Ancestry

This is Rosetta Lockwood, 1795 - 1857, my 4th great-grandmother. She was born in Somerstown, Middlesex, England and died in West Maitland, NSW, Australia.

I've actually been sitting here for hours, trying to put in a screen shot of a 15th great-grandfather down to me, but alas, I can't figure out how to do it.

Must say I'm quite proud of myself for getting back that far on one line. I'm attempting to do that on every line and that means hundreds of ancestors! And hundreds of hours of work!

This explains why I'm way behind in answering emails and I do apologise. There's only one explanation - ancestry searching is addictive.

Winifred, I am at last sleeping better, and without resorting to tablets. There was an article in the Herald a while back, saying most people were having sleep problems due to the heat and humidity, so I know I wasn't Robinson Crusoe. In fact, almost everybody I spoke to was having problems. Thankfully the weather is cooler now and I've actually taken the two fans out of the bedroom (ready to store) and put on a doona that is a little warmer, though sometimes all I need is a sheet.

It's good that you're able to go straight back to sleep after getting up with Roy. Muffy is the one I get up to, as she comes in very late and wants to go out very early.

Emma's music is coming along all right. Her teacher is in Japan at the moment, with her 104-yr-old grandmother who is not well. The trombone looks unwieldy to me, but she seems to be handling it OK. Last week there was a band recital - we were all most impressed.

Being a guide at the Bishop's Palace will be lovely for you.

Give my love to Roy.

Olga - I think you should read 'Sapiens' and find out what is so good about it! The author has a new angle on a lot of things.

Have to change my life

For a long time now I've been suffering from an internet overload and I'm beginning to wonder if so much exposure to my laptop and iPad has sent my sleep patterns haywire. It's come to the desperate stage where I'll try anything.

On Tuesday night I got only two hours' sleep but then slept all day, waking only to eat a delicious dinner of paella and passionfruit souffle made by Manami, before going back to bed and sleeping all night. The fitbit enables me to know just how much sleep I get, and, night after night, it's only between two and five hours. If I don't sleep the following day I'm like a zombie. It really makes getting things done quite difficult.

As well as less internet, I'm going to cut back on listening to the radio (except for classical music now and then) and stop reading bad news. What, I ask myself, is the point of knowing every evil thing going on in the world when I can't do a thing about it?

I'll allow myself to read books. The one above is from an online uni course of the same name I did last year - the best course I've ever done! The book hadn't been published in English then, so I made notes. But I'm really happy to have bought the book and reread the first chapter this morning. I thoroughly recommend it to you all. If you read nothing else, read this. (Winifred, ask your daughter-in-law if she's already read it.)

I wish some of the icy Norwegian winds you mention would blow this way. We're experiencing the hottest summer ever here in Sydney, with week after week of temps in the high 30s, as well as dreadful, unbearable humidity. I swim morning and night, in an effort to cool down. This insufferable weather could well have something to do with little sleep, though I have to admit the problem goes back further than this heatwave.