It was great to see the family over Easter. It’s Easter Monday today, another holiday. Today Peter and I are on our own again. We took some pictures yesterday with our lovely eight months old great-grandson Lucas and the whole family while they were at our place. We had Black Forest Cake. Baby Lucas had a taste of it too and liked it! He had his bottle, sitting upright and holding the bottle all by himself. He was keen to finish it right to the last drop!
Peter and I might go for a drive later on. For lunch we are going to have just left-overs from yesterday. We had yesterday a very colourful lunch. Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of my lunch-plate. However it definitely looked very colourful. There was “Hackbraten” (Meatloaf!) with gravy and champignons, Brussels sprouts, red cabbage and boiled potatoes. Also a glass of beer with it. It’s such a simple meal but everyone liked it. We had Caroline and Matthew for lunch with us. Later on all the others arrived for afternoon coffee and cake and a little welcome drink. We were ten adults plus Baby Lucas. In about two weeks we are going to spend some time with our family in Melbourne.
Our drive to Melbourne in a rented car is going to be a great event for us. We don’t drive straight to Melbourne but have a few overnight stops on the way to see a bit of the country. We are very much looking forward to this.
Peter’s sister Ilse writes this is going to be an unforgettable Easter for them for there’s still snow all over Berlin. The asparagus farmers in the area fear the worst for their crops. It’s just too cold to grow anything. Large parts of Europe are still in the grip of winter. How much they long for warmer days and a bit of sunshine!
We had plenty of chocolate Easter eggs. I helped myself to quite a few and loved them!
After having been to the house on Friday, Peter and I went there again on Monday. David’s family had gone to the house once more on Sunday. So there wasn’t much to do for us anymore when we appeared on Monday. But it was a trip that went for well over 200 km because we also traveled to Parramatta to take some equipment to a health support department who had looked after Gaby. We thought it was only right to return the equipment which they usually pick up themselves. However it had been left in the house for all these months since Gaby died. So it was about time that we returned it. There’s still Gaby’s hoist left in the house. Before the renovators attack the building the health support people are going to contact the owners, the Department of Housing. Thereafter they may arrange that Gaby’s hoist, that’s still attached to the ceiling of her bedroom, can be dismantled. We told them, the house is empty now. Nobody lives there anymore.
Most of the stuff, that was still lying around on Monday, Peter could get rid of at a local opportunity shop. He had to travel there several times because we have only a small car. I occupied myself taking photos and sorting out a few things. For lunch we went to Central Park just around the corner. We have beautiful memories of this park from times long gone. We spent time there with Gaby and David and the whole family for picnics on special occasions. Gaby was even allowed to take her companion dog into the park!
Yesterday, Monday, we did get caught in the traffic. Leaving our place at 8,30 in the morning, we came to a snail’s pace after about an hour. The delay was caused by a minor traffic accident in a suburb where all the major traffic has to pass through. We were delayed by close to 30 minutes. Driving home soon after 2,30 in the afternoon we had again a bit of a delay but in a totally different suburb: One lane had been closed off because of some road work. There were quite a few workers around seemingly very eagerly doing their job. From where we live it takes us around 90 minutes to get to the Western suburbs of Sydney, but only on days when the traffic goes smoothly. Yesterday we had a two hour trip there and also a two hour trip back. By 4,30 we were back home. It felt really good to be back after having been away for eight hours!
When we had been meeting Gaby in Merrylands or Parramatta, this had meant usually a nine hour trip for us: Three hours each way by train, and seeing Gaby for about three hours. We were usually quite exhausted after a trip like this even though we could do a bit of napping on the train. Peter wrote about it here.
Last Friday, when we drove to Merrylands West together with our daughter Monika, Peter had to drive through pouring rain. On top of it there was for a short distance a bit of fog. Despite his deteriorating eye-sight, Peter managed the driving through rain and fog surprisingly well. But night-time driving he tries to avoid these days. We hardly ever go out at night-time anymore.
It practically rained all day on Friday. Still, we managed to do whatever we had to do on Friday. Yesterday, Monday, we were lucky: It didn’t rain at all.
Over the weekend we had lovely visitors: Saturday afternoon one of our grandsons did bring his family along. Baby Lucas has grown a real lot. On Sunday our youngest daughter came by train from Sydney and spent the day with us. She came on her own because Matthew had to work. We hadn’t seen them yet since they had arrived back from their holiday trip to Singapore. Caroline showed us heaps of photos they took during their one week stay in Singapore. The pictures showed us that they must have had a really good time.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, we’re off by train to the inner city of Sydney to meet a friend and to see our dentist in the afternoon.
David’s brothers and nephew did a great job carting the more bulky pieces away to the rubbish tip. They had to do this several times. On Sunday David’s sisters did go to the house as well clearing heaps of stuff away. Monika, Peter and I had our hands full too for a lot of the time on that Friday. A friend of Gaby’s turned up in the afternoon. He’s a very cheerful fellow. All of us had a good time resonating about past memories of the house with Gaby and friends.
Our visitors on the following day: 2nd March. Autumn had arrived with cooler weather.Ebony and Ryan looking at their son.7 months old Lucas with Peter, his great-granddadThis grows at the back of our house. Birds love it!
Opening the house on Monday, 4th March.
The back of the houseDoor to the garageInside the garageGarage DoorAt the back of the houseLooking out through the kitchen window
Gaby’s shower
Second toilet in laundrySomething more has to fit into the car.Ready to leaveLunch at Central ParkHe’s looking for something to eat
Here in Australia a house in a complex of free standing houses is called a villa. Gaby and David lived in such a villa for twenty-three years. Gaby and David each had their own bedroom plus a spare bedroom which visitors could make use of. In the early days Peter and I would sometimes stay overnight at their place. Later on this was not possible any more, because the room was being used very much as a store-room.
The whole complex of houses belongs to the Department of Housing. Gaby and David each paid some rent rent for it which was minimal. During the last year of Gaby’s life there had been talk by the Department that Gaby should be given another place because her place needed some major renovations. They offered a new place suitable for wheelchairs could be built for her. Several locations close by had already been considered. But it didn’t come yet to the actual planning stage. Gaby was just living in hope all the time that one day she could move to another brand new place. Only the question was, what would happen to David? Lots of people had been of the opinion for a long time that David actually needed nursing care himself. However I think David was a bit stubborn and didn’t want to hear of any changes.
Another serious problem was who would be willing to move in with Gaby as her constant in house carer? Gaby was in such a condition that she could not be left by herself in the house when she was asleep during the night. In an emergency she would be very helpless. There should be someone in the house she could call if she needed help. For a few hours in the morning as well as for a brief time in the afternoon and before going to bed Gaby would always have two outside carers who looked after all her personal needs. There always needed to be two because even with a hoist Gaby was difficult to be lifted and placed into her wheelchair. Gaby had also a cleaner coming in once a week and a cook at night-time. When David was still fit enough, he could do the house-work for her and he could take her out to different places. But these days were long gone. David’s health had deteriorated enormously over the years.
All of Gaby’s problems were resolved, when she ‘kicked the bucket’, I think the expression is, last year in July. David insisted on staying in the house on his own. How he managed to do this is a bit of a miracle. His problems were resolved too, when he collapsed around Christmastime unable to move. But he was able to call out and a neighbour heard him. He was admitted to hospital straight away. A few weeks later one of his legs had to be amputated below the knee. In the meantime he was placed in a nursing home. He seems to be feeling o.k. there. Maybe it finally dawned on him that he really cannot live on his own any more.
Two of his brothers and the son of one of the brothers of David turned up yesterday to clean out the villa. Peter, one of our daughters and I we helped with the discarding of things as well. But we could not finish it off yesterday. On Monday Peter and I are going back to help with what is left to be disposed.
The past week Peter and I have been busy with the telling of our lives’ story. We had a very lovely visitor recording everything for the Oral History section of the library at Canberra. It takes a few weeks before these recordings are accessible. I understand they are going to be preserved for future generations. This whole project is of course extremely exciting for us.
Frances, who’s interviewing us, tells us, we as migrants from Germany, having been through WW II and post war years as children in Germany have experiences to recall which people would be interested to hear about. Also of interest are our experiences in Australia as migrants. In this regard it is of special interest to find out how our lives were shaped by having had a daughter who had been severely disabled by polio.
Neither Peter or I are experienced speakers. Having our voices recorded is something completely new to us. However Frances is very good at encouraging us. She gently guides us into the relevant sections of our lives by asking some questions. Peter and I are always being interviewed separately. Usually we have one hour each in the morning, then a lunch-break, and maybe another hour each in the afternoon.
I found out having to talk for one hour at a time about my life can be rather tiring and sometimes a bit stressful too. But I love doing it especially with such a good interviewer as Frances. By the middle of next week she’s going to be back for the conclusion of the interviews.
This photo brings back happy memories about spending time in Mecklenburg/Vorpommern with my brother and sister-in-law. This photo was taken on Monday, 12th November 2012.
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Today is Ash-Wednesday, 13th February 2013.
I am thinking back to our stay in Meck/Pom. The eight days with my brother and sister-in-law were packed full. They showed us around nearly every day. A lot of historical sites were included as you can see from some of my recent posts. Since I did not post anything at all during our stay in beautiful Meck/Pom, I had planned on catching up with it at a later time. Well, now I finally did it.
At least I sorted out all the pictures from that time. These pictures were bound to trigger a lot of memories. I am happy I was able to post a lot of the pictures as well as what they mean to me. As far as the history of Mecklenburg is concerned I must say I find a lot of it very intriguing. I became especially interested in the personal history of some of the historical figures and the social conditions over the past centuries. But of course I only scratched the surface. There is an immense amount of material at your fingertips to study. A lot of caring people see to it that all this material is preserved for future generations. The castles and historical sites in the area attract every year many visitors. My brother and his wife knew all these places already from previous visits. Joyfully they took us to all these places. Apparently they love to go there again and again.
We saw as much as possible within the short time of our stay. During our other visit there in June 2010 we saw some different and also very interesting places in the area. I am sure there a lot more still to explore. I’d love to be able to go there again. However the main thing for hubby and me was really to spend time with Peter Uwe and Astrid. We had hoped they would come and visit us in Australia. Sadly it looks now as though they’ve given up on this idea.
I still didn’t publish anything yet about the Bode Museum in Berlin. But before I do this I want to finally start publishing something about Mecklenburg/Vorpommern where my brother Peter Uwe lives with his wife Astrid. We spent some lovely eight days with them just before it was time to travel back to Australia.
Peter Uwe picked us up from the Hansa Viertel in Berlin with all our luggage. This was on Thursday, 8th November 2012. They live in a small village in Meck/Pom. In my post about Berlin-Borgsdorf I published a sign near a street in Borgsdorf which indicated that this street was a bike-track leading right through to Kopenhagen, Denmark. Well, this bike-track leads actually also through the little village where Peter Uwe and Astrid reside.
If people want to take a week’s rest in beautiful Meck/Pom they can book in at my brother’s place. Peter Uwe used to have a number of units available for holiday makers. But most of them he has rented out now to permanent residents. The unit, where Peter and I stayed, is usually reserved for holiday makers. A board indicates when it is vacant. One day we noticed the ‘vacant’ sign was still up. We pointed this out to Peter Uwe. It took him just a sec to turn the sign over indicating ‘occupied’. Peter said, that they had made sure anyway that the unit would be reserved for our stay with him and Astrid.
On Monday, 10th September 2012, the day after our arrival in Berlin, we went to visit Daniel and Sakorn who was celebrating her birthday with a lot of her Thai friends. Daniel is a son of Peter’s sister Ilse. We traveled by public transport together with Ilse to the beautiful private garden where the birthday party took place. Later on the other son of Ilse, arrived with Susanne to join the party. I went to sleep on a garden lounge Daniel kindly provided for me. He also gave me a nice warm blanket. I was still badly effected by jet leg!
Some of the food Sakorn had cooked up for the Party bash. She always gets a lot of help by her women friends.
Entrance to the Garden
Sakorn gave me boiled rice and freshly cooked vegies, wonderful vegies, for she knew I didn’t eat meat. She gave me also some excellently spiced sauce with my meal. And of course there was a selection of drinks available. They also offered Jägermeister, but I declined. I had the feeling that day that alcohol wouldn’t agree with me. Sakorn understood that I was still suffering from jet leg. She and Daniel fly just about every year for a visit to Thailand. We encouraged them to also come over to Australia next time they’re in Thailand. I think they might actually do this. That’s great. We love having visitors.
I’m coming now to Sunday, the 16th of September. On that day we were travelling by public transport to Borgsdorf visiting Ingrid and Erhard at their summer place. Ingrid is related to Peter’s family. Over the years we were always happy to visit Ingrid and Erhard whenever we happened to be in Berlin. On the phone Ingrid wanted to make sure we would come on Sunday. When I mentioned I still had a bit of a cold she said, not to worry, it was going to be a lovely, sunny day. I could just sit outside in the sun and this would do me good. I didn’t have to do anything. She was going to cook lunch for us, she said.
She did serve us a wonderful lunch. She loves to cook with healthy ingredients and lots of herbs and vegies from her garden. I really felt all right sitting in the autumn sun for hours and hours and being served a lovely meal and later on coffee and cakes. Before the coffee break we all went for a walk to the close by river. Borgsdorf is a very secluded little village. In people’s gardens we could see on their fruit trees hundreds of red apples. Sorry, no picture of the apples.
We saw this sign in Borgsdorf. It means you can go by bike all the way from Berlin to Denmark!The S-Bahn (City Railway) took us to Borgsdorf.
We soon found out that there was a great baker’s shop in the neighbourhood. Peter usually went down there early in the morning to get fresh bread rolls for breakfast plus a piece or maybe two pieces of cake! There was always a great selection of different cakes to choose from.
One Morning Peter bought this selection of different breads.
On Saturday (15th September 2012) Peter went down to get extra cakes for the guests we were expecting for afternoon coffee that day. When they pressed the bell Peter asked them to wait downstairs; he was to go down to guide them to the lift and show them the way to our apartment! I waited upstairs at the lift. Out came my nieces lovely family. There she was, my beautiful niece Corinna with Walter and son Carlos Emilio. Carlos had grown so much since I had seen him more than two years ago.
Even though I still suffered a bit from this nasty cold, we had a lovely afternoon together.
Today I was looking for some more pictures from the past. I came up with two pictures from 1958 and another two pictures from 1960
Peter with Gaby
This pictures was taken in Düsseldorf, Germany, in a park called ‘Hofgarten’, on 17th June 1958. Gaby was not quite nine months yet at the time.
Uta and Peter with Gaby
This pictures was taken by Uta’s Mum on her balcony in Berlin in August 1958. Gaby was nearly one year old. We were for a visit in Berlin at the time.
Uta with Baby Martin, two months, Monika, eighteen months, and Gaby thirty-three months.
This pictures was taken near Fairy Meadow Beach, New South Wales, Australia, in June 1960.
Uta and Peter (25) with all three children
This is where the pioneer family ended up in Oak Flats, NSW, Australia, which was ‘the sticks’ at the time. This picture was taken on the 28th August 1960 which was Gaby’s birthday. We were building a garage at the time. One year later the children were stricken by polio; as it turned out, Gaby very severely.
Today is Friday, 28th December 2012. This afternoon I’m going to play Rummy Cub as well as Scrabble with Irene and Erika at Erika’s place. Marion, who usually plays with us, is still up north in Ballina. I remember Ballina. It’s a beautiful little town not far from the Queensland border. That reminds me, Baby Lucas is at present up north too. Peter just noticed a picture of him on his Mum’s arms in front of the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour! His Dad and Uncle are with him too. It’s his first holiday away from home!
Tomorrow Peter and I are going to Wollongong. We’re invited for coffee and cake to our friends’ place in Wollongong. They are very longtime friends. We first met them in Balgownie Hostel in 1959! They had come from Germany to Australia on the CASTEL FELICE half a year before we arrived in Australia. They had a 20 months old daughter, so had we. This daughter, who is 55 now, came to see us in Berlin and she said her parents live in Wollongong now. Well, surprise, surprise, this is only a few minutes away from where we live! So Sylvia, the daughter, arranged for us to meet her and her parents in Wollongong tomorrow. We are very much looking forward to this!
Sylvia is also corresponding with our daughter Monika, who is one year younger than Sylvia. She remembers also our son Martin and our daughter Gaby – – – – who would be 55 now, but sadly is no longer with us.
On Sunday I might get a chance again to go to Mass. Last time I went was on Christmas Day, Tuesday, the 25th, early in the morning at 7,30. It had been a beautiful Mass. Instead of a choir we had four young people playing their instruments. On Christmas Eve it had cooled down already quite a bit after a heat wave of around 33 Degrees Celsius. The celebrations on Christmas Eve went very well at our place. Ebony and Ryan did bring Baby Lucas along. All in all there were 14 people at our place. Daughters Monika and Caroline with some help of Matthew saw to all the catering. Peter read out a story he had written about our life in December of 1957. Everyone was very interested to hear a bit more about what we had been up too. On previous Christmas Eves Peter had been telling about earlier Christmases from his childhood. They always want to hear more stories about these early years.
This year we had told everyone to bring only one Christmas gift. Monika and one of her daughters had randomly chosen the names and worked out who was going to buy a gift for whom. We suggested everyone should spend only ten Dollars on their present. I think on the whole people stuck to this. Maybe a few people spent a little bit more. Baby Lucas, this Christmas being his very first Christmas, did get a few extra gifts. Nobody actually was to know who their present was from. On the labels was written the receiver’s name plus: ‘From secret Santa’ or ‘From Santa with Love’. Peter was chosen to hand out the gifts in the name of Santa. While the gifts were being handed out quite a few jokes were made. Everyone was having fun!
So now New Year’s Eve is near. The last day of the year is to be next Monday. Peter and I have planned to travel by train to Sydney on that day and spend the day in Sydney but be back home in the evening. Of course there are going to be big fireworks again at Sydney Harbour. People are reserving themselves spots near the harbour already the previous night! We prefer to spend New Year’s Eve at home and watch some of the going ons on television. By the way Christmas Day and Boxing Day we were home all day. It had cooled down very much and was raining a lot. We played games with Caroline and Matthew, listened to music, watched a few DVDs, talked and relaxed. For food we had a lot of left overs! Plus Caroline made us yummy scrambled eggs. On Boxing Day we had soft boiled eggs for breakfast and Caroline provided a very well cooked meal for lunch with roasted duck, (falafel for me). kale, baked sweet potatoes and baked potatoes. I made some red cabbage, which everyone loved also. We also had mangoes, nectarines, bananas, lots of sweets and German ‘Lebkuchen’ and ‘Stollen’ as well as beer and wine, cups of tea and espresso. It was a very relaxing joyful Christmas.
And now, wishing everyone a very HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013!
AuntyUta 