A Zimbabwe winters day. Warm sun, cool gusts of wind, gloriously green garden, blue blue sky.....and a host of cherished memories.
A bittersweet morning, sitting cross legged on the study floor, perusing the family photo albums. There were piles of them!! A tad dusty, many of the triangular mounting corners had fallen off and some of the photos had faded into browns and blues.
Searching for photos of an amazing lady - Jenny Woodgush, Bulawayo born, daughter of Vin and Ena Edmunds, niece of that lovable, colourful lady Aunty Paddy. Jenny sadly died last week in Perth, after a most gracious struggle against all odds.
Jenny's untimely death led me on an emotional yet strangely peaceful meander down memory lane. Fifty years of knowing Jenny and Marcus, even with an ocean between us, could not stifle the strong bonds of friendship that bound us together.
HeeHoo found the exact photo I was looking for, Jenny standing against those inimitable 'immense and brooding' kopjes which she knew well from her childhood. Taken on her last visit to Bulawayo twenty years ago, the idyllic peace and majesty of the Matopos totally encompassed this beautiful and serene lady.
The 'sweet' part of my morning was coming across wonderful memories in those ancient photo albums. Of course they ended with the birth of iPhoto when all of one's memories are encompassed digitally..
Friends and family all over the world were bombarded with ancient but precious memories via email, I would photograph the photo and then carefully put it back in the correct place.
Of course I made many resolutions, (with HeeHoos progressive prompting of course) 'Lets digitalise all of these ' Well my thoughts were just the opposite..'Lets go through iPhoto and print them and make more albums '
But back to Jenny......somehow a phrase from Proverbs always comes to mind when needed.
My Dearest Jenny Woodgush 'Her ways were ways of gentleness and all her paths were peace.'