At the end of December 2012

This month is about beginnings and endings…. and not just the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013.

The month started with a party. It was both a celebration and a “wake”. I have acquired a new loom. It is my friend Marg’s loom. She decided it was time to find a home for her it as she was no longer able to weave. This is a remarkable loom as her husband Mike made it for her: a 16 shaft computer assist. It is both beautiful and mechanically perfect with such a smooth countermarche action. So she needed a wake to mark its going and I needed a celebration to mark its arrival. We invited friends for a joint celebration.

 

We gather around the loom. Marg is handed the ceremonial red ribboned scissors and cuts off the first warp.

 

 

It was such a great party, I forgot to take photos. But here’s one of the centrepiece before the party began.

 And then there’s an ending and beginning of a different sort. My mum moved.

This was a major event not just for my mum but for the whole family. The home of 52 years had to be emptied. Mum needed very little to go with her. So, there was a lot of sorting of “stuff” to do by four siblings. For those that move house or have moved elderly parents, you will be familiar with the notion of memory: found photographs and bits of papers, pictures, collections of crockery and bits of furniture, things inherited from previous generations, things acquired by parents, things made by parents (mum was a potter and dad a wood turner), things given to parents, odd bits in the garden and around the home, treasures lost and then found again. All have stories that can be told. And the fun of “Do you remember?” and how interesting it is what each person remembers from the one event.

I shut the door, turn the key in the old lock and think this is the last time I will sleep here.  We each take our memorabilia and memories with us.

The “old barn” as my father affectionately called it. This old Queenslander is 2 years short of being 100. It has had 3 previous owners. We found the title deeds and a photo of what it looked like with owner number two when the frangipani was but a twig. It is now taller than the house on the far left. I wonder what memories it will collect for its next owners.