A Wedding and Three Funerals

 Well, May's been a month for it (so far), hasn't it.

I had the expected - a weekend with Mum so Dad could go to a birthday party, organising a special acknowlegement through the representatives of the elected government to get the crowned head of state to comply and wish them a happy 600th wedding anniversary - you know, just your regular logistical palaver.

But also the unexpected (but expected) of the reality of mortality, and the need to make a connection in our lives.

So yes, some philosophy too.

Oh, and I unexpectedly (totally) binge-watched two-thirds of Ted Lasso too.

So really, the title of this post should be "A party, an email, a complete re-arrangement of a house, a scammer, two blows of death's bell, a drive with my daughters, a baseball game's requirement of an Apple subscription, an impromptu gathering delighting many and manifesting hostessing skills I had here-to-forth eschewed (thank god for Sal), a memory, a discovery of an addictive yet quirky soccer show, the third strike, a phone session to overcome an eighty-five year old's technological difficulties in order to attend an online funeral, a memorial service, a library trip and some great curry" but it wouldn't cover everything.

 

RIP Jack W.  I am so glad that you got to sit with your mates one last time.

Vale Lorraine.  You were a mentor and a saviour to me and to many of this town.  Your friendship and generosity of spirit was a blessing to have known and to have received.

And oh, beautiful Queen Jean. I am so glad to have known you and have had you in our lives for all of those years.  You live on forever in our hearts.

 

Rabbit Holes - or how my grandparents were begat

 I decided that I would "file" a few of the hundreds of lazy research screenshots I have gathered over the years, which means refinding them all in Trove which is a most wonderful research provided by our National Library.

 I maybe did a half dozen, but those rabbit holes keep poppin up!!

I won't go TOO far down the rabbit hole today, but some delightful moments of synchronicity discovered were my great-great-great grandfathers' ads for missing horses in 1862

18 April 1862 - North Australian, Ipswich and General Advertiser -STOLEN or strayed, one IRON GREY MARE,branded M/M on the near shoulder, and AS on the off shoulder. The above reward will be paid, if stolen, or conviction of the thief, or £3 if strayed, upon delivering the said Mare to JOHN RANKIN. Esq., Rose Hill; or to GEO. EVANS, Newtown, Ipswich.  

The fourth son of John Rankin (my "farthest back in time" migrant to Australia) married the second daughter of George Evans nearly 18 years later.

A different great-great-grandfather's in 1865 (the going rate for getting a horse thief was apparently a tenner)

 14 October 1864 - Sydney Morning Herald - Stolen, from the Lachlan Diggings, a Black HORSE branded W near shoulder, T off, star and snip, 5 white spots under saddle, collar marked, shod all round, £10 on conviction 

This relative is very much a man of mystery in research - we know plenty of what happened HERE but the man was a master spinner of tales, and finding a paper trail of what went on BEFORE is elusive 

And I did a big snip because the ads around it?!  Tell me your thoughts on the fourth "lost" article!?  (I am hoping that is about a dog);

His son-in-law landing in Brisbane almost exactly 11 years later:

7 October 1875 - Daily Northern Argus advises of shipping arrivals including The Isles of the South, immigrant ship, arrived with 316 immigrants - one of whom was my great-grandfather, the "nearest" relative of our migration story;

and nearly another 20 years later, their union - through the marriage of one's daughter to the other in a business transaction brokered over brandy (allegedly)

 

27 March 1895 (the wedding took place 4th March) the NQ Register used exactly the same copy that the Mackay Mercury used nearly a fortnight earlier, including the lovely little take-away "Mr Edwards replied.  He said that although he ad lost - no not lost - but given away a daughter, he had gained a son and now in these dull times when sugar was so low and cattle so cheap it was an advantage to gain even a son."

Kodomo no hi, floridaman, cattle-stealing and squirms therapy

 When I was at high school, we had a most awesome (awe and some and aww and aargh being the operative words, depending on how you viewed her) Japanese teacher.  A 6' 1 spinster whose one true love was Japan, a country that she had visited when a Uni student and had a lifelong affair with.  And her instrument of love was teaching Queensland country schoolgirls the rudimentaries of Japanese language and culture.

Masochist is another term that comes to mind.  Poor dear.

But Kodomo no hi does ring a very faint bell 41 years hence (but as I only did Japanese to Year 10, so I cannot perform the traditional dances or ceremonies that Ms P no doubt would have furnished those who went to Senior with).

So yesterday was Children's Festival in Japan - today I typed "May 6 F" thinking to find out what festival IT may be (because that is the date) and offered for my delight was "May 6 Florida Man" and I thought, why not.  I present the Orlando Weekly with "Floridaman punches Jimmy John's employee because his sandwich took too long, wasn't 'Freaky Fast" enough.  I have a few issues:

• If its a weekly but its on the internet, what day of the week is "Publication" - or is Weekly a nod to historical naming convention that we will all too soon regard as "quaint"?  We will be going "remember when our news artefacts were named after days of the week" and our children and children's children will be shaking their heads and going "huh, imaging having lived through that era". 
• Bloggytown?
• roll back is two words but Floridaman is one?
• Hang on - Cannabis is now a tab on a news site?

 I suddenly have the belief that this may not be a certain quality journalism!

 

Boca Raton resident MJVisconti, a man who enjoys an effeciently prepared submarine sandwich after a long night of drinking, was arrested Saturday night after punching a Jimmy John's employee in the facr for not making his sub "Freaky Fast" enough.

• my child has just started a career as a sandwich artist (although not at Jimmy John's) - she may have to contemplate 'Freaky Fast' as a speed to attain. The link is no longer active for us to ascertain exactly what that may mean.
  

Officers observed that Visconti was intoxicated.
The store manager had a cut on the bridge of his nose after being punched by Visconti, the report said.
While police were gathering information, Visconti allegedly began walking away east on Clematis Street. Told that he had to remain while the investigation continued, Visconti said, “[Expletive] that. Why am I going back?”
Visconti, 22, allegedly elbowed and kicked at two officers before being handcuffed, the report said. He also wedged himself between two palm trees and had to be placed in leg hobbles after he continued kicking at the officers.
Before going to jail, Visconti was taken to a local hospital to treat facial abrasions sustained during his struggle with police, the report said.

• Officers observed?
• Nothing like an on the spot on the money reporter!!!
• I can just visualise the palm tree placement there... 
• [Expletive] that!!  
  

 And then I was going to use an example of swearing from my own family history but instead went down this rabbit hole about my great-great-great-grandfather and the cattle-stealing charge he dodged!

To think, only a year earlier he was this angel:

As you may be able to tell, we are child-free for three nights while Paris is at camp.

 V gave me a bowl of squirms when I decided my heady activity was going to be "blogging".  

And who says romance is dead!