I've been busy chasing dead people. The summer holidays has given me the chance to catch up on my other favourite hobby - family history. Bel and I drove up to Woombye a couple of weekends ago so I could mooch around the cemetery (aren't the trees fantastic?)looking for my great-grand-aunt Harriet Rowland (nee Conner). It was a lovely day. Bel was pleased to get her driving hours up and we delighted in completely indulgent icecream at Maleny and were impressed by the number of second-hand bookshops. I didn't find a headstone for great-grand-aunt Harriet but I did find other Rowlands which made me suspect she was there...just being discreet about it. Kathy Wilkinson,Customer Liaison Officer at the Sunshine Coast Regional Council Cemeteries Office was every family historian's dream come true, patiently and swiftly answering my queries. Yes Harriet is buried with the other Rowlands. She is in Section A Row 7 plot 11 to be precise. Now at the risk of losing the small following I have I have to say that I may be testing some family history story-telling out on this blog. I am conscious that I need a focus, that I tend to be all over the place in this blog. So be prepared to put up with stories from the past. I will endeavour to tell them with pictures and make them interesting.
Otherwise life has been fine. I am seeing a nutritionist at Paddington in an attempt to shed kilos. She thinks I have a build up of yeast so now I am on a raft of nutritional supplements and a de-tox diet. No alcohol for a week - I'm up to day five. Did you see I've read three books this year already? Did you see I've lost 2 kilos? And wasn't the inauguration fantastic? Particularly Aretha Franklin's hat.
5 comments:
Family stories - great idea. I'll read them. As you know the whole family thing has given my writing a bit of a kick along - beyond water even. It's amazing how detailed the memories become when you start to focus on them - and then make up the rest.
Strangely I'm in the middle of writing (trying to) a series of poems inspired by the beaches of Straddie. And which beach would I be writing about immediately before reading your blog? you guessed it - Deadman's.
Just testing my new blog identity to see what it looks like.
that's so funny - deadman's - this is the year of synchronicity i believe
Love the trees. Great photo indeed. Family history isn't something I've looked into but your story idea sounds great. You may just inspire me to do some research into my own history.
What's the latest book you finished and what are you onto now? I finally finished The Riders, didn't want to but had to let it go. I love that Tim.
Hi Most Lusty
Hmmm, well I've finished The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. There are no less than 74 reviews of this book on Librarything so probably all that needs to be said has already been covered. I did like one very short review which said "I wept for Oscar. All he wanted was to love." I didn't weep for Oscar. I am over 40 so tended to fight the authentic voice of one of the narrators which was definitely NOT politically correct!! I also fought the voluminous notes which I always feel obliged to read but they were challenging not just because they were long (like this sentence) but also because they were still in the same "hood" voice rather than pretending to be academic. I felt vastly ignorant of Dominican Republic history. so perhaps I am a little wiser and encouraged to read more history of the place - although by all accounts it's pretty grim. Perhaps its a book for blokes. I think you either like it or find it too tough. Interestingly when I clicked on the Will You Like It Meter, it told me I wouldn't like it - so there you go. Destiny.
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