The good old days...

Have been on my feet all day (since I stand at my computer), deeply into Ancestry.com. Winifred, you say your ancestors were all poor - well, you ain't seen nothin' yet!!! I couldn't find any actual photos of where my maternal grandmother, Florence May Allen, lived in Scone, but the above pics are typical of her time. She was the first of 14 children, born in 1885. Her mother, Kate Sweeney, was pregnant over 22 years!!!!!! What do you suppose they used as nappies in those days?

Her father, Ralph Dodds, was one of 12 children. He worked as a Bailiff for the Small Debts Court and a Lamplighter, among other things (like making babies).

Nanny got a job as a live-in housekeeper for an unmarried father in Muswellbrook, about 20 miles away. Can you believe, the parents of the pregnant woman would not let her marry the father, so he took the baby home from the hospital and cared for her himself. That was in 1905! Not too many men would do that today.

In 1916 Nanny married this man, Joseph William George Allen, and they had one child, my mother, Ida Rose, the following year.

Concert coming up!

Oh dear, what have I got myself into? My piano teacher is having a concert in August and she wants Emma to play, which is fine, but also me!!!!!! Emma will play Arabesque and a duet with me, then I'll play Amazing Grace and Chopin's Etude, Optus 10, #3.

Between now and then I'll have to practise for hours every single day. Hope my paternal grandmother, the piano teacher, doesn't turn over in her grave! I have not inherited a single drop of talent.

Wetlands walk

I parked the car a few streets away before lunch today and wandered off, admiring the beautiful homes and gardens. A man walking his grandchild told me about a wetlands walk at the bottom of the hill, so I meandered along this most delightful path. (I admit I didn't take this pic as I had forgotten to take my camera with me, so borrowed this one from the web.) All this in Sydney's biggest city, and just a stone's throw from home. Wonderful.

Now I need to get on with Ancestry.com. It's absolutely mind-boggling finding I have relatives all over the world, with their email addresses right there! Last night I emailed a previously unknown family member in Israel and am waiting for her reply. No convicts apparently. My ancestors on both sides all seem to have come from England in the late 1800s. Children out of wedlock very common.

Before the quake in Nepal

A lovely pic of my Nepalese friend leading trekkers some time back. The situation in Nepal is horrendous, with maybe 10,000 people dead, and all our media can do is bemoan the execution of two drug smugglers. Get a sense of proportion, I say.

Skeletons come tumbling out of the closet...

For some time now I've been looking into family history on Ancestry.com. I knew my father, Joseph Stanislaus (originally Fairbrother, then Philipson) was the illegitimate son (b 1907) of a Catholic nun, Annie Louise Fairbrother, and a Jewish dentist, Joseph Cohen, and it seems I've tracked him - my grandfather - down. My grandmother later married Matthias Philipson (Philipson is my maiden name) and had more children. I don't suppose the 'incident' was ever spoken about. Whether Joseph ever knew he had a son I don't know. He later married twice, but had no more children. Now I am in contact with the descendants of his sister.

How a nun and a Jew ever got together is something that intrigues me. My goodness, what a scandal it would have been! Not only a nun pregnant, but to a Jew!!! Those were the days, remember, when even the protestants and catholics didn't speak to each other.

In 1905 my maternal grandfather, Joseph William George Allen, fathered a daughter out of wedlock and took the baby home from the hospital and reared her himself. Apparently the mother was not allowed by her parents to marry him. He employed a housekeeper to live in and help with the child and, as a single woman living with a man was frowned upon, he married her. Twelve years later, she, Florence May Allen, became my grandmother.  

Not half an hour ago, when going through the thousands of photos and documents I've dragged out in past days, I made another discovery: Florence May was herself illegitimate. She was one year old when her parents married. Well, who knows if the man her mother married was her father...

Before the earthquake in Nepal

For many years I've had an epal in Nepal who takes the most beautiful photos. I've put some of them on this blog from time to time.

He is OK, and so is his wife, who gave birth to a baby boy the day before the earthquake.

Yes, Winifred, wind is terrifying.  When those dreadful storms were lashing UK and France a bit over a year ago, the niece of one of my French friends was killed when a tree fell on her car.

And yes, the only thing to do is think positive re the terrorists. I don't think we should give them so much publicity. More women are killed by their husbands/partners than by terrorists. That's where our money and security should be going.

Wild weather

Gale-force winds and pouring rain have been battering us for days.  Last night I picked Philip up from the station, telling him I wouldn't go to my exercise class later as I was too afraid of falling trees. However I changed my mind and started backing up the drive just before 7pm. Philip came running out in the rain to tell me not to go, as a tree had come down just round the corner, delaying Manami and the kids on their way home from swimming lessons.

The pics are from other suburbs.

Many schools are closed today.  I took Emma, but was very nervous driving the short distance. Muffy and I slept on the sofa last night, too afraid to stay in my bedroom as we have two large gum trees overhanging the roof.

Totally fed up

If only the terrorists would have the brains to find beauty in the world and the ability to enjoy life, and paint a picture of a butterfly sitting on a knife, such as this one by Australian artist Cressida Campbell, instead of thinking the only thing to do with a knife is cut somebody's head off.

It's especially annoying that they take themselves off to live in Western countries and enjoy all we have to offer, while all the time criticising us and planning to kill us. Just this weekend a group of young men was arrested in Melbourne for allegedly planning to kill police officers at our ANZAC service on Saturday.

Oh so cute...

There's no denying, cats are the cutest creatures.  You could spend your entire life looking at their pics on the internet.

Who needs cars or trains when you can hop on a reindeer?

Thanks for these fabulous pics, Lina.  Modern technology isn't needed here.

If you'd like the link for yourself, here it is:

http://www.boredpanda.com/reindeer-people-dukha-mongolia-hamid-sardar-afkhami/