Through the Eyes of my Son
Yesterday my son took Camera House for a walk and last night he wrote these words for you and me. He and his family will be going back to wintry New Zealand in a few days and he wanted to add his voice to the blog for a moment.
I am so proud of him and his wee family. They make a startling team. Life is a collection of fleeting moments, we desperately try to collect and capture them with all our digital devices and lever them into our memories but he has gently gathered them into my hand with his words.
Here is Senior Son:
I’ve visited the little farm on two occasions. Somehow this trip has been different. There is the obvious, its the height of summer, as opposed to the two previous midwinter trips. The landscape is green and lush as opposed to grey and bleak. But that’s not it…
Our new family has traveled from New Zealand, my stunning wife and beautiful new born babe. Driving up the limestone drive I was reminded that our six month old baby will remember none of the days to come. We wondered aloud if the farm would make an impression on her subconscious, it’s nice to suppose it would, just for the joy of the idea.
In a few short years we will no doubt come back for another trip, and I imagine us sitting around the dinner table back in NZ before departing talking with our daughter about what she can expect from grandma’s farm, and it’s this lens that has been in the back of my mind. A kind of anticipated future nostaglia, a strange concept.
On the first night we saw the magic of fireflies for the first time, bright pins of light dancing in the dusk. My first thought was to store this moment away for future child bedazzlement. What other stories would we regale our young daughter with about a trip that she couldn’t remember. “There are many wonderful animals, pigs, chickens, cows, peacock, cats, and your favourite, two dogs!”
“There are vegetables, fruit and fields that stretch to the horizon. Grandma’s kitchen is always busy, help yourself if you’re hungry, don’t forget to help out with the washing up. There is a dark and mysterious barn where animals go to sleep and stay safe.”
“There is a long path that snakes along the rise out back and leads to another barn across the creek, more pigs, more cows, hay and lawns to mow for pocket money.”
“Count the pigs, make sure none have jumped the electric fence and gone off to the pub, One, two, three, four – tahi, rua, toru, wha.”
“The farmy is a magical place, full of excitement and awe. It is a practical place too, life grows from the soil to fill our bellies.”
“Most important of all, it’s where we find grandma. Hauling the hoses, feeding the animals and weeding the rows. We talk to her in the kitchen, and play on the lawn, we laugh at silly Boo sleeping on his back with legs up in the air.”
It is something special to visit this piece of the world. But in the end, even its expansive majesty pales next to the joy of spending time with family.
Much love to you and your family.
SB
57 Comments on “Through the Eyes of my Son”
Leave a Reply
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER:
DO A LITTLE SHOPPING:
Thank You So Much For Your Kind Help with Maintaining This Blog
thekitchensgarden 
Beautiful. Brought me to tears. Xo
I think your entire family must have the creative souls and wisdom of past lives to express yourselves so beautifully. Safe travels.
Dear Senior Son: Kristy is not the only one from the Fellowship who will have been brought to tears. We owe you a big debt for your talent in showing us the magic of the farmy from so many new and different viewpoints . . . . for telling us your personal story – but most of all methinks all of us will be wondrously glad that you and your darling wife and a little girl. who will remember the journey thru’ photos and tales, have made ‘our Miss Celi’ happy. A safe trip home: it has been a warm winter here in Australia and we all are speaking of spring . . . daresay it will be similar for you . . . thank you . . .
Thank you, Eha, for putting my thoughts into words.
The farmy is such a special place, and you, Senior Son , have captured it’s essence! Beautiful words and photos. Safe travels for you and your family.
Words for a lifetime of memories, those past and those still to come. He’s your boy, for sure. He has the same way with words as you do, the same eye for the perfect image. Haerenga haumaru kāinga hoki…
What a beautiful post full of sentiment. Although your daughter is too young to remember it will be safely tucked away in her subconscious forever. Have a safe trip home. Love from France.
How lovely! Here’s to you visiting sooner rather than later again.
🙂 Mandy xo
“Most important of all, it’s where we find grandma. Hauling the hoses, feeding the animals and weeding the rows. We talk to her in the kitchen, and play on the lawn, we laugh at silly Boo sleeping on his back with legs up in the air.” It is something special to visit this piece of the world. But in the end, even its expansive majesty pales next to the joy of spending time with family.
Well said Senior Son. Safe travels to you and your family. Thank you for visiting us here on the Farmy blog.
Oh, Wow! This brought tears to my eyes and put hope in my heart. It is heartwarming to see our live through the eyes of another, but, especially through the eyes of a son, now viewing with the eyes and the heart of a father. This would make a wonderful book, and it ends so poignantly with your son’s words “even its expansive majesty pales next to the joy of spending time with family.”
Well said, all of it!
A beautiful post today from your very talented writer & artist son. What a wonderful father & husband & son he is. Through my tears, I thank you for this memorable edition of the blog. I’m so glad you’ve all had this brief summer time together. Safe happy journey home to the wee family & come back as soon as you can.
Lovely to see the farm through your son’s eye and he seeing it as if through his baby daughter’s. What a beautiful time it must have been. I’m sure she will have inhaled the smells and sounds, the voices and the light – all that will be there, deep and precious, spun into all that magic of learning about the world.
What a beautiful way to look at things! You are truly blessed!
Lovely post! So nice to read of the wonderful time had by all, and the memories that will be shared in times to come. xo
Truly special, snd very generous to share with us. Thanks.
That is a son with a heart big enough to carry his entire family with him wherever his journey goes.
I loved this. He’s very poetic. Memory making is best when with family. How fun to have a 6 month old in the house ; ) Enjoy every moment of the visit.
Bless you all, thanks for including us for a moment in time. Laura
What interesting points of view he’s chosen with your camera and the delightful story to go with the images is … delightful. I am struck by the dog photo which looks scary to me. Must be the saliva! But the one photo I like, that seems to capture the essence of this beautiful post, is the winding path in the field, a beautiful metaphorical image for life.
I think that picture is Tane the KuneKune pig
Yes, it is Tane and his crooked teeth.. c
A beautiful tribute to family and love. How good it will be for the little one to look at these pictures and words one day and know that this special place will always be filled with Grandma. Thank you.
That was truly lovely!
How lovely!
My goodness it’s so flat there. And the skies so big! Makes England feel positively claustrophobic! Great post.
Dear Senior Son, you have given your mama/grandma a gift unlike any other. A tribute of love in these heartfelt poetic words and in these lovely images. You possess that ability to see the world focused not within or upon yourself, but upon others. Safe travels to you and your dear family.
Thank you so much….that made me cry…..
aaww so wonderful and touching. Something for the little baby to read in the future in a memory book. Beautiful soul your son is. XOXO – Bacon
Such a wonderful post and pictures from your Dear Son. Thank You
LOVE LOVE LOVE
what a marvelous son you have – full of life and the joy it can bring- and his photos are stellar-! Cheers!
I thought this week could not get more soul-enriching with those 11 adorable piglets. This post takes it over the top. Beautiful.💖
You’ve treated us to a number of wonderful posts, Celi. Not only is this one of them but there’s a bit of magic to it. I can almost see you grand-daughter’s eyes light up as Senior Son describes the farmy to her on some not-too-distant day. Thank you both for sharing.
Wow! That’s beautiful. I don’t often comment, but this touched me deeply. My 2-year old granddaughter lives not a world away like in New Zealand, but Texas is still far enough away from California that I won’t be a daily part of her life. What a touching tribute by your son.
Safe travels back to NZ Senior Son and family! You have a lovely way with camera house and words, just like your mother. xo
Yes, it is a touching tribute and I also thank you, Senior Son, for your words and photos… all of them. And I would just like to echo all that’s been said above, rather than say it all again. Enjoy what’s left and travel home safely! Thank you. ~ Mame 🙂
❤
Thank you, Senior Son, for your beautiful photos and thoughts. I know from my own experience that memories are gifts. There are some that are oddly more vivid simply because they were told to me from the time I was a tiny child, they weren’t things I would’ve remembered as I wasn’t really old enough, however, my parents and grandmother telling me those over and over have given them to me. If you keep telling your darling, little daughter how she was at grandma’s farm and the things she saw and did, she’ll remember them as if she was old enough. Plus there is this marvelous blog to show her. You certainly inherited the gifts for seeing and for words, but most of all the gifts of sharing and love.
Awesome!
another superb writer and photographer; you family sounds lovely; I wish you much joy. thanks for the post; fabulous
Lovely words and sentiment. The future little miss has lots to look forward to. Safe travels and speedy return.
Wonderful post! you take after your mum 😀
When I post so late in the day, around 12 hours later than this post, just about everything has been said about this enchanting post from your talented son, the wonderful father, and the heartfelt husband. So I will say ditto to everything that has been said. Much love, your Gayle
Nothing like looking at things from the viewpoint of a baby. It gives you fresh eyes. This was a lovely, way to view the farm. There is nothing more enjoyable than being with family and having a baby to cuddle. Loved all the photos especially the meandering path. It’s like the one I’m on. Enjoy.
Thanks for sharing your experiences and the farm and your thoughts about your daughter’s connection to the farm and your mother. So lovely. Hoping you get back sooner than a few years!
What a wonderful tribute to you, Celi and what a lucky lucky little girl your grand daughter is to have a dad so tender.
It sounds like you have a wonderful son.
What a loving, touching post, so beautifully and tenderly written, & the photos are exquisite. I love seeing the fence posts – more of them than I thought, and the snaking path which I wanted to wander along, to say nothing of some odd views! You must be so proud of your son and the way he is fathering.
This made me have a cry. What a fine person he is. And such wonderful words and wisdom. Thanks so much for sharing this
Your post is awesome..A family that takes pride in farming not just as an economic activity but something that is part of their lives is a great family.
Nice one, son. Tender writing, and beautiful photos
Tears here, too. What beautiful words.
Nice work Sam…Thanks for sharing your thoughts from the Little House on the Prairie.
Well dammit! That made me cry. What lovely words… and I guess what got me were the tender and loving words about “Grandma”. You’re lucky. Your kids and grandkids will look back (and ahead) fondly, of Grandma living a life she loves… and one they’ll want to revisit. I love the “toothy” photo. A human would be mortified by crooked, dirty teeth and a frothy, whiskery chin… and lets not forget FABULOUS large nostrils!! Ha ha! Ya gotta love it!!
This is beautiful! It brought a smile to my face. 🙂
WOW…what a great son you have!! Beautiful comments about you and the farm! It made my day!
What a wonderful, sweet post. I’m so glad they got to visit the farm in summer. We’ll be looking forward to the next visit, for sure.