It only becomes obvious when the little girls come home for the
summer holidays.....
The rest of the year I am secure in the belief that a) There is
something wrong with my mirror and b) that my clothes shrink in the
wash AND C) that we have strong moral values in our home !!
But when the Little Girls come home - the TRUTH EMERGES !!
It is the festooning of the bathroom that really gets to me. Our
staunch Catholic family traditions are being horribly eroded by our
underwear.
I can cope with the shoes sizes, we are all identical - a perfect
English Size 4. I can cope with the bra sizes, we are all virtually
identical apart from a few gravity problems and under-wiring needed
in the matriarch, but the broekies in the bathroom make me want to
rush off to confession - literally....
Now most Zimbabwean mothers from the olden days were known to give
broekie washing lessons to their offspring and at age three, my
Little Girls were to be found perched on the wee little stool that
grandpa made, leaning over the basin carefully washing their broekies
every evening before bath-time.
These days I am pretty sure the little darlings toss theirs into the
washing machine and tumble dryer when they are away from Mother's
eagle eye, but they dutifully wash them at home and hence the
festoonation of the bathroom which makes father duck and cluck and
makes me cringe.
The reason being those awful things called "thongs" !!
Now in my day - a broekie was a broekie.
Good quality cotton was imperative, anything else was unhygienic, and
of course , they always had to keep the kidneys warm to ward off the
common cold !!
Now, I ask you, what good does a thong do medically, physically, and
mentally ?
Mother would always insist that our underwear was in pristine
condition "just in case we got knocked down by a car". Any errant
piece of lace (modest in size and of course beige or white ONLY ) was
immediately and carefully hand stitched.
And trust me those bloomers lasted an awful long time so we probably
only had a few pairs.
Nowadays thanks to Victoria's secret, the Little Girls' broekie
drawers are overflowing, mind you they are so minuscular (the
broekies I mean) you could probably get a hundred of them into the
family chest of drawers that used to take half a dozen. !!
In my day there was etiquette in a pair of knickers - our revered
headmistress (we were at an all girls' school) would insist on
impromptu broekie inspection, and woe betide anyone who was wearing
anything but the regulation wooly brown pantaloon that took a full
yard of fabric to make. Anyone found in something a little more
risqué was branded as a strumpet and outcast for days on end !!
Now being of the old school, I have always been of the beige, cotton,
full-cut broekie set......
But my strumpet daughters wear ( blush) all manner of unladylike
undergarments. All induced by the High Priestess of the Pert Bottom -
Kylie Mynogue no doubt !!
Unmentionables like tangas, g strings, thongs in all sorts of garish
colours like red and lime and even (shudder) black !! Festooned with
slogans and even shriek (lace that is not beige )!!
What is the world coming too I shudder to think.......
Elaine Meadon-Kendrick: from all those pupils who went through her
patient, expert remedial care.
She will always be remembered with love, admiration, and thanks.
MHDSRIP. The Slooten family, Napier,NZ .
Elaine Meaden Kendrick.
A woman who transformed the lives of the young.
Elaine was not an easy person to work with!
Few saints ever are
One of the problems of the modern world is the perception of the
saintly life which is seen through a lens which paints pictures of
pretty holy men and women of God in lurid technicolour. The kitchy
and wimpish portraits on cards sold by the millions in the Christian
world.
Real saints are very different people .....they are tough, rugged,
ruthless and single minded. They have pledged themselves to a mission
in this world by using their God given talents to reach a glorious
eternity in the next.
Elaine was one of this remarkable and dedicated band.
The rule which governed her life is set out clearly in the Gospel of
Matthew 18.1-14 and 25. 31-46. Read The Book for the insight that it
gives into the working of her soul. But verses like this sum things
up, "I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to the least of
my brothers of mine , you did it to me." And, " See that you never
dispise any of these little ones , for I tell you that their angels
in Heaven are continually in the presence of my Father...". And
again, " It is never the will of your Father that any one of these
little ones should be lost."
Yes Elaine was the shepherdess who would go out always to rescue that
one lost sheep. The child lost in the educational wilderness of
dyslexia, attention deficit and hyyperactivity. Back in the flock the
wounds from loss of self esteem she treated and healed and young
people became whole again.
But woe betide anyone who obstructed the rescue mission. She fell on
them like a panther from a tree and visited on the callous and the
uncaring a mauling that few would forget.
I saw Elaine from two perspectives, as a professional colleague and
as a client parent. That is how this portrait comes to you and it
does not pretend in any way to be a history of her life.
Like her brother George she was first and foremost a language expert
and her deep insights into the working of the English Language gave
her the skills to remedy the numerous impairments found amongst the
young and their effective use of the medium. The manufacture of new
apparatus, as she called it, to deal with newly diagnosed
dysfunctions was an on-going process and one to which she brought
astounding creativity. Her armoury was made up of cupboard upon
cupboard of apparatus. If a weapon did not exist to combat a problem
she invented one.
I brought my son to her for healing. His dyslexia, under achievement
and lack of self esteem had brought him to crisis point. She healed
him and made him whole and able to realise his own potential and use
his talents. Today he is a surgeon
Her round room at Palmer House today brings to mind something out of
Harry Potter and Hogwarts. The ever present music, her familiars be
they dogs ...in the early years Prudy the mastiff and later the sleek
and somnolent cats, the old world trinkets and ornaments and the many
cupboards filled with fascinating boxes
There was something very Franciscan about the passions of her life.
There was always music but nothing to immediately appeal to and
distract her young clients. The last thing that she would ever do
would be to condescend. One heard more often than not iBach or Mozart
or her great favourite Mahler. There were always animals and during
her last years at the College her many pampered stray cats. The
adopted were forcibly and swiftly neutered because celibacy was the
rule of the house. For their sacrifice they were rewarded with
endless saucers of milk and kapenta. At one stage she took the crow
population of Bulawayo under her wing so to speak. Her early morning
feedings filled the skies with black wings and raucous caws. Palmer
House was threatened with burial under guano. Peter Mundy rescued the
College and gave her a serious talk about the filthy diseases of her
new friends and if she did not desist in her work of avian mercy her
would bring in a vermin control office with a shot gun to avert a
potential plague. The crows left soon after and Elaine sulked for a
short while.
She was a great plantswoman and had a wonderful horticultural
collection at home which she generously shared with the College and
lovely things would appear in the beds outside her door.
These were the things which made her so very special but I do not
mourn now but give great praise to Him who made her.. I rejoice that
now she is a free spirit again...freed from the cold and cruel prison
of Alzheimers.
Ian McCausland.
ALEX NISBET
Passed away midnight July 23/24, 2005.
Alex was a great gentleman, wonderful friend, genuine golfer etc - a
man of many facets!
He was "my favourite toy-boy" - but all the ladies wanted him as
their favourite too! So, I became "senior chooser for toyboy" and we
giggled like schoolgirls over the choosing. Alex was always "boy-of-
honour" at all our girls/ladies evenings amidst much hilarity, fun
and friendship. But, would sometimes 'put me in my place or tell me
off , too'. He was one of Pete's best friends - a man to confide in,
talk cuq to, laugh together or just share space with. And, of course
- watch, talk and play golf! He lived with us for some time and was
much adored by our dogs and cats, tho not always with his approval.
My Mum loved challenging him at Scrabble and they both enjoyed awful
"skit & donner" movies with much delight whilst my Dad enjoyed many
conversations with him about their younger days in the insurance
business in various places. Daughter, Rach, had already submitted her
application to adopt him as a future toy-boy and son, Shon & his
future wife & family had invited him to Ireland as had my family to
Wales!Alex enjoyed most sports - if only the social side or watching
on TV sometimes - but especially golf. With a long and very
honourable history of office-bearing at numerous (and some very
elite) clubs in various places over the years, he continued to
support golf locally and particularly at his home-club, Hornung Park,
even after he could no longer play.Above all, Alex was a much beloved
father and grandfather. He was "gramps" to a couple of generations
and friend to many. Far from perfect - thank heavens; that's why
he'll remain so very special to so many people!
FRIDAY 29/7 - KARIBA : A family service will be held at Alex's
favourite spot on the veranda at the Nisbet Home.
A memorial will be held at Horning Park on Sunday 7th August. Further
details in Morning Mirror and at Hornung Park Club.
(Pete & Ro Harrison. Tel. 242685/091 301013)
Please would you be so kind as to place a notice in the Morning
Mirror for us under condolences for MRS BERYL MUNRO passed away
peacefully on the 31st July, 2005. May her dear soul rest in peace.
RAY AND LOUISE
It is with the deepest sympathy that the Nisbet family advise of the
passing of Alexander Nisbet on Sunday 24 July 2005. You will be
greatly missed both as a father and a grandfather. Rest in peace
Gramps.
"Courage is the finest of human qualities
because it guarantees all the others."
- Winston Churchill -
He didn't like the casserole
And he didn't like my cake.
My biscuits were too hard...
Not like his mother used to make.
I didn't perk the coffee right
He didn't like the stew,
I didn't mend his socks
The way his mother used to do.
I pondered for an answer
I was looking for a clue.
Then I turned around and smacked him...
Like his Mother used to do.
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