statcounter

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

A VISIT FROM BROTHER

Paternal Grandfather, John Henry Hewish 1878-1927
Probably taken for his 18th or 21st Birthday

Out of the blue, I had a call yesterday morning from my younger brother, Leigh, whom I haven't seen for at least three years, asking me to put the kettle on. He lives at Hervey Bay in Queensland and me, down south in Victoria, at least seven hours away. He was nearly here and I had ten minutes to whip around - phew! It had been 'one of those mornings'!

DMJ had gone to post the mail and was going on to fish the Pondage for an hour or so. I called him back.

My brother is the spitting image of Grandfather John (pictured above). It was nice to see Leigh again and his friend, Irene. They are both members of the Urangan Bowls Club in Queensland and were personally delivering a cheque for $3600 to the Marysville Golf & Bowls Club, which was seriously damaged in the bushfire in February. Irene said they'd hoped to raise more but their club was already appealing for donations for people flooded out in Queensland!

Do you ever get caught out like that? Having a morning where you seem to be going around in circles and achieving nothing much, not expecting visitors and they lob? I could have put on a lovely lunch and dinner and had them stay the night but they were committed to their next destination.

John & May (nee Crouch) Hewish,
Doncaster Australia, 14th October 1908

9 comments:

Tess Kincaid said...

Did blogger just eat my comment? Ack!

Here goes, again...

I so enjoyed your family photos. May and John's wedding pic is wonderful. Look at that bouquet~~it's huge!

Sometimes it's easier if we don't know company is descending on us. :^)

alaine@éclectique said...

I get what you mean; if I know someone's coming to stay, I do a total spring clean and I'm worn out when they arrive!

Delwyn said...

Hi Alaine
I love your grandmother's wedding attire...so involved looking.
What a message it gives having the husband sitting in these old photos...
What a nice gesture the Hervey Bay Bowls Club made....

Happy Days

alaine@éclectique said...

Smiling, yes, we ladies have come a long way!

Yes, a lovely gesture, when my brother Leigh lived down here, he was involved in Scottish Highland Dancing and visited Marysville often for dancing festivals.

Ruthie Redden said...

Beautiful photos alaine, i love old family pics. i get what you mean totally, and i too would be exhausted with cleaning by the time my guests arrived if i knew they were coming! sometimes suprises are great! The mountains viewed from moms is called the cairnsmore of fleet, your views are so similar!!

alaine@éclectique said...

Thanks for visiting, Ruthie, you must be so busy. What a quaint name, 'the cairnsmore of fleet'.

Unknown said...

Hello Alaine,

What a handsome young man your grandfather was. And his wife was probably an early upholder of female equality saying, "No dear, you take the chair"!!

Susan said...

I used to fret whenever friends would stop by unexpectedly for a visit. Until a dear friend of mine told me once, "I came to see you, not your house, so relax and enjoy our time together." And I never let it worry me again.

Lovely family photos! I have a photo of my great-grandparents at their wedding in the same pose, only Grandma wasn't so gloriously decked out. She was wearing a dark-colored dress and I don't recall any flowers.

alaine@éclectique said...

Derrick, Yes, indeed, handsome. I've just noticed that I've got a chair similar to what he's on, not quite as elaborate though.

Susan, wasn't Grandma lovely but we always thought of her as 'old'. Unfortunately, they were only married 19 years; Grandpa worked in a coolstore and died at 49 in 1927, probably from some lung disease. Grandma never remarried and struggled on with three teenagers.