Wise words from a Judge

I noticed this in our local Northern Advocate newspaper this morning:............

I shake my head in disbelief at some of the things judges say ... but this hit the mark:

"Northland College (NZ) principal John Tapene has offered the following words from a judge who regularly deals with youth.

"Always we hear the cry from teenagers 'What can we do, where can we go?'
... My answer is, "Go home, mow the lawn, wash the windows, learn to cook, build a raft, get a job, visit the sick, study your lessons, and after you've finished, read a book."

"Your town does not owe you recreational facilities and your parents do not owe you fun. The world does not owe you a living, you owe the world something. You owe it your time, energy and talent so that no one will be at war, in poverty or sick and lonely again."

"In other words, grow up, stop being a cry baby, get out of your dream world and develop a backbone, not a wishbone. Start behaving like a responsible person. You are important and you are needed. It's too late to sit around and wait for somebody to do something someday. Someday is now and that somebody is you...""

Black Tunnelweb Spider

This morning when I opened the front door there was a very large spider on the mat.  It doesn't look as big in this photo as it had its legs retracted.



I went to the Te Papa Museum website and this is what I found.  I am assuming this is the same spider although it doesn't appear to have the stripes across its back.  link to information - quite risky lives

Anyway, I carried the spider down and put it in the rock wall.  I now realise that we have several at the top of the Garage wall - that bit of housework is on the list for when the shoulder is better.  Things were so much easier when there were two of us to do all these jobs.

Austin convertible

Cro just posted a photo of an Austin 7 and commented that our mother drove one.  This sent me looking at the photo album and there it is in the garage.  From memory I thought it was a slightly different shape to the one he posted being wider at the rear.

I wonder who could have put the pin holes in my head?????????????  Surely not my baby brother.

Happy Birthday Dad- 5th August

Although it is 27 years since he died I still miss him.  I have so many happy memories from my childhood - helping him in the shop, walking with him,  wanting him to come straight up to my room when he came home when I was sick.

This rather blurred picture  is blown up from a small photo taken as I was leaving home to come to New Zealand.  I visited several times and my parents came over once.  Even though there were years between seeing him the loss is still as though it was yesterday.

On the home front our forecast is for heavy rain for the next few days with rain forecast to continue for a couple of months.  Just what we need - no!!!!!!!!!

The female line

My brother, Cro of Magnon's Meanderings, has just posted the male line of our family so I thought I would post the female line
.

The lady above is my father's mother Lillian.



The older lady in this photo is Lillian's mother, Louise.  She was an amazing lady and in 1920 when she was in her 60's and widowed she unofficially adopted a 3 year old girl, Toni. This photo is of an obviously very proud Louise with Toni on her wedding day.  It is through Toni, who was a war bride and now  lives in Toronto, that we have a lot of our family history.

Toni tells me that she made her wedding dress and the little dog later went to Toronto with her new husband.