Family Tree Frog

      The theme for Week 3 is "Favorite Photo." Amy Johnson Crow has devised these prompts and you can participate too by signing up here. Tell the story of a favorite photo: Who is in it, when and where it was taken, and why it was taken. (That last part is often left out!)   Barbara Conner hanging up washing in Edinburgh     This is a photo of my mother hanging up the washing when we were living in Edinburgh in the 60s. I think my father took it to record what ordinary life was like at the time and to send back to the folks at home in Australia.  I'm sure my mother was not pleased but I am so grateful because you can see so much in this photo.  They had a kettle, something like a Sunbeam electric frypan.  I think I can spot a toaster and a radio up on the top shelf.  You can see that the glass came in milk bottles in those days and that the twin tub washing machine was in the kitchen.  There are canisters for things like tea and c...

The focus of Sepia Saturday this week is prams - or perambulators as they were once known.   I have shown pictures of prams before on my blog.   This one only a couple of weeks ago ....my mother is in the pram. This one of my mother with her doll's pram was posted six years ago. This one of her cousin's son Doug in a pram (and what a very smart pram it is) five years ago. If you look carefully at the photo of Gladys and Cecil Maloney in this photo posted a couple of years ago , you can see another pram So it was a real challenge to find a new photo...but here it is! Me and my doll's pram which I suspect we still have somewhere in the attic. My grandmother brought back this dress for me from Hawaii however the photo was taken in Edinburgh Scotland.  Gee I loved that pram.  It took a lot of beating.   I dug up a couple more recent photos of my children. Me and Bel in her pram - actually I do...

12 Marchmont Road Edinburgh  20th February 1921 My Dear Colin, It is now some weeks since I wrote you but as I have been troubled lately with an abscess I left it to Mamma, A & J. You know I suffered a good deal in Queensland with toothache well on my way home my left jaw was swollen a good bit so a few weeks after my arrival here I got my tooth taken out and the swelling went down a good deal but 5 weeks ago I must have got cold in it as it swelled up again so I went to a dentist to see if he could do any thing for me but he said it was beyond him and advised me to go to the Infirmary.  So I went and they put a needle or some such instrument into the swelling from the inside after having given me gas. A few days after that it certainly went down a bit but as the wound had head up it simply began to swell up again. So in I went again and this time they cut it from the outside; that is a fortnight ago yesterday and it is still not healed up. Of course they k...

The boy in this photograph has been identified as Edgar Tainton. (Description supplied with photograph.)This is an image of a horse drawn cart delivering bakery goods to suburban homes in Nundah district. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland Negative number: 53417  c/- Gillies 28 Comely Bank Place Edinburgh 1st August '20 My Dear Colin I am now three weeks at home and have seen round Edinburgh a bit as I have got an idea of how things stand.  First of all prices of food are just we thought; not very bad except sugar which is 1/2 per lb. Rationed to ½  each person per week although there is also what they call free sugar at 1/7  ½  lb and can be bought in any quantity. Butter is 3/6 per lb. but we use margarine at 1/- per lb which works out at half the price we paid for butter in Northgate. Bread 6  ½  for 2lb loaf (same as in Qld) milk 8d per quart (1d cheaper than in Northgate. Meat is about 2/4 to 2/6 lb about double in ...

And so we continue to "unpack" the Pandora's box of Nancy May McKenzie. I have started to transcribe some of the letters to get a picture of what was happening to the McKenzie family in the early part of the 20th century. But first a bit of an outline of who's who in the zoo. Nancy May McKenzie was the daughter of Colin McKENZIE and Isabel Alexandra Manclark FORREST.  I tell you, I'm not related but yes, the Isabel and the Alexandra leapt out at me. But back to the family tree. Colin McKENZIE was the eldest son of - you guessed it - Colin McKENZIE  - and Mary Tennent ROSS.  Mary was a widow when she married Colin so she is also known as Mary MORTON (her first husband's name).   Colin Junior had four younger brothers - Alex, James, John and Walter.   From what I can gather, Colin Senior died in 1912 and James and Colin came out to Queensland in 1914 to make a new life.  I think John was in the Navy and Alex was about to join the Army ...

A photo of the TV screen in Edinburgh circa 1963 Thomas MacEntee of Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories says: Whether it is the movie It’s A Wonderful Life or A Charlie Brown Christmas on the telly, what is your favorite television program or movie? What are your memories of first seeing it as a child and did your family have certain traditions related to the show or movie? Are there different versions (such as The Christmas Carol) and have you found modern favorites? Tell us about your favorite Christmas television program or movie and your memories of Christmases past. This is such a difficult question to answer because we weren't really into watching movies at Christmas time.  We would always joke about how television was the "worst" during Summer holidays.  It's not the ratings season so only really bad stuff was shown like "The Robe".  If there was anything that we watched on the telly it was probably the Edinburgh Military Tattoo bu...