A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity Have you ever experienced one of those ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunities? I did in July, 2008 on a business trip to Bali, when the opportunity was suddenly presented and I impulsively moved forward to grasp it with both hands. A friend and I flew...
Mothers “When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.” Italian film actress and mother -Sophia Loren....
Today, 25th April, 2012 is ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand - our repective day of remembrance for both countries. It commemorates the landing of soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli, Turkey on this day in 1915 to fight their opening battles in WWI in...
My love of water began early when Dad hoisted me on to his shoulders and waded out into the Pacific Ocean as it reached Queensland’s golden beaches. As he was 6’6 ½” tall, I had a bird’s eye view of the beach as he turned and warned me to “Hang on...
Afraid She came up behind me, silently, stealthily and full of mad malice. I was 21 years old, full of brisk, confident starched efficiency, my attention focussed on the ward dinner box which had just arrived from the hospital kitchen. I rummaged in my uniform pocket for my keys, aware that...
The Pear “There is a pear in the blue bowl for you to take for fruit time on your kindy trip to the Zoo today,” I told my four year old son. “Just get it and wait beside the car for me while I change your baby sister.” Ken’s big solemn...
Yesterday I received a notice in my In Box reminding me of my late paternal grandmother, Jessie Wallace's birthday today, 19th March, when she would have turned 121. As her first born granddaughter and first child of her first child (my Dad, Kenneth Boyd Wallace was born on 23rd March 1911)...
An old friend sent me an email today, where he lamented about his mother’s recent unexpected death. He, like I, is a personal historian – a professional who interviews living people about their life stories and preserves them for the future as a family legacy. His sorrow was compounded by the...
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Eons ago, when I was a child, every Australian back garden had a selection of fruit trees growing – a lemon, orange, plum, apricot and peach were the most common. Families with a larger garden also planted nectarines, mulberry, fig, crab apple, quince, pomegranate and other more exotic fruit producing trees...
Travel Memories “I haven’t travelled everywhere, but it is on my list.” Susan Sontag. I confess – I have a secret passion for travel. I’m sure that the seed for my passion was deeply embedded in me at the age of 3 ½ years when I became a monthly boarder at...
Last Sunday I spent the day baking the first of my Christmas baking - 9 Christmas cakes. I started the process a month ago by digging out my special Christmas fruit jar and filling it with dried currants, sultanas, raisins glace cherries, candied orange peel, chopped dried apricots, glace peaches and...
Christmas Memories Being born in Brisbane, Queensland and having always lived in Australia, I find it difficult to connect to the northern hemisphere’s images of a white and snowy Christmas. The festive season is an entirely different type of celebration in Australia, where temperatures on The Big Day can often push...
The Jacaranda trees are in full bloom here in Adelaide, South Australia as spring rushes into December and the start of summer. Last weekend, Santa arrived in Adelaide as the last float in the Adelaide Christmas Pageant, a tradition which has run annually for 79 years through the streets of the...
The Jacaranda trees are burgeoning with buds and starting to erupt into magnificent panicles of soft blue blossom, heralding the coming of Christmas to Australians all around our huge island home. We don't have the snow, yule logs, red-berried holly and roaring log fires which are associated with a northern hemisphere...
After last Friday's class, week 3 of my 6 week 'Unlock Your Family Stories' workshop at the Campbelltown Library, one of my students came up to me and said "I wish I'd met you a few months ago, before I had to move my 98 year old mother out of our...
Today I taught week #2 of my 6 week 'Unlock Your Personal Stories' workshop at my local library, near my home nestled in the foothills of the Mt Lofty Ranges in Adelaide. I was tired this morning, having sat up until 1.30am to participate in a webinar with colleagues in the...
I am a Personal Historian and I am passionate about my work helping others to gather, organise and preserve their life stories to leave as a precious legacy for future family generations. My passion for life stories began as a wee girl, snuggled on Nan's generous lap, when I constantly requested...
Mum died just 3 weeks after her 60th birthday in 1979, and like all who preceded her, she took the facts about her life with her. Both of her parents had died before her and she was an only child, making it very difficult to find out more than bare facts...
The Week From Hell – September 2001 Perhaps those of you living in the USA might wonder why the week that included the infamous 9/11/2001 should resonate so strongly with an Australian woman living in Adelaide at the time? However, that week is indelibly etched into my consciousness very clearly, with...
