I can just remember my father when he purchased a film camera in Hong Kong, I was 5 then, we were on the way over to Finland to show my grandparents me. Later when home we had to stand next to rose bushes in bloom, lemon, plum and grapefruit trees gingerly showing off the fruits or pose on the porch so he could get the whole house in view and then zoom in on us.
Evenings where the whole family would set up to watch the old family movies of camping trips, rodeo's, beachside fun and the backsides of running reindeers. We had a Flintstones reel and the above Chaplin reel that would have to be played first or there would be mutiny amongst the young. Cups of tea, pulla and the whirring memory of my grandparents awkwardly standing in front of a deep red paneled, white windowed home on verdant green surrounds.
Mum laughs remembering that I had told Johny the boy next door, who was my age and constant companion, that he would have to come and watch the home movies because there were elephants in Finland. Ha ha.
