Fremantlebiz - Paul's Letter from Australia

A birthday for my Dad

If my father Alfred G. Weaver was alive today, he'd be 111 years old. He was born in 1897 at St Peters in Sydney, New South Wales. As a young child he lived with his parents in Redfern, then the family departed for Western Australia. He was a gentle, wise man with a sense of humour. He always maintained he was named after the King Alfred who burned the cakes. I often think of him. We had a friendly, trusting relationship with eachother.

I have a very early photo of him as a boy with his mother and father. It was taken circa 1909 in Western Australia. I think it's unusual for the times because it contains a role-reversal joke. My grandfather is scrubbing clothes with my grandmother standing over him with a grin on her face. My father is the kid in the background scratching his head and pretending to be wondering what is going on.

I wonder if any of my kids will remember me on my 111th birthday? I can't imagine I'll be alive then. But if the pages of this weblog survive, then any descendants will be able to know a fair bit about me and my life. I think Fremantlebiz must be approaching two million words by now. Plus there are quite a few diaries from the pre-blog days. The verbage will surely cure any of them of any insomnia.

My wife and I also have plenty of pictures of our family taken over the years. They're our family treasure. In the past our kids were very cooperative whenever a camera was produced. They love to look back at the pictures now. So do we parents.

Not so with the girlfriend/partner of one of my older sons. She refuses to be photographed, even in company with my son, with whom she's had a defacto relationship for several years. We've known her since she was a teenager. She'll cover her face if she suspects a camera might be pointing in her general direction at family events. So unfortunately the images we have of this humourless woman are unflattering ones when she was accidentally included with photos of other people. Too bad for her.

I've just had an idea for a bit of family fun. I'll have a word with my wife and our kids about doing a reenactment of the century old picture above. It will take a bit of organising. I'll have to make a fake washboard.

© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.

Click here to visit 'dogandcatwatcher', my YouTube website.

Original still photographs are stored online in a cache at my Panoramio website or my Picasa site. Most of them have a brief description and a link back to a relevant essay. Images on Panoramio can usually be enlarged several times by clicking them.

About the writer

Click here to see our backyard.

Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write at least couple of million words. Zzzzzzzz!