Book of Me, Written by You - Prompt 20

Julie from Angler's Rest gives us Prompt Number 20

This week's prompt is  - The feeling of home

Home means different things to different people, so this week we are going to explore what it means to us

What does it feel like?

How do you recognise it?

What makes it home - people, place, time

My mother used to ask me - "Which is home for you?" ...

mostly because we had lived in a few homes and she wondered which one meant the most to me.  

It's hard to say....probably our home in Aranda but I loved our home in Glebe too.

I don't remember our first home - Hurstville...

This is where I came home to as a baby.

Then we traveled overseas and my home for a while was the Oriana...it had a pool and everything!

from SSMaritime

Here I am testing out the comfy furniture.  


We moved to Edinburgh...I think this place was first...it had squirrels.  I liked squirrels.

And then this one...

See the VW Combie van parked out front....?  We called it Snoopy,

That became our home as we traveled around Europe...a home with wheels and somewhere new to wake up to every morning.

Here I am with my trusty Vegemite toast...



Back on the boat back to Australia and my home was wherever my donkey was...my mother was very smart.  She invested in "backup" donkeys in case one got lost.  I had three.

We lived in Sydney in a flat in Bondi for a while....here I am getting ready for Kindy....I liked Sydney.  There was a very nice little beach near where we lived...no..not Bondi...another one...I'm thinking it must have been Vaucluse Bay that I remember.

The unit block was pretty ugly on the outside as I remember...

Yep - I was right - there it is - Orana Flats, next to the Fire Station.  Great view though.  

Then we moved to Melbourne and I don't think we have a photo of the flat there....
we were there only a short time before....

We moved to Canberra and lived in Campbell...

Until we could move into the house we built in Aranda....

For the last term of Grade 10,  I boarded at School....

Then we moved back to Sydney to Glebe and had the fun of renovating an old terrace house.

Ouf what a mess and lots of hard work....but we really got to know the house inside out!

Then came a succession of share houses in Chippendale, Balmain and Woollahra until I moved to Brisbane...

There was Isedale at Carrington Street - another share house...

Then Leybourne Street - our first house on our own as a couple...but still a rental property with a lovely garden full of orchids...

Then Equinox Street.....our first home that we bought....with a hidden rainforest out the back...

And now our current home...with a forest out the front....

Gawd....how many homes is that?

What makes a home?

Well someone said to me once that she didn't think a house was a home if it didn't have a piano.  

So she thought music made a home.

I guess our house isn't a home then...wait, does a stereo count?

I don't think a house is a home unless it has books - LOTS of books....

Animals help make a home too and we are bereft of any at the moment.  I was always greatly cheered by the budgie chattering away to herself or the dog tripping me up or the cat nudging a book out of the way or the guinea pigs excitedly squeaking when they heard me chopping vegetables in the kitchen.

I still get a kind of ancient longing in my tummy when I go back to Sydney for my holidays - there's something primeval about that sandstone and thrilling about the harbour.  And boy did I realise Australia was home after a few weeks in London in my late teens...it wasn't until I was sitting in a cinema and saw the great big blue sky whilst watching The Getting of Wisdom that I cried at the thought of having to go back outside and endure a grey closed in sky for a few more weeks.

So sometimes home is a place...sometimes it's things....sometimes it's people....

A new baby and a grandmother make a home....pictures make a home whether it's a tapestry like the one my grandmother made for me that you can see in the photo above or a print from a painting that my godmother gave me on our engagement that you can see there on the right or family photos just like this one.

A friend who lives overseas always feels at home when she smells the gum leaves.  I can't smell them anymore I'm so used to them.

I feel like I'm home when I get a 
great big bear hug from my father whenever I see him or someone is pleased to see you when you walk in the door.

Memories make a home I suppose...

Mostly it's where you can relax and be "you" for a bit.