I was born in the Royal Women's Hospital Sydney. After marrying, my parents had lived on the North Shore, and a couple of places, until they began having children. I was the third in line - after the two boys - Christopher and Nicholas! Christy and Nick for short. My first memories of the house on Sutherland Road was of the veranda at the back of the house, and the tiny front porch at the font, with several steps leading up to the front door.
The front yard was a fairy-land of flowers! Right in the middle of the yard at the front of the house was a magnificent Camphor Laurel tree. I had many adventures up that tree, even managing to hide myself there a few times! No one could find me! aha! What a buzz I got from being able to ‘disappear’! Growing in profusion around the pale yellow front yard fence were brilliant little yellow buttercups, in contrast to the lush green of the front lawn. On either side of the house were different flowers growing gaily here and there, in carefully selected and beautiful order; such as the pretty yellow rose bush that was trained to climb the lattice which stopped short of the front room window!
On the other side were the ‘ballerinas’…..so named by yours-truly, because the delicate pink and cream coloured flowers looked like little ballet dancers! There were snow peas, and nasturtiums of every colour imaginable, with beautiful sunny green leaves….and round the corner, snug in the rock-beds grew incredibly bright purple and green ‘pig faces’ - one of my mother’s favourites because of the shine on these glorious flowers! Further along towards the back yard were other flowers all colours of the rainbow - I cannot recall exactly what they were; but I have just remembered that along the front yard fence there was a flower bed separate from the buttercups - chrysanthemums! These were soft creamy white, and pale yellow, and were picked for Mother’s Day once a year, and we’d take them into mum on the day, with a freshly brewed cup of tea!
Now we come to the magnificent back yard. For a start, it was miles long! It was in at least 3 sections; and each had it’s own special part of our lives at the time. The veranda had a lovely green lattice upon which my mother had trained and grown a passionfruit vine! What delicious fruits they were and often used in our desserts! There was also a lovely scent in the air from the jasmine vine growing in thick rich flowering vine on one side of the lattice! The wood was painted the same pale yellow as the font yard fence - a perfect foil for the lush green of the vines growing there.
The first section of the back yard had 2 big gum trees - one of them grew in such a way as to allow the addition of a fabulous hammock which we had the joy of swinging in when ever we liked, and it was FUN! Further up towards the big dividing hedge, was a lemon tree, and on the other side of the path, an orange tree. Just past the dividing hedge, was a long rope suspended in the old-fashioned way of a clothes line, cleverly tied on either end to the large X shaped pieces of wood, to hoist one side then the other of the clothes line. A bag of wooden pegs lived there hanging off the hook specially provided. One time, my brother Nick, wanted to help mum with the washing, and firstly washed, and tried to hang up our pet cat, Rosa on that clothes line - mum found out in time and let the poor cat go!
There was a pear tree, and some other bushes in just past the hedge was kept the rabbit hatch and inside, a beautiful creature; soft and fury, a dear little rabbit. We had so many pets it was amazing how they all lived in good accord with both humans and animals alike! Not that they always ‘got on’ well… there were some clashes - just as there were between the members of the family who lived there! I cannot recall what the rabbit had been named, but we had Rosa, Blackies (my cat) her mother; Fluffy, Stockinette, SweetPea to name a few of our cats, and kittens. There was Luba, the dog we rehoused because it’s owners could not give it a good life, and at one time, there were 2 ducks, Scotty Micko, and Henry!
Further up the yard in the left hand corner, right by the backyard fence, was a HUGE mulberry tree! It was glorious, and it was the reason for purple and black stained little faces and feet! OH but we enjoyed each season it flowered with it’s delicious berries - what a feast we had then! Sometimes we’d been sent to pick some for a mulberry pie…. If any actually reached the kitchen in the bowl thoughtfully provided by mum that is! Haha!
A nice little trip down memory lane this afternoon….I wonder who lives in that house now… and whether or not they still have that huge back yard! Time to close now I hope you’ve enjoyed my story today - it’s lovely memories have been like a warm cloak round my heart here this afternoon! Take care, and enjoy YOUR memories ….. I’m sure you have some lovely memories to look back on as well....
