... She Wrote

Old Gold

(prompt: 'old' March 26, 2021)

"Hi there 'Oldies'", our twin 'soul' sons say every time they send us an email or phone us. Cheeky young devils... well, from our ancient status of seventh and eighth decades, their age of 57 looks pretty young in our well-used eyes.

We match our surroundings so perfectly, I decided on a small inventory of our 'favourite things', and after consulting the Thesaurus, found a plethora of 'old' words far more suitable to describe our individual treasures.

Would have to start with the land itself. Once upon an extremely long time ago belonging to the Boandik tribe of aboriginals, the words 'ancient' or 'ancestral' maybe? And antediluvian and prehistoric spring immediately to mind. Today we own and love just a tiny ten acres of it. We leased most of it out to a fellow farmer to run some of his sheep, because we are really too old to be farmers now. Trouble is, we can't face the idea of the confinement of even country town life, so this is our foreseeable future choice.

Then our dear, somewhat tired stone farmhouse. She began life in 1878 and has seen quite a few residents in the interim, including 14 whole years of being condemned as unlivable until a brave soul came along and declared her definitely NOT unlovable, and proceeded to rescue her. Several others have added to her charms, both inside and out... including ourselves. She's in need of a bit of a spruce up inside currently, but with walls 14" (or 36 cms) thick, she's as solid as ever. Venerable is definitely the word for her—'commanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity'. Absolutely!

Our furniture is 'antique', but not the fine, intricately patterned pieces you might imagine. There is carving, but our timber love is Old English Oak, country style; clearly demonstrated by the number of pieces we own; many for over 50 years. There are two 'Captain' or 'old English pub' chairs we found totally neglected, and bought about 40 years ago, only to discover later they were about 145 years old! These are treated with deep reverence... irreplaceable for sitting and dreaming and drinking and eating every meal at home.

Not for us the pristine all-white and minimalist style so fashionable today. Our walls must be that warm apricot that welcomes and comforts, with our beloved polished oak gleaming in almost every room, and many adornments on walls and shelves that trendy folk would describe as old-fashioned, out-of-date, antiquated... in other words, OLD! To us they are priceless treasures; each one containing a wealth of memories.

In our garage sits our beloved Mercedes Benz (German production 1999, first registered in Australia 2000). The first owner had treated her like a baby; such exquisite condition when we bought her in 2009 for an amazingly low amount. It seems her appeal was limited to other 'golden oldies' like ourselves.

"Thankfully," we mutter as we remember that 'pauperly' price. "The age pension only stretches SO far, you know!" And we smother a chuckle as we two old 'POPsies' (poor old pensioners) trundle along in our bargain-basement-priced Merc.

Photo by Sudhith Xavier on Unsplash

Golden Embellishments by Christine Larsen