We interrupt our regularly scheduled trip down memory lane for a detour to the Southern Highlands of New South Wales (in view of the fact I’ve just come back from a weekend down there…). This decoration was purchased on my first visit there at the invitation of our friend Miss Lisa. And so began my love affair with the ‘Highlands’ (dahling) and with her parents Party on Legs and Bandy.

It was Christmas, and I can’t even remember what year it was, though not ’99… possibly 2000, or ’01… Anyway, that’s barely important is it? That visit was remarkable in that in walking into their home it was like walking into mine, or at least the home I grew up in!

Their home is in the country, the house has that homey, if a little cluttered feeling, with long verandahs, ivy hanging off the eaves, always a couple of dogs lolloping around, chooks in the henhouse and horses in the back paddock. There are kookaburras in the trees (ok, so that part’s not much like home) and a massive garden and berry patch (THAT’S very much like home!).

The kitchen has flagstone floors and a massive woodstove (Aga) in the kitchen. It’s amazing. But best of all there is a warm welcome for all and an invitation to make oneself totally at home! Something which I am happy to do…

That Christmas we went to the local carols in the park, so very much like the country Christmas concerts and singalongs our NZ rural community conjours up… complete with Santa arriving by fire engine and the mosquitos running hot… of course in New Zealand we sing Te Harinui instead of Six White Boomers but I’m sure you get the idea.

Ah well, sometimes a weekend at the Legs’ retreat is the perfect antidote to Sydney stress and tension, a place where you can say Bugger the World and not have anything to do, and not have to do anything… So much so that when my world turned upside down last year I escaped there for a couple of days even without Miss Lisa. Sanctuary… no questions asked. It was bloody brilliant.

Anyhow, as sick as I’m sure Miss Lisa is of my politely inquiring as to the next time she’s heading home for the weekend it is one of the places/families I’ve valued most highly in my time here… and as long as the welcome mat is out I’m going to send the occasional email and sneak out of town, leaving the phone at home and get my head back together for the next 6 months…

So thank’s babe…. I had a GREAT weekend… even if all I did was go google eyed at this…

As I had arrived in the US in the July it was October [end of] when the three months from hell came to an end.

The close of business between Sherry and Pom and me was phased in slowly…

Initally I had thought it prudent to go the bold and have a chat to them about how I was feeling… So I got them together and told them… actually I might have taken the cowards way out and written them a note… that I was unhappy and had a couple of suggestions to make the whole situation work a little better…

As you may expect we had a rather intense exchange, where I indicated that I needed some time off during the day and a bit more support at the daycare centre… So it was agreed that things would stay the same but for 2 hours off in the middle of the day.

This was bit of a farce given that we lived semi rurally, I wasn’t able to drive and the bus ran once an hour… sheesh… So I got further jaded and on one Saturday, having had a gutful, I wrote them a note tendering my resignation and left the house for a day at the mall (see below!).

When I returned all hell broke loose… I was told in no uncertain terms that I was unwelome but that I had to stay and work out my one month’s notice. Where I had been promised a bed upgrade I was informed that the in laws from the UK were coming and I’d have to make do. And in fact, during that 3 week period my stuff was gone through, the new employer I had been fortunate enough to secure was called and bawled out for stealing their nanny and I was basically ignored…

Actually, the nanny I had replaced 3 months earlier came back after I’d given notice to work alongside me for a time. and, as it became apparent they couldn’t wait for me to leave I called the Resucers the week before Halloween and asked them if I could take them up on their previous offer of a port from the storm should the need arise.
They came at once and whisked me home with all my gear, installed me in the bedroom which had been completely cleared as if to accomodate a long-term guest and all at once I was made to feel right at home. We then left the house for a long visit through one of the local parks and some time out, ostensibly to prove that there were some rather nice American folk if you just know where to look!!

And, as it happened, I stayed with the Rescuers, calling the prospective employers declining their kind offer of a job, feeling rather as if I was trading one noose for another and remained for the rest of my year in America at the Rescuers haven!

The Garfield decorations reference both that Halloween and actually a teenage love affair with that cat. I believe I identified most strongly with his struggle with lasgne but I have quite a collection of Garfield publications in NZ in storage… quite what I’ll ever do with them I don’t know but in very short order the Rescuers managed to cotton on to all the things I loved and these decos were included in that magic ’88 Christmas I had with them.

The bulk of my collection comes from America and as far as decorations go you don’t get much more American than their favourite (or should I say favorite) chocolate… In fact, many of these decorations were given to me at the same Christmas in 1988 so I’ll break up the story so the posts aren’t too long…

I was 20 (gasp) and had left NZ for the wild blue yonder. I have no idea how my mother and father ever let me go… I believe I would be scared stiff to do the same!! Still they had brung me up proper and I was pretty capable… so a travelling I did go! But, as is usually the case with plans like these, they did not go so well as one may like…

I arrived in Washington DC after a very peculiar week in LA (could it be any different…) and was met by Sherry and Pom my new employers/family…

Yep, I did the US illegal nanny thing.

Big mistake…

Huge!

I arrived, green as the grass of rural NZ (the greenest) and was employed to be a nanny to two small boys… and a housekeeper of a 4 bedroom home… and a manager of a home based childcare centre… with children raging in ages from 9weeks to 9years old.

At age 20…

With no experience…

From 8am to 6pm.

Without breaks.

And all for the princely sum of $100 per week.

Oh, but board and lodging were provided… On a fold out sleeper bed… and not the sprung kind… noooooo, the foam rubber kind, available for a couple of hundred at your local Clark or Para Rubber outlet…

I lasted 3 months.

This is an import from Israel. It’s made out of cedar and while it may be more politically correct to hope that it is from a renewable forest I just love it because it comes from the Holy Land, and even more so because it was a gift from my sister.

‘Sis and her then boyfriend (Scotch) spent some time travelling Europe and the Middle East when they were younger. The met at church, I can’t remember if I introduced them actually but I do remember that I went out with him first…

[hears audible intake of breath]

Actually, I was never that into him, I was probably more into him than I should have been simply because he was the only single bloke at youth group but in the grand scheme of things he made a much better match with ‘Sis than he ever did with me.

We went out twice, once to the races (Iwon all that he lost – he still brings it up occasionally!), and then we went to movies. It was nice but there was no spark… So, sorry there’s no more drama in the whole situation than that!!

He proposed to her on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and so the decoration means even more. They’ve been married now for almost 10 years (I think)… man time flies…

‘Sis and Scotch are parents… this little chap is their latest… This picture makes me want to weep for wishing to give him a cuddle… His big brother turned 2 on Monday… such little treasures and they, and their cousins are the biggest magnet I have in New Zealand.