Elsje, My Soulmate
by Geoff Boorman

I was so very privileged to spent the last seven years with Elsje.

 What can I say in just a few minutes to adequately give words to feelings that beg to pay homage to a very special person.

 When I look back on our wonderful time together, there is no doubt in my mind that all our roads inevitably led to "Wombolly", our 26 acres of paradise, an hour's north of Sydney.

 After a taste of inner city living and satisfying her love of Sydney Harbour, Elsje was instinctively drawn to explore the possibility of country living.  A circle was drawn on the map marking an hour’s drive from Sydney and the search began. Almost two years later we discovered "Wombolly".

 Here Elsh found most things that satisfied yearnings deep in her heart and here she found constant expression for her many loves.

 Elsje was a lover of people and at Wombolly she could share her simple joys with those she loved and all who came to visit. She cared for those who were important to her and was always on the phone, on-line chatting or exchanging emails.  She adored the fact that she was a grandmother and one of her greatest joys was sharing time with Poppy at Wombolly.

 Elsje was a lover of nature and things natural - she was a person of the earth. Her eye for spotting the exquisite, the unusual, the unexpected was amazing.  The frantic whisper "Quick, bring your camera" would usually result in another series of images for the Wombolly website.  Wildlife was all around her and she quickly adopted friendly animals as an extension of her abiding love of cats.   On her 60^th birthday, one of the highlights of her life was to spend time at the Canberra Zoo in the cage patting a Cheetah.

 Elsje was a lover good food, good wine and good conversation. So many people were the beneficiary of her hours of searching the web for new recipes, testing it out on me, before going public.  Success was always accompanied by a glass of wine from our Wombolly wine cellar, which she was constantly replenishing from her online wine seller sites.  Around the table at Wombolly, no matter what the occasion, it was a time of joy and happiness.   Coffee at 11.00 and 4.00 become such a happy daily ritual.

 Elsje was a lover of good times, singing, music and dancing.  When the mood took her, the sounds of her beloved piano would fill the valley with music - a freedom she said was not always available when living in close quarters in the city.  Otherwise music would fill the house from CDs played loud - a pleasure available when your nearest neighbour is more that a kilometre away.

 Elsje was a lover of quietness, of letting her spirit be moved by rustle of the wind through trees or watching a full moon rise over treetops or just simply sitting and watching the billions of stars - with a deep breath and a sigh she'd say, "Life's good".

 Elsje become a lover and avid fan of the Sydney Swans.  Enjoying live football telecasts, she knew the names of all the players and would shout and scream with joy and disappointment with the best of them.

 Elsje was a lover of creativity in all its manifestations - painting, art, pottery, video, photography and galleries.  In our time together, I watched her skills as a pet portrait painter blossom, and she gave many people lasting memories of a loved pet.  Her sunny studio at Wombolly had become a little quiet in recent times as painting gave way to her final love I'll mention today.

 Elsje was a lover of gardening.  At Wombolly, Elsje has started a vegetable and herb garden with good success.  By the driveway there is an area which has become known "Elsje's Garden".  Overgrown, but with tons of potential at the start, Elsje worked steadfastly to turn it into a place of beauty as you approach the house.  The beautiful, red waratah on her casket is from a plant that she found among the weeds, nurtured and fertilised until it bloomed just days ago.  Other flowers that we will use later in today's service are also from her special piece of soil.  At her request, it will be the resting place for some of her ashes. I would also point out that the other beautiful arrangement of flowers on the casket is made up of Elsje's favourite Australian native flowers, interspersed with some beautiful tulips - just a little reminder of her birthplace.

 And so, the beautiful lady, with whom I have shared the last seven years of my life is gone, but the depth of my love for her in the moments we shared was only exceeded by her amazing courage at the end, which will be a source of inspiration for me for the rest of my life.  She rests peacefully, her life's work done, but her memory will live on in the hearts of those who were privileged to know and feel her love.