Family Tree Frog

I have a feeling that in the old world - the pre-Covid world - it would have been round about Wimbledon tennis time now. But this isn't the real world, this is the Sepia world and therefore we can still have tennis if we want it. Or we can have sports, or women in long dresses or pavilions or whatever you would like. The Sepia world is rather like that, you can make the rules up as you go along.  So says Alan Burnett from Sepia Saturday. Here are some photos of my mother, her mother (I think, she was an identical twin so it's always difficult to be sure), her cousins and assorted friends. I think they are playing on tennis courts somewhere around Hamilton, Newcastle, Australia.  If you recognise the scenery, please enlighten me as there are quite a few tennis courts around Hamilton.  Not all the photos were taken on the same day.  My mother Barbara is a bit smaller in this first photo and in a different outfit. Isn't it great how the horizon is a bit tilted in this p...

This post is in honour of Sepia Saturday and the theme this week is windows.  I have chosen a photo of a woman called Margaret Jones from Wales who seems to be cheerfully working in her dairy. Everything looks clean, spotless and very bright.  You can’t really see the window but you know it’s there from the light, and you can glimpse a bit of the frame.  This is how I am feeling about my family history research at the moment.  I know there is a window there somewhere…I’m getting chinks of light but I’m still trying to fill in all the picture…through a glass darkly to quote someone. Margaret Jones, Hafod Owen, Llanfachreth, and her homemade butter Ffotograffydd/Photographer: Geoff Charles (1909-2002) Dyddiad/Date: June 19, 1953 Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / The National Library of Wales No known copyright restrictions 145 years ago my g-g-g-grandmother, Margaret TAYLOR (nee JONES) died on 6th June 1875.  Like Margaret Jones in the photo above, she was a dairy (...

It has been quite a while since I have blogged. One could call it writer's block. So what better way to get started than working on Cassmob's meme for May 2020 and break the drought. Here we go. What are you most grateful for during this COVID-19 crisis? Well, believe it or not, this is quite tricky to answer because I have so much for which to be grateful e.g. my very good health and having a good job and plenty of leave I can use. But if I had to choose what I valued most it is probably living in Australia where we seem to have put a lid on it pretty quickly and are not seeing the terrible statistics that are happening in other countries. What have you missed most during the full or partial lock-down? Being able to give my dear old Dad a big hug and vice versa. I also miss just being able to meander and browse in the shops or supermarket or sit and have a coffee and watch the world go by.  I also miss being able to go to the art gallery and the cinema.  I would have tho...