Winter Weekend at home in Auckland

Enjoyed another Sunday in Auckland doing things downtown like going to the Central Library, then the Californian Design exhibition at the City Art Gallery with its Modernist examples of furniture, leisure clothing, pottery, weaving and art.

Filled in the rest of the afternoon by attending a free concert in the Town Hall of British music  performed by the Auckland Symphony Orchestra.  Music by Elgar, a couple of the Enigma Variations including Nimrod, my favourite, Holst, Benjamin Britain , Percy Grainger among others.  One soloist played a movement of the Grieg piano concerto in A  in a most virtuoso way, bringing a lot of pleasure to the audience.  

A hazelnut icecream from Giapo rounded off the afternoon nicely as well as a look in to Smith and Caughey's winter sale.  

Today wandered down town again on my way to the train station to go to the choir out at Glen Innes. Discovered a deli in O'Connell St. with the most delicious pies.  I sampled a spinach and fetta one with the lightest flaky pastry for my lunch , followed  by a Kapiti  fig and honey icecream.   Both were delicious.

Room with a View

We redeemed our night for two at the Amora Hotel in Greys Avenue last night . I won it at the Mothers Day Fun Run earlier in the year, a spot prize,  and as it was nice and handy to the gym and we were going out for a mid-winter lunch at AUT with the Never Too Old people it was the right time to do so. We were able to go to our room and get ready for the lunch later on and come back afterwards , go out for pizza in the evening, watch a bit of TV and enjoy our buffet breakfast in the morning. It was nice to have a touch of luxury though I had to twist D's arm as I just decided at 8 am and we had to be out the door an hour later with all our stuff for the day and night. In the end he quite enjoyed it too. I think!!


Came home after breakfast and bypassed lunch after the big breakfast. it was a beautiful day so spent some of it in the garden.  Sowed  some Jersey Bennes potatoes which I had forgotten I had, also the new tulip bulbs for this year and some from other years. The ground is hard and sodden for the most part but I found a few holes for them. Getting rid of the oxalis is hard. I don't think we ever will.

Waiheke

Escaped the big smoke for a dose of island sunshine which was very enjoyable.  Alternate weekends in Auckland are enough especially as we are out and about in Auckland all week anyway.  The visit this time was short and sweet seeing we weren't planning a voyage but when the weather was so sunny and balmy warm it seemed a very good idea.  Relaxed at the bach Saturday afternoon  and evening and went to Oneroa this morning, first to Mass at St Peter's where a Franciscan by the name of Father Bernie presided, if you use that word in this modern world of ours.  Probably not.  Anyway he was entertaining and told us all about how he worked as a lay missionary and a priest in the Pacific in earlier years as his response to the call we all have to preach the Gospel and spread the Good News. 

After that had a cup of tea in the foyer, bought a raffle ticket for a blender (if I win it I can replace my big heavy Kenwood cake mixer and blender with this less cumbersome number).  The Kenwood belonged to my Aunt Dorothy who always referred to equipment by its brand  eg the Frigidaire, the Hoover etc. 

She was a very good cake baker too and slices and biscuits of the healthful variety with plenty of dried fruit.  Puddings and pies were always good too . Gooseberry pie, raspberry pie, apple dumplings spring to mind.  

I also have her food processor which I use for making pastry and slicing the grapefruit for my chunky marmelade.  Brought back a bag full from Orewa on Friday so they will get sliced this week sometime.  

Wandered along Oneroa Beach in brilliant sunshine, enjoying the view and the sound of the waves breaking , then repaired to Solar, the cafe with the best muffins in town - feta, onion and spinach , and, cinnamon, date and blueberry (crammed full of blueberries too), accompanied by a latte in a tall glass.  Forgot to take a picture of it all before we had scoffed the lot.  Did take a picture out the window though, the one with the orange flowers.  

Childhoods

Went to a talk at the Silverdale Historical Society today at which one of the members spoke about her Jewish childhood in Germany. Ellen Rothschild was born in the late 1920s in Hildesheim into a well-to-do family.  

By the time she started school Hitler was already in power and soon everybody had to wear an armband on one arm with a yellow Star of David on it and on the other arm a band with a J for Jew on it.  People were told not to patronise Jewish businesses, then Jews were not allowed to be treated in public hospitals or have access to anaesthetics.  They wanted to take Ellen's tonsils out without anaesthetic but she kicked up such a fuss that the attempt was abandoned but a couple of years later she had her appendix taken out with only an injection.  

As a 10 year old she was evacuated to a host family in Budapest who were very kind to her but who couldn't speak any of the languages Ellen spoke but by chance she met a young girl who did and arranged for her family, also Jewish, to host Ellen for the few weeks she was in Budapest while her parents arranged emigration papers for the family to leave Germany.  It turned out the father of this family was Mayor of Budapest.

In November 1938 her father along with other Jewish men was rounded up at 2.30am and taken to the square where the synagogue was on fire.  The fire brigade came and in the guise of putting out the fire turned the hoses instead on the Jewish men forced to witness the horror of Kristallnacht in Hildesheim.  They were then taken  to Buchenwald.

Ellen's mother decided to take her to Frankfurt where her sister and husband and their two mothers were living.  They returned to Hildesheim to find their house full of other Jewish people made homeless after the Gestapo set fire to their houses.  

In 1939 Ellen's father was released from Buchenwald and they made their way to London where Ellen's uncle had been living for a few years.  Six weeks before war broke out the family sailed for Wellington on the Melbourne Star, a cargo ship with about 14 passengers . 

The family settled in Auckland where they lived  first in Papakura where they had a dairy which they left after being accused of being spies as it was near the Papakura Militqry Camp.  Ellen attended St Mary's College where she suffered more anti-semitism at the hands of one of the nuns! So she transferred to Epsom Girls to complete her secondary education. The family  moved to Hepburn St in Ponsonby where they ran the very successful  Busy Bee dairy which is still in Ponsonby to this day .

Her Aunt Gertrude , who had been an opera singer  came to NZ too with her young son after being released from Theresienstadt and taught the NZ opera singer Heather Begg.  Her son became a successful lawyer.

So a very sobering talk .  My mother came to New Zealand in 1939 as nanny to the children of an English couple, the wife of which was Jewish.  I spoke to Ellen over lunch but she didn't know them so they must have been on a different ship.  The Lillies and Mum settled in Wellington where they also experienced the odd anti-Semitic and anti-German sentiment.  

Dieter's childhood in the 1940s under Russian occupation in East Prussia was similarly fraught.  He was a sickly child and because he did not seem to be a very strong child and didn't want to go to school he went a few months later, five months before the Russians bombed their town of Willenberg .

They went from there to Ortelsburg from where they got a train going west.  All went well until they nearly got to Elbing and the train stopped and they were told the Russians had cut off their retreat and were in front of them. The train went  east again to Königsberg where they found accommodation  but then Königsberg was bombed  and Dieter's  mother, sisters and aunt went to the coast where they lived for nearly three years as refugees as East Prussia was no longer part of Germany.  The northern part was occupied by Russia, the southern by Poland.  

There was no schooling except a little in 1947 and by the time the family got to the west in 1948 Dieter was 10 and started school with 6 year olds.  The family was billeted in an old farm house , just a kitchen and a small room for 5 people.  They shifted to another house still very cramped with at least one other family.

My childhood was nowhere near as dramatic.  I grew up in St Clair , Dunedin.  We had a small villa at 21 Onslow St, which later became 26 Albert St, a couple of streets back from the beach where we tended to spend all summer.  My mother believed in enjoying life and we made the most of the beach in summer and had a crib in Queenstown where we went in winter for skiing holidays.  I started school at St Clair Primary school, then when Helen was five we both went to St Bernadette's a mile or so away by tram or foot in Forbury.  

Crown Lynn

Went to the launch of the new handy Crown Lynn book by Valerie Ringer Monk - Crown Lynn collector's handbook at the Women's Bookshop last night.  Bought a copy and got the author to sign it "Happy collecting"' she wrote!! Do feel inspired to collect a few more pieces.  I don't seem to have all that many at present, at least not all in the one place.  Just three pohutukawa dinner plates in the Kelston Ferrostone  Nirvana range, produced in the 1970s, the book tells me.  Oh and a couple of colour glaze cups and saucers languishing in the china cabinet.  And a  beehive mixing bowl. And a very old buff coloured chamber pot under the house. And a very old salt glaze bread crock that I use to hold umbrellas at the front door.  It belonged to good friend Eileen's family who lived in New Lynn in the 1950s and 60s.  So I do have quite a lot of Crown Lynn and more probably that I have forgotten I have.