Saturday, June 18, 2016

Sepia Saturday Koalas

It's a long time since I have posted in Sepia Saturday - or anywhere for that matter. Lost my blogging mojo - but I am back, I hope!!


This week's image shows a koala yawning. I am taking the easy way out and showing you some koalas - old and new.


Here am I at about 8 years old nursing a koala. I was at the Koala Farm in Adelaide - sadly no longer in existence. It was like a children's zoo and we loved visiting it and getting to cuddle the koalas.












Now we are lucky enough to have koalas in our own backyard, though we don't get to cuddle them.



We called this fellow Kenneth Koala and he was a frequent visitor to our garden. So frequent in fact that he killed his favourite Eucalypt tree by demolishing every new shoot that tried to grow.

He was a friendly fellow and showed no fear of the dogs in whom he took quite an interest.


Sadly we haven't seen Kenneth in the last 12 months and we suspect that he may have died.


 This little lady turned up with her baby one day and was an occasional visitor for a while. We haven't seen her in quite a while either.                  



This is a younger koala than Kenneth and may well have been a lady coming to visit him

Much to our regret we very rarely have koala visitors any more. We do hear them in the trees, but now that Kenneth is gone, the current crop seem more wary of the dogs and don't come as close as Kenneth did. We do miss him, despite the dead tree.

Liz Needle  -  linking with Sepia Saturday





Family Reunion

Many years ago I organised a family reunion at our place and a great time was had by all.  Now sadly, 30 years later, we only seem to meet at funerals. I have been suggesting each time that we should have a family get together, but it seems to get put on the back burner.

Several months ago a very dear oldest cousin passed away - so I decided to bite the bullet and organise another reunion before our ranks dwindled any further.  Full of resolve, I sent off an email to as many of my remaining 36 cousins as I had contacts for. I was overwhelmed at the response and the numbers are still growing. By October I am expecting a host of cousins covering 3 generation - some of whom I haven't seen for years and some of whom I have never met. What fun.

My family - on my mother's side are descended from Ernst Bernhard Heyne, a botanist and horticulturalist, linguist and mathematician who came to Australia in 1848. 



He first settled in Melbourne where he gained employment as secretary to and head plantsman for Baron Ferdinand von Mueller - as such my great grandfather was responsible for much of the planning and planting of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens.

Melbourne Botanic Gardens as drawn by EB Heyne
He later moved to Adelaide and became well known as a botanist, nurseryman, author, viticulturalist and horticulturalist. He married Laura Hanckel and raised a family of 5 children, one of whom died in infancy.

The photo shows Laura Heyne (Hanckel), Laura, Ida, Johanna Hanckel (Grossi), Agnes and Carl in front.



His three daughters were all exceptional scholars and very well known and respected in Adelaide educational circles. The eldest - Agnes married Caspar Dorsch and herself had a large family of  brilliant scholars, the other two - Laura and Ida - never married but were much loved teachers.

Carl, my grandfather, graduated from Roseworthy College as one of the earliest graduates and established himself as a horticulturalist and nurseryman. His nursery at Norwood is still run by his grandson and great grandsons.

He married Wilhelmina(Minnie)Lehmann and had nine children - Ernst, Anna, Laura (my mother), Carl,  Thusnelda, Dora, Waldemar, Lesley and Ida. They also raised and adopted as their daughter Isobel, daughter of Dora who died as a young woman.





The photo  shows Laura, Minnie, Carl, Agnes and Ida

















This shot shows all the descendants of EB Heyne at the time. My mother is the baby being nursed by her mother Minnie on the left.


Laura(my mother), Ernst, Carl with Thusnelda(Nelda) and Anna in front.
This photo is probably my favourite family shot. It shows the five eldest children of Carl and Minnie. These children are the parents of many of the cousins who will be getting together at the reunion with their own children and grand children..


Minnie and Carl Heyne



These were the surviving Heyne children taken at the last reunion, probably 30 years ago. From left Ida, Wally, Lesley, Ernst, Laura, Carl. In front are Paddy Hickey (husband of Ida) and Bill Kennedy (husband of Anna - deceased). In October we will meet and share our memories of all the wonderful people that I have shown you in this post.


And here are some of the cousins who will be at the reunion. I am second from the left.



I can hardly wait. It is so exciting.

Liz Needle





Thursday, June 16, 2016

Super Hero Uncle Mark

Very proud of my bachelor son. With no previous experience of small children, he has for the last year taken on baby sitting duties with 3 year old twin boys. They are the sons of a good friend of his, a single mother who has raised two adorable little boys. Mark helps out so the twin's mother can do extra work without having to pay for a baby sitter.

We sometimes have the boys up here for a Sunday and they love coming to the "farm" - and we love having them. Mark is amazing with them - so patient, caring and capable. He would have made a wonderful father.

Here we are having fun on the farm


Riding bikes

Mowing the lawns

Resting
 
Paying out Uncle Mark


Throwing rocks in the dam
A moment's rest before we start again
Feeding the Chooks
Making gnocchi for tea
Tea time

Ready for bed
The morning after the sleepover - WRECKED!!!
Our grand daughters live in Sydney so we've always missed out on a lot of growing up.  These little guys are doing a great job of filling in a few of the gaps.

Liz Needle




Monday, June 13, 2016

Super Model Niamh

My eldest grand daughter, Niamh, has aspirations to become a model. She is blonde, tall, slim and gorgeous - and only 15 years old.  But she does turn heads. Earlier this year she appeared in the March issue of Dolly and a proud grandmother showed her off to friends. Just recently she did another photo shoot for a new Sydney designer and while I am not fond of the clothes, Niamh did look a treat.

 From this






To this








Can't say I like the eye decoration!!



Will she make it?  Maybe. She is keen enough, but she has 3 years of school to finish and then the world is her oyster.

Liz Needle


Catching Up

I can't believe it is February since I last wrote my blog. So much, yet so little seems to have happened.

The garden continues to keep me occupied and content. The long dry summer is over, Autumn has come and gone and at last the winter rains have arrived and all is wet and muddy.

A few weeks ago our photography group went to Stirling in the Hills to capture some Autumn shots.



 


Stirling is noted for its Autumn display, but I think we do a pretty good job here at home.






















Farewell Autumn - you have left me a great legacy   dead leaves all over the lawns and paths. Thank you.

Liz Needle