Mandalay
Without Prejudice
I feel like the Narrator from "Rebecca", by Daphen Du Maurier, ( which is in my top ten books list, ever read)" And the classic line uttered
"Last night I dreamed Of Manderley"
Last night I dreamed of ' Mandalay",
my ex husbands parents dairy farm, a house with an interminably long driveway that had at the end a hook turn around and straight away you were there at the house.or to be precise the back of the house and the carport and the washing line. She stood at the top of a large hill that sloped away and at the bottom a valley with a creek flowing through. A ribbon of a thing really, thin, meandering, icy cold water rushing over big stones. All surrounded by 144 acres of rich farming land so steep in places we worried endlessly about Tiny, turning the tractor over and pinning himself underneath.
"Mandalay: was a Soldier Settlement Farm, handed down to Tiny from his father Pop who had fought in the first World War. Pop had 10 kids and a hard working worn out skinny wife. All the kids grew up on the farm and a rowdy wild bunch they were. There was a bit of the Oirish in Pop, so that was supposed to be where the quick fiery temper came for most of the boys. And there was a bit of welsh in there as well. Pop's Mother being a tiny little dark haired, dark eyed welsh woman.
I was stunned when I first came to "Mandalay' I loved it at first sight and never wanted to leave. The house was old, weatherboard, not the least bit fancy or done up. The farm was all about work and Tiny and Tiny's wife Gwen were two of the most hard working people I have ever met. They milked, planted, gardened, had a huge vegetable patch, an orchard, stacked ensilage, cut and baled and stacked the hay, raised 6 kids, raised chickens, geese, ducks, dogs, cats, the place was mad. Bonkers. The kids had mostly grown up when I met them at 16, but there were two littlies, Kerry, aged 6 and Ivan aged 9. Gwen never stopped grousing how the last two nearly killed her regards work. she thought she had finished her family and along came another two.
But the house and the gardens surrounding it were as if from another era. A Main corridor ran down the middle of the house with bedrooms and a bathroom off to the two sides. The bedrooms were dark and cramped but on a summers day when the sash windows were open with their old heavy wooden bordered screens on, keeping out the bees, with their hive in the dis-used old brick chimney. And any other flying creatures that batted lazily at them in the midday sun. On a summers day lying on a sheet made from calico bags that had originally been flour sacks with the sun streaming in through the lace curtains, I felt the warmth and homeliness of the old house. Steeped into its framework were the joys and tears and echoes of so many people.
It felt like home. For me that meant a secure home, i had never had one. "Mandalay" became home to me, the 16 year old girl not long arrived back in the "lucky land of Oz'. My older brother Ian having stayed back in Australia, and marrying Merrilyn, One of Tiny and Gwens four daughters. Little did I know then that within two years of being that childish girl lying across the bed in the noon day sun at "Mandalay" I would get engaged, get married and have a child and how being at 'Mandalay would have a lot to do with it........................
I feel like the Narrator from "Rebecca", by Daphen Du Maurier, ( which is in my top ten books list, ever read)" And the classic line uttered
"Last night I dreamed Of Manderley"
Last night I dreamed of ' Mandalay",
my ex husbands parents dairy farm, a house with an interminably long driveway that had at the end a hook turn around and straight away you were there at the house.or to be precise the back of the house and the carport and the washing line. She stood at the top of a large hill that sloped away and at the bottom a valley with a creek flowing through. A ribbon of a thing really, thin, meandering, icy cold water rushing over big stones. All surrounded by 144 acres of rich farming land so steep in places we worried endlessly about Tiny, turning the tractor over and pinning himself underneath.
"Mandalay: was a Soldier Settlement Farm, handed down to Tiny from his father Pop who had fought in the first World War. Pop had 10 kids and a hard working worn out skinny wife. All the kids grew up on the farm and a rowdy wild bunch they were. There was a bit of the Oirish in Pop, so that was supposed to be where the quick fiery temper came for most of the boys. And there was a bit of welsh in there as well. Pop's Mother being a tiny little dark haired, dark eyed welsh woman.
I was stunned when I first came to "Mandalay' I loved it at first sight and never wanted to leave. The house was old, weatherboard, not the least bit fancy or done up. The farm was all about work and Tiny and Tiny's wife Gwen were two of the most hard working people I have ever met. They milked, planted, gardened, had a huge vegetable patch, an orchard, stacked ensilage, cut and baled and stacked the hay, raised 6 kids, raised chickens, geese, ducks, dogs, cats, the place was mad. Bonkers. The kids had mostly grown up when I met them at 16, but there were two littlies, Kerry, aged 6 and Ivan aged 9. Gwen never stopped grousing how the last two nearly killed her regards work. she thought she had finished her family and along came another two.
But the house and the gardens surrounding it were as if from another era. A Main corridor ran down the middle of the house with bedrooms and a bathroom off to the two sides. The bedrooms were dark and cramped but on a summers day when the sash windows were open with their old heavy wooden bordered screens on, keeping out the bees, with their hive in the dis-used old brick chimney. And any other flying creatures that batted lazily at them in the midday sun. On a summers day lying on a sheet made from calico bags that had originally been flour sacks with the sun streaming in through the lace curtains, I felt the warmth and homeliness of the old house. Steeped into its framework were the joys and tears and echoes of so many people.
It felt like home. For me that meant a secure home, i had never had one. "Mandalay" became home to me, the 16 year old girl not long arrived back in the "lucky land of Oz'. My older brother Ian having stayed back in Australia, and marrying Merrilyn, One of Tiny and Gwens four daughters. Little did I know then that within two years of being that childish girl lying across the bed in the noon day sun at "Mandalay" I would get engaged, get married and have a child and how being at 'Mandalay would have a lot to do with it........................
