Category Archives: Adventures

May Day Mayday

7 Replies

May Day, definition: May 1 celebrated as a springtime festival

I am feeling kind of down these days. Everyone is writing on their blogs about the beautiful flowers they are enjoying, about the lovely weather they are hoping for, about SPRING. My days are getting progressively colder and the leaves are mostly finished changing colors and dropping. I was having a hard time getting out the house before it got cold: now I can see I’m just going to spend the next few months indoors. It takes twice as long to get Paul ready to go out because I have to bundle him up. I think we’ll stay indoors.

This morning, I realized it was May Day. I have always had a special place in my heart for May Day. One year, when I was a depressed, lonely, loner teenager, a friend of mine left me a bouquet of roses on May Day. “Happy May Day!” the note said. She left them anonymously, but I knew who it was. I haven’t talked to her for years, but I’ll always remember the service she did for me back on that spring day when I felt so awkward and alone. It was a reminder that in the “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer” (Camus); I just needed to stop thinking about myself and serve, as she did.

It’s just so sad that this year’s May Day is rainy, overcast, cold, and only getting colder. I must remember that summer will eventually come again.

I miss spring! (I guess it serves me right for bragging about good produce in November!)

Mayday, definition: an international radio-telephone signal word used as a distress call

I’m trying to find my ancestors. I researched James and Margaret and found their supposed marriage date in an index of marriages. The UK likes to horde the originals and won’t let anyone (even LDS volunteers) digitize or scan them for microfilm. So, for £13 I ordered the marriage certificate. (Yes, Mom, I know you claim Grandma already had one, but when I visited, we searched her apartment and couldn’t find it.)

For some reason, I thought that the marriage certificate would tell me everything. I guess I imagined a large packet or box delivered to my door with birth information and parental details, complete with an explanation of the mystery of where, when, and why Margaret disappeared fifteen years later.

Here’s what I got: a barely legible official copy of the certificate on file in a slim, small, half-sheet-of-paper-sized envelope.

The certificate tells me their names and professions, their ages, etc. Most of the information we already knew.

But here are my questions:

  • If I didn’t know which James Simon/Simons/Simmons was my ancestor, how could I be sure this was their marriage certificate?
  • How can I figure out where they were born? Tradition holds James Simmons as Irish, but we don’t know where he came from or when he came to England.
  • How do I find where, when, and to whom James Delany/Simons was born? Because he was aged four at the 1871 census, he couldn’t possibly have been born to James and Margaret unless he was born out of wedlock.
  • Could James Delany/Simmons have been born out of wedlock in the 1860s? Wouldn’t that have been pretty scandalous for this Catholic family? Can I assume he was born to people who were married?

I am completely lost as to where to begin. I’ll head to the Family History Library next Wednesday when it’s open, but my experience is the librarians there are as clueless as I am.

PLEASE HELP if you have any experience with family history!

Note: Any Benac family members who’d like to save £13 can view and download a high-res jpg of this image here for your own family history files.

Apostasy?

Leave a reply

We traveled to see the Twelve Apostles this weekend because we had a holiday. (We might not get Thanksgiving, but we do get ANZAC day in April!) Apparently, some of the Twelve Apostles have fallen away. I think that’s apostasy, isn’t it?

Here’s a picture of Mommy and Paul. You can see one of the “fallen Apostles” in the surf below. (Pardon my wind-blown hair. It was windy and I didn’t have a hair tie.)

I’ll try to get my pictures up by the end of the week, but we’ll see.

Road Warrior

Leave a reply

Paul was a great sport on our super-short road trip this weekend. We drove for about six hours along the Great Ocean Road on Friday. Unfortunately, Paul couldn’t see the beautiful scenery as we drove. I think he was wondering why we didn’t let him out of his carseat! We only took two breaks as we drove. Friday night and Saturday morning we spent some time seeing the beautiful rock cliffs off the coast of Southern Victoria. Paul didn’t seem too impressed out in the wind and autumn breeze. But Mommy kept him warm!

100_2846[1]

Saturday we drove (the non-scenic) four hours home. It was a very nice short jaunt to see our country. Paul won’t remember any of it, but he sure was a great sport.

Why I Like Photoshop

2 Replies

In August, I went to visit the Mornington Peninsula. I took pictures, and I didn’t feel very satisfied with any of them. The sun was too bright, and nothing did justice to the beauty of the scene.

Since then, my husband helped me install Photoshop CS2 on my computer, and we got more memory (the computer often froze if I tried to use Photoshop). This week, I revisited the Mornington Peninsula photos.

Before Photoshop

photoshopsample1[1]

After Photoshop

photoshopsample2[1]

Before Photoshop

photoshopsample3[1]

After Photoshop

photoshopsample4[1]

What did I do? I cropped out distractions, I straightened the horizon, I adjusted the exposure, and I removed the the smudges. I also ran a macro that found the edges and made them a little sharper.

It’s amazing to me what a little bit of tweaking can do to a photograph. They are the same shots, and I took them, but it looks so much nicer in the after-shot.

Because I like to review the photos I’ve taken, I’ve created a photography journal. I have the photos in the order that I’ve taken them — if you click on Archive, you can browse through them by year and month or by category. Currently, I have my Australia photographs posted. I’m going to add some of church history sites and France and Italy once I process them in Photoshop. I don’t have most of my others–Bolivia, Jerusalem, etc.–but when I eventually get back to the USA, I’ll scan them, revisit them in Photoshop, and post those as well.

I’m not sure the point of creating a site like this, other than I want to share my photographs with the world. Amateur that I am, I like them.

! Developments !

Leave a reply

Paul has two teeth!

His two bottom teeth have just pushed through the gums in the last few days. He wasn’t too miserable—a bit fussy but not too bad. I’ll try to get a picture—not sure how we’re going to do that—when they are a bit more visible.

Paul scoots!

I can’t leave him on the blanket in the middle of the room to go move the laundry or use the bathroom: he’s learned how to scoot toward anything he wants. It’s not crawling—it’s just a combination of rolling and scooting. He hasn’t really learned how to do it properly, but if he sees a cord for something, or papers or books or toys, he’ll make a bee-line for it. I’m not too worried—he’s still rather slow—but it means my days of leaving him and knowing he’ll be OK for 30 seconds are over.

Paul rolls!

When I went to check on him during his nap the other day, I was startled to find him on his side. (I know previous generations always put babies down on bellies and sides, but the SIDS concerns have been drilled into me so much that I was nervous to see it.) He keeps doing it. I guess this means he’ll sleep however he wants to sleep from now on. Maybe he’ll even get hair on the back of his head!

Paul talks!

I mentioned yesterday that Paul’s working on his letter-sounds. He is getting better every day. I say “Ma-ma-ma” and he responds “Da-da-da.” Bummer. We’re working on that one right now.

I Love General Conference

1 Reply

I haven’t been reading many books or posting on my blog much this week. I’ve been distracted.

It began Sunday morning at 4:30 a.m.

As all of you were sitting down for 10 a.m. General Conference Saturday morning, I was asleep. It was 2 a.m. Sunday morning. My son awoke at 4:30 a.m., and after attending to his needs and putting him back in bed, I decided I couldn’t wait until next Saturday: I wanted to know who the newest Apostle was. I went online and found out.

D. Todd Christopherson, I read. How exciting! I thought.

I decided I wanted to hear how it was announced. Then I remembered that it was not even 5 a.m. I had to leave for church at 7:45 a.m., and I needed to stay awake during Sacrament meeting. So I went back to bed.

We went to church and came home. When we got home, I started to watch the first session. I am so grateful for the Internet! I could watch the solemn assembly Sunday afternoon in my living room. It was so special. I loved watching it, but I didn’t watch the whole session: there were other things to do.

Monday afternoon, what should appear in my feed reader but all of the mp3 files for the audio of four sessions of General Conference. I subscribed to the feed in December and promptly forgot about it, since, of course, it is only updated twice a year.

I couldn’t wait until Saturday. I listened to President Monson’s talks, then President Eyring’s and President Uchdorf’s talks. They were so excellent, and I was so inspired, so I listened to the rest of it, reverse alphabetically as it appeared in my feed reader. (I listened in reverse because President Thomas S. Monson was the last alphabetically and I wanted to start with him.) I did a lot as I listened’care for my son, work on photographs, etc. So I wasn’t just sitting around.

It has been great. I feel so uplifted and ready to be better. But I guess that’s the key: listening isn’t making me any better. I need to do what I’m learning! Listening doesn’t do any good for the world.

My favorites the first time around:

  • President Uchdorf’s talk (the faith of our Father, our Heavenly Father)
  • Elder Child’s talk on tithing
  • Elder Ballard’s talk to the young mothers
  • Elder Bednar’s talk on prayer
  • Elder Oaks’s talk on testimony
  • Elder Zwick’s talk on fortifying yourself

Which were your favorites?

I get to listen and watch all of them again Saturday and Sunday. (We need to be there this weekend.) What do I do for eight hours Saturday and Sunday as I watch them? I’m going to be sitting on an uncomfortable bench in the chapel.

Ah well; I’ll be inspired all over again. I love general conference!

Aussie-American Translation Guide

1 Reply

I’ve been in the country for more than nine months now. I’ve been picking up some of the language they use. For your convenience, here is a handy guide for your study.

Disclaimer: While I hear these terms on a daily basis, I do not use them. I will not be held responsible for how ridiculous you, as an American, will sound when you try to speak Australian slang. We Americans just can’t pull it off.

Australian English American English Sample Sentence
Aussie citizen of Australia (pronounce Ozzy)
bench counter Put the refreshments on the bench.
bubs a nickname for a baby Bubs is getting so big!
car park parking garage There is a car park around the corner from the library.
Cheerio! So long!
cot crib Paul only sleeps well in his cot.
dummy pacifier Paul thinks his dummy is yummy.
hamper basket The week before Christmas, bring some fruit for hampers for the poor.
heaps a lot Last week, it rained heaps.
How you going?/How are you going? What’s up? or How are you doing?
mozzies mosquitoes There are so many mozzies tonight!
nappy (-ies) diaper(s) Paul has a wet nappy!
supper a light refreshment in the evening After the baptism, we’ll have supper in the foyer.
tcha OK/the end of a conversation
tea (1) The evening meal; (2) mid-afternoon snack; (3) a hot beverage (1) Would you like to come to tea Sunday after church? (2) She said she’d bring some rolls for tea for new mum’s group Tuesday. (3) do you really need an example?
trolley shopping cart

1+1+1+1+1=5 Months Old

5 Replies

Birthday Blues

Yesterday, Paul turned five months old. He celebrated his day by sleeping: I had hoped he wouldn’t get the family cold that is going around, but yesterday he apparently succumbed. The poor little guy! He can’t understand why he can’t breathe, and he is very annoyed by it. It must be hard to be five months old.

Here’s a video from yesterday morning. He wouldn’t laugh and giggle, but here are a few smiles for you.

How’s your math?

Now you can leave a comment without logging in! In order to prove you are a human, however, you must answer a math question (it’s just addition…). I’ll experiment for a few weeks and see how this works. If you hate it, let me know by either leaving a comment or sending me an email at wordpress at [my-last-name] hyphen family dot org.

Note that if you answer the math problem incorrectly, you lose your comment. I don’t like that feature, so I’ll look for a different plugin that might work better.

Reid Cousins

Leave a reply

Paul got to meet all of his Reid cousins in February. Paul was a bit oblivious. Cousin Kate was a little mother. Cousin Caden, as the oldest, felt he should get more turns holding Paul (“It’s my third turn to hold him now!”). All in all, it was a somewhat chaotic evening, albeit a good time. Special thanks to Emily, who took some of these pictures (my camera was acting up).

IMG_1056.hr CRW_6859.hr CRW_6865.hr CRW_6868.hr IMG_1057 IMG_1058