Bad Weeks ????

(or " how many chinamen have I killed recently" - lol )
Last week started off as one that I wished that had not started , ie came home on Monday to the news that my property was basically sold, just required a few signatures etc -then came home on Tuesday knowing that my sister was undergoing surgery for breast cancer, and unable to contact her husband for any updates ( and they are still waiting for biopsy results etc) only to be informed that Fred had most likely been bitten by a snake at least 6 hours earlier and had not been seen since. Finally found the mutt, unable to stand up (ie semi paralised) and over the next 3 hours was basically convinced that the little "chick magnet " was dead on two times of not being able to detect a pulse - heartbeat etc. The little bugger is tougher than he looks tho, cause Wed morning, hes lined up for a feed as if nothing had happened, and was out chasing rabbits when I left for work

Kids Birthdays etc

Yesterday saw another milestone in the Gumbo household -the 2 littlest ruggies reached the age of 8 (bit of a miracle considering all of the %*#( that their older siblings etc have subjected them to - lol.)

Perhaps I should throw in here that they were eventually delivered as emergency Caesarions at 4 -15 & 4-17am, the doctors were very concerned that the littlest was not strong enough to survive a natural birth, esp if she was the second child that would have been delivered this way, and all the tests indicated that this was the most likely scenario.

So rather than being in the labour ward as was the case with the first 3 (and it is rather amazing what expletives that women can think up in that room -would rather leave the best of "Bullockies" far behind in the dust - lol),I sat outside the operating theatre door for a llllong time till there was a cry at 415 am, then the extra llllllloooong wait till the second cry at 417. Add to this that there had been a few sessions over the week or so prior (Iwatched the 9/11 events unfold on the tv in the maternity ward over a few days)

So there I was waiting outside, then one of the natal care gurneys came out and was rushed off to maternity, followed a short time later by the second one. It was a fairly long interval between this, and finally being told that all was ( nearly) well all round - there was some concern that "the littlest feral one" might have suffered oxygen starvation for a few minutes, with the result that she was put into specialised treatment for a fairly long time - a period that was distressing to the ex (she hadnt seen the baby at that stage - only a polaroid snap taken by the staff - and was still coming out of the post op shock as well) ,tho surprisingly,I was not as concerned as some of the staff at the time - it was an automatic reaction on their part given the circumstances, but the little tiime that I spent with her in those early hours of her life did not indicate any negative effects, and this was the general consensus of the midwifery staff - but they were initially looking at it as a possible "worst case" scenario - and the treatments (mainly an oxygen rich enviroment) could not harm.

Ironically, it ends up that the littlest feral one is a normal, healthy "tomboy", and her brother has been classified as autistic - something that the ex has never showed any interest in sitting dwn and talking through what thing can be done to enable him to lead a normal life -just a pile of papers that I was supposed to be able to sit down and understand the medical gobblygook after being at work for nearly 11 hrs.

(ps. Kid pic is the two littlest & the next one up}

Life, and its strange cycles ??

I know its been a while since i posted anything, but there have been various reasons that overlapped to cause this,mainly the ruggies and trying to get the house done inside (still not finished - had a financial setback and machinery failure at the same time which lost me 6 weeks or so - lol) butalso had the odd issue at work, and a couple of nights on the fireline for good measure thrown in in the leadup to Christmas - wont even mention thefact that my main email address was chokedwith large emails for 5 weeks till I finally found a way to get them in - bloody frustrating.

Unfortunately, todays email offerings was the news that a neighbour and fellow firie had died this morning after a period of deteriating health - this will be the fourth funeral that I should attend since Christmas - but also got the news that another friend and brigade member is also not expected to live for very long - she has a tumour on an artery in her neck.

A couple of years ago saw the end of my fathers direct generation in a period of less than 18 mths, there is only an aunt by adoption, and an aunt by marraige - both a fair bit younger than the rest -left of that era of our family. This string of events did have a consequence in that there was a family gettogether organised for all of my cousins and any children etc who could get together for that weekend - were only3 who couldnt attend out of13 and a lot of the next generation was there as well.

This event was also used as an opportunity to collate the family history - a lot has been researched - but there were gaps even within the current generation (Maiden names & DOB of spouses etc) so hopefully that info is now together and we just have to fill in some of the gaps in prior generations in Australia - Noone has been able to find records on my paternal GGG Grandfather & mother other than their names an area of residence in Sthn England

Nostalgic Saturday

,
(May also be called Gumbos "Booking Sunday" as it is the result of his first purchase online - lol)


Whilst it may not seem to be an item of great significance to many, this particular book has a place in my families memories for a couple of reasons.

The one reason that relates to nostalgia is memories of the author and my mother exchanging numerous letters over a period of 2-3 years in the late 60's- early 70's passing on information , then confirming the information ( The author was sourcing info from a lot of others as well)

The other reason that this is special to me is that it gives a detailled history of my ancestors back to their Irish times, but also goes back to the actually Scot origins of this line of my forebears, and I do even get a mention.

It was a self published, limited edition (750 copies, numbered and signed by the author) , and I have had the good fortune to get na copy in very good condition.

(very late) Friday foto Challenge -Time

My Paternal Grandparents 50th Wedding Anniversary (1964)

First pic ; Norman and Hilda (with A- youngest g/child{adopted})

Second pic;Uncle R, my father S, Aunt H, Uncle N, Hilda (Grandmother) Norman (Grandfather) , Uncle L. There was a natural daughter who died at age 3 - Aunt H was an adopted child.

Third pic; All the grandchildren (+a ring in - the girl standing between my grandparents was being fostered at the time, and was in the process of being adopted , but something happened and it never eventuated)

I do remember these times as one where you had to be dressed up ( including a tie - yuk), that there were certain formalities that were followed (starting with the Royal toast and Grace), and that you could do a function such as this on a limited budget with help from nieghbours. The only pic that was missed out on was all of the sons and daughters by marraige (ie my mother, my aunts and uncle who married into the family.

Nostalgic Saturday

Footy Days - South Lakes Junior Rugby League (Under 10's) about 1964

This was a club that was based at Dora Creek (Central Coast, NSW) . We played in St George colours (the "V" is red ) so have usually tended to favour them as an NRL team to follow.

This is how we played, no boots (not everyone could afford them) and the only padding was 2 squares of foam that were in an internal pocket on each hip.

The coach is my Uncle L , Im second left back row, and my cousin G is 3rd right front row (with Bandaids on knee). He went on to play in the Newcastle league for a while and would have most likely played with or against "Joey" Johns when Joey was starting his career in footy.

My father was the coach of this team when we were Under 8's , and can remember the away games usually involved fitting most (if not all ) of the team into a 1937 Pontiac (no seatbelts those days - lol ) and away we would go.

Nostalgic Saturday

This is about my grandmothers brother. There was a mix up as there were two Percival Loxton's enlisted - though some clerk made an error as this one was actually just Percy. The confusion over the names resulted in my grandmothers family not getting confirmation of his death till mid 1918. There is about 25 pages of correspondence listed in the National Archives on this matter.