When a Good Mother Sails from This World...

Always thinking of my dear Mum
with forever love... ❤️ 

Time passes… and what is remembered, lives… 

"Let us not look for you only in memory,

Where we would grow lonely without you.

You would want us to find you in presence,

Beside us when beauty brightens,

When kindness glows

And music echoes eternal tones."

~ John O'Donohue

~ Margaret June ~

 29-09-1931 ~ 12-01-2022

Mum and daughter Rainie enjoying happy holidays

 with family at the Sandgate Pool in Queensland

which my Grandad helped to build.

WHEN A GOOD MOTHER SAILS FROM THIS WORLD

When I say, ‘My mother has died’,

I mean my ‘most beloved’.

Leave me to myself now,

for I am a ship who’s

lost her riggings;

suddenly

come unmoored.

My mother has died;

She has earned her rest now,

waiting only, and proudly so,

for her sails

to be taken down.

I, the daughter,

see to the mending of my mother’s sails;

I seek her

worn and broken

threads of light,

reweaving her dazzling linen.

And though there be broken threads

not able to be rewoven,

I will gently pull the edges together

and stitch one side to the other…

and if not able to be mended,

then I will patch with parts

from my own most earnest life

over the places where my mother’s life

was worn through,

. . . or never was.

Over time, the sails of the mothership

will be fitted to the daughtership;

raised up on the mainsail,

and the final touch –

the red ragged flag – hers –

will be flying topmast of my ship.

I’ll be let down into the waters then,

I, the daughter, will glide again…

but this time, under the best sails

inherited from my mother…

and all the mothers of the motherlines

before her.

Ay, Mother, let me tell you

my treasured dearie-dear,

one last thing I have learned

from your spirit passing through me

as sparkling shadow passes

through darkening shadow,

on this open night-sea journey…

I am learning to navigate

by the mysteries of the farthest stars –

the ones that the great wake of your passing

has revealed to me

for the very first time.

______________

CODA

“When A Good Mother Sails From This World,” is an excerpt from a libretto called Woman. Life. Song. commissioned by Jessye Norman, played by the New York Symphony Orchestra and sung by self-same great mezzo-soprano Miss Norman; musical score by Judith Weir, British composer. The libretto was written by what some have since called, Las Tres Lobas: Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and
Clarissa Pinkola Estés.

Memories, Farewells, Travels and Ancestral home visits!

"La Maison" ~ The family home to three generations since it was built in 1920


Farewell to a Family Home and generation
as another chapter of life closes...

Well it's been an extra busy time since my last sharing at Easter and we have now booked our flights for Guernsey to help sort and empty my partner's family home before it is sold. With both of his parents now passed, the house has just been listed for sale.

Guernsey is one of the beautiful Channel Islands which lie in the English Channel between England and France - the others being Jersey, Alderney, Sark and Herm.

Map showing the location of Guernsey
 and the other Channel Islands

The Channel Islands from the air

Guernsey from the Air

Naturally I am looking forward to travelling and being there again and this will be my 7th visit! I love the island - and have been fortunate in getting to know her wild beauty during family trips since our son, now 32, was seven years old! We have many wonderful memories of holidays spent there during Spring, Summer and one icy Winter for Christmas which will live forever in our hearts. Sadly this trip will be more of a bitter-sweet time filled with a lifetime of memories and farewells...

It will also be a kind of "working holiday" as we sort and empty the house! However I know we will have fun catching up with friends and family and hopefully also enjoy some sunny weather with my favourites ~ the bluebells ~ and other gorgeous Spring flowers doing their thing! Perhaps this trip we will also finally have time to visit Jersey and/or Alderney - the two islands which we haven't been to before.

I am looking forward to visiting Guernsey's heavenly scented
 and magical Bluebell Wood again!

I was delighted to have a bird's eye view of "La Maison" in this wonderful drone shot below which the Real Estate agent has used in the For Sale brochure...

Centre of the photo is "La Maison" and the back garden which was
once filled with glass greenhouses where tomatoes and roses
were grown and sent abroad. 

Past times and happy days in one of the glass greenhouses

It was the Grandfather who had come over from France and built the home and for many years the land at the back was covered in glass greenhouses for growing. 
I remember the first time I went to visit the family in Guernsey back in 1992 and as we flew in, seeing all of the shimmering glass reflections from the greenhouses blinking in the sun as far as the eye could see... what a magical sight! Sadly over time, the growing industry in Guernsey waned when it could no longer compete with the prices and produce of Europe so many of them now lay broken and in ruins throughout the island.

Naturally the family have a long history of mixed memories since arriving on the island all those years ago. During the Second World War the Channel Islands were occupied by Nazi German forces from 30 June 1940 until their liberation on 9 May 1945.
Mothers with children below school age were authorised to go on the first ships, as were men of military age. Older children were evacuated ~ many to England and in this family's case, Scotland.
I can't begin to imagine the heart-ache of families torn apart and affected by the cruel suffering of war, which also invaded this family home, their lives changed forever and never to be forgotten.

A photo from the occupation of the Channel Islands
during World War II

As fate would have it, the new film called "The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society" was released here just this week and we plan to see it before we head overseas.
Years ago when the book was first published, I enjoyed reading it and then gifted a copy to my partner's mother on our next Guernsey visit. She devoured her book and was finished even before our holiday was over!

There have been a variety of opinions about the book and consequent movie - despite having a fine cast - but I think that my main criticism will be the fact that for whatever reason they shot the film in Devon, England and not in Guernsey!

I have no doubt that the scenery will be beautiful and there is bound to be token historical war footage from the Islands, however for native Channel Islanders and frequent visitors like myself, not being able to enjoy watching the story in its original "local" Guernsey setting is such a shame and disappointment.

                    

While reflecting upon past times and visits to the family home in Guernsey, I recall my delight and amazement when first shown inside the linen cupboard and invited to "choose" some pieces of Grandma's exquisite tatting work. Every shelf from floor to ceiling was full to overflowing with hand crafted tablecloths, doilies and assorted other works of art  which had been painstakingly stitched over many years. 

Grandma shown here busy working on one of her
many exquisite tablecloths made by lace needle tatting.

Mother and Grandma also knitted all of the family's traditional "Guernseys" (a seaman's knitted woollen sweater) and in fact, were part of a group that had one of their Guernseys presented to the Queen during a visit to the Islands!

Variations do occur, but this is probably due to embellishments by individual knitters,
rather than any strictly defined parish pattern.

Guernseys are traditionally navy blue and are made to the same pattern with a square neck, making them reversible, and patterning at the shoulders which in the past were often specific to a parish or family. One reason for this was to help identify the bodies of fisherman lost at sea when they were washed ashore. In addition, the rib at the top of the sleeve represents a sailing ship’s rope ladder, the raised shoulder seam a rope and the garter stitch panel, waves breaking on the shore. And so was born the now famous oiled wool Guernsey, renowned for the warmth of its tight knit and its rain resistant qualities.

                       

Some happy Guernsey knitters busy at work!

Guernsey and the Channel Isles have such incredible beauty and a also have a fascinating history and culture which I shall share more about another time. There are also many more family stories and memories I could continue telling now, but I am mindful of the length of this post already!

So best if I take a pause on our lovely Guernsey and Channel Islands for the moment and return with more travel tales and photos when I get back from our trip!

But there's just one more thing I must share 

before I leave you... 

I am really excited about the last week of our trip because once we have said our farewells to Guernsey, we will head over to the South West of England and travel to the village of Sparkford in Somerset, which is the family home of my Bennett ancestors!

Even though I visited Sparkford many years ago (sadly when I had much less family history information or even considered trying to find or visit the Ancestral Manor House) I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined it possible to actually STAY at Sparkford Hall!!! Which is what we are going to do!

This is where my Maternal Great, Great Grandmother Susan "Fanny" Bennett was born (and married!) and where many generations of our Bennett family lived.

A Past Times photo of Sparkford Hall

Sparkford Hall as it is today ~ a beautifully restored venue which caters
for weddings, corporate functions and other events & celebrations

I was so happy to find that the Manor House is not only still there, but that the current owners have restored it beautifully to cater for weddings, corporate functions and other events & celebrations.
To find out more and see breathtaking photos of the beautifully renovated and restored Sparkford Hall please visit here:
www.sparkfordhall.co.uk

One of my family history treasures is a copy of Edith Mary Bennett's daily journal which she kept during her life at Sparkford Hall. Reading about the family and their daily activities during those past times is fascinating and really brings the people and place to life once more!

My Maternal Great, Great Grandmother, Susan "Fanny" Bennett
who was born here in 1838 and was later married to Archibald
Hamilton Grahame in 1861 in the St Mary Magdalene church
 at Sparkford by her father, the Reverend Henry Bennett.

Archibald Hamilton Grahame ~ Taken from the original hand tinted photo

St Mary Magdalene Church in Sparkford where they were married
and many of my Bennett family are buried.

A Bennett family gathering in 1927 at the Sparkford Rectory.

A charming photo of Emily Margaret Grahame visiting her Bennett family.
Emily was one of my Great Grandfather Henry's sisters.

So the travel countdown is on! 

Meanwhile... I shall return here with some other to things to share before we head overseas in less than two weeks but will leave more on Guernsey and my very special trip back to my Ancestral home until I have returned with more photos and tales to tell... 

For now I will excitedly leave this chapter to be continued...!

Quw'utsun' Made © Be A Good Ancestor

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From my heart to yours... “Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhaoibh!” ~ Happy St Patrick's Day to you all" with a Blessing and some unexpected and delightful surprises for me!

On this special day... I am remembering my Irish/Celtic Ancestors... their lives, loves, hopes, dreams and stories... with love and gratitude.

Does this day have special meaning
for you and your family? 

Like so many Australians, my Ancestors before me arrived in this wild and beautiful country in another century and so very far away from their homelands, family and friends... I can't begin to imagine what that separation and journey would have been like for them, nor the many challenges they faced in creating their new lives here.

Although grateful to have some  treasured family photographs and basic information, sadly I know very little about these pioneers and their lives. Now they are gone and there is no one left to ask or share their stories...
However, my determined curiosity to remember and discover more about these people by searching, finding and gathering pieces of my family jigsaw puzzle is a constant source of joy and satisfaction in my life.

Even better are the occasional exciting and heart-warming new finds such as a couple of wonderful photo gems from long ago which I discovered by accident via a local history page on Facebook last night just before heading to bed!

I had originally been looking on the internet at some beautiful scenic photos of a small town in British Columbia called Enderby because I have always known that my Maternal Grandmother's Scottish Aunty had married and bravely gone to live and raise her family in this wild frontier in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

As I have always been the "keeper of the family photos" there are a few precious images I inherited of this family and I have always wondered about their lives back then and how life would have been way over on the other side of the world in the land of mountains, snow and bears!

As I sleepily clicked from one photo to the next of this Museum's fascinating historical collection in the hopes of possibly finding a scrap of information or even a mention of our family name, I never imagined that I would actually not only see one of the photos in my own collection, let alone some brand new ones. However it was when I found myself gazing into the living room at the children and their brightly lit Christmas tree that I swear my heart actually stopped and then skipped a few beats! There they were! Isobel, Barbara wee Richard "Dickie"- partly appearing at the far right of the photo. This is the image that delighted me so... (unedited or touched-up)

The Grahame-Moore Family Xmas Tree, ca 1913
- photo from Enderby & District Museum & Archives

So my message to you, my fellow travellers and Ancestor Seekers is this...

Firstly, please take every opportunity to talk to your family ~ especially your elders ~ about their lives and stories. Write things down and collect copies of photos and memories!

Do this while they are still available to ask! I know that it seems like our beloved family will be with us forever... and if only they could be... but sadly, the hands of time are always turning and one day they will be gone from our worlds and any un-asked questions shall remain forever unanswered mysteries.

From my experience, photos and historical details are very interesting and essential for our collections however in all honesty, nothing can compare with the magic and power of their own lives and personal stories.

So then, allow your curiosity and love of family to take you on an unknown voyage of discovery and inspiration into the past of those who paved the way before us. I think you will find this journey to be enriching and empowering as you grow an even deeper sense of belonging, I know I most certainly do! Plus you just never know what unexpected treasures you may find in your travels!

Thanks to my Nan (uncannily who, like my son today, was also an avid photographer) this photo below is from my inherited collection and which I also excitedly found in the Historical Archives online. Here in the centre of the photo holding the lambs, you can see the same girls as were in the Christmas photo taken above, except a few years older.

Photo taken at Enderby Farm - "Woodcliffe" - Left to Right: Agnes "Margaret" Louise Moore,  Lilias Edith "Isobel" Grahame Moore, "Barbara" Helen Grahame Moore and Richard "Dickie" John Archibald Moore.

I will leave you for now with the other wonderful new surprise family photo which I found last night in the Enderby BC Historical Museum Archive and also a beautiful Irish Blessing to carry with you....

Washing J.F. Moore's first Ford - ca 1920

I shall share more of my treasured photos and family history stories in the blogs to follow! So please come back and visit often!

If light is in your heart you will find your way home.

~ Rumi

Níl aon tinteáin mar do thinteáin féin (There's no hearth like your own hearth) 

“Beannacht / Blessing

On the day when

the weight deadens

on your shoulders

and you stumble,

may the clay dance

to balance you.

And when your eyes

freeze behind

the grey window

and the ghost of loss

gets in to you,

may a flock of colours,

indigo, red, green,

and azure blue

come to awaken in you

a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays

in the currach of thought

and a stain of ocean

blackens beneath you,

may there come across the waters

a path of yellow moonlight

to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,

may the clarity of light be yours,

may the fluency of the ocean be yours,

may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow

wind work these words

of love around you,

an invisible cloak

to mind your life.”

~ John O'Donohue from Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Oh and if you live in the Southern Hemisphere as I do,
St Patrick's Day is also the time to plant your Sweetpeas!

Quw'utsun' Made © Be A Good Ancestor

Listen deep to the old stories...

and go seeking your lost songlines. They are already singing you.

Diana ~ from Sara K Byrne's Multi-Layered Portraits

Listen deep to the old stories and you will hear the rumble of your roots, the flap of your wings, the cries and shouts of joy of your ancestors.

Listen deep to the old stories and hear them whir within your DNA and resound in the world around you, from deepest ocean to most distant star, in every form imaginable.

Listen deep to the old stories and hear your wisest voice of guidance and your most innocent foolish chatter.

Listen deep to the old stories and they will map a path that is sure to lead you to a well, which quenches every thirst.

Listen deep to the old stories and be transformed from the duck you thought you were to the swan you know you are. Such recognition! You are a story being told yourself!

~ Niki na Meadhra

Photo by Edouard Boubat

When we heal ourselves, we also heal our ancestors...

"I had a vision the ancestors told us to heal the world.

When we heal ourselves, we also heal our ancestors, 

our grandmothers, our grandfathers, and our children. 

When we heal ourselves, we also heal mother earth.” 

~ Grandmother Rita Pitka Blumenstein

Photo of Grandmother with Calla Lilies, Antigua, Guatemala by Judy Sidonie Tillinger

Tree of Life: Mother Courage by Betty LaDuke, 1986.
From "Celebrating Life – Betty LaDuke: Multicultural Celebrations"

The artist Betty LaDuke, explores women's lives as a duality - women as young bearers of new life, sustaining and nurturing all life forms, and women as old, wise healers and cultural guardians, offering strength and stability.
From: Women Speak; The Eloquence of Women's Lives by Karen A. Foss, Sonja K. Foss, 1991.


Reconnecting to the Wisdom of our Ancestors ~ A talk and guided meditation with Dr. Illana Berger. Click on the link below:

http://energyhealing.thesacredscience.com/video-day-2b-ift_LIVE.html

Quw'utsun' Made © Be A Good Ancestor

Enriching our lives through the stories and ways of our Ancestors...

Greetings and welcome back!

This will be a place where we can share and learn a variety of ways to remember and honour our family and ancestors... via memories, stories and creative expression.
By walking with our Ancestors we can help to keep their memory and wisdom alive in our hearts and lives... for ourselves and the generations to come.

Meanwhile... as I continue to sort and bring together my many years of gathered material for Ancestors Alive! (which might take a wee while!) I thought I would pop by each day and share some words and pictures with you for contemplation and inspiration... Enjoy!

Today I will leave you with the following message which feels so timely for me and resonates deeply with this new work in progress...

Message from the Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers:

"As you move through these changing times... be easy on yourself and be easy on one another. You are at the beginning of something new. You are learning a new way of being. You will find that you are working less in the yang modes that you are used to.

You will stop working so hard at getting from point A to point B the way you have in the past, but instead, will spend more time experiencing yourself in the whole, and your place in it.

Instead of traveling to a goal out there, you will voyage deeper into yourself. Your mother's grandmother knew how to do this. Your ancestors from long ago knew how to do this. They knew the power of the feminine principle... and because you carry their DNA in your body, this wisdom and this way of being is within you.

Call on it. Call it up. Invite your ancestors in. As the yang based habits and the decaying institutions on our planet begin to crumble, look up. A breeze is stirring. Feel the sun on your wings."

Wisdom of Grandma: Photo by Carmen Hunter

Enriching our lives through the stories and ways
of our Ancestors...

Artwork detail from a collaged Gourd I made some years ago.
(I will share more info and images about this creation process later!) Image © Raine @ Inner Voice Art™

Quw'utsun' Made © Be A Good Ancestor sticker

Storms and family memory-stories... a fine place to begin!

Hello and welcome!

"The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them.

If stories come to you, care for them and learn to give them away where they are needed. 

Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive. That is why we put these stories in each other's memories." 

~ Barry Lopez 

Before I share with you how and when I got to the start and heart of my inspiration and work behind my latest work: "Ancestors Alive! ~ What is Remembered Lives" I would like to first touch on something which I believe lies at the very heart of that long line of unique and precious people who have come before us... and that would be Stories... both theirs'... and ours.

Let's begin then with our stories... How wonderful! But there are SO many... Where on earth to begin?

Here's a wee story to start off with as I am reminded of how often - and sometimes suddenly - our memories can transport us back to another place and another time... I find that there are many triggers... most often sensory... it could be a sound or song; smell or someone; photo or even perhaps a dream ... or a combination of things.... and then there is also the ripple effect of memories...

Have you noticed how suddenly and vividly you can be taken back to somewhere... or someone? Do you think to write it down or share with anyone? I suppose we all take our memories for granted in a way... until sadly there may come a time when, with aging, our trusty memory-maker-keeper mind starts to struggle with its job and everything we thought we would remember forever, slowly starts to fade around the edges like an old photo...

Meanwhile... outside here, as the thunder rumbles moodily in the dark clouds, I think that today's hot and steamy late Summer's afternoon with a storm rolling in, feels just like the perfect place for me to start... with one of my own treasured Memory of Place stories.

As far as childhood and family memories go, it was lazy afternoons just like this one on holidays with my family, that you would ALWAYS find me perched on the steps of my Aunty's classic Queenslander, excitedly awaiting the biggest and baddest tropical hail storm to hit! Those clouds were literally 'green' and as my Mum and Aunty rushed around the house closing all the louvers and windows, I would stay out on the porch until the very last possible moment when the first heart-jumping crack of lightning flashed from the sky.

I remember always loving storms, just as much as my Mum hated and feared them - and still does to this very day - even as she approaches her 87th birthday.

She tells me that when she was expecting me with her tummy grown large, she would try desperately to get under the bed whenever there was the first rumble of thunder.
What a sight for sore eyes that must have been - ! - and why I have spent my entire life feeling the exact opposite about storms I guess will always remain a mystery to me! But I am happy to have the memories... and the stories!

Like the time many years later after I'd moved out of home and was almost struck by lightning one evening on the deck of the share-house I was living in! Thankfully our dog saved me that time by a couple of seconds... Phew!

But that is another story for another day... along with the cicadas (green grocers or black princes, I wonder?) who are singing away at almost midnight because it is still so hot and sticky ahead of the cooler change which is thankfully due tomorrow morning...

On that note, it is goodnight and sweet dreams from me and I shall return again soon with more about my vision of Ancestors Alive! Memory of Place and Walking with Our Ancestors.

Their stories are waiting as we peek through windows to the past... and remember... you also have a lifetime of memory-stories just waiting to be told, gathered and kept for future generations...

"We are the ancestors of the generations to come. 

We are the net-weavers for all our children,
wherever in the world they may live."

~ Hiro Boga from her book: “To Be Soul, Do Soul”

P.S.
Because I have been gathering many aspects of this work for a very long time, I have come to imagine Ancestors Alive! as being like a very large and ancient tree with many branches...

I see each one of these offering ways in which we can help to honour and remember our families and those who have come before...

Some topics and creative activities which will be included are:

Stories & Story Catching, Memories & Memory Mapping, family history gathering, photos, cultural journeys, myths, dream visits, House of Belonging, personal shrines & altars, creative memory keepers and Life Blessing Books, collages etc.

At the moment I am not sure if I will be able to bring all of these ideas and components to a blog such as this one but will continue to share here until I get better sense of what will work best!

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Great memories!
I was so happy with myself holding the "Crab Catch of The Day"
and wearing my favourite bright red play-suit!
Photo taken at Bribie Island in Queensland in the 1960's during
one of our many wonderful Summer holidays.

What is Remembered, Lives...

 © Quw'utsun' Made