Family Tree Frog

I've said it before and I'll say it again, all I ever wanted for Christmas was a swing.  Did I get one?  No.  And now I am old I would still like a swing - probably a more sedate one like this.  My grandmother had one of those swing seats and I thought they were grand.  I still want one.  If anyone is listening.  Anyone? Sigh. Here are some photos of people on swings for consideration, from my mother's albums again. Swings come in all shapes and sizes.  Look at this beauty.  Taken in Newcastle me-thinks. Dolly, Kit, Shirley, Barbara I have no idea who Dolly is.  She must have been a friend of Kit - my mother's mother.  I think Dolly has her back to us.  All you can really see of Barbara is a little face between Kit and Shirley.  They are on the left-hand side of the swing facing us.  At a guess, I would say this is taken about 1939.  Perhaps Belle, Kit's twin sister took the photo.  Maybe she didn't like swings.  Maybe she was thoughtful and cons

I am having a great deal of difficulty staying on theme today.  Here is my photo which probably just scrapes in on the 30 years old Sepia Saturday rule; although the "rules" on Sepia Saturday have always really just been guidelines with plenty of room for wriggle. Jim and Alex en route to Melbourne circa 1990 I'm pretty sure this was taken on a trip to Melbourne with my parents just before I got married.  That is the weekend Australian I am reading and if I was holding the paper straighter, we might have been able to read the date.  Oops I'd better make it sepia hadn't I?  There you go. If you read my blog last week, I am excited to report that there is an update on the photo of my mother and the dog Pete and that we have been able to locate where the photo was taken so head on over and have a look at the postscript. Here are some other photos where I am unable to place them but they called to me this morning from the album.  All thoughts a

Sepia Saturday   this week encourages us to consider the dogs in our life or past lives and maybe the training thereof.  I could bore you witless with tales of the Adorable Arwen. Adorable Arwen She is, without a doubt, the Apple of my Eye and walking companion par excellence.  She has us wrapped around her dew claw and we have to be careful not to give her too many treats or she will end up as tubby as me. Let's have a look at some other puppies in the family tree. My mother and father both grew up with dogs.  I desperately wanted a dog when I was very little.  A black spaniel, Dino, was duly purchased and given to me when I was about six I think.  But Dino did not like me one little bit so he had to go.  Then the dachshund across the road bit me on the knee when I went to visit Elizabeth-Anne, so I was a bit shy of dogs after that.  My friends had dogs who were all very lovely - Jill's beagle Jip and Judith's endless succession of dogs, the names of which

School days.  Good morning everyone. Good morning Mrs So - and - so.....said in a long drawn out sing-song voice.   I have spent a restless night, waking frequently to hear wind moaning as it snakes its way in through door and window crevices.  It's not good.  There are fires raging around south-east Queensland and parts of NSW.  I am worried for the good folk at Binna Burra, Stanthorpe, Applethorpe,  Tenterfield and Armidale. All this week, as I have driven from Brisbane to the Gold Coast, I have been driving through smoke haze from about Helensvale onwards. We've had a dry end to winter a nd the climate outlook for the remainder of the year shows an increased risk of bushfires. When I looked for bushfires and schools on Trove, I found photos of the Hornsby Home Science School which was destroyed by bushfire on 30 November 1957 .  It wasn't the first time the school had been threatened by a fire.  Newspaper articles give accounts of the fire threat five y

It has been a ridiculously long time since I blogged.  All work and no play makes Alex a very dull girl indeed.  And I do miss blogging.  Particularly Sepia Saturday.  So here goes.  A short post about a basket.   I picked up the nearest old photo album I could find and found this on about the third page. Dated August 1950, my mother would have been 14 years old - a couple of months shy of 15.  The photo would have been taken by her BFF Val.  And I love this photo because it is of my mother painting and she was very good at drawing and painting.  See previous post here. So there you are.  You can carry a sketch pad and paintbrushes with you in a basket.  And there I was thinking it would be food.  Well, there was probably food too.  Starving artists notwithstanding. And I am completely fascinated by what she is wearing.  My mother always loved a good kilt.  Scottish heritage and all that.  For more about Scottish ancestors go here. Being a knitter I am particularly i