1954 What If...

Perhaps my first philosophical though came while I was out on a trail ride in Australia.  There 3 or 4 of us, and we were riding on a road made of cracked shells.  We passed a house where the grass had just been cut, and someone was cooking meat on a grill.

My horse and I both raised our heads a sniffed the air at the same time.  As this was happening, the thought passed through my mind that maybe it was actually the same thing we were smelling.  Maybe he interpreted it as grass, and I interpreted it as grilled steak, but it was actually the same smell.

That filled my mind for the whole rest of the ride.  What if everything is actually the same, but is interpreted differently by everyone?

It was monumental enough that I remember it like it was yesterday, over 60 years later.

1954 Dollhouse

We built a dollhouse in Australia.  I don’t know how it started, but both my parents were very involved.  It was made of sheets of balsa wood.  My dad did the planning and construction, and my mother did the decorating, with the help of my sister and me.  We carved furniture and appliances out of balsa wood, which is very soft, and then painted them.  My mother and I sewed little blankets and upholstered furniture.  My sister didn’t really do much but make a mess (she was only 2 or so).  

The house was huge and covered nearly the entire the dining room table.  My dad wired it and somehow he made lights for the inside.  

When it was time for us to leave Australia, we were all heartbroken.  We gave the dollhouse to some friends of my parents and they promised they would finish it.   I think about that dollhouse all the time.  

1954 Riding on the Beach

 When I lived in Australia I went horseback riding at a stable that showed horses.  I remember watching Mona, my teacher there dipping her horse's tail into a bucket of olive oil to make it grow.  He was a beautiful bay horse.  

One of the best days of my life was when Mona , another girl, and I rode some of the horses from the stable to the show grounds.  It took all day.  We started out in the morning with our picnic lunches.  I rode one of the show horses, the other girl rode another, and Mona rode a third, leading a fourth.  We went down country rails and paths, and then we got to the beach.  That's where we stopped and ate our lunches, while the horses grazed.  Then we got back on and rode down the beach.  

I remember the sun being hot and the water being cold.  I remember feeling the horse's warm side beneath my legs and the mane slapping me in the face.  I was 7 and I knew I had just died and this was heaven.  To me the beach stretched out in front of my forever.  But it ended and we left the beach and headed into civilization and the real world again.  

That was one of the best moments of my life.  I was 7.   I absolutely loved Australia and never wanted to leave.

1954 Lifesaver

When we lived in Australia, we had a wonderful lady who was a housekeeper and babysitter.  Her name was Mrs. Timmons and she taught me how to eat oatmeal with chocolate milk on it.  She took care of us quite a bit.

I remember one day I was listening to the radio that sat on the floor of my parents’ bedroom, and was quite large, like a small trunk.  For some reason, I left the room and when I came back in, my 2-year-old sister was standing on the radio and Velvet, our Boxer, was barking at her.  

When I looked at her more closely, I realized she looked funny.  Her face was all swollen and she was swinging.  Then I saw she had a strange-looking necklace around her neck.  All of a sudden I realized that she was not standing on the radio anymore.  

Apparently she had stood on the radio and wrapped the cord of the blinds around her neck, and then wanting to show everyone her new necklace, she stepped off into nothing. 

I screamed and Mrs Timmons immediately came and ran back into the kitchen and got a knife.  I was scared so I went outside with Velvet, our Boxer, crying until Mrs Timmons came and got me.  Mother was outside at the time, and when she saw me, she ran into the house.  When I went back into the house she was there with Diddy on the floor.  Then they took her to the hospital and I stayed with Mrs Timmons.

They told me later I saved her life, but actually it was Velvet; he barked when he saw her swinging.  

1954 Yelambi Avenue, Yowie Bay, NSW, Australia

In Australia, we first lived in an apartment in Sydney.  We had some really nice neighbors.  But then, not long after we got Velvet, we moved to a wonderful house on Yalambi Avenue, in Yowie Bay, in the outskirts of Sydney.  I had to wear a uniform to school, it was navy blue.  I liked it though.  I would ride the bus but I had to walk to the bus stop.  

Our house was amazing.  It was at the bottom of a long driveway that wound around through the trees. My mother was terrified at first, driving down it.   In the back we had a patio and climbing up the hill behind the patio was a mass of plants and flowers.  Above the patio was a greenhouse filled with orchids.  Someone related to the owner of the house came and took care of them, and I rarely went inside.  Sometimes, though, I saw the caretaker and she would let me watch her water and pamper the flowers.  I never saw anything like them.  I actually didn’t like them very much, They seemed to fancy somehow, not like real flowers.  

Our house had a big lawn and then it dropped down to the water.  We had a pathway that led down to the pool, which was carved out of rock, and the tide filled and emptied the pool every day.  There was a rock wall and the water would flow through and over it and back out again.  My dad the engineer loved it.  

We had to be careful because creatures would wash in.  Usually, they were fish but one day we had a small shark in it.  We also had octopus.  My dad and I would sit on a rock above the pool and fish using drop lines.  We were pretty successful and often had our catch for dinner.  I remember once he caught an octopus and once he unraveled it from the line, he put it in a bucket of pool water with a board over it.  It stayed in there all afternoon, its tentacles wrapped around the board.  He eventually put it back in the bay.  

Every Saturday night, we had grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.  We would eat on the floor in the living room in front of the fire, like we were camping out.  Then I would like down with my head on Velvet,and listen to his heart beat.

Australia was absolutely wonderful.  It was one of the best times of my life.  I had a good friend, Elsa, and I rode horses a lot.  We had our wonderful dog, Velvet (“Bebby”) and I loved my school.  We had to wear a uniform, which was a long white shirt with a dark blue pleated outfit.    

I remember walking down that long driveway one day after school and realizing that I would be leaving soon.  I remember the empty feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I remember kicking a stone in anger and watching it roll down the driveway.  And I remember thinking “I love every stick and stone of this place”.  

Yowie Bay

Yowie Bay

1954 My 7th Birthday

On September 4, 1954, my 7th birthday, we were at the airport in Singapore on our way to Sydney, Australia.  

Singapore Airport 1954

Airport Restaurant

As we were picking up our luggage and checking in for the next part of the flight, the attendant asked me, as people do, “and how old are you?”  I proudly said that I was 7 and that today was my birthday.  “Well then”, he said, “let’s do something special” and he put me on the conveyer belt and told me to sit down.  

Baggage conveyor belt

I rode almost the length of the airport on that conveyor belt, with suitcases beside me and my mother hurrying along to keep up.  I never will forget that, one of the best birthday presents I have ever had.  Of course now it would be impossible for anything that wonderful to happen.

1954 Curry in Calcutta

In 1954, we moved to Australia.  We left New York and flew to London, where my dad had to meet with the London office of his company, Foster-Wheeler.   Then we flew to Sydney.  The trip lasted four days.  

We flew TWA in a Super Constellation (Super Connie), a 4-engine prop plane with a triple tail.  We even had sleeping compartments.  It was more like a train than a plane.

Calcutta Dum Dum Airport

 We landed in Calcutta and I remember eating at the 
airport restaurant.      
    
My mother ordered curry, and when it arrived, it looked like dirty dishwater.  My father said "Are you really going to eat that?".  My mother said "Yes, I am", and she did. 

She always said it was the best curry she had ever had.