COTTAGE WITH A YELLOW DOOR

Hello my lovelies

I found this photograph in my 'Scotland' file.  I must have taken it a few years ago.  

Happy days!

xxxNan

I CAN HEAR A CLICKING NOISE...

Doesn't this photograph make you smile!  I took it a few years ago at Summerfield.  I can't remember what the stars were;  probably Venus and Mars and of course our very own moon.  I picked this photograph because it was taken at night-time and tonight when I went to close up for the night, I could hear cicadas.  It has been a warm day with the temperature in the high 20's.  The sound of the wee dears said, "Summer is on its way Connie!"  At this point I must say sorry to Auntie Amanda because this means that I am taking warm and sunny days from her part of the world.  "Sorry Amanda!" 

And here are some photographs from the archives...

Love Nanxxx

SATURDAY AFTERNOON 12.25PM

Hello my lovelies!

Your teacher and her husband looked lovely Liliane.  And you looked gorgeous in your patchwork skirt.  You must print the photograph off and put it in a frame.  A photograph to treasure.

It's a beautiful day here today, a bit warmer than yesterday which saw me in my Ugg boots.  I spent the day with Robyn yesterday.  It was our monthly get-together and it was a quiet one with only one other lady there - Bonnie.  We moved from the table to comfy chairs and had a very relaxing day chatting and sewing.  

On Wednesday Robyn helped me baste my Hebridean quilt and yesterday I began quilting it.  I started with the big boat in the centre and have quilted all around it.  It's a fun quilt to quilt as it's not too big and heavy to keep turning.  I'll probably pack up my sewing things later and take off into the garden for some more quilting on it.

Oh dear, I can't find the Hebridean quilt in my 'Pictures', so I've put up a bit of my chair quilt for you.  Did you know Auntie Emma drew the chair for me and I had it enlarged so that I could trace my materials over it in order to make it?  I just love this quilt.

And a doggy picture for you both...

I'm not sure who's holding Molly here.  Perhaps your Mumma?  

And another lovely photograph of both of you having afternoon tea in Summerfield.  And...

walking with Mumma and me when you were younger.

Love Nanxxx

THE SNOW GOOSE

I forgot to mention this book which has the Dunkirk emergency happening in the background of the story.  It's a beautiful book and tells the story of Fritha who finds an injured snow goose.

It was also made into a film.  

Here's Fritha showing the injured snow goose to Philip who lives alone in an abandoned lighthouse.

When your Mummy was a little girl and getting restless in church, I would take a pen and notebook out of my bag and write the story of the Snow Goose as she watched.  But I would change Fritha's name to Greer as I wrote.

Love Nanxxx

DUNKIRK

Hello my lovelies

Well, Papa went off to see Dunkirk, along with Andrew from church, Bob Birks, Andrew Kuchel and some other men.  He said it was a very good film, showing what it must have been like for over 400,000 men to be trapped on a beach.  Four  hundred thousand!  That's twice the population of Canberra.

Here is what happened.

It was May 1940 and the enemy was so rapidly advancing and encircling the allied troops that a decision was made to evacuate the forces from France.  However, the only port from which to evacuate was Dunkirk and that was already being seriously threatened by the enemy.

Mr Churchill, the Prime Minister later said that "...the whole root and core and brain of the British army...seemed about to perish upon the field, or to be led into ignominious and starving captivity...)

It was a dreadful situation.  However, the Queen's father George V1 requested that Sunday 26 May should be observed as a National Day of Prayer.  In a sirring radio broadcast, he called the people of Britain and the Empire to commit their cause to God.  Together with members of the Cabinet, the King attended Westminster Abbey, whilst millions of his subjects in all parts of the Commonwealth and Empire flocked to the churches to join in prayer.

Very soon, three miracles happened.

The first miracle was that for some reason - which has never been fully explained, Hitler overruled his generals and halted the advance of his armoured columns at the very point when they could have proceeded to the British army's annihilation.  They were only 10 miles away!

Winston Churchill later wrote that he felt this was because Hitler believed "...that his air superiority would be sufficient to prevent a large-scale evacuation by sea."

The second miracle occurred when a storm of unprecedented fury broke over northern Belgium on Tuesday, 28 May.  This storm grounded the German aeroplanes and enabled the British army, now eight to twelve miles from Dunkirk, to move up on foot to the coast in the darkness of the storm and the violence of the rain, with scarcely any interruption from aircraft above.

The third miracle - despite the storm in northern Belgium, a great calm such as has rarely been experienced, settled over the English Channel during the days which followed, and its waters became as still as a mill pond.  This extraordinary calm enabled a vast armada of little ships, big ships, warships, privately owned motor-cruisers from British rivers and estuaries - in fact, almost anything that would float, to ply back and forth in a desperate bid to rescue as many of the men as possible.

Here are a couple of photographs of boats heading towards the English Channel.

Photograph of troops waiting to be rescued.

And here are a couple of photographs taken in Greenwich in May this year to remember the great rescue.

Love Nanxxx

SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT 12.24PM

Hello my lovelies

Woke and pulled the IPad out to see what you have all been up to.  Mamma has put up wonderful photographs on Facebook which give a wonderful feel for your day.

Another beautiful day here today.  "These blue skies..."

Papa has just popped out to the shops - can't remember what he's gone for.  I thought we had everything we needed for lunch.

I had a sleep-in this morning.  Couldn't believe the time when I woke up.  I could hear voices in the kitchen.  Keith had popped in and was having a cuppa with Papa.  Was very good, and still went to church.  Quick shower, made the bed, load of washing on, bowl of cereal and out the door.

Andrew the minister is on long service leave so we had a guest preacher this morning.  The poor man had a sore throat and had to suck some lozenges to get going.  But, his sermon was beautiful.  The Old Testament reading was from Numbers 6: 24-25...

The Lord bless you and keep you

The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you His peace.

The reading from the New Testament was from Matthew chapter five - the 'Blessed' verses.

He said:

3 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 

Blessed are those who mourn,

    for they will be comforted.

5 

Blessed are the meek,

    for they will inherit the earth.

6 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

    for they will be filled.

7 

Blessed are the merciful,

    for they will be shown mercy.

8 

Blessed are the pure in heart,

    for they will see God.

9 

Blessed are the peacemakers,

    for they will be called children of God.

10 

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

After church, I headed home.  Papa made a cuppa and we sat out the front until it was time for Songs of Praise which was a wonderful episode all the way from Ireland - County Antrim.  I have never been to Ireland.  The scenery looks like Scotland, only softer.  

There was a fabulous singer, Kathryn Scott on the programme.  HERE'S a link to her singing.

Must run.  Papa is calling me for lunch.  After lunch I'm popping down to see Margaret.

Love Nanxxx

EASTER WEEKEND

Hello my lovelies

A couple of photographs of Easter weekend.

I've asked Auntie Emma and Uncle Michael to email their photographs too so will post them to the blog when I get them.

Hope you found the eggs in the end!

Love Nanxxxx

GOOD FRIDAY

Hello my lovelies

Today is Good Friday.  This is the day we remember the day Jesus was sent hither and thither as the religious leaders tried with all their might to have him executed.  However everywhere Jesus was sent, the authorities couldn't find a reason to execute him.  In order to keep his job and placate the crowds, Pilate, who was the Roman Governor, finally sent Jesus to be crucified.

You might wonder why it is called 'Good' Friday when so many bad things happened on that day. Many reasons have been put forward regarding the day being called "Good..." but regardless of the origin, the name Good Friday is entirely appropriate because the suffering and death of Jesus, as terrible as it was, marked the dramatic culmination of God's plan to save his people from their sins.

I have looked up the Internet for paintings and scenes from films regarding Good Friday to highlight some of the events that happend on that day.

The day began when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Following his arrest, he was taken to the house of Annas, the father-in-law of the high priest Caiaphas.

There Jesus was interrogated with little result.  He was then bound up and sent to Caiaphas the High Priest where the Sanhedrin had assembled.

The Sanhedrin was a Jewish court made up of seventy men and the High Priest and it was there that Jesus was taken for a more formal interrogation.

Conflicting testimony against Jesus was brought forth by many witnesses to which Jesus answered nothing.  Finally the High Priest asked Jesus to respond under solemn oath, saying "I adjure you, by the Living God, to tell us, are you the Anointed One, the Son of God?"  When Jesus answered that indeed he was, the High Priest condemned him to death for blasphemy.

Blasphemy here means speaking about God without respect.  Something that you say or do that indicates you do not respect God.  And this is what the Sanhedrin thought Jesus was doing.

Because the Sanhedrin couldn't carry out an execution, the whole assembly took Jesus to Pontius Pilate the Roman Governor who could carry out the death penalty.

"What has this man done?" asked Pilate.

The charges that were brought before Pilate regarding Jesus were:

1.  Jesus was trying to overthrow the nation.

2.  Jesus opposed paying taxes to Caesar.

3.  Jesus was making himself a King.

After questioning Jesus, Pilate told the assembly he could find no reason for sentencing Jesus.  After further discussion, Pilate discovered that Jesus was from Galilee and referred the case to the ruler of Galilee, King Herod who was in Jerusalem for the Passover Feast.

Herod questioned Jesus about the many accusations that had been made against him but received no answer.

At this point Jesus was sent back to Pilate.

Pilate told the assembly that neither he nor King Herod could find a reason for sentencing Jesus. But to calm the assembly, Pilate decided to have Jesus whipped and released.

The assembly weren't happy and under the guidance of the chief priests, the crowd shouted for Barabbas who had been imprisoned for committing murder during a riot.

As you can see, it was a very difficult day for Pilate.  To top it all off, Pilate's wife came to him and told him she had a dream about Jesus and that Pilate was to "Have nothing to do with this good man."

At this point the chief priests informed Pilate of a new charge.  They demanded Jesus be sentenced to death because he claimed to be God's son.

The possibility that Jesus might be God's son filled Pilate with fear and he brought Jesus back inside the palace and demanded to know where he came from.  But Jesus stayed silent.

Pilate tried and tried to have Jesus released but when the crowd started saying "You are not Caesar's friend if you release him.  Jesus says he is a King and whoever says he is a King is speaking against Caesar."

At this point Pilate came out of the palace and sat down on the judgement seat.  He had Jesus brought out and tried once more to release him.  "Behold your King!" he said to the crowd.  But the crowd cried out, "Crucify him!  Crucify him!  We have no King but Caesar."

"But why?" asked Pilate.  "What has he done wrong?"  When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd.

"I am innocent of this man's blood." he said.

And so Jesus was taken away.

And bearing his cross with the help of Simon of Cyrene, Jesus carried his cross to the site of execution and was crucified along with two criminals.

Following Jesus' crucifixion, a Roman guard on duty said "Surely this was God's Son!"

After the death of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a member of the Sanhedrin and a secret follower of Jesus went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Another secret follower of Jesus and a member of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus, brought a hundred-pound weight mixture of spices and helped wrap the body of Jesus.

The body was then placed in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea and a large stone was placed in front of the tomb.

Everything that occured from the arrest of Jesus to his many interrogations and final crucifixion was less than a day.

As we come to the end of Good Friday we must always remember what my friend Julian used to say.

"It was Friday!  But Sunday's a'comin!"

GRANDPARENT PROJECT

Influences and ambitions

From as far back as Papa can remember, all he ever wanted to do was to become a carpenter.

He began his five year apprenticeship when he was fourteen, finishing up around the time Papa and I were married in 1969.

When Papa was fourteen and school was just about finishing for the year in June, he decided to start looking for an apprenticeship.  He decided to look before the end of the school year as he knew that if he waited for the end of the school year, there would be a lot more boys looking for apprenticeships.

Back in the 1960s when Papa was looking for an apprenticeship, only boys were accepted.

It took Papa only a couple of days to gain an apprenticeship position with the firm James Gardner & Sons.

On the first day, he left home early and walked around the various carpentry businesses in the village where he lived asking if they would consider taking him on as an apprentice.  On that first day he was not successful.

That evening when he was talking to his family about his day, his sister Margaret who at that time was a hairdresser mentioned that there was a building business in Stewart Street which was behind the hairdressing company where she worked.

The next day Papa walked down to Stewart Street and knocked on the door of the building company. No-one answered, so he walked up the hill a bit to where he thought the owner of the business might live and knocked on the front door.  An elderly man came to the door and he was the original builder of the company and had retired.  Papa spoke to the elderly man, telling him about his quest and the elderly man took him down to the builder's business again.  This time the elderly man's son, Joe Gardner was there.

After introductions were made, Joe interviewed Papa and said after the interview that he could start work on Monday.  You can imagine how thrilled Papa must have felt when he made his way home.

This building was part of James Gardner & Sons business.  Papa said it used to house all the glass for the various glazing jobs.  As you can see it is now a solicitor's office.

In the mid 1980's when we lived in Scotland again for a few years, I worked here with Ewan Macgregor the solicitor.  It was way before computers had come on to the scene so all the work I did was done on a typewriter.  Some of the work I did was the preparation of wills which was typed on to a very thick parchment type of paper.  Once finished, it was folded in half lengthwise and tied with a red ribbon.  When typing a will, no mistakes were allowed, so I had to type very carefully.

When Papa started work at the Joiner & Glazier business (that's what it was called back then), his main jobs to begin with were sweeping the floors, cleaning the toilet, washing the vehicles, making the teas and lighting the sawdust burner which was the main form of heating in the joinery shop in winter.

When one of the joiners needed someone to help them on a job, they would take an apprentice with them.  The apprentice became the 'hoddor-on'.  This means they would hold the timber steady while the joiner cut it.  Jobs similar to this would be the apprentice's work for the early months.

As time passed, the apprentice would be given tasks such as cutting and laying skirtings and architraves and while they were carrying out and at the same time learning how to do these tasks, Papa said there was a lot of shouting to be heard when the apprentice did something wrong.

Papa's salary for the week was twenty seven shillings.  Three shillings were deducted from his wages and put into a tool fund which was handled and spent by Joe when he felt Papa was ready for a new tool.

After Papa became more proficient, he was often given a list of jobs to be carried out on the Council Housing Estate.  These were homes like Auntie Margaret and Uncle Louis'.  Papa's main job in the early years was to replace broken windows.  Here's a photograph of a multi pane window which is similar to the types of windows Papa had to repair.

Papa usually walked with his list of properties together with his glass and tools.  The walk he took with all his gear would have been around a couple of miles.  On his shoulder, wrapped in canvas and tied with rope were all the tools he would need for the jobs:  saw, chisels, putty, hammer, plane.

Papa was taught how to pack this tool bag so that it balanced carefully on his shoulder.  In his hands he carried the glass and other tools.  The glass was cut on site for the panes he carried.

On larger jobs, especially jobs where a ladder was required, Papa, his tools and ladder were dropped off at the job in Joe's Blue Bedford Van. All the workers piled into the back of the van along with ladders and tools.  There were no seatbelts or seats in the back of the van.  Also, there were no seatbelts in the front either as it was some years before this became a legal requirement in vehicles.

Other jobs included lots of renovations to old homes and work on residential homes in nearby towns.

A popular renovation job was the installation of dormer windows and floor in attics.  This type of renovation created more bedrooms for the home owner.

Papa and the company he worked for also worked in Duntreth Castle not far from Milngavie.  A lot of the work there was repair and renovation-type work.

I'm sure Papa didn't walk to this job!

Another type of job Papa and the company he worked for did was repairs and renovations to farms and farm homes on estates such as Duntreth Estate.  The homes on these estates belonged to the estate but were rented out to estate workers such as farm hands, farm manager and gamekeepers.

Papa has a momory from a time he and a group of other tradesmen were working on a farm at the foot of the Campsie Fells near Milngavie.  The workmen had stopped for lunch and someone in the group of apprentices suggested they all run up the Campsie Fells and back again which they all did. They were a bit late back but not too late and began work again.  What energy they must have had. Apparently the older tradesmen just sat back and watched.

Papa finished his apprenticeship just before he and I married and when he arrived in Australia shortly after, he worked mainly on commercial type projects.  He began each job as a carpenter, was promoted to a leading hand, then promoted again to a foreman.  When a project was finished it was time for Papa to look for the next job.

After a period of years, Papa decided to start up his own business in Adelaide and began his business by working in the area of repairs and renovations to properties.  He gradually extended his business to include architecturally design homes and small commercial projects.

When I was sitting outside talking to Papa this afternoon, before I typed this up, he finished talking about this period of his life by saying "I just loved it!"

ENGAGEMENT

Today is the 48th anniversary of Papa's and my engagement and every year on the 12 April he gives me twelve red roses to celebrate.

Today they were lying outside the bathroom door when I came out after my shower.

He's a beautiful Papa.

GRANDPARENT PROJECT

Next section Freya

WORLD OR NATIONAL EVENTS

Papa's childhood was impacted by the effects of World War 2.  His father had been a soldier in the Middle East and often at meal-times, his conversation would drift towards what he did in the War.

Great Grandfather William is in the front row with his legs crossed.

There were also reminders of the recent war from bombed out areas in Glasgow, the television documentaries about the war and from films that were being made about the war too.  This is an old photograph of Clydebank after it had been bombed.

Polish refugees had come to live in the village where Papa lived, and although he may not have known deeply about what and where they had come from, their presence, foreign language and label reminded him again and again of the recent war.

Although World War 2 officially ended in 1945, the world that Papa lived in during his childhood and teens after the War was a very divided world.

This world saw the raising of the Iron Curtain, The Cold War and The Berlin Wall.  This world remained a divided world until the end of the Cold War in 1991.

The Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the name for the boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War 2 in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991.  The Iron Curtain was a term symbolizing the efforts by the Soviet Union (Russia and its satellite states) to block itself from open contact with the West and non-Soviet-controlled areas.

Physically, the Iron Curtain took the form of border defenses between the countries of Europe in the middle of the continent.  The most notable border was marked by the Berlin Wall and its Checkpoint Charlie which served as a symbol of the Curtain as a whole.

The Cold War
From 1947 to 1991 extreme tensions existed between The Eastern Bloc and the Western Bloc (see extract from Wikipedia below).  These tensions became known as The Cold War. 

The Cold War was a state of geopolitical tension after World War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states) and powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others). Historians do not fully agree on the dates, but a common timeframe is the period between 1947, the year the Truman Doctrine (a U.S. foreign policy pledging to aid nations threatened by Soviet expansionism) was announced, and 1991, the year the Soviet Union collapsed.

The term 'Cold' War was used because there was no large-scale fighting between the two Blocs.  

When Papa was thirteen, in October 1962 there was a major confrontation between these two blocs. This became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.  This confrontation is often considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.  

Here's a cartoon depicting the President Kennedy of the USA and Mr Khrushchev saying to each other "You take away your bombs!" and the other one saying "YOU take away YOUR bombs!"  Fortunately the two came to an agreement and the crisis ended.

Here is a photograph of people breaking down the Berlin War in 1989.

Your mummy was living in Glasgow at the time this happened and everyone was so excited because it meant that people who had been separated for years could finally be reunited.  On the day that the removal of the wall became official, Auntie Emma went to school and her history teacher told the class to take out their history books.  "Open to a fresh page and write today's date on the page." she said.  "Now write this down!  'Today the Berlin Wall came down.'"

Another political event which occurred during this period of Papa's life was the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963.  Everyone who lived through that day can always remember where they were and what they were doing when it happened.  It was so sad.

Although there was a lot of tension in the world during this time Papa wasn't hiding under his blankets worrying about everything.  It was background noise to Papa's life but gives you an idea of the world he was living in at that time.