SUNDAY'S DOGS

Guess what?  No dog breeds beginning with letter Q that I could find.   I chose this particular breed  because there was a provisions store near us that had two of these animals.  We used to go there to buy our birdseed and garden fertilisers etc and these were the friendliest and gentlest dogs I had come across for a long time and most of the customers made a fuss of them.

The Rhodesian Ridgeback is a dog breed developed in South Africa.  Its European forebears can be traced to the early pioneers of the Cape Colony of southern Africa, who crossed their dogs with the semi-domesticated, ridged hunting dogs of the Khoikhol.

In the earlier parts of its history, the Rhodesian Ridgeback has also been known as Van Rooyer's Lion Dog, the African Lion Hound or African Lion Dog - Simba Inja in Ndebele, Shumba Imbwa in Shona - because of its ability to keep a lion at bay while awaiting its master to make the kill.

The original breed standard was drafted by F.R.Barnes, in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), in 1922.  Based on that of the Dalmatian, the standard was approved by the South African Kennel Union in 1927.

The distinguishing feature of this dog is the ridge of hair running along its back in the opposite direction from the rest of its coat.  It consists of a fan-like area formed by two whorls of hair (called 'crowns') and tapers from immediately behind the shoulders down to the level of the hips.  The ridge is usually about 2 inches (5 cm)in width at its widest point.  It is believed to originate from the dog used by the original African dog population which had a similar ridge.  The first depiction of a Ridgeback is a wall painting describing the life of the Boers, housed in South Africa in the Voortrekker Monument.

This is a painting of a Rhodesian Ridgeback, by Carl Friedrich Schultz (1796-1866).

This clearly shows the ridge on the dog's back:

The first Rhodesian Ridgeback in Britain was shown by Mrs Edward Foljambe in 1928.  Mr and Mrs William H. O'Brien of Arizona brought six carefully selected Ridgebacks to the US from South Africa.  He and his wife and Mrs Margaret Lowthian of Calfornia began the process of getting the breed accepted by the American Kennel Club.  The breed was admitted into the American Kennel Club in 1955 as a member of the Hound Group.

The original standard allowed for a variety of coat colours, including brindle and sable.  The modern FCI standards calls for light wheaten to red wheaten.

Other dog breeds also have a reverse line of fur along the spine, including the Phi Quoc Ridgeback dog and the Thai Ridgeback.  The Thai Ridgeback is a crossbreed of the Phu Quoc; historians have speculated the relationship between the Rhodesian Ridgeback and the Phu Quoc with suggestions that historically one breed may have been imported to the other's location.

Thanks again to the information I found on Wikipedia.

SATURDAY'S CATS

Would you believe there is not one cat breed beginning with the letter Q so onto the R's it is.

The Ragamuffin (often spelled RagaMuffin) is a breed of domestic cat, a varient of the Ragdoll, that first made its appearance in 1994.  Ragamuffins are notable for their friendly personalities and thick, rabbit-like fur and I think they are quite beautiful, and easy to care for too, that's if you could afford to buy one.

They are a muscular, heavy breed of cat needing approximately four to five years to fully mature.  The physical traits of the breed include a rectangular, broad-chested body with shoulders supporting a short neck.  The head is a broad, modified wedge with a rounded forehead and a nose dip.  Although the coast is thick and plush, it does not readily mat or clump and is easy to care for.  These cats are bred to be sociable, affectionate, cuddly companions that are playful throughout their lives.

In the 1960s a regular non-pedigreed white domestic long haired cat named Josephine, who had produced several litters of typical cats, was injured in a car accident and taken to a laboratory at the University of California.  After she recovered, her next litter produced exceptionally friendly kittens.  When the subsequent litter produced more of the same,  Mrs Ann Baker (an established cat breeder) purchased several kittens from the owner, who lived behind her, and, believing she had something special, set out to create what is now known as the Ragdoll.  These are Ragdoll kittens:

 Mrs Baker, in an unusual move, spurned traditional cat breeding associations.  She trademarked the name "Ragdoll", set up her own registry - International Ragdoll Cat Asssociation (IRCA) - and imposed stringent standards on anyone who wanted to breed or sell cats under that nae.  The Ragdolls were also not allowed to be registered in other breed associations.  In 1975, a group broke rank with the IRCA with the aim of gaining mainstream recognition for the Ragdoll.  This group eventually developed the Ragdoll standard currently accepted by major cat registries.

In 1994, a second group decided to leave the IRCA and form its own group because of increasingly strict breeding restrictions.  Owing to Ann Baker's trademark on the name "Ragdoll", the group renamed its stock of Ragdoll cats "Ragamuffins".  While the name was initially put forth as a joke by one of the group founders, when the original registry could not be undone, the name stuck.  One of the first concerns of the group was the genetic health of its stock which was alerady in its fifth generation of inbreeding.  So in the spirit of bettering the breed's genetic health and personality, it outcrossed to Persians, Himalayans, and domestic long-haired cats, which increased the distinctiveness of the Ragamuffin from its Ragdoll ancestors.  The group did allow some Ragdoll inbreeding as well (which ended in 2010 for ACFA-recognised Ragamuffins).  Only cats wth at least one RagaMuffin parent and an ACFA-accepted outcross currently qualify to be called RagaMuffins.  CFA Ragamuffins may only have Ragamuffin parents.

The cost of buying a pedigreed Ragamuffin has been typically higher than for its Ragdoll relatives by several hundred collars.  Pet quality kittens start at around $1,000.00.

The first cat association to accept the breed at full show champion status was the United Feline Organisation (UFO), and while some major cat associations still refuse to accept the Ragamuffin as a recognised breed (primarily because of its close association with the Ragdoll), it was accepted into the American Cat Fancier's Association (ACFA) and finally the Cat ancier's Asssociation (CFA) accepted them into the Miscellaneous Class February, 2003 and advanced to Championship Class in February, 2011.

Thanks to Wikipedia.  Apart from the third picture of two Ragdolls the others are all Ragamuffins.

FUN FOTOS ON FRIDAY

Had another one of those emails with some top shots so instead of funnies or flowers here's some 'fotos' I thought I'd share with you.  

I'd imagine it took rather a lot of material to make the elephant's outfit.

I guess you could call this chap a high flyer?  Is that terrifying or what!!!

Well I suppose a cow has to sleep somewhere:

Where there's a will there's a way:

Would you call this a slam dunk?

When you gotta perch then you gotta perch:

 Ah the beauty of nature!

and this one comes with its own caption:

I hope you enjoyed this selection and that your weekend will be a wonderful as you.

My apologies to River as I may have sent her the email that contained most of these pictures.

THOUGHTS ON THURSDAY

This is when I try to find some 'right things from the previous week which is not always easy but I do my best.  I hope your week has been a good one without too many hiccups along the way.

I'm racking my brain to find what has been 'right' and having trouble doing so.  Phil and I both had our chests x-rayed yesterday and our doctor will have our results tomorrow but he's away till Monday but Phil has an appointment with him then as he'd received a letter to please make an appointment re recent blood tests.  We're not too worried as he'd had similar haematlogy results before and went to see a haematologist a couple of years back that didn't seem too concerned about any of it. 

As we age our bodies undergo changes which results in some results not being as they should be in the general scheme of things and parameters set by pathologists can sometimes be a little daunting and even more so when you are diabetic as they set the numbers very low at times.  We are both hoping our x-rays will prove to be OK as we were both smokers back in the dim, dark past but gave up in 1970 (I have to be honest and say I did take it up again laterfor a year or so, but soon realised how stupid I was and stopped immediately.  Both times cold turkey).

More repairs to our house have become necessary.  There's a big downpipe at the back corner of the house which needs replacing but it also means the connection to the gutter as well and some tiles have been affected so they have to be set right.  A quote of $480 seems a lot but these days materials cost a small fortune and tradesmen have to make a living.  Years ago Phil would have probably done the job himself but with age comes the inability to perform certain tasks and it certainly wouldn't be good these days for him to be up on a ladder for any length of time.  With the $500 I'm contributing towards a new kitchen sink and tiling that's nearly $1,000 outlay in a month.  Necessary but not 'right' at all.  Oh well, that's life.

The one really bright 'right' thing this week was the rain we had last weekend.   First in 4 months at our place and I'd say we probably had about 10-12mm which is better than none at all.  We are now back to weather around 80ºF (28ºC) (I prefer fahrenheit to centigrade/celsius as it always seems more accurate) and not a drop of rain in sight.  Had hoped the season had broken but this half an inch or so may just have been a flash in the pan.   It's still raining out in the Indian Ocean where they are searching for that lost plane but the rain is not reaching our coast at all right now.

I've not heard from or seen any of the family for a while now but I know they are very busy folk and can understand that.  You probably wonder why I don't telephone them but if I do I feel I am intruding into their busy lives and it's difficult to pick a convenient time and I just hate being a nuisance.  Our #3 great-granddaughter has her second birthday on 26 April and I'm hoping we may all get together then and I'll see everyone again.   That will be a big 'right' worth talking about.  I'm always amazed how Phil and I found the time for family as we did years ago but then we led very simple lives and probably just had more spare time.

Am hoping that next week will be a little more 'right' than this one has been.  Not that there's been any dreadful disaster occur (no flooded kitchens or the like) but it's just somehow been sort of negative and I hope you don't mind me getting it all off my chest but then I know what wonderful understanding folk you all are.

PINK WINGED PHASMA

I have never seen one of these creatures as they don't inhabit Western Australia but I thought how pretty and dainty it looks.  Hope it doesn't damage our gum trees too much.

CLASS: Insecta;   ORDER: Phasmatodea;   FAMILY: Phasmatidae;   GENUS: Podacanthus
SPECIES: typhon;  COMMON NAME  Pink-winged Phasma

The pink-winged phasma has striking pink wings with reddish pink veins and a green leading edge.  The front pair of wings are short and green.  The wing covers are pale green and ridged in the centre.  The mesothorax is short and narrow with numerous tubercles.  The body is long and pink above with the last segment green, with two long thin cerci.  Both males and females can fly.

It grows to a length of up to 20mm and feeds on leaves of various species of Eucalyptus trees. It is endemic to south-east Australia, in New South Wales and Victoria.  The eggs are small and ribbed with a knob on the end and look a bit like tiny pineapples.

My thanks to 'ozanimals' for the above information and Wikipedia for the photos.

TELLING IT ON TUESDAY (Part 15) 1953-1954

I am now a married woman and I have settled down to a life with my husband, a life which brings with it so many changes.

Prior to our wedding we had looked for somewhere to live when we came back from Yanchep.  We had little money so there was no thought of building a house.  We had sold the block we were buying (paying it off actually) as we needed the money and it was in an area that had not yet been developed and was still only bush.  We found a house at 15 Blake Street in North Perth with two rooms to rent and the share of conveniences.  The house was owned by a Polish gentleman who had recently lost his wife, Brocha, to cancer and towards the end of her life he had built an upstairs room on the back of the house where she could see sweeping views of the surrounding suburbs as well as the city of Perth itself.   We had the downstairs room as our kitchen/eating area and upstairs was a bedroom/sitting room.  We of course shared the bathroom and also the outdoor washhouse (they call them laundries these days) but no washing machine.  Just a copper, two troughs with a large wringer in between.  Ah, those were the good old days.

David Wylozny was a really great bloke.   He owned the fish and chip shop a few doors down Blake Street as well as being involved in other ventures.  I remember one day heading for the bathroom and finding him doing his ironing. I stopped to chat to him and noticed he had unusual way of damping down his clothes.  I don't think there were such things as steam irons back then.  He would take a mouthful of water and spray it on to the clothing through his teeth.  I remarked on it and he said that was how it was done in the 'old country'.  I always think it is wonderful the things you can learn about people from other places.

We had not been living in Blake Street very long when David told us he was planning to be married and we would have to find somewhere else to live.  I forget the name of his future wife to be but she was a very lovely Australian lady and I believe they would be very happy together but am sad to say David died in 1971 when he was only 58 but at least they would have had 18 years together.  Incidentally I checked on Google Earth and 15 Blake Street still stands and doesn't look much different now but the old Knutsford hotel a few doors down has been demolished and that was a big landmark in that part of North Perth frequented by many of Aub's family from time to time.  I regret not being able to 'steal' the photo of the house in Blake Street, but I couldn't.

It was while living in Blake Street that I received the saddest news of my young life.  My mum and dad were going to separate.  I think I had been aware, while still living at home, that things were not perfect and with mum devoting so much of her to time to the Women's Service Guilds I think dad felt somewhat neglected.  If mum happened to be helping me when I was dressmaking etc., dad would come in with one of his shirts to say it needed a button replacing.  It would probably only be an old shirt he wore in the garden but although he never raised his voice he must have been feeling 'left out'.  They had not gone out together for many years but dad still had his lawn bowls which he played a few times a week.  It obviously was mum's idea that they should separate as I feel she just wanted to get on with the second phase of her life and poor dad was no longer necessary.  Dad would tell the neighbours that his wife was not home very much and of course that was very true.  Mum had been a good and faithful 'housewife' since their marriage when she was 20 and it's possible the twelve and a half years difference in their ages may also have had something to do with this latest development.  I won't go into any more about this here but perhaps later in my life story I may devote one post to just how this separation affected not only my life but that of my mum and dad in particular.

While this was all going on of course Aub had returned to work.  He had done an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker and I must say he was a very fine craftsman and knew his trade very well.  When we moved into Blake Street we had enough funds to buy a broom, dustpan and brush and a few provisions until Aub's first pay.  I was fortunate that a friend, Margaret Dean, had held a pantry tea for me a week before the wedding and we therefore had plenty of tea, sugar, etc., to last us for several weeks. 

 I had never done much in the way of cooking but think I managed quite well and of course had to find out what Aub preferred to eat.  He wasn't an easy person to cook for as he had lots of likes and dislikes but we got there eventually without many mishaps.  I think eventually I was able to dish up quite a good dinner.

Another minor incident occurred shortly after our marriage.  My friend Wilma was to marry Jim and I had an invite to her kitchen tea.  When I told Aub about the invitation he asked when it was we would be going.  I told him it was a girls' only do and he declared that I shouldn't be going anywhere without him and why would I want to.  I truly found this a bit hard to believe but jealousy had reared its head yet again.  I went to the kitchen tea and had a great time and decided that although we were now married, I still would have a life of my own.  We of course both went to Wilma and Jim's in a Nedlands church and I have photos so will share one with you.  It was a lovely wedding and Wilma looked so beautiful.  I realise you don't know these people but they were so much a part of my life for such a long time and I so enjoy remembering them.

We eventually found 2 rooms (plus share) in a very nice house in Queens Cresent, Mount Lawley owned by a Mrs Jo Herbert where she lived with her son Barry.  Her husband had a farm in the country and he apparently preferred country life while Jo preferred being in the suburbs.  This time there was a washing machine to use which certainly made life somewhat easier.  If I remember correctly it was a large Simpson machine with a wringer that you swung around to where you wanted it so you could wring your clothes into one trough, rinse them and then swing the wringer between the two troughs so the drier clothes would fall into a basket in the other trough ready to be hung on the line and no, there were no clothes driers back then either.  

 For the life of me I can't remember the number of that house in Queen's Crescent.  I've looked on Google Earth and gone up and down the street but there are so many trees it's difficult to find a house that even reminds me of the one we lived in.

It was decided I should look for a job and I found one at W. O.Johnston and Co, a meat processing firm in Beaufort Street, just a short tram ride from where we were living.  There was  also had a butcher's shop on the premises from where I bought really excellent meat, at a discount of course.    

I quite often took dictation from Mr Fred Johnston (the big boss) who smoked cigars quite endlessly it seemed and he had a bad habit of chewing them while he was dictating which made it somewhat difficult to understand him, and then he would take the cigar out of his mouth and break off the chewed bit and toss it in the bin.  Yuk!  I can still see him doing it.

He would also get me to clean the glass on his huge desk and it was one of the men in the meat factory that told me to use methylated spirits (I think that's right) to give the glass a good shine and it worked very well.  Really shone.

My desk in the main office was on the other side of the wall of the main freezer and I've often wondered if that had anything to do with my developing what was then called fibrositis. It was so bad I couldn't get up out of a chair without help and the same with getting out of bed or even into either for that matter.  There was a dreadful polio epidemic at that time and the first thing Dr Wheeler did was to test me for polio which meant I had to sit on his examination table with my legs stretched out and touch my knees with my forehead.  When he saw I could do this (albeit rather painfully) he ruled out polio.  He gave me some painkillers and I had to rub ointment into my neck and shoulders.  This ailment lasted that long I had to give notice and regretfully leave my job at Johnstons.  Fortunately this ailment finally left me and I was able to carry on a normal life once again.

While living in Mount Lawley we bought our first car.  It was a 1928 Willys utility complete with running board.  It went very well but I can't remember that I ever drove it.  It had two huge headlights on the front tied on tightly with clothes line wire and they had been fitted with the type of lights you could dip.  Unfortunately someone had put one in upside down and a policeman stopped Aubrey one night and told him about this fault but fortunately took no action.  This is the wrong colour (our ute was green) but it would have looked very much like this; don't you just love the running board and the spoked wheels and no windows but just 'side curtains' you put in when required.

 I remember driving homeward one night up Beaufort Street when there was an awful noise and we slowed down somewhat.  When Aub stopped the car and got out to check he found that the tailshaft had fallen off.  We somehow got it fixed and managed to get home without further mishap.  Another time we had taken mum for a drive up to Toodyay (60 miles north-east from Perth) and we travelled on the old Red Hill road which was only gravel and had an extreme drop on one side.  Everything went extremely well and we had a great day out.  It was the next morning when Aub was checking the car over that he found that the wheel-nuts on a couple of the wheels were very loose, probably caused by the very rough road we'd been on.  Fortunately they didn't choose to come off while we were travelling, especially on that road with the big drop to the side.

Once I had recovered sufficiently from the fibrositis I began searching for another job.  I found one as secretary to the Secretary of the Teacher's Union (they were in a quite old building in Murray Street near Royal Perth Hospital and a hop, skip and jump from my old school Victoria Square (Mercedes).  At that time the union was working very had to have equal pay granted for female teachers and Mr Featherstone had the job of setting up a submission to that end and because the union had this belief I was paid the basic wage which at that time was about £12.0.0. a week.  In my other job I had probably been paid about £8.0.0. a week and I think Aub was probably not earning much more than £15.0.0.  a week at that time.  It was interesting work and Mr Featherstone was in his other life a preacher in the Congregational Church.  One of the jobs he had me do was type out a wedding service for a couple he was scheduled to marry.  One of them was a Catholic and the other a Jew and they had chosen the Congregational Church in which to be married.  It was a beautifully worded service and apparently the wedding went off very well.  I hoped that couple would be very happy.  It is so sad that there are such differences in religious views that forces people to choose to marry outside their chosen denomination or one has to change their religion to suit the other.  Whoops, I'd best not get on that soap box here.  This job was for a limited time but there was so much work to be done that it lasted six months and it was with much regret that I finally said goodbye to a wonderful boss and a great staff who had been so easy to work with.

The next job I had was a temporary one in a firm also in Murray Street.  One of the typists was off sick with measles or chicken pox so I filled in for her for a few weeks.  It was quite a nice office but, for the life of me, I have no idea what they did but I do remember the boyfriend of one of the girls played football for West Perth.

Late in 1954 I applied for and was successful in getting a job in the office at Browne's Dairy in Charles Street, North Perth and there I will leave this tale for now and resume  next week.

Sorry I had no real personal photos (except Wilma and Jim's wedding photo) to show but hopefully there will be more to come in future 'episodes'.  I've included a few fun photos to stop this post being too dull.  More photos to come when I have some worth showing.

I do hope this episode was not too long. My thoughts tend to race along and I go with them and don't go back editing too much so please bear with me and thank you if you do.

TELLING IT ON TUESDAY (Part 13)

Here it is now 1952 and I am well and truly back in Perth, working for an insurance company, engaged to be married and about to celebrate my 21st birthday and have my tonsils out (not all at the same time of course).  I said this would be my life story so I intend to include the no so good with the excellent and hope you will bear with me as I do so.  Not everything in one's life always goes smoothly and mine was like that at times.  You will understand what I am saying as the story unfolds over the coming weeks.

Way back when I was young, 18th birthdays just came and went and there were no special celebrations.  We were not old enough to vote nor drink alcohol...nothing to celebrate at all.  The important birthday was when you turned 21 and mum decided I should have a party.  She booked the Mt Lawley Tennis Club hall and we invited friends and quite a lot of my young workmates from Western Assurance.  We had music so of course we danced all night and there was a scrumptious supper catered for.  I made myself a pink satin dress with a little shoulder cape that could be taken off.

Unfortunately I don't have photographs of any of the guests but I do have this one of me taken with my two friends/ex-workmates Val Edmunds and Wilma Longwood.  Oh yes, we wore long dresses in those days and tried to look beautiful.  These two friends were later in the year to be my matron-of-honour and bridesmaid.

This is a group photo also taken at my 21st birthday party but poor old dad is missing and I'm not sure why as he was certainly there at my party.  I have a feeling he was in the photo but someone cut him off (that is another story in itself).  This is taken at the supper table where you will see my birthday cake in the shape of a key and from left to right: the birthday girl, sister-in-law Jean, my mum, brother Len and my godmother Alice Potter.

Once the birthday celebration were all over I then prepared myself to have my tonsils out.  I had discussed with the surgeon whether to have a general or local anaesthetic and plumped for the latter. Mid January I went to St John of God Hospital in Subiaco and was admitted to a room which I shared with a dear old lady who was really quite ill.  The tonsillectomy went very well although a tad painful as apparently my tonsils were quite deep seated but I still didn't regret my choice of the local anaesthetic as I was awake the whole time with no nasty after effects.  The surgeon showed me my tonsils and they were really gross with holes all over them.  Apparently each time I had a bout of tonsillitis they would become ulcerated and the scars remained.  No wonder they were making me so ill.   I think I spent two more nights in hospital and as I left I gave the old lady a small bottle of 4711 eau de cologne that mum had given me and bade her farewell.  (More about that in a later post).

The big event shortly after my 21st party was my friend Val's wedding to Owen Page.  It was a wonderful occasion and after their honeymoon they settled down in their new home in Herdsman Parade, Wembley.   Val and Owen went on to have 3 sons and I often thought Val would have liked to have had a daughter and yet her 3 boys meant the world to her and to Owen as well.  They were such a happy couple until her death in 1998 at the age of 65.  She and Owen had by then moved to live in Rockingham.  He has since moved into a retirement village in a Perth suburb and we still remember each other at Christmas.  He never fails to send a card which we very much appreciate.   I still miss Val very much.

It was not time to get down to planning my own wedding to Aubrey.   I had to make a decision about the type of dress and my future mother-in-law who had been a trained dressmaker/tailoress offered to not only make my wedding gown but also my going away outfit and even a hat to match.   We looked at various designs and finally settled on a strapless white moire faille dress with a lacy jacket with covered buttons.  Strangely enough, many years later, Prince William's bride chose a dress very similar in style to the one I'd worn in 1953. They were so similar that those of you who have followed my daughter's blog (menopausal mumma) may remember her posting photos of the two dresses commenting on the similarity in design.  My dress of course was made by a dressmaker in North Perth (albeit a very competent one) and the other by a celebrated designer and one that, to we lesser mortals, would have cost a small fortune.  There was a moment of humour while my dress was being make when Grace, who had never before made a strapless dress, asked me what would make it stay up.  I assured her, quite seriously, that I thought there was enough of me for that not to be a problem. This is the dress.  It did have a small train but not nearly as long as on the dress worn by Kate:  (more photos in next week's post):

I did have a small hand in all this as I made the cap that held the veil in place covering it with the moire faille and using little sprigs of flowers and my long pearl necklace to decorate it.  Later I took it apart so I could use the string of pearls again.  Waste not, want not is my motto.

This was my going away outfit, complete with hat.  It was a deep fawn colour and I pinned a bunch of cherries at my throat to match the red shoes, bag and gloves.  The hat also had a wee red veil that came just over my forehead.  We were still wearing our skirts quite long in 1953.  Incidentally, the wedding veil was borrowed; I had made myself a blue garter and Mrs Dakin (a very old friend of mum and dad) had given me a beautiful old hanky made of Nottingham lace so I had the something borrowed, something blue, something old and something new (my dress).  All very traditional!!  I still have thar handkerchief wrapped in tissue paper.  It could be 100+ years old now and I treasure it still.

An event took place between January and July that nearly put an end to all wedding plans.  This is my life story so I feel I should include this as it may have bearing on what happened many years later.  Aub was quite possessive and a rather jealous person but I'd not realised just how much until one night when a friend of mine was at our home.  Judy had come up from Katanning for a few days and mum had asked her to come and have dinner with us so she and I could spend some time together.  I had told Aub that Judy was coming and perhaps he wouldn't mind not coming over that night.  Of course he turned up as usual which I thought a little selfish on his part but let it go until he kept interrupting as Judy and I were trying to chat.  I had known Judy since I was 12 and if you remember had been her bridesmaid when she married in 1950.  We had a lot to talk about and when Aub began tickling me to try to get my attention and generally being what I thought was rather rude I gave him a little slap.  Not a hard one but enough to let him know he wasn't being funny.  With that he leapt to his feet, headed for the front door and out he went slamming the door really hard behind him.  Mum immediately came to where Judy and I were, asking what on earth had happened.  I explained to her what had taken place and it was then that she and Judy sat down and tried to discourage me from going ahead with the marriage.  I must admit I knew they only had my interest at heart and much of what they said was very true but I'd made a commitment and felt I should carry on with our plans.  Did I make the right decision?  Only time would tell. 

Next Tuesday I will tell all about the big event with more photos etc.  Am I still holding your attention?  I hope so but will continue for my own sake as it's great to reminisce just for me alone.  Lots of great times to look back on and savor in the latter days of my life.