Hello Sailor!

She was the eldest daughter, one of three.




My grandmother, Lorna. Loved this lady so much, she was such a kind soul. Here she is on the right, the photo taken during the war years. The photo is covered with a broken piece of mica to resemble broken glass. My grandmother is on the right. I felt the broken glass look highlighted her in the picture without diminishing her sisters. They too were a fun pair of girls with a wicked sense of humour.



Here is my grandfather as he was around the time they met. He had been a merchant seaman before giving it all up and seetling down. This page reflects that part of his life. Wow he looks so young here.




And here is the facing page with my grandmother. She went to college as an adult and took a tailors course and was good at it too.

Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor...

The Barrackers are Shouting

There was a growing awareness...

that she too was under the spell...

like her mother before her...

the fever was in her too.

Like her mother before her, my grandmother was a one eyed supporter for life. Collingwood all the way. Go those pies! (Do you think I have this one too. lol!) What can I say... I come from a long line, it's in our blood. Don't believe me? I told my husband, when he was only a fiance that we couldn't get married unless he became a Collingwood supporter too! He agreed. Quickly. ( I don't think he considered it to be much of a sacrifice. He's a kiwi and a mad rugby union supporter so it wasn't too hard for him!)

60 hugs and thankyou's

A wonderful suprise awaited me when I returned home from work last night. After a week of working late shifts and feeling quite tired, a suprise. A parcel fom Ro! OMG I am so excited, Ro you are so generous! Hugs and kisses aplenty! The gorgeous Ro Brun celebrated her 60th birthday last week with a blog giveaway. How lucky was I to be a recipient. If you haven't seen Ro's work, what are you waiting for she is a wonderful artist. Click here now! Beautiful jewelry, paintings, journals, paper and stamping designs just to name a little of what this lovely lady does. Look at what wonderful delights Ro sent!

And this!


I am so excited I can't wait to play! Thankyou Ro for such fabulous treasures and for the fun they represent and will give me over the upcoming months. I hope your birthday was wonderful!

Ivy's Trail

A new page. This time it is my other great grandmother, married to the great grandfather in the previous post. Are you completely confused yet? Her name was Ivy. The front of the page shows a construction which incorporates metal leaves and copper wire used to represent, well, ivy. A visual representation of her name. (Click on the picture for a closer view of the details if you like).



Here's a closer view of the top of the page.




Ivy enjoyed gardening and was by all accounts a great cook, looking after her extended family, and so the page is a reflection of those things that my mother remembers about her. So here is a little piece of poetry for the gardener...

Who loves a garden
finds within his soul
life's whole;
He hears the anthem of the soil
While integrates toil;
And sees beyond his little sphere
the waving fronds of heaven, clear.

-Louise Seymour Jones

One of my mothers strongest memories is of the Hydrangeas that grew in her garden, and so I have captured them here for her.

And here she is, our Ivy. The microscope glass contains little phrases of text describing some facts about Ivy, while on the side of the page some text relating to her convict heritage, as Ivy's heritage also contains a convict background. As with my great grandfather, I wanted to acknowledge this past but not focus directly on it. (You can click on the picture to see the details). So the focus remains on the things my mother remembers about her. The garden, her cooking, where she lived, for the aim was to bring alive those memories for my mother, the things for which she new her best.

Ivy was also a very one eyed football fan. Apparently the family gave her a wide berth when she was there supporting the local club where my great grandfather used to play in his younger days. A seriously one eyed supporter was our Ivy. Love her commitment :) Apparently the rest of the women in the family caught this particular gene too, lol.

Emus and Trains -Part 2 (or leaving the convicts behind)

So when I left you we had discovered a little of Tasmanias rail history and it's time to move on. The Rebuilders Guide. I thought this book apt. It is a reference to the stage of life my great Grandfather has moved into, his retirement. A time for rebuilding and refocussing in life.



You will have to forgive the odd colours in the photos. The page has an embossed very shiny frame that gave me many photography nightmares and produced a reasonable amount of colourful language from the person taking the photos (yes, well that was me!). The Rebuilders Guide is also a reference to the convict past. I wanted to acknowledge the past history but didn't want it to be the focus of the page, hence the frame below. Afterall it wasn't my great grandfather who was the convict.



And so to him. This is the only photograph I have of him, leaning on his porch at the front of the house, my great grandmother sitting there too. The gardening piece on the left represents his life once retired. Like many of his generation he had a wonderful vegetable garden where he was always doing something.



Loved this little piece I found in a book. Thought it said it all really.



More of the Book of Hearts soon!

Emus and Trains-Part 1

Time to continue on and meet the other side of the family. This time it's my grandmother's parents. Sometime ago my mother's cousin who passed away, traced the family history and discovered ... wait for it...convicts! Oh yeah, always knew there was something funny about some of us, now it all makes sense hahahahaha! Apparently both of my Grandmothers parents have Tasmanian convicts as predecessors. Weeeell, how interesting. I have actually been online and checked out the facts and it's all true enough. Tasmania has a wonderful website where they have digitised many of the records from this time and you can view them online. Yes there they were for all to see, my heritage. Apparently stealing a dress wasn't a good idea in the mid 1800's. Gave you a one way all expences paid ,definitely not first class, ticket out of town. Want to go to sea and see the world type affair. Makes one reconsider todays penalties really and leads the mind to wonder if this was what you got for stealing a dress imagine what penalties would have been dished out to really hardened criminals such as a few of the characters currently favouring a little popular tv show known as Underbelly. The mind boggles, and I digress. We will return to these thoughts later.
So, here's the next page in this ever growing tome. An emu. Fabulous you say, so what? Well my great grandparents settled in what was then known as Emu Bay, currently going by the fabulous moniker of Burnie. (Think I like Emu Bay better, a bit more character, yes?) Anyhoo, my great grandfather on this side of the family was an engine driver for the Emu Bay Railway Company. The company was in existence for over 100 years and only closed down a few years ago. Hence the emu on the front of the page.




At the beginning of this page a little glimpse of the railways history, as my great grandfather spent so much of his life there. I remember the trains driving past his yard and I would wave to the drivers who all tooted as they passed. The railway line was at the back of the property and my Great grandfather would nod his head in recognition of the toot as they went past. On reflection they, the drivers obviously knew him, but in my childhood way I just thought they were tooting at my waving. Below is the next section which shows the company logo and a photo of one of the trains of a type that my great grandfather would have driven after first joining the company. This is actually one of the trains on the Burnie line.





The next section is ticket stubbs from a train trip to Burnie and another of their trains at the actual Burnie platform. This train would have been one of the last models he would have driven before retirement. Bit of a change from the last one I think!



The last section shows one of the company's more modern logo's and the pocket contains copies of some of the blueprints for the actual engines. When my Great Grandfather actually began his career on the railway the drivers would go down into the pits to service and carry out maintenance on the engines. Can't see that happening today. Life is more complex and specialised now. It would have been freezing there in the early mornings. Can't say I envy him that job.



More to come with this page of course this is just the first part of this post.