On Saturday, we popped in to visit my mother. Dad's somewhere over near Cape Arid National Park, and Mum's torn the muscle off her shoulder and can't feel her thumb.
While
we were there helping Mum with some of the lifty things she can't do at
the moment, we got talking about the old super-8 films that are hidden
away in a cupboard somewhere. We decided we should try to get them put
onto DVD, so I can edit them when I get my fancy-pants new 'pooter in June. Does anyone know how/where to get that done?
We don't have a super-8 projector anymore, but we did manage to find an old Bell+Howell 'Family Slide Projector'.
So
of course, we invited some people over, and had ourselves a slide
night. It was a wonderful journey down memory lane. Laughing at me as a
fat baby. The brilliant blue of my brother's first bike. The Giant ACID
SPITTING Millipede in Papua New Guinea. Mum opened up a can of stories,
which were great to hear. It seems that no matter how much we know
about my parents, there's alwas something else remarkable about their
past. Take for example the 'rolling lawn' in the PNG earthquakes. The
caravan my dad used to live in. The Ford Zephyr he bought for Mum on
her 30th birthday.
My faves though were of my grandad, Harry. A
man I've never met (I was a babe when he left us). I'd only ever seen a
couple of pictures of him, in black+white. But here in the slides,
there were plenty. Harry and Dad on the Great Ocean Road, Harry and
Nanna at their house in Windang. Harry everywhere. Shirt and tie,
always a bit of a grin.
And the priceless set of pictures, was
the series of Dad, Harry, and his brother Uncle Bill. They were out on
the golf course at Inverell. Ties tucked into their shirts. Greenery
everywhere, straight pants, big smiles, and golf swings. Turns
out my Great uncle Bill was a golf-pro, and represented Australia in
his youth. Unfortunately I have been able to find nothing about him on
the internet as yet.
Swing on, Harry and Bill.
