Return to Harikoa Bay by Owen Marshall
Author:Owen Marshall [Marshall, Owen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780143776543
Publisher: Penguin Random House New Zealand
Published: 2013-04-08T00:00:00+00:00
17.
Pīwakawaka
Margaret, my mother-in-law, was a practical woman and of a resolute frame of mind, with all the common sense of a farmerâs wife. I got on well with her and experienced few of the exasperations popular in conventional humour concerning mothers-in-law. I came to realise, however, that like all of us, she had her own powerful and individual superstitions. Especially she feared pÄ«wakawaka â the fantail. Sheâd grown up in rural Northland with MÄori families among her neighbours, so maybe thatâs when she learnt that this little bird, despite its nimble beauty, is considered to be of ill omen. My own experiences of the fantail are benign and come mainly from tramping in the bush. The fantail is quite common there and seems to wish to join you on the push through the ferns and trees. Iâm told itâs not just a pert compatibility, but that pÄ«wakawaka takes advantage of the insects stirred up.
My father-in-law was a convivial man, yet by the nature of his occupation had to spend most of his time working alone with stock, or driving a tractor, so in the limited leisure time he had, he liked to be with others. The saleyards, the gun club, bowls, euchre evenings, rugby matches, the racetrack and the Victorian Hotel. Margaret was also at ease with people, but preferred to spend her free time in the garden, which had gradually expanded around the wooden, red-roofed farmhouse, protected from the appetites of sheep and cattle by a wire fence. She was also an excellent cook, a skill my wife inherited. Once, when I complimented Margaret on a meal, she said matter of factly that she was a good plain cook, and my wife, Carol, explained that meant she didnât go in for anything fancy. Carol also told me that women make a distinction between cooking and baking, which Iâd never realised before.
Roses were what Margaret loved best. Like her they were hardy and could withstand the commonplace droughts of the place. She had all sorts and a name for each. Surely the rose, of all flowers, has the most individual varieties and all with their own names, many romantic, some even grandiose. âBlushing Lucyâ and âRose dâAmourâ, âArchiduc Josephâ and âPrincesse de Lamballeâ. Roses exact a price for their beauty, and although Margaret wore gardening gloves, her forearms were often marked with small bruises and scabs from the thorns. She was a tall, strong woman who shirked nothing in the house, or about the farm, but I recall her best in her country garden, among her roses and dahlias with a straw hat she also wore to bowls.
I was at her house quite often before Carol and I married: less afterwards, but that was because of where we lived, not any disinclination. Thinking back, though, I can recall very few conversations just between the two of us in which any personal and meaningful connection was made. Perhaps she thought to do so would be a trespass on her daughterâs territory.
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