Family Tree Frog

Alan Burnett of Sepia Saturday says: You might need to give a good deal of thought this week to the theme image before making your move and posting your post .....The man in the photograph is a famous musician, so you can put the games away and get the concertina out if you so wish. Whatever you decide to go with it will be a gambit we all look forward to examining. I enjoy participating in this blogging meme when I am able.  I do put a lot of thought into it and embarrassed how long it takes to put a post together.  I have blogged about chess before because I remember my maternal grandfather Tom McLoughlin liked to play chess quite a bit.  You can read my previous post here . Today I will post what I think is a new photo though.  Probably self-consciousness has prevented me from posting it in the past. Here I am playing chess with my grandfather. Alex and Tom playing chess at Nungara Street circa 1970 scanned at 600dpi I thought I would conduc...

Thomas Joseph Benedict McLoughlin I'm reading a book at the moment - well several really, but that's another story.  The longlist for the Booker Prize was recently announced so, as usual, I cherish this fantasy that I will be able to read them all and guess the shortlist.  The book I am reading is called "The Marrying of Chani Kaufman" and is about an ultra -Orthodox Jewish marriage.  It discusses various customs including behaviour on the Sabbat or what some of us might call the Sabbath.  If you want to see the 39 activities forbidden on the Sabbat click here. My mother came from a mixed marriage - a Protestant who married a Catholic.  She used to tell me how Sundays were a bit of a sore point in her home when she was growing up.  Apparently my grandfather steadfastly resisted doing anything on a Sunday, being brought up a strict Catholic.  So no "work" of any kind. No housework, no work in the garden - but things still had to get done so...