Letter from Dianne Bellham

Nancy Thomas has been getting several inquiries about the letter from Dianne Bellham to which she referred at our reunion, and has asked that I post it here on the blog. So . . . . . here ya go.

TO: Classmates of '62

FROM: Dianne Bellham

DATE: July 10, 2007

E-mail Address: dibellham@dcsi.net.au

Since our 40^th reunion, much has changed both in our individual worlds and that around us. I cannot comment upon yours, and choose at present not to comment on 'the other' except to say that, seeing as I still get called the 'old hippie,' I am both a greenie and a peacemaker by choice.

My mother

My mum pretty much crashed after my sister died, so on my return in 2002 it was necessary to find her a place in a nursing home close to where I live in Gippsland. I did this; it was good, and only about 15 minutes away in Warragul. It meant I could see her for a few hours every evening and at weekends. Because of her Parkinson's Disease and arthritis she became pretty rigid and unable to do very much for herself in a physical sense. She died last September and left a pretty big hole in my life and my day to day routines … I'm still getting accustomed to it … and now, as they say in the classics, I am an orphan – no folks, no siblings.

I do however have a family or two; one lot are all 4-legged, the other are two-legged usually with a sense of the rational!!

My 'family'

"Brigadier" – my handsome horse the kids next door left when they moved;

"Dargo" – a kelpie/stumpy tail Australian sheep dog cross who was chosen as the students class pet 2 years ago;

"Jackson" – what a name … 18 year old dog and still going strong; and

"Beasley" the Corgi – oh yes I chose him too.

"Humphrey" (almost forgot him) – a beautiful silver grey tabby moggie; he came from next door too.

They keep me busy and happy; guess that's what happens when you have no children of your own or they move on.

Lifelong friend Nigel is home from traveling and is an editor with the Lonely Planet publishing company. Old friend Andrew is off again and teaching English in Taiwan.

My farm

On my little farm I have 25 acres of natural bush which is a wildlife refuge. I plant trees – another 1000 trees going in on July 29 ^th; I raise Suffolk sheep, a motley crew of goats and alpacas. The sheep and the alpacas were my idea; the goats just seemed to find me and I now have 9, including a boar buck and 2 kids which I am hand-rearing. When the buck arrived he helped himself to the paddock (pasture) and the does (female goats).

The rest of the grazing is done by a few beefies we keep for our own consumption and dairy heifers which belong to one of my 'families.'

Of course we have had the worst drought on record even for my part of the country; horrendous bushfires and now we are getting flooding rains. Farming is going through very difficult times.

Teaching

I retired from teaching some time back, then was lured back for a short time, and since May of 2003 have been back full time again until this year. I do love it. It is a bit like history repeating itself though as I am back where I started all those years ago – at Poowong same room, same grade level – when I first moved out of the city for a sea-change! Well, country life change anyway. I guess teaching is just a passion … can we all remember that stuff … passion?

And so …

So I work on the farm, I work at school, I spend time with friends and family. I haven't had a break really since I last visited you; guess it will come; I am looking forward to it. I do ballroom dancing once or twice a week at the little public halls – great fun I love it; there's a bunch of us who go … it's a bit like a time warp though.

I did seriously consider making the trip to Jackson this year and half of me really wanted to, the other half was a bit anxious about it all … so I acted on the side of caution. Not an anxiety about travel as such, but of leaving the emotional safety (and mess) of home! I still have stuff of mum's to complete and tie off, that is the main thing I guess … I have started working on it seriously. Also where is my passport? Y'all seen it anyplace? I know I put it somewhere safe!

July 13^th is a Friday here, I will be thinking of you, and visualizing as much as I can. Have fun, be kind, travel safely. I send love and greetings to you all. See ya next time.

Dianne