CARDS AND BOOKS

Miriam's Daffodils

I recently asked Graeme McKinstry at McK Design to make cards of one of Miriam's paintings.   They have turned out well. 'Daffodils' is a screen print she painted in 1990 and it is such a joyous and colourful painting where daffodils dance and glance round corners.  Where pink and green reflect the spring colours.  I'm still grateful to Ed Higbee to have taken professional photos of the paintings we used in The Madonna in the Suitcase.

An earlier version of Daffodils

This version is in The Madonna in the Suitcase: Daffodils - p.88

 

 I love spring time, the abundance of colours in our garden, along the streets and in parks. I tried to read in the garden the other day but my eyes were totally captivated by colours and perfume, trilliums deep-red as well as creamy white, camellia bushes with soft flowers, and the bright red rhododendron.  Deep-blue gentians in a tufa pot, one tiny plant given to me more than fifteen years ago by an elderly neighbour.

Mrs Evans' gentians

 And the birds: in winter we had silver eyes, tui and bell birds drinking sugar water on our balcony. Now blackbirds try to build nests, screeching when a cat appears.

Tui in autumn.

 Talking about reading: We are lucky here in Dunedin to have several libraries. The Dunedin Public Library with its amazingly helpful staff and fantastic selection of books, art work, dvds, cds. And, of course there is the Book Bus going to suburbs.  There are the University of Otago libraries (I only go to the Central Library) and then there's the Knox College Library, where Miriam did some voluntary work before she had the stroke. She sorted out cards, stuck labels on books and did photocopying. The staff at the time loved her company and she was made to feel very welcome there.

 As I'm writing this I am reminded of my childhood. I grew up in a small village in the eastern part of Holland, a rural area where small farms dotted the surrounding countryside. Not only farms but only seven km away you could (and still can) take a bike tour of eight castles in the area near Vorden.*  The grandparents of one of my classmates had a castle there and Henk organised for the class to play in the grounds.  Some things we never forget.

 I can't forget either that  we played in the fields after school, in autumn picking cold raw turnips that were grown for cattle fodder. In summer we swam in the river Berkel, and in winter we skated there. But books played a big part in my life and as a child going to our local library was a 'weekly counting-the-sleeps' time. After the war the door of the room were the books were stored opened only once a week on a Friday night from 6-7 pm. It was difficult to choose from all those treasures because we were allowed to take only TWO books out for the week. Clutching them to my chest I went home, skipping with joy, and later started to read, finishing both books usually by midnight. In my family only newspapers were read and whenever I was reading I was often told: go and do something useful rather than waste time by reading! We can't change what happened but I still remember with fondness taking the children to the Children's Library, going up the stairs in Stuart Street. We never worried when there was a rainy days during the school holidays when as a family we'd all sit and read. We've had to accept many advances in modern communication but there's nothing like browsing in a library. Says she, having just put 'The Madonna in the Suitcase' on Amazon! Yes, it's now available for a Kindle or any other such device.


 
* My sister Lydia and her husband Wim now live in Vorden, another attractive village in a rural area.  It's thanks to Lydia's love and constancy that I am kept informed about exciting musical and other events being shown on European television.  Thanks heaps, Sis!!   Even after living 52 years in New Zealand, I haven't forgotten how beautiful Holland is.

I thought I'll close this blog with another painting by Miriam which was made into cards as well.  She made these dancing flowers for Foster and Frances when they were living in Brisbane in the early nineties.

Dancing Flowers, p. 103