Having grown up in Johannesburg he was and still is also MM (Metro Man). I remember the gobsmacked look he and Chocolat carried around for days when I announced we were moving to a farm 400km away from their friends, their activities, their friends, their shops, their friends, their comforts....
I remember the heavy-heartedness with which Chocolat said, after a few days when the reality of my decision had really sunk in, "Mom you know people our age move away from places like Barberton, they do not move to a place like Barberton hey? I was undeterred. We threw her a lovely 21st which was also a 'fare thee well' party. Or so we thought. The friends followed us. Visited and kept on visiting for the decade that has passed since then. Some brought other new friends and one brought her fiance and got married here in our garden and then promptly they also moved here. The kids have found spouses in spite of being relegated to the country, and so have their city friends who now come to visit as couples and with babies. We have a clutch of our own, FJ and Chocolat have managed to produce four precious daughters ... it must be the water...
Back to FJ. His transformation has been complete, except that he still cares for his skin and remains an under-cover MM. He loves the solitude of driving the tractor or doing loader work, the noise of it drowning out even the possibility of us calling him on the phone or radio. There is a pair of fork-tailed drongos that follow him around to see what they can glean in the way of insects his activities flush out for them. They have perches in the garden from where they hunt on the lawn, but they know the sound of the vehicles starting up and then you see them perk up and twitter around to see which direction he will take and then off they go.
I took a ride on the loader with him once and caught him out having a conversation with them, telling them not to get so close or where to go, or to be patient he was going to help them just now ... When I asked him if he was seriously talking to the birds he said an emphatic, frowning, Ja! as if he didn't get that I was asking.
Should I be concerned (?) :)
You can take the boy off the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the boy. Or something like that.
ReplyDeleteWe are so happy to among those freinds who had the priviledge to visit your farm. A highlight in our life that we will always remember with fondness.
And then Wanda wrote a book to commemorate the event and make sure neither will we. Now that Ouma is no longer with us, her "Lions in the Moonlight" is one very precious little memento of her. Thank you Wanda!
ReplyDeleteI sure love your FJ/MM (and have seen both sides of him)! Can't wait until I get to visit your lovely farm again and meet the new members of your family! :-)
ReplyDeleteYou will love them all! We only seem to produce little girls, precious gems each one. Must be something in the water :)
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