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oosterman treats blog funny and sad stories about migration travel and suburban life oosterman treats blog funny and sad stories about migration travel and suburban life a frank story introduction june 5 2025 that something was not quire right about my brother frank came at the time at the age of 8 or so the teacher noticed frank s beautiful handwriting while the hand writing was in long up and down strokes with swirly ws and majestic ms the problem was not the beauty of it all but more the time it would take him to perfect this skill in fact he would painstakingly take all day to do what should have taken him one hour no matter how he was praised and how we all stood back in awe of his beautiful writing the friendly urging to keep up with the rest of the class was ignored and he would take all the time in the world to perfect his writing this wanting to be perfect in whatever he undertook is what plagued him for the rest of his life the eleventh of august 1939 would prove to be a most unfortunate date for frank to be born the rumblings of unrest in our part of the world were getting ominous and louder sometimes one could easily surmise that frank s problems started at his conception not only the wrong time for births in general rotterdam was also a bad place and the wrong place especially around august the following year when i was born as well the first time i was aware of my elder brother frank was during or just shortly after the war when we both went to miss saas s at the local montessori kindergarten a lovely memory filled time when i became aware of soft ice cream packed between two crunchy wavers and 10 cent pieces in a jar on miss saas s desk which was exactly the price of the ice cream i remember fitting different sized bits of wood inside the appropriate designed holes in a block of wood i remember not only walking with my elder brother frank home but also with the other brother the one after me called john the walk home was of course at the end of the kindergarten day sometimes though the walk was during the day as well the montessori was most tolerant and considered a good place to start however they drew the line at kids still doing number two s in their pants hence the day time walks home oddly enough i can t remember ever anyone walking me home with a pant package all i can remember is that my mum seemed to be always in hospital or in any case not home when brothers with pant packages and i during very warm weather arrived back at our street in the middle of the day mrs b van dijk our neighbour opposite would deal with the shit pants by sternly putting either frank or john or both in the dark coal shed in the hope that the punishment would prevent future bouts of infantile incontinence infants we were and mrs van dijk also had children born just before or during the war indeed some even after it would seem likely that the coal shed would often be shared by the van dijk s progeny as well frank on those walks home strolled somewhat strangely and would have his hands sticking out sideways as if he needed some kind of antenna system to guide him of course memories of that are unreliable and can only be a kind of indication on how i perceived him so many years ago it is however a truth as far as i am concerned even though it might have been different childhood memories are often vague and i can only state those memories with distortions and exaggerations a distinct possibility tags family fiction history short story writing posted in gerard oosterman 14 comments a painting in finland december 27 2024 yesterday i received an email from my late wife s brother s daughter niina in finland while clearing some household goods she found a painting which she said had my signature on it embedded in this email was a picture of that painting here it is i could not believe it and only after enlarging it i found my signature at the bottom left corner it certainly fired up my memory and i must have painted it but how did it come to rest in finland the scene of the painting i recognized as a very old part of sydney called the rocks situated in argyle cut near the famous harbour bridge if you look at the top right of the painting it shows the beginning of the bridge during my early twenties i took lessons in painting by a hungarian artist named desiderius orban he had his studio there in the rocks and i must have painted the above painting there but how did it get to be in finland i know that i was keenly trying to win the heart of a finnish girl that i met in austria skiing i had a nasty fall and had a nosebleed when out of nowhere a girl turned up who wiped my face i had the nerve to comment on her beautiful eyes which they were to my amazement she said yes i know which floored me but she went back to finland to finish her studying and i went back to australia however we kept contact and after a while i started to woe her by writing and sending some of my paintings of course helvi and i got together and lived a very happy life for many decades and that is how that painting ended up in finland tags argyle cut paintings the rocks posted in gerard oosterman 20 comments the art is to just keep going october 14 2024 the latest of some of my paintings posted in gerard oosterman 10 comments more paintings and the farewells august 17 2024 the farewells of no returns 1956 by gerard oosterman there were quite a few english ten pound single men migrants saying their permanent farewells with parents on the quay i remember goodbye jack don t forget to write to your sister cheerio son let us know how you are going won t you yes mum see you then keep well boy and with these words of parting they too set sail for australia after a couple of days the sun came out and weather was getting mediterranean with passengers settled i was most impressed with the food and menus that we were asked to choose from can you imagine getting to choose between boiled or fried eggs beef or pork mashed or boiled spuds carrots or spinach tea or coffee after a few days arriving first in genoa then naples and finally messina in sicily where i then witnessed the goodbyes of all goodbyes not only to mama papa sorelli and brothers uncles and aunties the barber grandparents villages and brotherhoods but also forever and ever with the unrelieved and spine tingling goodbyes that haunt those harbours still with great heaving wailings endless sobbing and despair soaked up in acres of their best hankies these were the goodbyes at their best and saddest and so final those were the farewells of no return as the ship of johan v oldenbarnevelt finally pulled away from messina s moorings and thick ropes huge cries would rise again reach across the widening gap of water one old man and papa to dear son luigi departing the best cobbler of the village so unrelentingly steeped in grief and sobbing lost his dentures in the water as well as son going far away no doubt to be found that same week by a keen archaeologist of that ancient harbour the dutch way of departing was a bit in between more practical matters would be discussed have you got enough underwear for the six weeks don t forget the cod liver oil we heard the vegetables are not fresh yes we are doing this for the children and yes we heard there are bathrooms in some of the houses in sydney the weather is much warmer there and palm trees too stop sniffling and fidgeting gerard next day on board those sad sicilians were still hanging over the sides of the boat doe eyed and cast towards the shores that had disappeared and gone forever with famille en casa con la tavola while the young poms were strolling towards the bars that would open up in international waters away from coast and provide tax free alcohol relief a little orchestra would soon strike up a cheery waltz such as the much favourite it s on the isle of capri where i met you was it dean martin http www youtube com watch v bovbb_rear8 it would be another two weeks before an oh sole mio would be tried tables would be set up for card games and tombola after a couple of days the red rimmed eyes of the southern italians would revert to black again and friendships were being made quickly the english bachelors were less forthcoming and seemed more at ease pondering uncertain futures by themselves perhaps with a glass or two of beer posted in gerard oosterman 16 comments three more paintings july 21 2024 for your enjoyment posted in gerard oosterman 16 comments here are three more that came about miraculously june 30 2024 posted in gerard oosterman 12 comments more landscapes of the mind june 2 2024 for those that live too far away from the natural world these paintings might help to see a landscape simon schama puts it well is the landscape the work of the mind before it can ever be a repose for the senses landscape is the work of the mind its scenery is built up as much from strata of memory as from layers of rock he declares tags landscapes mind paintings posted in gerard oosterman 11 comments the serenity of painting and medical issues may 1 2024 the latest paintings we have a government who likes to remind us to get the occasional medical checkup through the local doctor the doctor is free but not so the specialists one gets referred to of course if one considers that almost all our body parts are the domain of specialists one has to be careful not to get sucked into spending a sickening amount of money however scans ultrasounds and mris are usually bulk billed or free i forgot why but decided to get the three main parts of my body looked at kidney bladder and lungs it was almost a day of dressing undressing and fronting up to a fully dressed scanner ultrasound or mmri expert they were young people and very good at making one feel at peace the venue was alright but somewhat ramshackle and in need of more money while nervously taking pants off for kidney and bladder scans i was told to lie down breath in and out etc which was managed reasonably well when going next for the chest xray i foolishly asked if i had to take pant off as well she thought i was being funny while in fact i was just serious but nervous and unused to showing my 83 year old body i usually avoid my bathroom mirror anyway i received a text message from my doctor to say they received the outcome of the tests and as a non urgent matter could make an appointment to see him it was an automated generated message so i suppose all is well at the moment that is so reassuring isn t it tags chest doctor kidney pantings posted in gerard oosterman 18 comments the innings of a gamble or art april 18 2024 the above the latest of my paintings feel free to make of it what you like my grandsons are like all young man but of course also special whereby i recognize so many shared family genetic markers not least their body lengths being either close or over two meters i have occasionally given some advice although somewhat tempered by the believe that their parents are probably better equipped gambling is one of my dislikes and just recently learned that per capita australia has the highest number of poker machines my grandsons nod solemnly in agreement when sometimes i let them know about my prejudice on pokies their eyes shifted just a bit to arouse my curiosity tinged with suspicion but just get ready for the next few words and get a bit closer to the screen one of my grandsons won 50 000 on those poker machines two days ago can you believe it and what about the morals of this he told me he will invest in a long term bank deposit and i pleaded with him never but never go back to gamble again i am with china on that one and wished all gambling to be banned what do think about it tags china gambling poker posted in gerard oosterman 14 comments local shire art exhibition march 19 2024 here some of my paintings exhibited in the atrium of our local council in moss vale nsw australia a good sign of approval tags art australia moss vale paintings posted in gerard oosterman 33 comments older entries oosterman treats oosterman treats categories a frank story 1 gerard oosterman 1 291 helvi oosterman 21 uncategorized 124 pages law and order a christmas story a condom s roughrider solution a frank story part 1 a frank story introduction a frank story part 1 rotterdam on fire a frank story part 5 missing australia s corrigated iron a frank story part 6 afghan cafes home birthing a frank story part 7 the hermitage winter palace and intestinal hurry a frank story part 1 town hall fire and family storms a frank story part 2 so much jam and own block of land a frank story part 3 of concrete bras and first dates a frank story part 4 love and marriage a grave issue a parisian policeman abc drum articles by gerard oosterman 3 02 2013 about the oosterman phenomenon artists versus sport on the moscow stpetersburg express australia don t rubbish it bali on monkey forest road blogger award colonoscopy for father s day different travels erectile dysfunctional benefits first dates and concrete bras helvi home alone http www abc net au unleashed 3599232 html letting the bees do the work next time you buy fashion look at how and where it is made of dalliances and dunny men shopping malls nightmares the train to rookwood subscribe rss posts rss comments blog at wordpress com entries rss and comments rss subscribe subscribed oosterman treats blog join 1 646 other subscribers sign me up already have a wordpress com account log in now privacy oosterman treats blog subscribe subscribed sign up log in report this content view site in reader manage subscriptions collapse this bar loading comments write a comment email required name required website design a site like this with wordpress com get started