Category: Ruby Tuesday

Well… the big party is over and I think Ruby is still on a bit of a high about it all! Her home is stuffed full of cards and flowers – not to mention food!

People are still coming and going, but things are slowing down a little.

Emma and I dropped in yesterday to clear out the compost from the trailer into more accessible bags stored in one of her sheds.  We found her out the side of her house flinging weeds into the paddock!!!

So we got to work…

The last bit we tipped onto a garden which we will do something with probably tomorrow

Meanwhile Ruby is pottering about with her umbrella walking stick pulling up any weed she can see… and with her eyesight about gone, its in the bright sun she needs to do her work so she can see something.

I hadn’t planned to stay and garden, but I felt terribly guilty watching a 100 year old pulling out weeds like there was no tomorrow, so Emma and I decided to tackle one of the garden beds before heading to the beach to collect our seaweed.

Remember how I dug her potato plot last week? Before a few days had gone by, Ruby had gotten in and planted her potatoes! I knew she wouldn’t wait for me!! She said all she had to do was make a hole and poke them in!! No big deal! haha 🙂

If the weather stays nice we should get back soon to get into another spot in her garden, and not least, stay for a cuppa and help out with those party leftovers!!

Hope your day has been sunny and sweet too!

Cheers!

Wow – well it was an amazing afternoon! The lady of the moment was incredible how she just kept on keeping on. We estimated by the amount of name tags written out that there were about 150 people or so that crammed into that little church hall – all to see Ruby!

The ladies from the Church Guild did a magnificent job with the food! It was plentiful, beautiful and there was such a variety!

Grandson, Simon & his wife Marsha organised the cake, via a friend. It was so bold and cheerful, with both the nurse & garden theme – both an equally big part of Ruby’s life!

There was a constant line up to get a ‘Ruby-Hug’ a chat and to wish her many happy returns

My parents, Sister Michelle & her family organised the signing book – Michelle and Tony did the creative part of putting it together, my parents funded it! It turned out beautifully with lots of people signing which will be a great memory of the day (proper photo of book to come later!)

I don’t think Ruby knows about the guestbook yet, so it will be fun to see them present it to her.

Hilariously, with the USB full of photos of Ruby, early days and now, was put into a projector that no adult could work. After about an hour some bright spark went and grabbed a 13-year-old. Riley – Ruby’s Great Grandson – who had it up and running within 3 minutes! Cracked me up!

A most exciting part of the afternoon was Ruby opening her letter from the Queen!!

Margaret read out the message for the guests and Ruby, proud as punch, held her card aloft for us all to see!

There were a few short speeches from Ruby’s grandsons and adopted son on behalf of the family of her second marriage (how I became lucky enough to join this family) which were lovely.

I couldn’t believe how Ruby just kept up with it all!!

Can you believe that even after going for about 4 hours at this party – she went home to put her feet up and then went out to another dinner with about 50 people and didn’t get home until 10pm!!!

She said she was a bit tired after all that, but she was determined to put her “Best Foot Forward, and even if it falls off, well… I’ll worry about that tomorrow” Said with a typical Ruby-Grin.

We saw her a couple of days later and she is still full of crazy energy – dragged us all over the house to see cards strung up everywhere and more flowers than before!

It makes me so happy that she had the most wonderful day.

She said to me “Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined such a party”

Cheers!

Sadly I have hardly been near Ruby in the last week or so!! Too risky to pass on my germs, and since her 100th birthday is on Thursday and the party on Saturday, I have had to be sensible and stay away! Rotten luck and timing!

All the family is starting to roll in – the Western Australian Mob got in yesterday – great grandson has already mowed the lawn (seriously, with a ride on mower, what kid WOULDN’T want to mow a lawn??)

A notice went into the paper today about the time and date of the party – Ruby refused point blank to send out invitations!!! She was afraid they would forget someone and upset them, so the whole shebang has been done by word of mouth, email, phone calls and finally – a facebook page I set up with Margie! (Margie may have taken up drinking more wine than normal hee hee)

We have had a couple of meetings with Ruby & my cousins to talk about and arrange the gathering. I don’t think she realised the scale of what is going to be happening on Saturday. Margie was starting to fret so it was great we all got together to sort out what was happening.

At one point, Ruby was adamant about having ‘bangers and mash’ but possibly hadn’t thought that well over 100 people are likely to be turning up to join in the well wishing! We have sorted the church guild to be preparing a lot of finger food – sweet and savory for people to graze on during the afternoon. Not to mention tea and coffee!!

She was quite against ‘making a fuss’. I did point out when you turn 100 and that over 100 people would be turning up, sorry, but fuss is what you are going to get, so she is going to just have to go with the flow there! 😀

I was given a bunch of photographs to scan. I will also add a number of images I have taken over the last few years to put into a projector, so people can see them during the party.

Of course – my Official Role is photographer! Yay!

Friday afternoon we can go into the church hall and set up for the party the following day. Set out the tables and generally organise most things in advance so on the day there is scant left to do.

On Thursday – the day she actually turns 100 – we will be going down to wish her happy birthday, sing and eat cake – and a cuppa or two and a few dozen photographs I am sure!

She has been in really good spirits lately – and her foot is behaving much better!

I am excited to give her the shawl I crocheted – a BIG thing was also “No Presents!!” Naturally I whinged and pouted and said ‘what about home made?’ So I got my loophole 🙂 A number of other people have followed suit and have done things like spring clean her house and dropped in jars of home made biscuits (cookies) so she has plenty of goodies to offer the people that will be constantly dropping in for coffee between now and next week!

I have been collecting messages from people who cannot turn up on the day & general well wishes etc from around the world.

Please feel welcome to write a note in the comments and I will set aside an afternoon after all the hullabaloo is done to read her out all the messages.

Adding where you live and a bit about yourself would be wonderful, I know she will love it.

Cheers!

I dropped in to see Ruby this afternoon – she was having a cuppa with Margie, all worn out because she had been weeding all afternoon!

Ruby was resting up in the sun room when I walked in today –

She said after all the weeding she still had to go into the hothouse as she had promised her plants a bit of a feed and water… but she found something in there which was now sitting on the sink in the kitchen. I was sent to see for myself!

A nearly ripe tomato in Tasmania at the end of winter!! We will never hear the end of this!! 😀

While chatting with Ruby the other day she was telling us about her young days when she played hockey! The country teams were all about getting together and having some fun. Sometimes they would even rope in spectators from the sidelines to play to make up team numbers!

Can you imagine Ruby, riding her horse up to the game, changing into her hockey gear in the stable before getting onto the field?? Thats so awesome  – wish I had that time machine! Oh the photos I could get!! 😀

Often after a game the home team would put on a dance because everyone was around, so they could all get together and enjoy some social time.

Have a great day!

Cheers!

The weather turned dismal again today, so it was a good day to go down and have a cuppa with Ruby.

Margie and Ruby had been going through some photos – one of my Party Jobs is to scan the old images and sort out a digital display of them during the birthday party!

It was fun looking through the old images, hearing a story or two.

The one that really caught my attention was “The Banana Diet”

As a young nurse, Ruby went to Melbourne to work for a few months. At that particular time banana’s were plentiful and cheap. Ruby really loved bananas and – in her own words – made a glutton of herself!

There was always a big bowl of them on her work desk – and when emptied, there was a rush to restock!

Apparently she put on a substantial amount of weight – the only time ever she was over weight! There was a photo of her post-Banana-Diet standing on the steps of the Flinders Street Station, but sadly that photo was destroyed!! By Ruby – she said she was so disgusted with herself she ripped up the evidence of her gluttony!! 🙂

I have a nice box full of memories to scan!

While there was a little break in the weather I slipped outside to photograph some of the flowers in Ruby’s garden that are starting to show up.

I tried not to look too hard at the weeds that I HAVE to get in and sort out soon – next weather break I reckon!

This plot is where I put all the excess bulbs last season.. another week or so and it will be a mass of colour

Ruby is so pleased with her orchids that are just starting to bloom!

Before long it will be all about vegetables, but for now, we are enjoying the new colours of the upcoming spring!

Cheers!

While I am not really whinging about the weather – it was pretty miserable again today. We started with a hailstorm – and thus set the tone for the day!

It was tough, but I got myself out of the house and down to collect Margie and get to Ruby’s with the express purpose of sharing her warm lounge room and a cup of something hot!

The chit chat eventually accidentally fell upon that lovely old fashioned practice of getting a trousseau together!  We were comparing notes and having show and tell with our latest knitting and crocheting projects.

With Ruby’s foot giving her grief, and her eyesight so very poor AND the weather keeping her inside, she is very grateful she can do something with her hands.

Back in Ruby’s younger years, most girls were taught all manner of needlecraft. The social scene back then wasn’t huge and in the country, it was even less readily available. Often when friends got together they would sit and make things. Lots of those things were ‘put by’ to give out at birthdays, Christmas or other occasions.

Girls started preparing gathering items for a house long before they even met a prospective Mr Right!

Lots of little memories and stories behind certain pieces. Some made, some shop bought!

One such set – a Duchess Set I learned – one larger middle piece and two smaller matching ones – was made by an elderly lady who was a patient for a while in Ruby’s hospital.

Apparently the ‘dear old soul’ had no family and it gave her great pleasure to make these beautiful pieces and wanted to give them to the nurses who took care of her.  It was very strict policy that the nurses accepted no gifts, but it was so hard to refuse this lady, and a number of the nurses were lucky to get a memento. A beautifully edged tablecloth was given, and is now at Ruby’s church.

Things were made that nowadays you wouldn’t think to have in your collection – a breakfast tray cover, for example – something to present breakfast on, to your house guests!

Collections were made of towels, linen and other household items and stored in a special box or cabinet.

Ruby’s mother presented her with 2 sets of white double bed sheets. The kind of quality that would last 10 years, despite being boiled in a copper, poked with a stick and starched into oblivion!

We don’t think anything of brightly coloured & patterned bedsheets  do we? Well – they were all white for a very long time. The first time Ruby saw and bought coloured bedsheets the look on Bill’s face was priceless. She hadn’t told him, and he went to get into bed and exclaimed “Well!!! I didn’t think things were so bad we had to sleep in the curtains!!” 🙂

Of course you collected towels – but you had to make sure you had a set of special towels for guests!!

Also special dresser covers were put on the dressers under the jug and basin of water that would be in a bedroom so you could have a wash. Hot water from the fire was used to fill the jug. Of course the cover would get grubby quickly, so there was a lot of washing, starching and ironing and you had to put it back ‘Ever so nicely’ on the dresser.

Tablecloths were important to have too – naturally you had to have your everyday cloth and also ‘one for best’ along with serviettes!

I got married a bit late, so having lived away from home so long I already had a good collection of house goods to use.

Some girls still have a “Kitchen Tea” where a party of friends come along and bring small kitchen utensils, tea towels and the like.

From reading this and that I believe bridal showers are a big thing in the US?

In Ruby’s day it was a Kitchen Tea Party. Presents were not grand. Small useful things like colanders, graters, pots… it all helped. Usually family helped out with some of the bigger needs in setting up a home.

Times have changed a great deal. I could not imagine myself sitting down making a trousseau, or being any where NEAR that organised. Mind you, my sewing abilities are legendary – ask my mother the best way to put a pair of undies back together (at 15 years old I thought stapling was the best solution)  I eventually graduated from Staplers to Double Sided Tape. 🙂

It really was a lovely afternoon, snug and warm in the lounge room with Ruby and Margie chatting the afternoon away and reliving  those early years!

Cheers!

We went to a bit of a gathering the other evening – lots of people, kids and food. I was watching one young girl with equal degrees of fascination & horror as she climbed on tables (all four limbs) and seemed to be on a feeding frenzy – with the need to maul every bit of food she could reach!!

We don’t have kids – but I can’t judge one little bit. You should see the lack of manners our Siamese has!! I swear he would nick food off your fork as it travels from your plate to your mouth if he could!! (Put the same food in a cat bowl and say its for him and he will disdainfully walk away shaking each paw and give you a Look.)

This child triggered a memory of a story Ruby told me about when she was staying with her Aunty Mabel in Melbourne. Ruby was 9 years old – so we are talking about 1925.

Aunty Mabel took Young Ruby across town with her to go to an afternoon tea at her future sister in laws place. Apparently the whole tram trip over was one long lecture about how she was to behave, finishing off with the fervent instruction “And whatever happens – DON’T dip your biscuit in your tea!!!”

The ultimate disgrace!! I swing back to 2016 in my mind and try to think of a situation where you would be in disgrace for dipping your bikkie in your tea!! (Note to non-Australian readers – Biscuit=cookie)

Afternoon tea went well. The future sister in law also had a daughter the same age as Ruby. This young girl announced to Ruby that “I’m not allowed to dip my biscuit, but you are” Ruby realised that this girl had, had the same lecture before their arrival.

Young Ruby whispered back “I had better not” Present Day Ruby says she certainly didn’t want a lecture all the way back home again!!

A number of years later, when Ruby was nursing, she recalls an evening where she took a break – with that tea and biscuit – and a photographer happened to be about. Guess who was in the local newspaper dipping a biscuit in her tea?? Apparently the Hospital Matron was Not Impressed.

I guess every generation feels that the new generation lacks the discipline of the former one. Ruby’s mother kept a leather strop hanging by the fireside in the kitchen. Her hand only had to generally twitch in that general direction for the children to shape up. If things got really bad, she might actually take it down and bang it on the table. The sound was always enough to stop whatever shenanigans the siblings were up to. Ruby said they never got hit with the strop, but certainly felt their mothers hand on occasions with a spank on the bottom!

Men could work in the paddocks and swear if needed, but they never did (swear) in front of the women and children.  Communities were smaller and people relied on each other for support and business – that meant being respectful and behaving in a respectful manner to those about them. It made it easier for people to live comfortably in their environments with other community members.

Families would come to visit, the husbands would go out onto the farm for hours, the mothers would have tea and talk inside while the kids were given a bit of bread and jam and sent outside to play.

Children did a lot of entertaining of themselves outside. Ruby was describing some of the games they used to play – Black Pudding (which I knew as ring-a-ring-of-rosy) ball games, hide and seek and those such games.

I was surprised to learn that they didn’t play beach cricket! The reason?? Balls were too easily lost in the water! The little things we don’t think of, as now we would buy a bag of cheap tennis balls just for the occasion… a lost ball for Ruby and her sister and brothers meant no more ball games until a birthday or Christmas where you might be lucky to get another one! Broken or lost items had to be mended or you went without. It made them be very mindful of taking care of their things right from the start.

We live in a society were it is all too easy to replace lost/broken items without a thought – where in Ruby’s day, when you wore the elbows out on your cardigan, you didn’t throw it away and replace it. Nope. You took the sleeves off and reattached them on the opposite sides to start wearing out the other side!!

I can’t begin to tell you how much I would not do this. I may knit, but I have an allergy to sewing!! 😀

How how was discipline in your childhood? Strict? Lax? Smacks didn’t really bother me, but I hated being yelled at – I dissolved! One of my sisters, well… you could yell at her until you were blue in the face and she wouldn’t care! But a smack!! She couldn’t hack the pain! My smart mother dished out the punishment where it was effective!

Probably the most effective punishment we all agreed on over our afternoon of dipping biscuits in tea was depriving a child of a luxury or outing. All generations from Ruby to me agreed that it was the thing that worked very well when put to good use! (A holiday at my grandparents was cut extremely short because of my & my sisters appalling behaviour. We didn’t think Mum and Dad would follow through with their threat but they did!! We didn’t forget that ever!!!)(Although I am fairly certain it wasn’t my fault!) 😀

Hope your week has started fantastically

Cheers!

I dashed about Ruby’s garden before going inside to indulge in cake, coffee and stories! (and got so engrossed I forgot to get a photo of Ruby today!)

I was trying to get a sense of what life was like during the depression and war, in terms of things people had to go without, with the rationing.

It was a little hard to stay on track this afternoon…lots of sideline stories and memories!

Ruby was born in 1916 – Right in the middle of the Great War. People were just getting on track again when the depression hit, then of course right on its heels came the second world war.

Living in country Tasmania back in those days, things were never plentiful. Being remote from the rest of Australia as well as transport being scarce, people had to make do or go without! Nothing like the choices we make now to voluntarily reduce our crazy consumerism… it was just a way of life!

Ruby seemed to think that those in the country actually had things a little better than those in the city. If you were in the country, you could more easily feed yourselves via the vegetable gardens, chickens and pretty much everyone had a cow, which totally took care of the milk, cream and butter issue.

When the ships came into Burnie, Ruby’s Dad would load up the horse and take a couple of tons of potatoes into town, and do the shopping at the same time. Supplies would come in on the ships, so flour & sugar etc were bought at that time, and bought in bulk. (we are talking 70lb bags here! (30+ kilos)

Ruby was reminiscing about one particular trip where the whole family went into town (She had a sister and two brothers). Her mother did the rare thing of buying a loaf of bread, as she probably hadn’t had time that day to make one.  By the time they got home she found a completely hollowed out loaf!! Once the siblings started nibbling out the inside it seemed they couldn’t stop!! Just the crusts were left, which was what they had on the table that night!

Apparently (luckily) her mum saw the funny side!

Ration books were issued once a year. Coupons were cut out at the counter, and it was illegal to trade in ones that were already cut. However, people did – Ruby doesn’t remember anyone getting into trouble for it.

As the war started, Ruby began nursing. She said farewell to one of her brothers, who went to war and never came home. There is a beautiful photo of her and Syd in their respective uniforms that graces the wall in her lounge room.

The hospital wards were always short of supplies and it was a juggling act to provide patients with what they needed.

They were supplied with cots for the babies, but no mattresses or bedding! The nurses had to be creative. A spare bed was robbed of its pillows to make mattresses, blankets were folded to make soft borders around the hard edges of the cots, and napkins were used to fill in gaps to stop the draughts getting in to the babies!

The mothers understood the plights of the nurses and banded together to give them any spare coupons that they could lay their hands on.

Ruby and some of the other nurses got permission to use the coupons and given money by the hospital board to purchase materials. They then set about slowly (and in their time off) sewing up the things needed to make their patients lives more comfortable.

Ruby was so mortified that these new mothers were being served dinners off these terrible old tin trays instead of nice plates!! (even though she insists the food was good!)

Ruby remembers her other brother Col, when spending time with his friends, that they would go to the shop and see what they could buy for a treat. Usually it was cheese!!! Imagine that! Buying a lump of cheese to nibble on as a treat from a shop!

How our worlds have changed!

And really – the most important question in my mind was “What about chocolate??”

Gosh! Chocolate was a rare rare treat! If you were lucky (and it was available) you might get some on your birthday, or some at Christmas! Ruby’s eyes lit up – “It was a real ‘red letter’ day if you got chocolate!”

Boiled sweets were more common, but still a luxury. Sugar wasn’t so plentiful that you could go making sweets for the kids, and as Ruby pointed out – there wasn’t that much time for such frivolities!

I don’t think people know how fortunate we are to live in our worlds where so much is at our fingertips!

I asked Ruby if the people in the city found the rationing more difficult as they were maybe more used to having things available, but she thought not, simply because people just didn’t have money and so were used to going without.

I can only imagine the vast majority of us in first world countries would take things very hard if we suddenly got super restricted on our basic foodstuffs, never-mind all the luxuries!

Well – I have two pieces of chocolate left that I am about to indulge in. However, I won’t take it for granted. I will appreciate it that little bit more tonight!

Cheers