Now Hear This

February 27, 2013 By Leave a Comment
NHT

I didn't expect to, but ended up telling a story at the "Now Hear This" story-telling night in Sydney tonight. I told the story of my great-great grandmother who had a relationship with her first cousin (no, I don't have two heads). After the birth of their fourth child together, he married someone else and had four more children. My great-great grandmother then went on to live a somewhat shambolic life, it seems, until she ended her life in the "destitute women's asylum" in Sydney, and was … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Radio Tagged With: , , ,

Home for Christmas

December 19, 2012 By 1 Comment
Willow and James

Back in May, when I received a MMS of the newest member of our family Willow, I wasn't sure if Willow was a boy or a girl. Yeah, I know there's the character of Willow on "Buffy", but it seemed to me Willow could be a suitable name for either a boy or girl, and my niece is anything but predictable. Willow turned out to be a girl, and tonight I got to meet her for the first time. Although we've "chatted" on Skype, it was lovely to meet Willow in the flesh. She has a wonderful smile, laughs a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , ,

The Big Visit

September 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Fireworks at Darling Harbour

The view of Sydney Tower (I still call it "Centrepoint") from the twenty-sixth floor of The Hilton is pretty bloody good. It's a fact I discovered on Friday when my relatives, Michelle and Shane booked in for a weekend in Sydney. Michelle and Shane have been to Sydney a few times. In fact, they were last here a few months ago. But Michelle's seven year old son, Sam has never been on a plane before, and has never been to Sydney before. It's been three years since Michelle's seventeen year old … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , ,

Sunday Sunday

June 10, 2012 By 2 Comments
Nickson Street, Surry Hills

What is it about rain and the Queen's Birthday Holiday? Although I can't be sure, since I haven't checked the records, it feels like it rains every year on this holiday in Sydney. In some ways, that's okay, since rainy day holidays can be just as much fun as the summer ones. Life indoors, cooking, socialising and so on, can be a great way to spend the long weekend. You don't HAVE to go away. So for me, yesterday was reasonably quiet with just a bit of shopping and cooking. And then today, has … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: ,

Family History

May 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Me and my dad, probably some time in 1966.

I was looking tonight at a photograph of me and my dad. By the look of things I'm less than twelve months old, so it was probably taken sometimes towards the end of 1966. Dad's wearing a cardigan, so it was probably the winter of that year. As I looked at the photograph, I suddenly realised how close I am now to being the age my dad was in the photograph. He was born in September 1917, so he would have been about forty-nine years old at the time. I still have a couple of years before I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , ,

Home for Easter

April 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Sitting on the back verandah, watching the lightning.

If it wasn't for Blues-Fest (held at nearby Byron Bay), the local paper, "The Northern Star" would have been a fairly thin volume today. Aside from the "social page snap" of Kings Cross nightclub owner, John Ibrahim, there wasn't much to be found in today's paper. Normally, when I come home, I can always find an hour or two's entertainment in reading the paper, catching up on the hatched, matched and dispatched column, but even that was a bit "light on" today. Today was a day of visits to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , ,
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 126 other followers