Family Tree

At this time of the year our thoughts are often drawn to those who are no longer with us. 
We remember Christmases and holidays and events of the past with fondness and humour.

John has been going through the old slides from the 60s and 70s and converting them into jpeg files. Often forgotten people, places and events are being re discovered.

Debbie and Gavin Jones  John and Georgie

Norma Jones & Pat Muston

Evelyn Jones nee Walters - John's grandmother

I have gone back to sorting through all the information we have about our ancestors from various branches of the family. I began this when I first retired 4 years ago with the plan to make an interactive collection of stories and photographs .  In the mean time the Ipad has come into vogue and as a viewing tool is so easy to use that I am converting the images into PDF files so that they can be viewed as E books. These can easily be printed if necessary as well.

People are coming back to life on our screens and their stories are much more interesting than anything that is on our television screens at the moment. 

So much research by so many people!!!!!!!!!!

I particularly love this connection.....  I guess I wouldn't be here if Henry I didn't have  his illegitimate children ;-)))

This is a sample of the finished product...

Christmas 2012

It was a quieter Christmas this year with Tamsin and John in Ireland. We had lunch with Penny and Ryan Archer, Julie, Graham , Pat, Carly and Brad as well as the children Billy, Alex and Claire. There was a lot of excitement and running around and blowing bubbles and throwing water balloons. 
It was a full Christmas lunch beginning with oysters and prawns and followed by the roast turkey  and ham with loads of vegetables and of course plumb pudding.  It brought back memories of Norma and Pat vying  over the best family pudding recipe. Mum's always created a stir with the pouring of the brandy and lighting the flame as well as the traditional threepences and sixpences that were found inside. I still have those coins.

The evening was a little quieter as everyone powered through the day. We had Christine, Robin, Melissa, Kimberly, Klay, Carly and Brad along with Kiesha, Amber, KayLee and Claire  sheltering out of the stiff breeze on the back lawn at our place. Brad expertly shucked the last of the oysters and we reluctantly ate the rest of the prawns. The pavlova that mum used to make seems redundant these days all people seemed to want was fresh fruit . The kids got on really well and managed to stay up quite late.  
There was some sad news  when Christine received a call to say her little dog had got out of the yard and been hit by a car... not a good way to end the day.

 While we were enjoying the sun Polly and Tamsin were experiencing their first Winter Christmas with John's family in Ireland. Following a bit of a scare when Polly experienced a high fever and convulsions on their first day in Dubai Polly has bounced back to her usual cheeky self.

Tammy and Charlie's Wedding

A pattern has evolved around photographing weddings already... they seem to happen in extreme weather conditions ......  another 42C day !!

This time there were young people involved and they were not happy about standing around in the heat trying to look glamorous so I had to keep everyone on the move and make the most of opportunities that presented themselves. 

The pics are a gift to the bride from the bridesmaid Nadia so there had been no discussion prior to the wedding and it really was a case of flying by the seat of my pants regarding taking shots as they presented. 


The ceremony and celebrations took place in a country hall which was quite busy visually so again I had to make the most of the surroundings.  A challenging but interesting experience.

         

Photo Shoot

My latest photo shoot was with the lovely Trevor and Rosemary. 
Capturing the moment for these two was at times challenging and at times great fun. A roller coaster of emotions for everyone and a great privilege for me. It certainly gave the new camera a work out  and I must say it performed wonderfully well. I also loved playing with Trevor's great toys..