Can you believe that when we first went to Europe in the early 70s, the compulsory travel reading was Frommer’s Europe on $10 a Day (that’s per person). What we’d give to be able to do that now…I doubt even the most frugal backpacker could manage it! We’d decided to exchange our employment-funded return-to-Australia fares for … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 23 Europe on $10 a day
Much as we love the little snippets of information about our ancestors, we still tend to keep focusing on the “big ticket” items in our own lives. My photo today is about the ordinary moments, the ones we often forget to capture. Over the years picnics have been big in our family: at the beach, … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 22 Let’s go picnicing
It will come as no surprise after my Day 5 Collage post, that our children were all christened. Eldest daughter was baptised in my home parish in Brisbane shortly before we returned to Alotau a few weeks after her birth. My paternal grandmother was still alive, and I feel there should be a photo of … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 21 Family Christenings
Imagine if you will a country with spectacular, awe-inspiring scenery from fierce mountain ranges clothed in almost impenetrable jungle to deep aquamarine seas with an abundance of tropical fish. Imagine a country with hundreds of tribal groups, languages and specific cultures. Imagine the potential for clashes between those tribal groups, the payback[i] and potential for … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 20 Papua New Guinea
Today I want to introduce you to one of my oldest friends, one whose permission I don’t need before we “go public”. Ms Bernina first came into my life when I was seven months pregnant with my first child. We’ve been mates ever since, but like all friends there are days when we have a … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 19 Ode to a Friend
One of the big differences between when I was a young adult and today, seems to be that many of us married young. I don’t mean this is a commendable thing, nor am I being judgemental of today’s delayed marriages or civil partnerships….simply making a social observation. We were among the early batch of our … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 18 Wedding Bells
Now I’ll bet you were thinking this was going to be about Mr Cassmob. But you’d be wrong, because he wasn’t my first love….sorry, dear. In fact my first love wasn’t even a person, but a place. It was on a holiday-activity, bus trip around Brisbane that Mum & I first visited The University of … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 17 A place in my heart
Perhaps it’s all those children’s stories of Cinderella et al being transformed and sent off to the ball that makes formal outfits so appealing to teenage girls (well at least this one, as was). I did feel very like Cinderella at the ball in my Debut gown. I had professional photos taken but the real … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 16 Cinderella and the ball
It would be interesting to know how widespread it was for mothers to make their children’s clothes “back in the day”. My mother was a good dressmaker, and very particular, though I think she sometimes felt overshadowed by my paternal grandmother who had been a professional dressmaker. I still have my grandmother’s sewing machine, which … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 15 Dressmaking tributes
I just had to rejig my sequence of photos so I could accommodate Valentine’s Day! In the 60s and 70s, Valentine’s Day was a non-event in Australia but as a devoted reader of Seventeen magazine from the USA I’d caught the “love bug”! Of course having titled this post “Young Love” I also had Cliff Richard … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 14 Young Love
Family history across the seas 