ANZAC Day and Remembering Poppy.

Today is a day of remembrance for the New Zealand and Australian soldiers who fought in wars around the world. For us it is a day of remembrance for our grandfather, Poppy, who died on ANZAC Day. I planted a rosemary bush for him and I'm going to have a rosemary hedge along the path up to the front door at my new house. I never get tired of the smell of rosemary. I love running my hands along the sticky branches, leaving my fingers fragrant with the oil that comes from the spiky leaves. I think Poppy would be pretty impressed with my ideas for my new garden, which will be filled with edible and fragrant plants. He wouldn't be at all pleased about the roses I am planning to plant along the fences, because he detested the vicious spikes that reached out to grab him when he was gardening or mowing.

Poppy was an extremely interesting character. He basically stayed at home for many, many years, with brief forays out for doctor's appointments, visits to family or (occasionally in later years) to op shops, which he loved. Poppy introduced me to a number of new foods, including sauerkraut, olives and blue cheese. As I got older I think he was quite impressed by my interest in food.

Poppy was a complex man. We always endeavored not to unset him in any way. He did, however, have a great sense of humour. Meg recalls him instructing us to call Nanny "The Old Trout", which, of course we did, without any idea what it meant. Poppy loved grossing us out by poking his false teeth out of his bewhiskered mouth in a sinister manner.

Another thing about Poppy was his passion for trees and his incredibly huge lawn. He kept a tally of the hours he spent mowing. Poppy had a methodical approach to mowing his lawn, and we always enjoyed seeing the long, straight strips marked out by the two different directions he would mow in. Much of it was done with a hand mower, and the section was over 3000m2. We had to take care not to thoughtlessly pluck leaves from the trees and drop them on the grass. This would lead to an interrogation to determine whether it was us or one of the local delinquents who had committed the indiscretion.

Although this post is all about Poppy, I will not be sharing a photo of him. He was a very private man, who seemed to genuinely detest having his photo taken. We are fortunate to have a few lovely ones of him, and also of his little friend, Paddy, a wee Jack Russell terrier. Instead of a photo of Poppy I have posted some pictures of the garden (and lawn) he created with Nanny.


In loving memory of Poppy XXXX