Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Tuesday Twaddle

Don’t just learn the words – learn the thoughts. Never think ahead – that way disaster lies. Watch and listen to all around you – actors, dialogue, audience and adjust to all.

Excellent advice from lovely Tom Conti.


This morning there was ice on the car but bright sunshine which inspired MTL to drive down to the town. Fine, I thought I’ll clear last night’s and the breakfast dishes and then get on with this post. At the end of the washing up I discovered I was standing in an inch of water. Obviously there was a leak and I had a bowl full of soapy water to empty. I managed to carry it to the drain in the back porch- the consultant’s advice ‘Don’t lift anything’ ringing in my ears.


Emptying the cupboard under the sink and giving it a much needed Dettol scrub I realised that mostly these days any spring cleaning is done as the result of an emergency rather than, as in the past, as written in tablets of stone. All is now clean and dry awaiting further action from MTL. Let’s hope Mick is available.


The week-end has been fully occupied. My son who has made a video of me remembering family history, asked for relevant photos. Mostly the old photos were kept in Mum’s old hat box but many have been transferred to the albums. When we married thirty one years ago I was very conscious that we had no history together during our thirty year separation so it became very important to keep a record of our life together – hence the albums. Then each grandchild had to have one and then when I started blogging five years ago taking photos became a continuing pleasure.


So I went through every album and realised how much I had forgotten. It was pleasurable and I urge anyone to keep some sort of record of their life. Memory is a moveable feast. That was the fun part. Heaving the albums in and out and, of course spring cleaning the cupboard at the same time was less pleasurable. At last I finished, took the unstuck photos up to my office and started the business of indexing them. One imagines one’s son would know who, for example, my Uncle Joe was, but many of the family died before he was born.


I suddenly remembered a photo taken at home in 1949 – Christmas with Gran, Mum and Dad and my brother and sister – all of us wearing paper hats just after MTL and I split up – why am I smiling?

Dammit I hadn’t taken it out of the album. Maybe I would recognise the album. After another lengthy session on my knees, my back, very firmly said NO!

Yesterday I finished the indexing and MTL very sweetly, and without my knowledge, posted them this morning.

I and a blogging friend have been unable to post photos from Picasa but the good news today is I can. So below are the album cupboard and two plant photos.

I was so pleased with the dahlias I planted some months back that I ordered half a dozen chrysanthemum plants. What I hadn’t realised was they were indoor and probably meant for a green house. I also didn’t realise the sheer size( but they were so lovely and exotic looking in the catalogue) I put them in big pots in the sun room. As you see below I got one beautiful bloom weeks ago and since then nada. I’ve watered and fed but they don’t look happy. I have now bought proper bamboo canes which may encourage them to buck up. I’m very disappointed and can’t help feeling if I had let Karen plant them it would have been a different story. Any thoughts?

15 comments:

kenju said...

If you can post photos, then there's hope for me!

I wade into my boxes and albums of photos more often now than ever. Have to keep those memories alive!

The Unbearable Banishment said...

We are keeping detailed records of The Daughters and my wife knows where she came from, but I have no idea what my family history is beyond my parents. I *think* my grandparents immigrated from Italy and Poland but I don't know much about them. Sad, isn't it? Your son is doing a wonderful thing.

Anonymous said...

My wife and I have been vowing to catalog all of our photos for years and we keep putting it off. The problem is finding the time to do the job right. I'm glad you're getting to it for your family's sake.

Cheers.

P.S. Sorry about the leak. We had one with the dishwasher this week, which was not pleasant.

Eryl said...

I wish so much that I had done this with my mother, I have memories of stories she told, but as you say 'memory is a moveable feast,' and it often feels like someone has eaten the best bits of mine.

Watch that back, milady, would leaving the bowl of dishwater, at least until MTL got back, have been such a bad thing?

Pat said...

Judy: I meant to email you but it has been on of those days - no scrabble even!!!!

UB: If your parents are still around get them to open up and believe me I know how difficult this can be after - a session with my Mum.
I think my son probably wishes he had had the chance to do it with his late father, so is making do with me.

Randall: very often I just stuck them in an album with just the year on the cover - even that is a great help. As MTL says if only people would put the place and date on the back.
I think MTL has fixed the leak but have place a bowl under the joint in case.

Eryl: MTL was right there beside me about to lift the bowl, but it's a case of the blind leading the blind and I was quicker;)
What is interesting, as regards memory, is discussing previous events with a sibling. My
sister and I have often agreed to disagree about past events - both convinced that the other is quite bonkers.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

I LOVE those pictures, Pat...But have bo suggestion as to what to do about the problem of the Mum plants---That sure is a very pretty bloom, though.

I have been pouring over a lot of old photo's that I still have not scanned in---I need help with it all, these days.....I DO love my old pictures and I am thrilled that I have them. I just wish they could magivally scan themselves into the computer....!

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

Your grandchildren and their children's
children's
children's
children's
[etc :-D] will love you for all the hard work you've put into recording their history.

A lot of my family history is through story-telling, not really photos. In those old times, photos were not taken, collected, or if they were, they're now lost.

Pat said...

Naomi: I try to avoid scanning these days as I have to do it on my knees.
Maybe one of your technical wizards will help you.

GG: the pots weigh a ton so will have to stay put until I can move then outside - with help.
It's a lovely idea to pass the family stories on by mouth.

lom said...

I love to look through my old photos, it's funny I can look at a photo from years ago and remember exactly what was happening on and around that time, (although some of them do make me long for the days when I was thin and wrinkle free), heehee

Sharon Longworth said...

My mum has album upon album of photos - all neatly labelled and sorted.
Me? - I stupidly left my boxes of photos in a shed for too long after we moved house, they all went mouldy and stuck together, so I have nothing of my own from when the kids were small. Thank goodness for my mum!

Pat said...

Lom: I think we all would like to lose a few wrinkles and pounds. And if only we had realised how good we looked instead of always trying to look like someone else. Audrey Hepburn and Vivien Leigh in my case. Fat chance!

Sharon: that's sad but thank goodness for Mum's and Grandmas. Be your turn next:)

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

Blog's the new family storyteller :-D

Pat said...

GG: well said.

lom said...

That is so true Pat

Pat said...

LOM: :)