I'm sorry... really.
But the reason why I haven't been here - or any of my other blogs (go and check, they're kinda blah too) - is because I have been busily writing something.
Yes, I'm writing again - but not what you think.
I'm looking at getting my late-Grandfather's diaries computerised. I tried this before, and my computers crashed each time... this time, I've been going for a few weeks, and typing faster than ever, and it's all been going better than the last two times I've attempted it.
I think it's because the technology is better than it was years ago, and I'm more confident than I was before; and I have some idea of how it will look as a finished product.
I have learned so much about my Grandpa in his early years. He was such an innocent teenager when he came out to Australia... and yet, he worked his heart out to get where he did in the world. He was so far from home, from family, from his Mum and his brothers and sisters and his Mother Country - England - and yet, he never forgot why he came to Australia: to carve out a better life for himself.
I've had to use magnifying glasses to read some of his writing - as a bit of it is so tiny and he wrote in pencil (which has faded over time) and fountain pen (which blots at the worst of times) and ball point pen (which was very expensive in the 1930's). So, using a magnifying glass has saved my eye sight a lot. I'm also writing out 2 diaries out at the same time. There's one I'm writing during the day - which is really small and I can only see in the daylight - and then there's a bigger one I can see better at night with the bedroom light behind me. I still have to use the magnifying glass on the bigger one at times because I can't always make out words.
And speaking of words, I'm learning new words. For example: Sundercutter. No, that's not a spelling mistake. This is a machine which ploughed fields and was built between 1926 and 1932. It wasn't a very expensive piece of machinery, but it was useful... however it broke easily and had to be fixed all the time; thus the reason why it was discontinued. Then there was Shiftshanking - which sounds either rude or made-up, but it's not. It's a machine which is now called Hay Baler. It did the same thing as it does now, but it was the first models way back when. My grandpa used these two machines - along with a combiner - and he built fences, gardens, bird cages, mended watches, bought a motor cycle with a side car and did many other things. And like I said, it's a real education learning about somebody who lived out in the middle of the country and yet I live in a city.
Have you learned something new like this about a relative or family lately? I find this kind of thing fascinating. Until my next post, happy reading and writing.
But the reason why I haven't been here - or any of my other blogs (go and check, they're kinda blah too) - is because I have been busily writing something.
Yes, I'm writing again - but not what you think.
I'm looking at getting my late-Grandfather's diaries computerised. I tried this before, and my computers crashed each time... this time, I've been going for a few weeks, and typing faster than ever, and it's all been going better than the last two times I've attempted it.
I think it's because the technology is better than it was years ago, and I'm more confident than I was before; and I have some idea of how it will look as a finished product.
I have learned so much about my Grandpa in his early years. He was such an innocent teenager when he came out to Australia... and yet, he worked his heart out to get where he did in the world. He was so far from home, from family, from his Mum and his brothers and sisters and his Mother Country - England - and yet, he never forgot why he came to Australia: to carve out a better life for himself.
I've had to use magnifying glasses to read some of his writing - as a bit of it is so tiny and he wrote in pencil (which has faded over time) and fountain pen (which blots at the worst of times) and ball point pen (which was very expensive in the 1930's). So, using a magnifying glass has saved my eye sight a lot. I'm also writing out 2 diaries out at the same time. There's one I'm writing during the day - which is really small and I can only see in the daylight - and then there's a bigger one I can see better at night with the bedroom light behind me. I still have to use the magnifying glass on the bigger one at times because I can't always make out words.
And speaking of words, I'm learning new words. For example: Sundercutter. No, that's not a spelling mistake. This is a machine which ploughed fields and was built between 1926 and 1932. It wasn't a very expensive piece of machinery, but it was useful... however it broke easily and had to be fixed all the time; thus the reason why it was discontinued. Then there was Shiftshanking - which sounds either rude or made-up, but it's not. It's a machine which is now called Hay Baler. It did the same thing as it does now, but it was the first models way back when. My grandpa used these two machines - along with a combiner - and he built fences, gardens, bird cages, mended watches, bought a motor cycle with a side car and did many other things. And like I said, it's a real education learning about somebody who lived out in the middle of the country and yet I live in a city.
Have you learned something new like this about a relative or family lately? I find this kind of thing fascinating. Until my next post, happy reading and writing.
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