Decisions

This was written on Monday when the photo was taken

Merlin is very poorly...

For several years he has had a lot of problems and almost daily little 'accidents' but he has had more the last couple of days. This morning I noticed his back feet and base of his tail are swollen and it is obviously hard for him to walk - he looked at me sadly and blinked his eyes saying " help me".(the photo shows his feet)

J rang the PDSA but he can't be seen until tomorrow afternoon. We have important hospital appointments in London today and tomorrow so we couldn't really have gone earlier anyway. I think that despite passing urine he has a fluid build-up and if it is also around his heart then there is no hope. Much as we love him dearly we pray that perhaps he will pass in his sleep, otherwise we will have to make a decision which will be in his best interests...

He sends his love to all of you who have been following his journey and to remind you that 'Love Is Eternal'


On Wednesday our dear, dear friend went to meet his Maker...

Remembrance day 2011 - Carshalton War Memorial - claiming 2 of my ancestors

This photo shows my dad's paternal grandparents - George Barber and Mary Buckenham. When I first started doing my family research back in 2000 I just used to trawl the Internet tracking down Barber's and Buckenham's in Carshalton, not knowing where they would fit in; but almost knowing for certain the ones I found would be part of my family line.
Most of the information  collected I put in boxes and forgot about them, particularly as in later years there became available so many other ways to track down people and cross reference their details.
When there was a lot of press publicity a couple of weeks ago about the plaque theft from the Carshalton War Memorial - for scrap value - sadly, not an isolated incident, I thought I had better try to verify the connection of the soldiers from WW1 - S H Barber and William Buckenham.
Sidney Herbert Barber was one of the children of the couple in the above photograph and my paternal grandfather's brother...( spelt Sydney on the town's memorial site)

I also have the WW1 service bible of another brother, Arthur.
William Buckenham was initially harder to sort out...

He was the nephew of Mary Buckenham in the first photograph. I had census details of him and his family and realised, both by my papers and the family bible again, that his father had died on November 6 1896 aged only 36. For a time William disappeared from the radar - until I discovered that his mother had married again 4 years later and in the 1901 census he is living with his mother Elizabeth and her husband Edmund Francis. In 1911 he has a half sister along with his own full blood siblings

Having spent years scouring documents I have come to the conclusion that baptismal names are often re-arranged in everyday life- and nearly all have family names repeated as middle or third names - then of course they have nicknames!

Many of my ancestors in the 19th century were farm workers and illiterate and even birthdays were nothing to celebrate - it was more important simply to stay alive - which was no mean feat in those days.

May God Bless and Honour all those on the Carshalton Memorial - as indeed, all around the country.

Foxy's Revenge!

A couple of years ago our son bought a very expensive pair of shoes from a small shop in Canterbury. However, his disabilities made them too heavy for him to wear and his stroke last year made him realise he would never wear them - so he gave them to J for the garden.

The conservatory door was open for a short time this evening and when J decided to go down to the shed he was surprised to find the shoes missing from the doormat.

When he got down the garden his torchlight picked them up and he knew the fox had taken them (every time he chases him off or throws a clod of earth at him he pays us back with some deposit - or stealing something.)

J picked up the shoes - and thought they smelt remarkably foxy, but when he got by the door he realised that Foxy had peed inside both of them!!! - they are now wrapped up and in the dustbin!

Dr Dolan - medical trip to Dehli

This article was in this week's local paper. Dr Dolan took over from my original Rheumotologist when he retired and she has cared for me well over a number of years now.

See http://www.justgiving.com/Louise-Dolan0