Letters to Ann

It’s very fitting that the last Letter to Ann was about her two sons: Les Perkins and myself. It was because of our friendship that Dawn was introduced to Ann, and started writing letters to her in the latter stage of Ann Perkins’ life. When Ann passed Dawn continued to write and these letters are the result.

As you might infer, this is Philip writing as Dawn passed from this world on Nov 30, 2018 (Australian time). She had an interesting, varied and very successful life and was healthy until this last year.

Eight years ago she contemplated what she would write in her last letter and this is what she wrote in 2010, well ahead of when it was appropriate.

Dear Ann,

At some point today this thought entered my head.  If someone told me I had a limited time to live what would I want to do.  You may think it a negative thought, but to me it was a wake up call & I stopped to really think.

As you get older & particularly if you are on your own, & also because we never know what tomorrow may bring, you think of a lot of things you otherwise would not think of. For instance, when you are young, you are never going to be old & on your own are you?  Somehow it happens though!

Now I thought I had everything in order, but giving it more thought I realised there are so many things I probably would want to say or do which I have not said or done yet.  I like to be very organised but really & truly thinking about it gave me a bit of a jolt as I realised there are lots of things I am going to do but have not done yet.

There is a saying ‘Do it Now’.  I didn’t make any New Year Resolutions early this year, but I have made one today, I must do the things I have been putting off until tomorrow.

So, for instance, if this was going to be my last letter to you, I would want to iterate some of the people & highlights in my life.

I would have to start with my Gran (Hannah) & my Mum who were the first people I knew, lived with,  & with whom I started the first two years of my life. Therefore the first two people I learnt to love.

Then there was Grandfather George (DadDad I called him from when I started to talk) & later my Dad when I was two years old. Although my parents were married, the ‘powers that reigned at that time’ decreed that they would not live together for the first two years as they were so young.

Therefore the magistrate or whoever he was at that time, deprived me of my father for the first two years of my life so Dad was across the sea during that time. These two men became the next two people I loved.

Then over ensuing years I had many people to love. I was always thankful to my Mum & Dad, Dulcie & Charley, for giving me my sisters & brothers in Joice, Kim, Trixie, Jill, & Peter.  Dad named them all except me, I was  born at Dawn so my Mum named me after the beginning of every new day, so every day you have reason to remember me!

Then later Dulcie & my step father, Len, who gave us Leon & Cheryl.  How blessed was I to have this family. As time went on to have our extended family, our in-laws (or outlaws) in Jan, John, David, Bob, Glen, Beth, Peter. Then  through circumstances later in life, John who received the OBE!

We have all been very close to each other & as chance would have it, continue to enjoy this closeness through our family reunions that commenced in the nineteen eighties. Ever since then we have met every four years to be together.

Our love  was extended to twenty grandchildren, their spouses & thirty great grand children. This would have been the count as I write this today (29/1/2010)  had Dulcie & Charley still been with us.  What a legacy they left behind.

These reunions of ours are very special to all of us. The children & children’s children & all of their spouses travel from wherever they live in Australia (and beyond) to be at these gatherings of ours in Tasmania.  It’s a rather large get together & we have been known to take over the Burnie park.

So of course I am talking about all my nephews, nieces. grand ones as well, & there is not one of them who do not have a special place in my heart because, for no other reason, they are my family.

Max & I only contributed in a small way to this great family of ours by having our two sons who produced two daughters, we were  very ‘small time’ producers.  We would never have been great in the film production industry!

There is always two sides to the fence & from the time I learnt I had two more grandparents in Harriet & Edward. I had many more people to love because they had twelve children.

There is an old hymn that said “Count your many blessings, count them one by one,” but if I went on to put them all down I would run out of paper.

There I was with only one Uncle & in-law Aunt on one side of the family, namely Tom & Lillian, & twelve on the other side of the family. As a young girl I thought all my Aunties & Uncles were very old, but I realised  as I got older they were quite young!  How one does change with age & wisdom!

Although I was not as close to some as I was to others, they were all important to me, as are their children, particularly the cousins with  whom I had the good fortune to know & spend a lot of time with. As I write this I have been thinking how fortunate I have been in having this large family of mine in my life, I would not have traded it for the world.

Talking about the world, it is a big place & apart from family, I guess the highlights as far as the world was concerned, was traveling to so many different part of the planet.

Another highlight was the business of Tupperware who were the instigators in our traveling.  Max & I had great memories of months spent overseas over a span of twenty years, having a wonderful time, experiencing a lot & making life long friends.

Nor would I have traded my good friends in life, whether in far off countries on the other side of the world or close to home.  I have often mentioned to you how blessed you are if you can count the number of real true friends on the fingers of one hand.

I feel I need the fingers on both hands as my Mother always said ‘a true friend is one who knows the best & worst of you & loves you just the same.’  I think this has to be right: not one of us is perfect, so the good has to be taken with the ba,d but the love & respect remains from a true friend.

You know you are my friend & have been since the time we got to know each other & spent time together.  I don’t have to say to you, “I love you” because you already know that, but I do say it just the same because I want to say it to you. Every time I say it I say it is with truth.

Should this, by any chance or reason, be my last letter to you, the other thing I would want to say is that I have so much enjoyed writing to you.

You filled a gap in my life, when I had no one else to talk to at home here at the end of the day.  I had you to talk to & for that I thank you, so very very much.  I can never tell you how much this has meant to me as well as your friendship.  You have been special in my life & I want you to know that.

God Bless you always & I love you.

Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

I wonder if you ever really knew what it meant to me to have you as one of my treasured friends. I think perhaps that our sons realised it more than we did. So often I look back on our meeting, what transpired & how our friendship began.

It was all through your son, Les, holding his film nights in his home on the first Saturday in every month. I was privileged to attend these events & you would be sitting in the best seat in the house & what a gorgeous seat it was. I so wished now I could produce a photo of you sitting there, so elegant & every inch a lady. I admired you as I sat back in my seat with Philip & Greg waiting for the film to begin.

The table of snacks.

That was after we dined in Les’ kitchen on all the delicacies that the guests brought along, including my famous Roasted Almond Slices which I swear introduced me to many friends around that dining table. I think that’s how I got to know them all.

It all brings back memories as someone would taste one & then I would get to know that person. All those people there, were & are, such lovely people to know & I am so looking forward to seeing them again. I will not die happy unless I see them all again in that venue with Les popping the popcorn, which was an indication that it was time to take our seats & let the party begin.

And what a great show your son would have prepared for us & you would be sitting in that special chair while we all looked upon you as the Queen Mother!

I didn’t get to know you very much for the first few film nights until Philip & Greg relocated from Woodland Hills t0 Burbank & I needed a hair dresser in that area. Philip & Greg mentioned to me a hairdresser just down the road from their apartment, Richard by name & suggested that I call in there also telling me they thought he was also your hairdresser.

I will never forget walking into that salon & asking for a hairdo. Richard was charming & the deed was done. He was a bit different to anyone I had ever met before, a very casual layback kind of guy.

In the course of Richard standing over me while my head was laying back in a basin being shapmpooed & I looked up to Richard & said “I think I know someone you know & mentioned you name.” He stopped dead in his tracks with his hand lathered in shampoo just above my eyeballs as I laid there helpless hoping the suds wouldn’t drop in my direction as he said “You mean Ann, her son has film nights in his home”?

I thought I had better tell him very smartly he was on the right track so that he would get on with the job & stop holding those shampoo suds just above my sensitive eyes!

Well then dear Richard concocted what we would do next day. The plot was that Ann came every Wednesday afternoon at three o’clock to have her hair set. I was to casually walk in, not knowing you where there & what a surprise we would all get!

Well, it did happen just like that didn’t it? You looked up at me saying so surprised ” We were just talking about you.” “Really, what a coincidence” I said! You never did know that was all planned

After all the hairdos were completed with every hair in place Richard suggested we should have afternoon tea at the Burbank Bakery, two doors up & what was to become a loving friendship was born. Little did our two sons know that not only one, but two very strong friendships were formed that day between Ann, Dawn & Richard.

Philip & Les I think got to know each other soon after Philip & Greg moved to America. It didn’t take long for one genius got to know another. They love technology & both are recognised in their chosen field.It was not outside the realms of possibility that they would become good friends. Technology has many facets which I don’t understand, but each operating in different areas & which seems to compliment each other & so it was with our two sons.

I remember well reading my 80th birthday card from Les, when celebrating the occasion in Burbank, LA & part of it said “And thank you for giving your son Philip to us.” I felt a lot of pride in my son at that moment &, of course many moments since.

Marlon, Les and Dawn at Dawn’s Burbank 80th party.

This whole letter is to tell you about how our two sons got together & did something for me which was not important to them. It was a trivial matter really but meant a great deal to me.

I told you recently how Philip & three of his friends spent a lot of energy & time in recording the hymn/song “Mary’s Boy Child’ in our home & made a tape. Philip playing on the organ, Bob on the guitar, Denise singing & David doing the electronic part of recording. It was a very special time on our home & I was privy to all of this going on which took many hours & weeks of perfecting it.

I had the finished tape which was made & I listened to it so much that I wore it out. It snapped and couldn’t be played. I was really saddened by this.

A few years ago, recognising that my son was a genius I took it over to LA asking if it could be restored. I sort of knew I was asking for the impossible, gave it to Philip with a hope that it could be miraculously made good again. I couldn’t really see that happening & over time forgot about it until I wrote to you about it recently.

Philip got to read the letter & emailed me saying that he hadn’t realised how much it meant to me, but that he had got some friend of his to do some work on it as a very special favour which ended up as a Christmas gift from him to Philip. Apparently it was a very big job & that took place some years ago.

Philip put it on YouTube & thought he had put it on my computer for me. Whether he did or did not, I never knew & it was a surprise to him that I wasn’t aware of it.

Philip is not one to leave so serious a matter there, so my son contacted your son knowing that he could make the impossible happen. Les did & I have an email from your son today which read that he had done the impossible & telling me how to listen to it from my computer. Philip also emailed me to tell me what had been accomplished; All is well again.

I know this is not important in the great scheme of things but it is very important to me as it is one of the loveliest memories of my life at Christine Close. Les had emailed me to say he was working on it & in the meantime sent to my computer a rendition of the hymn by Harry Belefonte.

That was really beautiful too & I loved it but tonight I listened to Mary’s Boy Child it as it was from our previous home. I could see Philip as he sat playing the organ, Bob playing the guitar as he sat on the sofa, Denise in the gold arm chair singing like an angel while David did all the important work. It certainly touches my heart strings. Technology is a miracle!

Our sons will never know how much I appreciate the work they have done for me to listen to Mary’s Boy Child again tonight & for a long time to come.

Love you always. Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

I love Tuesdays as I have no commitments on that day & I can have a good sleep in if I feel like it. This is what I was looking forward to after the busy weekend at the Farmers Market & the drama with my flat tyre.

When I woke I could see it was a lovely day outside as the sun was trying to peep through the curtains, but I let my body relax in bed for another hour or so, as I felt I needed it. Dr. deMello, at the Akasha Clinic Philip took me to three years ago in LA, taught me well when he told me your body tells you things & you must learn to listen to what it is saying.

I have learnt to do this. I often just sit in my lounge chair & have a cat nap if I feel I need it, which is something I could never do when I was younger. I benefit from this greatly: acquaintances & friends continually tell me how well I look.

Charley was coming out on that particular Tuesday to make a supply of her mango chutney, but phoned to say something had cropped up & she wasn’t able to make it. In view of this I stayed in my comfy bed & didn’t get up until mid morning.

I had a very lazy morning until it came time for me to go up to Micheles for my lunch.

I inherited an awkward garage when moving to Lakelands & my only complaint would be that the garage is too small. It took me some practice to reverse out so that I don’t hit any walls; miss the garden bed; reverse up the rather steep driveway; & avoid hitting the metal fence at the top. There is not much room for failure either driving in or driving out.

I can’t have passengers in the car until I am out in the open. Likewise my shopping has to be placed on the driver’s side of the car to have easy access to it when I drive in.

When we moved here I planted about thirty shrubs around the garden. Over the years this grew to be a nice high hedge around the side & top of the garden facing the road. I liked the hedge, which gave a lot of privacy. During our very hot summer some garden bug attacked the hedge, which made it look very scraggy.

My gardener John & I conversed about this, deciding it would be advantageous to cut it all down to hip level & let it sprout up again good & healthy. I certainly miss my hedge, but feel it will be a good thing in the long run.

Quite often when reversing out of the garage I have turned the car a little too soon & driven up on the concrete ledge bordering the hedge, which has meant that sometimes I scraped greenery along the side of the car. I better add that I didn’t scratch the car in doing this as I would soft pedal.

On this particular Tuesday morning & feeling a little lazy I reversed onto the concrete ledge but with no hedge there I just put my foot down on the accelerator & reversed quickly up the drive. I heard a small scraping noise & when I stepped out of the car, to my sheer horror my car was okay, but completely without the front bumper bar!

I got such a shock & a lass walking down the drive also. We both stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds. On inspection the bumper bar had just the slightest bit of the corner around the stump of what was left of the hedge.

It was the straw that broke the camel’s back after my Sunday episode with the flat tyre & I was very close to tears.

The lass kindly picked it up & put it out of the way while I went inside to phone David. I knew he would not be pleased as he loves vehicles. To damage a vehicle does not in any way endear a Mother to her son!

When I told him what I had done the response was exactly what I expected. It went like this, “David I have just pulled the bumper bar off the front of my car.” I think his teeth were gritted when he replied very promptly to say, “Well then you had better take it to the smash repairs, hadn’t you?”

On occasions like this it isn’t the best time to remind him of all the smashes & cars written off during his teenage years! I felt bad enough as I loved this car as much as I loved the previous one.

I drove it a few streets away (near my home) to Williams Smash Repairs who know me well as being Newcastle’s Pudding Lady. David told me to ask for Kyle & tell him it would be a cash job.

After not having any financial problems two days prior with a flat tyre & broken electronic key ring I thought it was rather ironic that this should have happened. Kyle & Jackie (receptionist) saw me drive in & they were goodness itself, couldn’t do enough for me. Kyle told me I couldn’t drive it. Not because it wasn’t drivable, but because I could be pulled over by the police & charged for driving a vehicle which could harm a pedestrian if hit. Kyle said he was speaking from experience so I left the car with them.

They were in touch with David as he & Kyle & good friends. Both of them could not have helped me more. It was thought that it would be about a week for me to be without my vehicle & goodness knows how much it was going to cost me as Kyle didn’t inform me of the quote for the job.

God Bless him he used what he could of the bumper bar & to save time went & collected the parts himself rather than wait for them to be delivered. They did the job, calling me the very next day with it all complete & looking like nothing had happened to it. They also did the repairs at a much lesser cost than was usual.

I was so deeply grateful not only for this, but for their friendliness & kindness in doing the job so quickly. As they are very much aware of how good my Christmas puddings are, & certainly they were mentioned when I first arrived on their doorstep, the least I could do was to take one of each of the puddings around to them for morning tea or whatever they wanted to use them for.

They were happy to receive the cash payment with a bonus gift as well & I was more than grateful to have my car back so quickly.

It’s no wonder I thank my Maker for all my Blessings every night.

God Bless & Fondest Love. Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

After all my trouble with the car & everything that transpired on Sunday I had only one thing in mind on Monday morning & that was for a relaxed lunch with my long time friends, Judy & Pat. Ever since I was released from hospital three years ago, Judy, Pat & I have had a standard date to meet at Micheles Patisserie at 11.30 a.m. for lunch every Monday. Then we stay on for afternoon tea.

Even though Pat hadn’t been able to be with us for the past month, I was looking forward to being with Judy a little more than usual as its good to have friends to share things with. I don’t mean just negative things, but also the every day happenings & definitely all the good things.

The reason Pat couldn’t be with us recently is rather tragic. Four weeks ago I arrived at our venue when the staff informed me that Pat had been there moments before. She was ordering her lunch when they received an urgent phone call to inform Pat she was needed at home because her house was on fire.

Her husband, Colin, had delivered her there as usual & then gone on to a hardware store to purchase something & thankfully took their beloved dog with him.

Sue, Rachelle’s Mum, drove Pat home & stayed with her. The house was certainly well alight. The fire brigade & police were already there, as some one in the street had called them. Colin was also back there.

Judy, Dawn and Pat at a happier time – Dawn’s 88th Birthday.

Apparently, Colin had been welding in his workshop & a spark must have ignited. Someone managed to get the caravan out which was good as they loved their caravan & often went away camping.

It was a very sad morning & Judy & I could do nothing. Sue came back & said Pat had been trembling like a leaf when she took her home. Of course that did not get any better as reality set in.

The only thing left to Pat & Colin were the clothes they were wearing. It takes a few days for the loss to sink in. Judy & I tried everything to get in touch with her but to no avail.

We couldn’t raise any of the family by phone & the only contact I have had with Pat was three days after the fire when I went to my hairdresser in Boolaroo, an adjoining suburb. I have been getting my hair done there for over a decade at 10 a.m. every Thursday.

I happened to arrive there as Pat was leaving. She looked shocking and all I could do was put my arm around her & give her a hug. Even though she did not look good she was dressed nicely as family had taken them to buy some new clothes.

We would have no idea of what it must be like to lose everything you have in a home fire. Max & I had our Tupperware warehouse burned to the ground many years ago. Although it is a shock & a great loss it’s not personal.

The tragedies of fires, floods & thefts happen. It’s not easy to overcome the losses, paricularly when you are in your eighties. It’s not the time you want to be starting all over again.

I remember nearly two decades ago when we had our massive robbery & I lost so much that I treasured. A friend, David, had been doing jobs for me on the outside of the house for quite a long time & helped me as I felt that I would never get over it.

A few days after the robbery he sat with me on the front steps of our home & said something I will never forget & which helped me heal. He said ” Dawn you have to get over this, it’s sad to lose it all but it is only material possessions, no one has lost their life & that’s what you need to think of.”

Those words helped me tremendously as it’s true, nothing is as sad as losing loved ones.

Pat & Colin are not spring chickens anymore, Pat will be 82 in just over a week & Colin almost 86. I heard through my hairdresser, who is her daughter in law’s best friend, that Pat & Colin have been able to move into a rented home, which is much better than living in their caravan!

A month had transpired since Pat has joined Judy & I & both of us were hoping she would turn up that Monday morning, but it didn’t happen. We have had no word from her, which is a bit strange.

We sat through our lunch discussing what we could do for her birthday & foregoing afternoon teas. We didn’t feel like it which is the only time ever. The truth is we are very much missing our friend, Pat.

And we both know what that is like. Love you & God Bless, Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

After deciding to give wicked Wickham a miss & opting for the Farmers Market, we returned to Beaumont St, Hamilton where my car was parked.

This street is the main street in this very popular suburb, but my car was facing the wrong way for me to go home & I was a little out of my comfort zone. So before Charley left me she decided to turn the car around so that it was facing towards home & aware of my woeful sense of direction drove into a side street to do so.

She was looking after me as she always does but in turning the car in a confined space, hit the kerb with a bit of force which I think we have all done from time to time. She soon straightened up & all was good (we thought) as she hastily said goodbye so that we wouldn’t hold the traffic up.

I was feeling good as I took the wheel & drove off. Well for a few seconds I was feeling good but as the car took off I knew something was radically wrong. I started to pray that I could get home okay.

Aware that with my new car I was not linked with a road side service, all kind of things were going through my mind as I limped down Beaumont St. I turned a corner & stopped at a quieter spot which was outside a hire car service & that turned out to be a blessing.

When I pulled up to have a look I hadn’t even turned the engine off & was viewing a flatter than flat front tyre. This only took seconds & I heard a male voice behind me saying “Flat tyre eh”.

The voice must have seen my dilemma before I did & had pulled in his car behind me. As he started to take all of my market gear out of the car (gazebo, stock, table, chairs etc) to put on the footpath he suggested I turn the engine off & put the hand brake on before he started on his good samaritan deed.

I could have truly hugged him. He had ascertained that I had no road side service to call ,which I was dying inside about, wondering how many hundreds of dollars I was going to have to pay if I needed to call a tow truck to get me home.

This became so much worse as: a) as I turned the engine off & the electronic key ring fell into pieces as I pulled it out of the dashboard. I only had one key & was aware to get a new one costs some hundreds of dollars.

b) By this time Mark, my saviour, had realised the wheel jack that I inherited with the car was damaged & he couldn’t get the ruined tyre off to put the new one on. To add to the misery it was a really hot day that does nothing to help sheer frustration.

Mark’s little boy of about 4 years old was watching his Daddy & asking lots of questions about the procedure. Mark said for him to ask his Mummy if she would go home & get him a clean shirt as the one he was wearing was wet through with sweat.

So it looked like I was going to have to get a tow truck, but then Mark decided to go into the car rental business to see if he could get some help. The good man running that business, Paul, kindly lent him a wheel jack. Finally the tyre was changed & everything back in the boot of the car.

However, the key falling apart was a problem. The key was still in the ignition, the electronic part was still in pieces wrapped up in my hankie.

It didn’t take long for Mark to realise that without the key being attached to the elecronics the car wouldn’t go, so Mark put it all together again without success. After all that he thought it really would be necessary to get a tow truck.

Before he left me he took me in to meet Paul so he could ring the two truck service & also to return the wheel brace he had lent us. With that, Paul showed Mark where he could have a wash up & put his clean shirt on.  Mark & his family who were waiting patiently for him in the car, had been on their way to the Farmers Market. I certainly thanked Paul profusely, but my worries were still not over,

Paul was a very nice man also & suggested that before he called the tow truck service he would have another try with my key ring & went out to the car.

Came back & wonder of wonders, he had the car running. He then taped it up securely so that it stayed together.

I had no further trouble, but this still needed expert help. I vowed I would go to any lengths to get a second car key! Now all I had to do was get in the car & drive home.

Fate had other things in mind. I keep forgetting to tell people who deal with my car not to pull the hand brake on too hard, as there is no way I can release it.  This has happened a few times & I have had to ask a passer by to release it for me.

It had happened again & I had to go back to see Paul & ask him to do the honours!

As I drove off he looked at me very sincerely as he said “And you look after yourself”!!

You have no idea as I drove off how grateful I was with these two very good samaritans, particularly Mark. I had talked to Mark’s wife in the car & had given her a large bottle of relish, which is all I had with me to give. She said Mark would be delighted with it as he loves relish.

When I asked for their name & address Marks wife said he would not expect anything as he was only too happy to have been a help. I asked if she had heard of Newcastle’s Pudding Lady. Indeed she had, so I said I was the lady & would love to send them a Chrismas pudding. She didn’t hesitate then to give me their name, address & phone no.

I arrived home safe & sound, very thankful that all that had transpired had not cost me the hundreds of dollars I thought it would. I could not believe that it was only 10.15 a.m. I felt I had been around the world & back as well as the Farmers Market.

It had been a very early start, as it is with any market that is on the agenda. It felt more like lunch time to me.

However, I had a little job to do before I did anything else. I have plenty of small cartons that Rachelle from Micheles Patisserie supplies me with, so I packed two Traditional Christmas Puddings, a Macadamia Nut Yuletide Log & another large jar of Curried Zucchini Relish for Mark & his family, sending it with a card to express my grateful thanks.

Then after all the events of a very busy & eventful morning I flopped into an arm chair & slept for an hour, which does wonders for the nervous system!

Love to you my very dear friend, Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

It was the last Sunday in the month, which was Wickham market. Earlier this year Charley had taken clothing, knick knacks & all she wanted to get rid of to sell. Because it was bric-a-brac she did better selling her used clothing & ‘stuff’ for very minimal amounts like a dollar or three items for $5.

I was amazed as she almost did better than the relish. So with this experience behind her she decided to go again in February. Naturally, I said I would tag along with some relish, that maybe we would sell or not sell, but at least I could be beside her to give some support.

We arranged to meet at a certain spot to be together when we drove into the site. This was our normal practice for Wickham. The organizers only charge $10 for the site so we had little to lose.

However, when we met she got out of her car, came to me in my car saying she didn’t think she could stand all the rejections that the folk attending this market had to offer, so why don’t we to take a look at a Farmers Market?

“Good thought,” said I, as we are trying to get into these markets & they are very up market markets. You can’t just pop along & drop in! Charley is familiar with the one we were going to whereas I had never been to one, only heard about them for years.

Two years ago I applied to get into one, but when I received all the paper work to be done I reneged as I was in this market thing as a hobby, not as a business.

However, Charley is now in charge of getting into some more really good markets like these, so the interest has come to the surface again. As I said, you can’t just drive in like we do with all the others. You almost have to pass exams to get into these markets.

Over the years, far back when Philip was married to Jenni, I have heard about these markets because Jenni used to shop there. So when Charley mentioned going to the Entertainment Centre in Newcastle to witness what it was like, I was all for it.

We got in her car, leaving mine parked in the suburb of Hamilton where I was parked & she took me to see the Farmers Market.

Well I don’t know what I expected, but to put it mildly I was ‘gob smacked,’ which means amazed. We drove into the Entertainment Centre where it was held & there were traffic people guiding the cars in at $2 entry fee!

It is a huge place as you can imagine. I Was thinking the market would be held in one small part. No sir, not the case! You would be forgiven if you thought ‘Disney On Ice’ was being performed.

It was a complete sea of parked cars & when we saw a spot to park Charley’s car we stepped out to a sea of stalls. It is one of the biggest eye openers I have ever had!

And when they call it a Farmers Market it was truly that & more. I was like a country bumpkin on her first trip to a big city, even though I have travelled a fair way around the world!

The stalls were amazing. The fruit & veges were amazing: straight from farm to you. Everything was amazing.

One of the first stalls we came to had fresh strawberries – picked yesterday – set out on small plastic platters & wrapped in glad wrap. I vowed months ago that i would never buy strawberries again as they look good in the super market & taste like plastic.

At this market they had strawberries cut up for tastings. I have not tasted a strawberry like that since Max & I called at a strawberry farm once on the way to Queensland many years ago. The flavour was unbelievable, real, true, home grown fresh strawberries. I chalked that one up to collect at on our way out.

I could not believe what Charley had brought me to. The whole place was simply buzzing. It wasn’t even 8 a.m. & the place was packed.

People were sitting in the provided places having breakfast. Whole families & all bought from the stall holders. We wended our way in & out arriving at the stalls under cover.

I was blown away at the hub-bub & the butchers shops with their sausages on display making my mouth water. I am still berating myself for not buying them as I could feed on sausages like that for a fortnight!

Charley had been saying how her  step sister, Georgia comes all the way from Medowie every week just to shop at the Farmers market. I can now understand why.

Charley knew her way around very well, telling me I just had to see the eclair stall. Well we did & they even have gold eclairs. Plus  strawberry ones; mango ones & orange ones, but only the strawberry had a filling of fresh cream. All the others had had a mousse filling applicable to their name.

I just had to buy one, so I chose Mango. Charley chose the Strawberry one. Charley got me a coffee & we sat at a little round glass table with a couple of stools & had coffee & eclairs for breakfast!

Jiiminy Cricket it was all mind boggling. As I sat there nibbling at an eclair, feeling guilty at what i was having for breakfast, but appreciating my coffee very much, my mind was doing big calculations!

Charley has already applied for the application forms & doing photographs of our produce etc. This is where we want my little hobby & what is to be Charley’s future business. For once I was out of my depth & have told Charley it scares me to death.

If we get okayed I have put it all in her lap as it is too big for me. Charley is young & very capable.

If our application finally gets accepted I will give Charley all the support she needs once she has driven in, set up the display, parked the car etc. For once in my life it felt it too big for me to handle. In other words I felt a little old!

I have, over the past two years. made myself walk slower, watch where the feet are going, put things out of the way, so that you don’t have a fall etc, which has worked well, but in doing this going slower makes you feel older.

However, I am not too old as I stopped at the strawberry stall on the way out to purchase a few trays of the juicy sweet strawberries for Charley & I.

I wished later that I had bought more for David & his family, but I truly wasn’t thinking straight it was such an eye opener.

If Charley gets us into these markets with our home made relish, chutneys & particularly Christmas Puddings, we won’t need to win the lottery. We would work hard, but would get a lot of satisfaction in the process & Charley a wonderful future which she is aiming at.

What I couldn’t help noticing is that all the produce there was top quality & not a soul quibbled at the prices asked which appealed to us immensely.

And the strawberries were divine!

Love You Heaps. Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

On the last Sunday in the month, a huge market in a delightful tree filled park is held in the suburb of Wickham. When I first went there in October 2016 it was on the advice given to me by another stall holder.

It is a market where no stalls were allocated ahead & it was first in best dressed. I met a lady who goes there with her bric-a-brac & said she gets there at 4 a.m. to get what she termed ‘her spot’.

On my first visit I arrived three hours later than that, took pot luck with the sites left & set up shop with Christmas puddings. I did quite well in the remote spot left, far from the main hub of things.

Through one thing & another I did not go back to Wickham until late last year with Charley. We had both Chutney & Christmas Puddings & the results could almost be termed as zero.

However, I always think of what I learnt from my brother Peter, who said that if you look hard enough through the dark clouds you will find a silver lining.

This could not be more true of the first time Charley & I went there late last year with the Christmas Puddings. I did expect some interest from the volume of people who passed by but we soon became aware that our stall was not bric-a-brac, as ninety percent of them were. However, we did have a ray of sunshine.

A young lady approached our stall & started to talk with us, She stood out from the rest of the crowd as she was so nicely dressed, spoke well & was interested in us. Her name is Catherine. She explained that she had only recently come to live in that area & was associated & employed by the Newcastle High School.

In the course of our conversation she asked if we might be willing to donate a Christmas Pudding for a raffle to benefit the school. I could see she was a go-getter, someone with such a positive attitude & will succeed in whatever she did & to be honest she did remind me of someone I knew very well – me!

I liked her & realised that she was dedicated to her school & come high or low water she would be a success. I made a deal with her saying that I would give her one of each of our four varieties of Christmas Puddings for her raffles (amounting to quite a large sum in value) if she would work at getting sales for us. I just knew she would.

She agreed saying I would not be disappointed with my decision & I knew she would not let me down. Her husband, Grant, works at a school in Toronto, next door to me where Fennels Bay markets are held, so we arranged for him to call at my door & pick up the four promised puddings.

That was in early October. I also gave Grant a container full of tastings for Catherine to use as she saw fit.

Catherine used them very well & took them around to all the teachers at the school; used them at Staff meetings; etc. Every so often from then on she would call me to say Grant would be calling to give me the order for puddings that he had to pick up & pay me for those already collected.

I will never forget the day she called me to give me an order which Grant was to pick up from our Twilight Market being held that night at nearby, Speers Point. She said, “And tonight I am going to make you rich tonight as Grant will give you all the money I have collected for what I have sold recently.”

I was taken by Catherine’s personality when we first met & loved her great enthusiasm. As I said, I knew she would not let me down & she certainly didn’t!

When school resumed this year & Grant was back at work, I came home one day to find he had left me a Certificate of Appreciation for my invaluable & contribution of prizes to Newcastle High School Christmas Raffles. That was so sweet as I have never been given one of those before & the thought meant so much.

So, that is the big ray of sunshine to come from Wickham, which I term as Wicked Wickham. Since then I have spoken on the phone to Caroline who said that everybody has raved about the puddings.

In my opinion she worked wonders with the raffles in how she split the puddings up putting them with other things. For instance she mentioned how she put the Traditional Puddings with a plate, saucer, coffee mug, creamer & sugar bowl etc. as a little afternoon tea party gift. I thought how clever that was & we are both looking forward to a continued relationship for the next Christmas season.

God Bless You, I think of you such a lot. Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

When Charley & I went to Burbank in December 2015 we were doing quite a bit of window shopping the day after we arrived, so that she could get a feel for the place. We wandered into a delightful, but small boutique.

It had a definite ‘Charley’ dress in the window, which she just had to try on, It looked beautiful on her so I made a quick purchase to go under the Christmas tree. Also on a model just inside the door to the boutique was a little black top sporting a life sized cat on the front & the back. We both thought it rather cute, particularly Charley with her love for cats, so I encouraged her to try it on which became a second gift to go under the Christmas tree!

She has had a lot of wear from both items ever since. I am explaining this for a reason which I will come to shortly.

In February we went along to one of our minor markets at Fennels Bay, which isn’t a very good market. We have found that when there is a large volume of bric-a-brac & used clothing stalls it is not so viable or profitable for those with a better class of produce.

We consider our products are among the better class with more appeal to those who are not so much looking for bargains but good home made products. Charley & I have decided we will still patronise this venue, as it costs little to be there, & we are content in the lower sales. Our attitude being that we would do better than sitting at home doing nothing.

So until we can find our way into more profitable & active markets we are happy to attend as, in recent months, we have booked a permanent space. Anyway on a lovely day it’s not hard to take just sitting in the sun chatting to those who come & try our products. Although Charley, being a redhead, has to be extremely careful not to get sunburnt!

Actually in February our sales there were the best we had had for some months, which was encouraging. Maybe it was because Charley wore her ‘cat top’! She looked great & was admired by many.

I was finding it rather quiet & left Charley to hold the fort while I sussed out the ingredients we needed for the production. We had to do as there are a couple of really good greengrocers who attend this market. Having completed this chore I wandered around a bit which I don’t normally do & I had a great time.

Charley with her cat top and cat cup.

I came across a chap who makes animals & things out of concrete. He had an attractive bird bath made that was lovely & deep, with a kookaburra sitting on the end of the bath. On the pedestal he had a possum at the foot of it peeping out from a tree trunk that even had initials carved into it.

I fell in love with it. As my friend Sandra had given me $50 as a Christmas gift, I decided that this would be what I would spend it on & have something to show.

I am still waiting for my gardener to put it into place in my garden. When it’s in place I will take a photo of it to show you. I am really pleased with it & know that Sandra will be delighted with my choice of the gift that will remind me always of my friend every time I look at it.

As I was wandering around I came across another stall which had mostly bric-a-brac but I did notice a coffee mug with a cat on it which, of course, caught my eye. The lady said it was $2.50 so I decided to snap it up as a gift for Charley.

However, I was even more delighted when there was a set of four cat mugs all different, brand new & in a gift box. It was $2.50 for the lot ! Charley, of course, was delighted when I took them back to our stall & gave them to her.

One of the things I have ascertained in being at markets with Charley is her love of crystal, which really surprised me. The young people today do not favour it greatly, most are very disinterested . Where I bought the coffee mugs the lady had a crystal dressing table set, which brought back memories as I still have mine & can remember when Mum gave it to me for my fifteenth birthday.

As the sweet lady only wanted $10 for it I also snapped that up, but it is a secret as I have wrapped it up to give to her on her next birthday. I think she will be stoked. I am now spending a little bit of time perusing all the markets as what do people say, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!”

We had quite a good day in sales, much improved, so we are taking this as a good omen. In any case we also enjoyed the warmth from the sun & the lovely breeze blowing in from the lake. Lake Macquarie is our beautiful lake in Newcastle & very large reputing to be three hundred & sixty five kilometres around it, one for each day of the year.

It certainly is a draw card to our city as it is well known so as we sit at our markets in this area the water has a nice calming & relaxing effect,

Love to you always dear friend. God Bless, Dawn. X O X O

Dear Ann,

Our second market at Warners Bay for the new year soon came round again. It was a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine bringing along a hot day. However, with the new venue on the foreshore the breeze off the Lake could not have made it a more perfect day.

This venue is very popular for folk to do their walking & indeed was my own stomping ground a few years ago when I was exercising in a serious way. It is a great spot for the family pets to get their exercise too & heaps of people have their dog on a leash, which adds to the day & brings more folk along.

Charley is very much a pet lover & even though she specialises in cats herself, she gets a lot of pleasure watching the little dogs, the big furry dogs all brushed up, the cute dogs & every kind of dog as they pass by trotting their stuff.

Charley in charge of the Warner’s Bay stall.

At this market we have a permanent stall looking out on our beautiful lake, which couldn’t be nicer especially on a lovely summer’s day. The walkers & their dogs are immediately in front of us as they pass, as are the general public.

On this second market for the new year there seemed to be more people than ever at our new venue, which is great for us. Our stall seems to attract the onlookers & is certainly one of the most popular stalls. Of course we do our bit in enticing them to come & have a taste of our products, especially as we have introduced two new products. The credit goes to Charley for this new venture as she is keen & has been looking forward to taking this plunge all through the Christmas Pudding season.

Her Dad has been making a delicious tomato chutney made from his home grown tomatoes as he had so many he needed to use them. He has been giving it to friends & neighbours over a long period of time. The lucky folk have given many accolades about it, so Charley had her mind set on giving it a go.

Her first batch, which we introduced in January at Warners Bay Market, did indeed get good response. We had it displayed in the lovely coffee jars with the glass lids & it did look good. It was so well received that we took it to the first Maitland market in February, where it continued to be so popular that we sold out.

We were so excited about this that before the next Warners Bay market Charley introduced her Mango Chutney which requires green mangos. She has a huge mango tree outside her back door where she is now living that was loaded with green mangos. Rather than let the possums eat them all she confiscated a few for the chutney.

When she gave me a taste of the new product I was all for it as it was really delicious. I could visualise it, particularly with lamb & chicken. It was popular also & we could see that we needed to make larger quantities. We put a good price on the small jars & no one was heard quibbling about it. The new product sold well.

So with a week to go before the next Maitland market we needed to be very active & very busy. I can’t do justice in telling you how hard we worked on our production.

Just a small portion of our shopping.

We went shopping at the not so popular Fennels Bay market which isn’t so good for sales, but certainly the green grocers there had what we needed at the right prices. We came home with a car loaded with cases of tomatoes, a case of zucchinis, green & red capsicums, & onions, which were most of the ingredients we needed.

Then to add to our list what should our local supermarket put before us, but green mangos at a very good price. As Charley’s supply had diminished by the little animals, we made hay while the sun shone!

My little kitchen had never seen so much work to be done. For starters we had forty kilos (over 88 lb) of tomatoes to be peeled before we could continue with our work.  Then we chopped, cooked & chopped again, particularly for our Curried Zucchini Relish as we had almost run out of that as well.

I can honestly say that for the whole week Charley & I stood on our feet for almost eight hours daily, but we had no trouble sleeping!

So after introducing the Mango Chutney at the Warners Bay market, we also took it along to Maitland market last weekend. It was just as well we had a good supply of everything as the Smokey BBQ Tomato Chutney as well as the Mango Chutney took off like a rocket. We almost sold out of both.

The fruit of our labour.

This was great, particularly for Charley, as when she introduced these I told her they were ‘her babies’ & that I wasn’t even going to learn to make them, which is adding to her enthusiasm. She is certainly looking after ‘her babies’.

I make it a point of introducing Charley to our customers as the instigator & manufacturer. I am just sticking to my own relish & Christmas Puddings. In this way she will handle it herself as we grow gradually & will be the one to manage it all when I am too old to go to markets.

So, having had such success &, as is the case with a growing business (or hobby), we are back to manufacturing again this week for the next Warners Bay market in just over a week. We haven’t got much time for getting into mischief, but ‘busyness’ is better than boredom.

Both Charley & I are loving what we are doing. We have always had a special bond that is even stronger now as we enjoy the closeness in doing markets, as well as planning things together.

With regard to jars: after being given hundreds of them for reuse over a year & still being given them from all walks of life including Prime Timers, line dancing friends, customers from the markets & individual friends, we completely ran out of them.

Apart from the cost of buying them, it is a good step forward. We are now constantly on the lookout for jars being advertised on the net & other retail outlets.

And to conclude my letter Ann I will let you into a secret which might make you smile. When Charley made the first batch of David’s Tomato Chutney that has to be boiled for hours, it stuck to the bottom of the big saucepan with a vengeance, which took a lot of removing.

David wanted to know why we gave it the name of Smokey BBQ & this is the real reason as it gave it that smokey taste, which gives it even more appeal. You probably are wondering how we get the smokey taste again without burning the saucepan, but we have promised never to reveal this secret!

Fondest Love Always. Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

Well, after our first successful market for the new year Charley & I were raring to go! We conferred, deciding that – if possible – we would try & get booked into one for every Saturday & Sunday.

We were currently going to Warners Bay, Fennels Bay, Wickham & Maitland. We had been together to all of these. However, there are markets & markets!

There are two organisations in Australia that are renowned for raising funds for charity:  The Lions Club & Veteran Affairs. They do a lot of good work & are well known throughout the nation, These two organisations run a lot of markets charging minimum amounts like $10 or $15 for stall holders. The more stalls they get the more money they make.

However, Warners Bay & Maitland are run by their Chamber of Commerce, which is part of the local Council. To have a stall at their venues costs a great deal more. With the other markets mentioned it is more of a ‘first in first served’ whereas with the these it almost requires a definite booking, preferably a permanent stall. The cost can be six or seven times the cost of the others.

Charley & I now have permanent stalls at both Warners Bay & Maitland. It pays dividends because the stalls are quality & not bric-a-brac which makes up ninety per cent of other stalls, Therefore, this brings a different crowd of people who are looking for bargains & not home made produce.

From the beginning of the year we have been to all these market sites. Apart from Warners Bay & Maitland the sales have been minimal & I mean minimal. At Fennels Bay we sold seven jars. At Wickham we sold four jars.

We tried out two new venues at Swansea, where we sold four jars, & Adamstown to sell just one jar. Charley had decided to try Adamstown on her own as I was committed to Maitland.

We arranged to meet at home after these two markets. I doubt if I will forget Charley that day as she said as soon as she came in the door “No more markets run by the Lions Club as I only sold one jar.” Our philosophy has been “if you don’t go you never know.”

We also visited another market one Saturday a couple of weeks ago at Freemans Water Hole that we had been told about & found they only had a handful of stall holders. So we have been slowly sifting them out & are currently looking at booking into Farmers Markets that have a great reputation, plus Hunter Valley Vineyards, which would also be excellent.

However, it is more difficult to book into these, but Charley is dealing with that department & we are hoping to hit the jackpot in those areas.

On the day Charley went to Adamstown & sold one jar, I went on my own to Maitland as I did a few time last year when two of our markets clashed on one day. Their market is held at the local show ground & I have a permanent under cover stall in the pavilion. This means I do not have to set up a gazebo & the organisers have people to assist the stall holders if needed. Of course I always need a helper to carry in my table, chair & produce.

Even though I have done this trip on my own & know the way, last Sunday I took a wrong turn & got absolutely lost. I went up & down roads that I never knew existed ending up in a park where three ladies were walking.

I was in a mild panic as I have to be at the market on time or my stall can be let to another person looking for a site. I stopped the car in the middle of the car park road & called out to the ladies at the top of my voice as I was getting desperate.

They finally heard me & thankfully one lady came back to assist me as by that time another driver was wanting to get past my car in the middle of the road & no doubt saying some things not fit for sensitive ears!

The lady was a great help & put me onto the right track & when I reached the venue the gates were closed, but Catherine, the organiser took pity on me & I was allowed in.

I drove to my unloading space & felt so knocked out after getting lost that I asked the person nearest me if she knew of anyone who could help me.

She was dressed in a fluffy tulle skirt & had her face painted. She was really nice & beckoned to a smartly dressed young man in black shirt & pants who came over to see how he could help.

He was goodness itself & carried everything into my allotted space. Then he parked my car for me, which had to be quite a long way away because of my late arrival. After which he brought me back the key saying if I needed anymore help to ask him.

I thanked the young man profusely & gave him a large bottle of relish for his trouble. I then went about setting up the display. While in the middle of this activity two nice ladies came along & very interested in the home made relish. It was almost 8 a.m. by then.

I stopped what I was doing & set about getting my tastings out for her, only to find I had left my spoons in the car. “Don’t worry I’ll be back in a couple of minutes,” one of the ladies said & off she went.

True to her word she was back in no time with a takeaway coffee & a spoon for me to serve out the tastings. Both ladies were delighted with the product & I started the day with a $30 sale, which I took as a good omen & a better start to the day than I had had up to that point.

It doesn’t take long to set up the display & from then on I had a steady flow all morning & the relish was fast disappearing. I only used my spiel once during the whole time I was there as there was no need to. The public was only too pleased to get home made relish & this was the first time we had displayed the relish on its own at Maitland, without the Christmas puddings.

I was in for a surprise also as the good Samaritan that unloaded my car for me came along to see if I had everything & was okay. This time he had a long striped waistcoat over his black outfit & the long tail was cut like a pixie’s shirt – he looked very smart.

He very evidently was not hired by the organisers to help little old ladies like me as I had thought, but was a stall holder. He introduced himself as Ty & his wife was Ash. They had a stall in the pavilion next to mine. He made balloons in the shape of animals & showed me the photos of them all & Ash did face paintings. I never got to know Ash, but Ty visited my stall several times during the morning & watched as my supply gradually disappeared.

By 11 a.m. I had one $15 jar of relish remaining. Two people were coming straight towards my stall so I smiled asking if they were going to purchase my last bottle of my Curried Zucchini Relish. They certainly were & the youngish man, Wayne introduced himself & his Mother, Dorothy.

They were both very chatty & very friendly, especially when Wayne said “You are the original Newcastle’s Pudding Lady aren’t you?” I admitted it & he said he had heard a lot about me. He shook my hand making a little bow saying how pleased he was to be in my company as I was so famous!

They asked lots of questions about that part of my life. I told them how it all started through a prayer & Wayne shook my hand again. As they were so interested I told them the Queen had received the Christmas Puddings by request on two occasions so Wayne shook my hand again. I think he shook my hand five times during our chat.

By this time it was 11.30 & I had sold my last jar of relish. I certainly will not forget my interlude with Wayne & Dorothy. It was very pleasant. I most certainly will expect them to call at my stall in future as it was almost a friendship had taken place.

The market ends at 2 p.m.. I had to get permission to drive out early, with Catherine assuring the other organisers that I truly had sold out!

Ty’s panda!

Ty was at my side in no time & offered to get my car for me. I went with him to the other end of the showground. When Ty parked the car to go & get my empty cartons & the rest of the gear I waited outside for him. He took a little more time than I thought it would take, which didn’t matter as I had plenty of time.

When he came back he had made a Panda balloon for me to take home. He had gone to his stall to make one especially for me. That was so sweet & in giving it to me said that he & Ash would be there for me any time I needed help.

Now that just made my day & although it didn’t start off too well it certainly ended well. There are more nice people in this world than we think.

I didn’t get lost on the way home, two hours before anticipated, but whacko I had a rather fat wad of cash in my pocket. I had to stay calm as I waited for Charley to arrive to swap notes. Although disappointed with her day it was great to share such a successful day with her when she arrived.

Can’t help but say Charley’s spirits lifted somewhat! Plus a joint decision to go for the markets that may take a time to break into but we are gong to give it a go,

Love You Dear Heart. Dawn X O X O