Glad to be Alive

Last week, an aquaintance through correspondence of some years ago, contacted me by email to say that Camelot Park, the last residence of the late Doug Twaits was for sale again, some fifteen years after Doug died and the property changed hands. This aquaintance, Gary, had stumbled across my blog while researching to find a property with an old garden in the area to purchase. We exchanged a few emails at the time with me saying I'd keep my eyes open and let him know if I came across something. My busy life continued on with me never catching up on many things and I was surprised but pleased to hear from Gary who suggested if I was to attend the open inspection day last Saturday he would try to make it, he was interested to see the property and would like to meet and talk to me.

I didn't respond immediately, last week was hugely busy and demanding, with the heat and customers wanting beech foliage. These months prior to Christmas is peak season for us and of course is tandem with prodigious grass and weed growth and also planting vegies and herb seeds. Come night time after dinner I'm exhausted, usually too tired to contemplate much, as my focus is on getting through to Friday night when I can have a wine or several with the knowledge that the next morning is Saturday...no picking.

I rang Gary on Saturday morning as he'd included his mobile number, having decided that yes I could use a rest and would like to see the trees Doug planted in the 1950's again, and I was also pleased to meet Gary, so pleasant had been his email. He said yes he'd try to make it if his wife agreed to it.
I was first there at 2pm on the dot and had a chat to the agents. The asking price for the property was 2.2 mil, way out of my league, but a I had a look through the house which had been extensively done over impressively by the builder owner, and the property did indeed look nice and the trees magnificent. I stood looking down the hill at the dam or pond which reminded of a Monet painting. The mature beech oaks sequoias and Douglas firs stood tall. A car pulled in and parked in the shade and Gary and his wife Jan walked down to the house. I knew it was them because Gary showed recognition. He said on the phone he would recognize me as he'd read this blog over the years so had seen photos of me.

We had a chat for a few minutes before Gary and Jan went in to look at the house and I took off on a tour round the garden. In ten minutes I was back and waited while Gary and Jan took a walk, then we talked about trees houses gardens with some family history thrown in, before we decided to go into town to continue our talk over coffee at the bakery.

I had a little laugh at myself while sitting in the bakery waiting for my long black. So often I see people sitting in this popular venue or on the outside tables and wonder how they can ever find the time to do this, the same as I wonder how those in Gembrook do the same and ride motorbikes all weekend. And here I was in peak season sitting drinking coffee in the afternoon.

But the result of this unusual socializing was that I enjoyed it greatly and especially my comversation with Gary and Jan. We talked about many things, even footy (Jan is an avid Richmond fan, Gary's uncle was a Melbourne trainer in the 1950's). They have three adult children much the same age as ours and we had much in common in terms of background and "life position" on many things, particularly in caring for the environment. It's not often you make new friends at my age and I'm grateful to Gary for initiating this.

My weekend socializing did not end there. From new friends on Saturday to old friends on Sunday, I met up with Rickralph and my first serious girlfriend Jane M. I have been in regular contact with Rr over the decades but had seen Jane once only in the last 45 years, that being in the 1990's when she visited me at home following a randomly inspired phone call I made to her after looking her name up in the Melbourne phonebook. Rick used to go out with Jane's sister Penny and for a couple of years there around 1968-70 we all spent a lot of time together. I have blogged about this before but Rick and I were madly in love with these beautiful girls but after a while they found new pasture and left Rick and I somewhat demented, but, as is usually the way with lost love, we gradually got over it, each in his own way, but there's no doubt the experience helped shape us and influence our approach to life into the future.

For a few years now we have been connected as Facebook friends and a month or so ago Jane suggested we meet up. We arranged to meet at the Wilson Gardens in Berwick which we did at 11am. Penny lives in Tasmamia so didn't come but the three of us had a walk in the gardens after coffee in the visitor centre and then went on in Rick's car to the Cardy pub in Beaconsfield for lunch. It was lovely for three old friends going back almost 50 years to sit and tell each other about their lives, warts and all. Jane is a climate activist, divorced from the father of her two boys, who was a lawyer and a "big mistake". She's a clinical psychologist semi retired, who had a successful carreer, and now she travels extensively with her parner to outback Australia all the way to the Kimberleys in their 4WD.

The beautiful girl is now a beautiful wise lady. After she moved on from me when she went to university she lived with a bloke for 5 years until he just disappeared, then she lived their housemate whom she fell in love with once the other was gone. This lasted for some time till his recreational drug use soured the relationship and Jane on the rebound married her husband and began raising two boys while pursuing her career. The marriage split. The previous partner moved in to live in a bungaloe in the backyard of her house in Melbourne with two of his children. His drug use was worse. It could not continue.

It was surprising to me that Jane had such a tumultuous time in terms of relationships but she recounted all this with good humour and a sense of fun at participation in life. She's passionate about climate change and her activism includes her in various protests in Melbourne and interstate and is almost a full time thing. She loathes corruption, greed and bullshit. Rick and I  are like minded with her on that. Penny has two daughters and is also divorced, living happily single. In contrast Rick's and my marriage have endured, 38 and 36 years respectively.

We are all still alive and well after nearly half a century, in pretty good nick, and glad to be alive. 

I Lost My Dog...Twice in One Day.

I went to Rose and Adrian's place to pick green beech yesterday. It was warm and stormy. Working away the thunder started and I upped it a notch, aware Pip in the car would be scared and panicky. I had placed twenty bunches in big buckets in the van so they could drink while I picked more. Finished finally I tied the ladder and pole on the roof and loaded and looked for Pip.

Gone.

I called I whistled. No Pip. She had been in the back of the van. The cab was barricaded from the back but she had got through before and the windows in the front were wide open to allow air in. She was gone, presumably run off in high alarm because of the prodigious thunder which was loud enough to scare me too.

I called in at the post office and the vet, told them in case someone found her and reported. I rushed home hoping she had found her way there, but knowing when dogs go troppo in thunderstorms they lose all orientation and just run.

I opened the side door to take out the foliage and out jumped Pip. She had crawled in behind the buckets and had been hiding. I can't describe my feeling of relief, so great it was.

I went to the farm, climbed a tricolour beech and sawed the top out of it with a handsaw. Pip was happy in the van and jumped out as I organized the ladder and tools. The sun shone, the sky was clear, I left te door to the van open so she could jump back in if she wished, normally she does after a while exploring, the van is her refuge.

I was up the tree and the clouds quickly rolled in and the thunder started again, very loud. I finished cutting the top off the tree and came down to trim and bunch. I checked the van to see that Pip was safe. She was not there. I called and whistled. No Pip. I continued my work, bunching. No Pip.

I had to catch the fruit shop before it closed and order pizza for tea and shop. I  did this and went back to the farm to look for her. No Pip. I rang Lib, said I couldn't find her. I called on the neighbours, looked everywhere, whistled called. No Pip. I figured she done a runner in total panic at the thunder.

I thought I'd call on the local vets on my way home to report her missing in the hope that she had not been killed on the road by traffic and someone may have taken her to the vet, which is what I would do if I found a panicky dog in a thunderstorm. At the Emerald clinic the receptionist was on the phone and I had to wait. I could hear a dog whimpering in tghe back room. It was a most familiar sound.

"I have lost my dog." I said when the lady got off the phone. "What kind of dog?" she said. "A Jack Russell."

"We have one that a lady brought in a couple of hours ago. Come with me."

Sure enough it was Pip. I can't tell you how relieved I was. Boy o boy has Pip been spoilt this last 30 hours since I found her. She's a beautiful creature and we thought we had lost her.