My grandmother's house

In my memory it is a hot day, lying on the floor in the hallway at "Karoola" with my grandmother. The hallway was very wide and the coolest part of the house and there was a breeze way from the front door. We are lying here to try and take advantage of any cool breeze that might come through the house (and possibly also so that grandma can have a rest from entertaining busy me!).

The musty smell of mothballs permeates the hallway and even now, some 55 years later, that smell transports me immediately back to that place and time.

The spare bedroom was at the top of the hall, two beds with chrome ends, a beautiful oak dressing table and pictures of ballerinas on the wall. The other room on the left of the hallway as you entered through the front door was a sitting room with soft, overfilled lounge chairs and the piano.

Further down the hallway the family room opened into another small hallway and off this was the bathroom, an enormous room beautifully tiled with several lights on the wall and expensive looking fixtures, ornate taps and soap dish. There was a separate bath and shower in this room and seemingly acres of tiles on the floor. One whole wall of the room was built in cupboards.

Then came the ‘boys’ room with 2 beds in it. I remember a cupboard in there filled with things the boys (my Dad and his brothers) had outgrown. Many years later I remember going there and finding a stamp album and some school books which I know were Dad’s because I found his childish signature inside them. I still have these treasures today and I will happily pass them on to my children.

The kitchen was big and roomy and spacious, again with lots of built in cupboards; the table was an old oak one with some chairs around it but there were wooden window seats on 2 sides, so any number of people could be seated at any one time. 

My father’s youngest brother still has this table at his home and I often wish I could sit at it just one more time to conjure up some more memories of my magical childhood in that wonderful kitchen. I can still smell the soup cooking on the back of the Aga stove and feel its heat because it always had to be kept lit for hot water, even in summer.

Outside was the wide back verandah running the length of the house and in my memory it is always cool and shady here with the smell of the pepper trees planted along the back fence. The laundry was just off the verandah and there was another shower in here. 

My grandmother had a beautiful shadehouse filled with many seemingly exotic blooms which needed protection from the extreme temperatures of the Riverina. I remember a particularly beautiful red cactus which seemed to reach all the way to the sky and the moist, damp, cool smell in this shadehouse stays with me to this day. Although Lockhart is such a very hot place in summer, most of my memories are of cool, shady spots in and around this house.

While writing this I have come to realise that this location, the shadehouse and back yard often feature in my dreams. Perhaps I wish to return to these innocent days of total and unconditional love, never felt since then.