Welcome Bethy/Betty

[gloria townsin]

Hello and welcome to this super forum where all things Minack are loved. Hoping to hear from you soon. :)

[Janet Swan]

Welcome Bethy/Betty. Looking forward to hearing how you discovered the Minack Chronicles and about your life in New Zealand.

Janet

[Kath Mulligan]

Hello and welcome to our friendly forum. Look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kath

[Bethema]

Wow! I have been having fun just learning so much about you all as I read some of your posts and thank you for your messages already before I had even posted a message - awesome!
Linda suggested that I perhaps put some of or the whole of the message that I sent to her to tell her about myself.... so here goes and then you can get some sort of an idea of who I am.

I first stumbled across my first book by Derek in late 1997 or early 1998. I was accompanying my then husband on his ambition to follow construction work around the North Island of New Zealand. We were living in a campervan (modest mobile home - ex rental that tourists normally use). Of course with the change of pace and lifestyle (I am a keen farmer and person of the land) I had time to read! And of course I have always been a bookworm and a cat
lover extraordinaire!
We were based in a fairly unpopulated coastal area where a limited library service was available with books transported and
swapped around from the main centre some 50kms hence.
And then I spotted 'Monty's Leap' in the new arrivals.... now the rest is history.... I was hooked.
I mentioned my most amazing find to a very dear cat lover friend who informed me that she had discovered Derek some years back and was also 'sold'.
Derek's style of writing is so.... sort of personal.... it's as if he is
chatting over a cup of tea at your very own table.... since then I always kept Minack, Monty and Derek and Jeannie in my heart from that day on.
Many years later I spied several of his books at book fairs and snapped them up.... for them to sit in pride of place in my bookcase without ever having been read.... well, until just a few days ago when I picked up 'The Cherry Tree'.
I became so emotionally attached with the whole situation and then when Cherry passed her 'C' levels on the 3rd of October and 'mysteriously' that was the same date that I was reading it..... I thought.... mmmm there is more to this than meets the eye.
So I googled 'minack tangye'.
I found your website and on the 3rd of October (NZ time) I made contact. Of course, there were many tears as I read of both Jeannie and Derek's passing.
Isn't it amazing how 'alive' they sound in the books?..... in fact they will never die for that very reason.

I, myself, now live alone on 5 acres at the end of a no-exit road where I have brought back a bare block back to 'life'. Microbes now live in the once dead and denuded soil, biological activity in the soil (as nature planned in the first place) promote the growth without any human intervention. Bee food is planted in abundance, birds are now returning, pleased about the arrival of the young trees, shrubs etc that are now gracing the block with their diversity and beauty.
I have only been here for 3.5 years but have worked hard to achieve the dream that I had as a 20year old.
Funny how we pick the wrong path sometimes on our journey and get rather waylaid.... but in saying that we always learn heaps and that makes our life richer for having passed that way.

I see my place as a place of serenity, seclusion and also delight as I have planted an abundance and great variety of food for mankind, birds, bees and the animals (big and small.... even microscopic... they are all part of the ecosystem).
I always had this vision of sharing the resources of what I had with
others..... like a retreat where people can take 'time out'.
My block is inland though.... not coastal. Although in saying that there are some awesome coastlines and beaches within 1 hour of my place (one with even the chance to dig your own mineral hot pool in the sand at low tide and relax.... until the tide turns..... aarrggh!) and within 20mins there are the world famous glow worm caves and beautiful native bush and mountain walks.

We are coming into spring here in NZ and so The Cherry Tree was so timely... I did not realise how much impact that book would have on my soul.... true soulfood!
I, too have a cherry tree which now stands in 'observation' of visitors.....I planted it last year and so it will be even more special now.
Like Derek, I have little areas on my block that are special little places in memory of people and animals that have since passed on, of course a living tree or plant is living on in their memory.
Now to designate an area in memory of Derek, Jeannie, Minack and all those lovely animals too..... that is going to be something to look forward to....time will always provide the perfect setting and place for such a thing to happen.
One day I hope to get over to the UK for a visit as it is something that I have not done yet.... something else to look forward to.

I am a real fair dinkum cat lover and like Derek feel very faithful to one cat who at the moment is my 'Super Kitty' (aka High Maintenance Kitty aka Miss Fancy Pants.) She is a long-haired Tabby (Chinchilla in there somewhere) and is such a wonderful companion whilst I am working on my block. (I am sure she is wondering why I am digging so many holes just to put trees in and then filling them in!)
On a personal level and to put it bluntly, is that I feel very uncomfortable with pretentiousness and feel more at home with 'real' people. I guess that is why Derek sharing his
innermost thoughts really struck a chord with me that 'hey there are other people out there like me'.
Yep, same wavelength it is.

Whoa that was rather lengthy... sorry.....
But thank you all for your openness and devotion for keeping Minack alive... I think it is really neat to be able to talk with people on the same wavelength! Yeehah!
Betty

[Janet Swan]

Betty

Thank you so much for your delightful posting. It made fascinating reading and now I (and all the other FOMS friends) can imagine you, your cats and your lovely "block".

When you do make a Minack garden, perhaps you might plant Honeysuckle, which your bees and birds will love? Derek and Jeannie's Honeysuckle Meadow is now one huge jungle of honeysuckle and absolutely lovely. They had a little seat there, so perhaps you will too!

Escallonia is another bush which features in several of Derek's books. Are these both available in New Zealand?

Do keep posting.

Janet

P.S. Have you seen the photos of Minack etc. in the Album? Do take a look - it's almost as good as being there :wink: .

[gloria townsin]

Fantastic newsy post Betty. New Zealand is a country my husband would love to visit. To think you are just goint into Spring - I can't wait for Spring again. So glad you found your way to the Chronicles and thence to this super forum. It is a great joy to us all that we can talk Minack to others who understand our passion. :D

[Sybille Weber]

What a lovely and interesting post, Betty. A real Minack out there in New Zealand.
New Zealand is very much a talking topic with us over here at the moment as my goddaughter Simone who is studying English will have to spend a year in an English speaking country in connection with her studies. She has chosen New Zealand and will leave for New Zealand at the end of this month. I understand she will stay somewhere near Auckland.
I hope you will manage to visit the UK one day and Cornwall in particular.

[Kath Mulligan]

Hi Betty

What a wonderful introductory post that was; thank you for sharing your world with us, it sounds amazing. It sounds as though you, Derek and Jeannie would have definitely hit it off, what a pity you never had the chance to meet them.

Hope if you do make it over to England sometime that you can time it to coincide with Memorial Weekend in March. You may be aware that there will be special celebrations in March 2011 in honour of the 50th anniversary of the publication of A Gull On The Roof, so perhaps that could be your goal to aim at.

Look forward to hearing much more from you.

Kath