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Tuesday 19 October 2010

Houses and Homes

I was going to have a rant today about unreliable friends.. but by the time I'd written it I felt better!  I'm feeling generally grouchy today; I'm not really sure why and I can't blame it on PMS, and I had loads of sleep last night. So it's a mystery really.

Anyway, instead of a rant you get another random photo..


June 2009 this time, at my parents' house.   They bought their house in 1964 (on return from Australia, for those of you who are concentrating in class) and I was born there in 1966.  I was two weeks late and was 'induced' by my poor mother drinking cod liver oil... rather her than me; anyway there I was born in the back bedroom.   I lived at 'VC' as we call it until my marriage in 1989; I never went away to school so spent all my formative years there. It was truly home to me and a huge wrench to move out into the marital one-bedroom matchbox.  My parents still live there.

Going back to the photo, the little shed on the far left is the dog kennel we built for Danny, the Lab x Retriever I got when I was 18; it's now dad's mower shed.   Previously in that spot we had a chicken house and run, but I think my parents gave up when we lost too many to foxes despite all our attempts to prevent it.

Django was tied to a tree on this occasion because my parents had a magpie trap in the garden; I'm not sure why now, but anyway it involved keeping one magpie in it, which attracted others which could then be dispatched.  It seemed pretty cruel to me.  Of course poor Django went demented with this poor bird like a 'sitting duck' in the cage and wouldn't leave it alone.  A different reason to tether him would be that out the back of the garden are fields, mostly fallow these days, but with deer and all sort of other chaseable animals in them which are likely to lead an inquisitive Pointer astray.

I have now lived almost as many years in our current house as I did at VC, and although I am still familiar with all the nooks and crannies, and which floorboards squeak upstairs (learned in my childhood!), it stopped being Home to me quite a few years ago. 

If home is where the heart is, it is definitely where I am sitting right now :-)

10 comments:

  1. Just been reading about the magpie trap or to give its name Larson trap. I can understand the 'need' to control the bird in some cases usually to protect rare bird breeding grounds(I put need in commas as its usully a hatred for the bird rather than it causing a problem that fuel many to put the trap out.) I feel sorry for the bait bird it probably gets harassed by many passing preditors and I bet many just end up abandoning the poor thing to a sorry death. :(

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  2. Our house is under serious attack from Magpies at the moment! They keep peeling off the sealant around the windows. I wouldn't mind putting them in a trap! We live on the top of a hill and when it rains if the windows aren't sealed properly the rain gets inside the house. Thanks to the Magpies it looks like we'll be having a wet winter!

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  3. Poor puppy--though I do understand the need to have him tethered and not running into the trap area.

    My childhood home vanished years ago--kinda left me with a 'homeless' feeling, even though where I AM, is home.
    Strange that--but true.

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  4. I am a fan of any photos with Django in it! He's a darling dog. Great place too...your parent's are lucky... ...and that grouchy feeling started with me last night too...hubby was not really eager to continue spatting with me either. But I'd had a touchy three days at work...we are doing far too many tech changes and when ever there is change there are those who buck the system...and too many glitches to repair!...thank goodness for the freedom to write don't you think?

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  5. I must say, Django is one handsome pooch!

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  6. Mel: my parents considered moving a couple of years ago but couldn't find anything they liked. Then mum had to have a mastectomy so it all got cancelled. It will feel -very- strange if and when they move because it's too much to look after; even though I don't think of it as my home any more it is still part of the family for all of us.

    Karen and JJ: I think Django's going to need his own blog soon! ;-)

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  7. Do you still call it home when you go back?

    Love the photo. It's like a slice of summer.

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  8. Baglady: No, never. It's only a couple of miles away so we go pretty regularly and it's just "mum and dad's" or "VC". I can't imagine them not living there though!

    A slice of summer is a good thing to have in October :-)

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  9. ps. Thanks for visiting! :-)

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