Monday December 29th 2021

Today would have been my late sister Kathy's 74th birthday - she died in 2013, in Norristown, Pennsylvania USA.

Lois and I, and our 2 young daughters, had already been living in Columbia Maryland for a few months, before Kathy came out from England to join us in the spring of 1983. Initially she lived with us in our house there, which was a great thrill to all of us, and especially to little Alison (8) and Sarah (6), who were incredibly excited to have their Aunt Kathy living with us. 

These are a couple of pictures from the first time we took her out and about - there was a spring or early summer fair going on by one of the local lakes, where there were horse rides and other games for young children laid on. 

flashback to spring 1983: sitting by one of the lakes in Columbia Md -

(left to right) me, Kathy, Alison and Sarah

Kathy took this picture of Lois and me and our 2 daughters

It was an overcast day but quite warm, I remember. Kathy quickly got to love the life over there, taking a job at the British Embassy, working for the science and technology guy. Later that year she met Steve, her future husband, and they married 2 years later.

Happy days !!!!!

10:00 Lois and I spend the day cleaning, tidying and vacuuming our house in preparation for tomorrow's visit by my new-found cousin, David, the BBC online journalist - identified as my cousin by a DNA test. David's wife Zanne is also coming. 

We're very much looking forward to meeting them. And although I've unearthed various papers and old photos to help him with his search to know more about his "real" family, Lois and I have decided not to overwhelm him with these, but to aim first and foremost at getting to know them. 

David was adopted as a baby. However I've got about 7 or 8 pictures of David's biological mother, my Auntie Joan, which I can show him. Joan is buried in the same grave as my mother, in a cemetery in Oxford. Our maternal grandparents, Sidney and Gladys are also buried there.

flashback to a couple of months ago: David, Zanne and their daughter

visit the grave where my mother, his mother, and our maternal

grandparents are buried, in a cemetery in Oxford

As David is a journalist, I plan to just say a little about David's (and my) great-grandfather John, who was editor of a local newspaper in Glamorgan, South Wales in the closing years of the 19th century. 

I can also say something about John's son, David's (and my) great-uncle Willy, who emigrated to Natal, South Africa, in the late 1890's, with his wife Alice and son Jack.

flashback to the early 1890's: my Great-Uncle Willy and his wife Alice,

their son Jack and (?) servants, outside their house in Maritzburg, Natal

Willy went to work as a journalist for various newspapers out there, including the Pretoria News and the Cape Argus, both of which are still in publication today.

the Pretoria News and the Cape Argus, which my Great-uncle Willy worked for,

are both still in publication  today, which is nice!

20:00 We're both pretty tired, but fortunately Lois's sect's usual Monday Evening Bible Seminar is taking a break this week, so we both settle down on the couch and watch one of our favourite TV quizzes, "Only Connect", which tests lateral thinking.

Tonight, for example, the teams are challenged to spot the connection between these 4 items:

Who knew that the middle syllable of "Nevada" is pronounced with a short "a" in Nevada itself? And who knew that Houston Street in New York is pronounced locally as "House-ton" Street? And who knew that in Northern Ireland, "broadly speaking", the letter H is pronounced as "aitch" by Protestants and "haitch" by Catholics? [I expect a lot of people knew that! - Ed]

Lois and I think the fourth item, "fish and chips",  is a bit weak, however - it's just two different local accents, and nothing else. Wake up, question-setters!

And who knew that these types of issues are called "shibboleths"? Well, Lois did. 

In the Book of Judges in the Bible, the Ephraimites and Gileadites pronounced the word "shibboleth" differently. either "sibboleth" or "shibboleth". And in those times revealing your pronunciation could get you into danger because it would reveal immediately where you came from.

What a crazy world they lived in, in those times!!!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz!!!!