so awful? Didn't I already feel inadequate because I was short; my ears stuck out; my nose was too big; I had acne & my aunty had given me a terrible haircut & perm & I was a Wog! Thanks for pointing out more of my failings. Thanks for making my shift to high school such a wonderful fun time! Not! I really appreciate it! Not!
I was just a normal teenager, trying to cope with going to a bigger school of 900 after going through primary school in a tiny public school where we had about 30 kids. We'd had the year 1's & 2's in one classroom; the 3's, 4's & 5's in the second room & the 6's & 7's in the final room. Not much choice in the way of friends or enemies for that matter either! Not much choice for anything really!
Considering that my parents has left Hungary with nothing but the clothes on their backs during the '56 revolution: I thought I'd done really well! I was good at school because I loved learning & even got first in my grade a few times through out my primary school years. Not bad considering I had to help mum & dad learn English. They were in no position to help me or my brother because they'd come to Australia with no knowledge of the country or language that they were to speak. Being New Australians they did what ever work was available & were happy to have a job & earn money to support their little family.
When I was young I never fully appreciated what my teen parents went through to leave their entire family & migrate to a completely new country so far away from everyone & everything they knew & loved. Now as a grown up I finally understand & appreciate what they gave up to provide us with a better life. I could not move to a new country so far from my family. I could not leave my parents & family to live on the opposite side of this earth. Sorry but I'm too much of a chicken to even move to another state in the same country! I'm so proud of you mum & dad!
High school! Sounds so simple doesn't it? Just another part of life; a continuation of our studies from primary school to secondary to tertiary etc but there's also the physical & mental changes we are undergoing as we progress from one school to the next: from one age to the next. Nobody warned us about the emotional changes that were coming. Nobody told us that as children we were perfectly made to cope with what life was throwing at us then. At 10 & 11 we were better equipped to handle life as it was then. Now in our teens; let's toss in emotional, hormonal, physical & vocational changes & mix it al together. Let's put it all into a tumble dryer & turn it on! That's what it is like in high school! Help!!!!!!!
Please hear me & learn from my mistakes! Life is too short to make all of those mistakes yourself. Please join me on my journey & listen to & understand what I went through & hopefully make a few less mistakes yourselves. I made enough for us all! I still remember, like yesterday; all the fears & excitement that went hand in hand with those unbelievable hormone surges that forever changed me from an innocent child into teen tear-away & finally an adult. Yes, those days when my brain pathways were as yet incomplete; those days of terror & excitement; fear & elation; that emotional roller coaster of my teens that never seemed to end.
I was teased at school because I didn't wear a bra: didn't need to! I was tiny, having never gotten to 5 ft & skinny with it. No boobs therefore no bra! Simple! I thought so until two well endowed girls decided to make my life a misery because I was different to them. were they prefect? I didn't think so, so why did they decide to pick on me? I don't know? But thanks girls for making me realise that I was different! Thanks for helping me embark on life's wonderful teen roller-coater ride feeling lees than I was supposed to be; according to you! Yes! According to you!
Where did you two get off making me feel so awful? Didn't I already feel inadequate because I was short; my ears stuck out; my nose was too big; I had acne & my aunty had given me a terrible haircut & perm & I was a Wog! Thanks for pointing out more of my failings. Thanks for making my shift to high school such a wonderful fun time! Not! I really appreciate it! Not!
I was just a normal teenager, trying to cope with going to a bigger school of 900 after going through primary school in a tiny public school where we had about 30 kids. We'd had the year 1's & 2's in one classroom; the 3's, 4's & 5's in the second room & the 6's & 7's in the final room. Not much choice in the way of friends or enemies for that matter either! Not much choice for anything really!
Considering that my parents has left Hungary with nothing but the clothes on their backs during the '56 revolution: I thought I'd done really well! I was good at school because I loved learning & even got first in my grade a few times through out my primary school years. Not bad considering I had to help mum & dad learn English. They were in no position to help me or my brother because they'd come to Australia with no knowledge of the country or language that they were to speak. Being New Australians they did what ever work was available & were happy to have a job & earn money to support their little family.
When I was young I never fully appreciated what my teen parents went through to leave their entire family & migrate to a completely new country so far away from everyone & everything they knew & loved. Now as a grown up I finally understand & appreciate what they gave up to provide us with a better life. I could not move to a new country so far from my family. I could not leave my parents & family to live on the opposite side of this earth. Sorry but I'm too much of a chicken to even move to another state in the same country! I'm so proud of you mum & dad!
High school! Sounds so simple doesn't it? Just another part of life; a continuation of our studies from primary school to secondary to tertiary etc but there's also the physical & mental changes we are undergoing as we progress from one school to the next: from one age to the next. Nobody warned us about the emotional changes that were coming. Nobody told us that as children we were perfectly made to cope with what life was throwing at us then. At 10 & 11 we were better equipped to handle life as it was then. Now in our teens; let's toss in emotional, hormonal, physical & vocational changes & mix it al together. Let's put it all into a tumble dryer & turn it on! That's what it is like in high school! Help!!!!!!!
Teen years & cruising
There was nothing I liked more than going out to a disco during the weekends. It was easy fro me because I already had mu licence & loved to drive & therefore could go places without having someone to take me there & then pick me up. I got my driver's licence when I was 16 & thank God I didn't die whilst racing around the back streets of Berri, Barmera & Loxton after our fun filled nights at the disco or the drive-in theatre.We would all pile into our cars: the girls in one: guys in the other & we would literally chase each other! We drove at high speeds & were yelling & screaming at the top of our lungs with the fun of it all. I remember feeling the thrill of the chase & the excitement racing through my veins as we played our games never realising how dangerous & silly we were being. I remember liking one of my brother's friends & I told him this highly classified information.
At the drive-in the next weekend I was sitting in our dad's ute watching the movie while my brother had to go to the canteen. The young guy I liked came & sat next to me & I was so happy that he was paying a little interest in me as well. I was too shy to say anything in those days as nerves usually got the better of me & left me completely tongue-tied. We were quietly getting to know each other & getting closer, working up the courage to say something when another of my brother's friends came & jumped into the car on the other side. I was too shy to tell him to go away & so he just sat there & annoyed the heck out of the one I liked until he got fed up & left in a huff. Me, being too stupid & spineless to tell the second guy that I wasn't interested: just sat there frozen & speechless: not saying anything. He obviously thought that this meant I wanted him there with me as he'd "won" the privilege because he'd chased away his rival. In my total inability to say no to anyone who wanted something from me, I ended up spending time with him as he got more & more game & amorous toward me. This is not what I wanted but I couldn't say so! Why is it that in my desperation to have people like me: I didn't have the courage to stand up & say what I wanted?
This problem plagued me all my life! In my distorted view of my life anyone was better than no-one. This what I learnt as a small child. Desperation & loneliness lead me to do some silly & also dangerous things I should never have allowed to happen. Children do learn what they live! It is such a shame that so many teenagers are pressured into doing things they wouldn't normally do because they want to fit in with some group or other. I wanted friends so badly that I got into a group who demanded that if I wanted to join them I would have to smoke cigarettes. I said okay & bought mu first packet of cigarettes. They cost me 18 cents for a packet of ten. I had one & almost coughed my guts up. I got to stay at my friend's place in Barmera a few times & one night we all went to their mid-year fund raiser: a night of skits & fun. There I saw one of their school friends whom I thought was gorgeous & so we were introduced. After the concert we walked around Barmera & went down to the lake & spent some lovely time together., talking, holding hands & even some kissing & cuddling. It was really late when we got back & found nobody there. I went in & went to sleep as arranged much earlier not realizing that Kay & her dad had had a huge fight & that the other girls had gone to sleep at someone else's place. Kay's dad drank a lot & this sort of fighting happened often in her family. As my parents never fought I had never realized how truly lucky I was in my home life!
At the drive-in the next weekend I was sitting in our dad's ute watching the movie while my brother had to go to the canteen. The young guy I liked came & sat next to me & I was so happy that he was paying a little interest in me as well. I was too shy to say anything in those days as nerves usually got the better of me & left me completely tongue-tied. We were quietly getting to know each other & getting closer, working up the courage to say something when another of my brother's friends came & jumped into the car on the other side. I was too shy to tell him to go away & so he just sat there & annoyed the heck out of the one I liked until he got fed up & left in a huff. Me, being too stupid & spineless to tell the second guy that I wasn't interested: just sat there frozen & speechless: not saying anything. He obviously thought that this meant I wanted him there with me as he'd "won" the privilege because he'd chased away his rival. In my total inability to say no to anyone who wanted something from me, I ended up spending time with him as he got more & more game & amorous toward me. This is not what I wanted but I couldn't say so! Why is it that in my desperation to have people like me: I didn't have the courage to stand up & say what I wanted?
This problem plagued me all my life! In my distorted view of my life anyone was better than no-one. This what I learnt as a small child. Desperation & loneliness lead me to do some silly & also dangerous things I should never have allowed to happen. Children do learn what they live! It is such a shame that so many teenagers are pressured into doing things they wouldn't normally do because they want to fit in with some group or other. I wanted friends so badly that I got into a group who demanded that if I wanted to join them I would have to smoke cigarettes. I said okay & bought mu first packet of cigarettes. They cost me 18 cents for a packet of ten. I had one & almost coughed my guts up. I got to stay at my friend's place in Barmera a few times & one night we all went to their mid-year fund raiser: a night of skits & fun. There I saw one of their school friends whom I thought was gorgeous & so we were introduced. After the concert we walked around Barmera & went down to the lake & spent some lovely time together., talking, holding hands & even some kissing & cuddling. It was really late when we got back & found nobody there. I went in & went to sleep as arranged much earlier not realizing that Kay & her dad had had a huge fight & that the other girls had gone to sleep at someone else's place. Kay's dad drank a lot & this sort of fighting happened often in her family. As my parents never fought I had never realized how truly lucky I was in my home life!
Saturday, 8 February 2014
Memories of Kingston-on-Murray & Moorook
How often have I done something knowing it was wrong? Lots of times when I was young! I recall feeling annoyed & angry with my best friend after an argument or some silly falling out over something trivial. I remember getting my own back on my older cousins when they would exclude me. I was a typical child with a temper & said things I later regretted but it was too late to take it back. Isn't it amazing how those little things mean absolutely nothing now & were so easily forgotten the very next day; especially after everything had blown over? I tried to fit in & learned to say "Sorry" but being really sorry means that you don't do it again! Later when my younger male cousins were born I loved having them around. Then when I became a teen I wanted to do more adult things so I remember staying in my room & ignoring them if I could when the family came over. Wasn't this exactly what my older male cousins were doing to me when I was little? How differently we react when it is happening to us! I seemed to forget all about my hurt feelings as that little child & did the same thing to my little cousins! Such short memories we have when it suits us!
Now as an adult looking back on my childhood; it is so easy to see my mistakes. In hindsight things are changed. I am sorry that I was not nicer to my young cousins. They would have felt so hurt that I loved being with them until I got too old to play with babies. Getting to be a teen was not as much fun as I expected. Being treated as an adult had its own drawbacks too. I had to do more around the house; more duties; more chores; more homework; more responsibilities!
Mum & dad had to work hard to keep their fruit block going. There was a lot of physical work that had to be done all year round. The hardest time was in summer when the apricots & peaches came into season. Then it was constant hard work every day. Cutting apricots was endless! Every day mum would get up early to make sandwiches for all the fruit pickers & all the fruit cutters up in the cutting shed. Morning tea was at 10 every morning & we supplied the tea & sandwiches every day! I enjoyed the cheese & Vegemite sandwiches washed down with hot black tea!
Standing there all day from 8 till 5 pm was back breaking work & then after work there was still dinner to cook for my poor mum. Mum & I used to cut around 100 trays full of fruit each day. That was on a good day with lovely big fruit. There were the usual petty arguments between the workers if someone snuck a bucket from the line that contained large fruit when everyone else had small stuff. We had to see who could cut the most trays each day: a sort of race between the workers!
As a child; when mum & dad worked for others before we got our own fruit block; I still had to do my share of work to help make ends meet. As a 6 year old in Gilbert & Laura Harrington's cutting shed in Kingston-on-Murray, I had to cut my quota as well as mum & my brother Alec before being allowed to play with the Harrington's youngest daughters. I had to cut one whole tray of apricots. To a 6 year old that was hard work! It used to take me so long to complete; until I learned how to do it properly. No massacred fruit was allowed! It had to be cut neatly & set just as neatly upon the tray. Mr Harrington taught me how to cut apricots a quicker way so that the apricot stone flew out to the side as the fruit was pulled apart & placed onto the tray!
Of course as I got older & better at it the number of trays grew as I did. I really loved it when they had the fruit grading machine working: for sending apricots to the market! After finishing my tray Nancy & I could help to sort the fruit for the market & get out of doing more cutting! We got to play games & go & play at their house which was situated further up the property. I loved going to their house to play because they had such a lovely big house & a beautiful garden with lots of wanderer butterflies everywhere. Flowers & butterflies were not a part of our place as we only had 3 acres of sultana grape vines. Roslyn, Jenny & Nancy also had lots of toys & dolls & a beautiful verandah they could play on. I still recall the sound of the sprinklers, watering the orange trees close to the house as we played outside. Those were my favourite times as I was growing up!
When it got really hot, Mr Harrington would set up an air-conditioning system. He moved a pallet of empty trays into the doorway & by putting a running hose on top of the stack: the hot air would be cooled as it blew through the dripping water into the shed. Brilliant! It got so hot in that galvanised iron shed on those hot summer days that it still became unbearable! We got to have a little swim in the river at lunch time & I remember going to the little kiosk that Mr Hopkins ran near the ferry to provide cool drinks & ice creams for all those hot people waiting fro the ferry to cross the River Murray.
I'd go to mum & ask in Hungarian if I could have a "Slippery Sam" (like a Zooper Dooper today). Laura Harrington told me years later how cute it was listening to me prattle away in Hungarian only to hear me say "Slippery Sam" at the end! I loved my big brother & of course I always had to get one for him too! They were so nice to have in between all that herd work. what a memory!
After working at Kingston-on-Murray we would go home & go down to the river at Moorook.
There was a little concrete area from which we could jump in & swim as we got older. At first I would just try to swim around in the shallow area as mum couldn't swim & neither could I! I could hold my breath & swim under water but that was it. I couldn't float no matter what I tried. I would last a few seconds before I'd sink like a rock. So that's what I did!
That was my swimming. I'd hold my breath & swim like a fish. It was so lovely to relax after a hard day's work at the River Murray at Moorook. Mum would just sit in the shallow water & keep an eye on me as I swam around like a fish. What a life! Dad would dive in & sometimes swim across the river to the island. As we got older we would swim across with him. Mum must have been panicking just watching us. She was terrified of the water because when she was young & back in Hungary, her brother had tossed her in the water & it had frightened her. She never got over her fear of water!
Frightened as she was, she was ready to jump in & save us if it became necessary. We were at Moorook one hot summer afternoon with lots of other people. One boy was mucking around & splashing a lot. Bradley Tschirpig was being silly & going in a bit too deep. Mum thought that he was drowning & leapt to his rescue. There was no one else close enough so she jumped in & saved him even though she was terrified herself! He, of course was just mucking round & wasn't really in trouble at all but mum didn't know that! I'm so proud of mum getting over her own fears to help someone else! Boy was she upset afterwards though! Once the adrenalin surge was over she went into panic mode & let Bradley know exactly how she felt about it!
Now as an adult looking back on my childhood; it is so easy to see my mistakes. In hindsight things are changed. I am sorry that I was not nicer to my young cousins. They would have felt so hurt that I loved being with them until I got too old to play with babies. Getting to be a teen was not as much fun as I expected. Being treated as an adult had its own drawbacks too. I had to do more around the house; more duties; more chores; more homework; more responsibilities!
Mum & dad had to work hard to keep their fruit block going. There was a lot of physical work that had to be done all year round. The hardest time was in summer when the apricots & peaches came into season. Then it was constant hard work every day. Cutting apricots was endless! Every day mum would get up early to make sandwiches for all the fruit pickers & all the fruit cutters up in the cutting shed. Morning tea was at 10 every morning & we supplied the tea & sandwiches every day! I enjoyed the cheese & Vegemite sandwiches washed down with hot black tea!
Standing there all day from 8 till 5 pm was back breaking work & then after work there was still dinner to cook for my poor mum. Mum & I used to cut around 100 trays full of fruit each day. That was on a good day with lovely big fruit. There were the usual petty arguments between the workers if someone snuck a bucket from the line that contained large fruit when everyone else had small stuff. We had to see who could cut the most trays each day: a sort of race between the workers!
As a child; when mum & dad worked for others before we got our own fruit block; I still had to do my share of work to help make ends meet. As a 6 year old in Gilbert & Laura Harrington's cutting shed in Kingston-on-Murray, I had to cut my quota as well as mum & my brother Alec before being allowed to play with the Harrington's youngest daughters. I had to cut one whole tray of apricots. To a 6 year old that was hard work! It used to take me so long to complete; until I learned how to do it properly. No massacred fruit was allowed! It had to be cut neatly & set just as neatly upon the tray. Mr Harrington taught me how to cut apricots a quicker way so that the apricot stone flew out to the side as the fruit was pulled apart & placed onto the tray!
Of course as I got older & better at it the number of trays grew as I did. I really loved it when they had the fruit grading machine working: for sending apricots to the market! After finishing my tray Nancy & I could help to sort the fruit for the market & get out of doing more cutting! We got to play games & go & play at their house which was situated further up the property. I loved going to their house to play because they had such a lovely big house & a beautiful garden with lots of wanderer butterflies everywhere. Flowers & butterflies were not a part of our place as we only had 3 acres of sultana grape vines. Roslyn, Jenny & Nancy also had lots of toys & dolls & a beautiful verandah they could play on. I still recall the sound of the sprinklers, watering the orange trees close to the house as we played outside. Those were my favourite times as I was growing up!
When it got really hot, Mr Harrington would set up an air-conditioning system. He moved a pallet of empty trays into the doorway & by putting a running hose on top of the stack: the hot air would be cooled as it blew through the dripping water into the shed. Brilliant! It got so hot in that galvanised iron shed on those hot summer days that it still became unbearable! We got to have a little swim in the river at lunch time & I remember going to the little kiosk that Mr Hopkins ran near the ferry to provide cool drinks & ice creams for all those hot people waiting fro the ferry to cross the River Murray.
I'd go to mum & ask in Hungarian if I could have a "Slippery Sam" (like a Zooper Dooper today). Laura Harrington told me years later how cute it was listening to me prattle away in Hungarian only to hear me say "Slippery Sam" at the end! I loved my big brother & of course I always had to get one for him too! They were so nice to have in between all that herd work. what a memory!
After working at Kingston-on-Murray we would go home & go down to the river at Moorook.
There was a little concrete area from which we could jump in & swim as we got older. At first I would just try to swim around in the shallow area as mum couldn't swim & neither could I! I could hold my breath & swim under water but that was it. I couldn't float no matter what I tried. I would last a few seconds before I'd sink like a rock. So that's what I did!
That was my swimming. I'd hold my breath & swim like a fish. It was so lovely to relax after a hard day's work at the River Murray at Moorook. Mum would just sit in the shallow water & keep an eye on me as I swam around like a fish. What a life! Dad would dive in & sometimes swim across the river to the island. As we got older we would swim across with him. Mum must have been panicking just watching us. She was terrified of the water because when she was young & back in Hungary, her brother had tossed her in the water & it had frightened her. She never got over her fear of water!
Frightened as she was, she was ready to jump in & save us if it became necessary. We were at Moorook one hot summer afternoon with lots of other people. One boy was mucking around & splashing a lot. Bradley Tschirpig was being silly & going in a bit too deep. Mum thought that he was drowning & leapt to his rescue. There was no one else close enough so she jumped in & saved him even though she was terrified herself! He, of course was just mucking round & wasn't really in trouble at all but mum didn't know that! I'm so proud of mum getting over her own fears to help someone else! Boy was she upset afterwards though! Once the adrenalin surge was over she went into panic mode & let Bradley know exactly how she felt about it!
"Be still & know that I am God"
When I am troubled I escape the confines of the house and walk outside so that I can be nearer to nature. Here I feel so much closer to and am able to converse with my Lord God. Here I am surrounded by the beauty of everything that nature is. I feel the wind blowing in my hair, I hear the birds singing out their joy, I feel the sun shining down upon me from above and I feel a closeness that I can't always feel inside the concrete and bricks that divide me from the outside world. It is here that I am closest to my Dear One. It is here that we can converse and come together and join our minds together!
There is nothing more relaxing for me than walking along the old railway tracks beside my home, feeling the fresh air on my face as I walk and talk with God. It is here that I have spent so many walks drawing near to and taking my strength from Him so that I can cope with another day. These last few years have been the hardest of my life. The most turbulence has been blown my way as I have tried my best to support my husband and family through a major battle with depression and stress.This is where I recharge my batteries so I can deal with what ever is next on the agenda.
It is here that I have found my own strength to carry on and do what must be done. It is here that I have learned simple lessons about myself and found exactly what I needed all along. I found myself, my inner strength that I didn't even know I had. I learned not to be afraid!
I learned to rely on my intuition and found peace within my heart. How? I simply opened up my heart to God and asked Him to come inside and live in me! My body is the temple and with Him in my heart I am no longer afraid! I feel as though I can converse with Him at any time without even speaking. I know His angels are always near and ask the Holy Spirit to guide me every day.
My first words are always "Dear Lord please guide my every thought word and deed! Lead me this day to do your will and help me to help others." Simple! My last words each night I pray for my Lord to send His angels to encamp around all of my family, friends and loved ones!
I send my ripples of love out into the world and imagine then gently spreading out just like the ripples in a pond where one of God's creatures has disturbed the quiet stillness of the blessed evening as the moon rises over our home with it's peaceful glow! My prayers are full of thanks. I thank my Dear One for everything that I have: my family; the very air that I breathe; the sunshine; the wind; the wonderful wild life that lives all around my home! I thank Him for this; my body that has taken me so long to love and appreciate. I thank Him for my big ears; my scars; my ability to walk and speak; to listen and understand; my ability to move and feel and see all that is around me. Thank you Lord for giving me a sense of smell and taste and for the ability to appreciate everything that you have given me!
Thank you for taking my sins upon your shoulders and creating a right spirit within me. Thank you for everything that I am and can be. Without you Lord I am nothing. I am a wire: I am nothing without you; for you are the electricity that animates me. I am the empty puppet that cannot move without your loving hand to guide me. I am nothing unless you are there with me; guiding my every movement. Thank you for finding me worthy of your love and forgiveness. May I be truly worthy of your faith in me! Amen.
There is nothing more relaxing for me than walking along the old railway tracks beside my home, feeling the fresh air on my face as I walk and talk with God. It is here that I have spent so many walks drawing near to and taking my strength from Him so that I can cope with another day. These last few years have been the hardest of my life. The most turbulence has been blown my way as I have tried my best to support my husband and family through a major battle with depression and stress.This is where I recharge my batteries so I can deal with what ever is next on the agenda.
It is here that I have found my own strength to carry on and do what must be done. It is here that I have learned simple lessons about myself and found exactly what I needed all along. I found myself, my inner strength that I didn't even know I had. I learned not to be afraid!
I learned to rely on my intuition and found peace within my heart. How? I simply opened up my heart to God and asked Him to come inside and live in me! My body is the temple and with Him in my heart I am no longer afraid! I feel as though I can converse with Him at any time without even speaking. I know His angels are always near and ask the Holy Spirit to guide me every day.
My first words are always "Dear Lord please guide my every thought word and deed! Lead me this day to do your will and help me to help others." Simple! My last words each night I pray for my Lord to send His angels to encamp around all of my family, friends and loved ones!
I send my ripples of love out into the world and imagine then gently spreading out just like the ripples in a pond where one of God's creatures has disturbed the quiet stillness of the blessed evening as the moon rises over our home with it's peaceful glow! My prayers are full of thanks. I thank my Dear One for everything that I have: my family; the very air that I breathe; the sunshine; the wind; the wonderful wild life that lives all around my home! I thank Him for this; my body that has taken me so long to love and appreciate. I thank Him for my big ears; my scars; my ability to walk and speak; to listen and understand; my ability to move and feel and see all that is around me. Thank you Lord for giving me a sense of smell and taste and for the ability to appreciate everything that you have given me!
Thank you for taking my sins upon your shoulders and creating a right spirit within me. Thank you for everything that I am and can be. Without you Lord I am nothing. I am a wire: I am nothing without you; for you are the electricity that animates me. I am the empty puppet that cannot move without your loving hand to guide me. I am nothing unless you are there with me; guiding my every movement. Thank you for finding me worthy of your love and forgiveness. May I be truly worthy of your faith in me! Amen.
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