As a child I remember how my father Louis was proud of the
way his father had restored a badly eroded farm to productivity.
The old trees were huge - a testimony to Grandpa's foresight.
My mother was impressed that Grandpa imported plants - one
wonders if he tried several types of grapes along the front
of the house, before he found which ones flourished. It was
quite amusing that he once imported a fabulous sounding plant
the American Wonder Berry. To his disgust it turned out to
be msobas which grew wild in the lands of Fyvie Farm! Altho'
Grandpa looks so serious in the photos he had an impish sense
of fun and my (?) childhood memory of him is how he played
the squashbox while we danced around the GIANT christmas
tree in the centre of the lounge at Fyvie, until we literally
dropped giggling on the floor. Maybe that was the only way
to get that tribe of excited children to go to sleep!
(Shirley
Stockil - from both Fyvie postcard, and Temple's)
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