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When I started this website, nearly six years ago, the introductory paragraphs read as follows.
I just read that every web site should have an author biography, so here goes. I'm one member of a family who're all pretty keen about computers and the things you can make them do. Trina does hardware and helps friends with their Internet connections and is very purist about not using Outlook Express. Alex is an on-line game player and reads and writes fan-fics. Jennifer draws and paints, makes animations and plays music CDs. I mostly interfere with other people's computers and answer friends' questions when they get stuck. I'm Obby. I'm 70 years old and have interests away from the computer, although more and more of my time seems to be spent at the keyboard.
You'll get an idea of our lives and interests from the photo pages and the children's very short biographies.
Very occasionally—maybe once in six months—I make a note here.
I'm 69, and have somehow managed to become the shortest person in this three-generation household. I've learned a bit more about making web pages—I don't have to look things up quite as often. I've made a couple of mini-sites for friends, and that's been fun. Of larger ones, one had to be taken down because the friend whose site it was stopped trading, while the other is still waiting for update instructions.
I've had, perforce, to spend more time actually working in the garden, since the increasingly dry weather means that much more time needs to be spent watering. Trina's a huge help there, bucketing bathwater onto thirsty plants and doing all the heavy lifting.
Trina's the pivot around which the household turns, planning and preparing meals, answering urgent cries for clean socks or the finding of a lost shoe, always adjusting her own personal time to fit in with the needs of everyone else, and driving miles every night to take the children to their various activities and bring them safely home.
Alex is 18 now, and mostly a nocturnal creature, which seems to fit best with World of Warcraft. He's well on the way to achieving his black belt in karate, although the last stages do take rather longer than earlier ones.
Jennifer's interest in both music and dance have moved on. She's very good at picking up new tunes, and at transposing written music. She plays both guitar and piano—although why she doesn't want me to have the piano tuned beats me! She's started VCE this year, and is, as always, enthusiastic about her schoolwork. She's anxious to be old enough to take some paid employment after school or at weekends, but is meanwhile looking into volunteer work with disabled children.
Oh, and Marmalade. Marmalade is now, apart from caged canaries and finches, our only pet. He's a fine, strong, sturdy cat who likes his humans near, but not too near, tries hard to keep us well-supplied with mice, and would just love to go wandering through the garden after dark.
Marmalade is on many pages, such as At Home and Pirate Night.
Our Pets These pictures date back to 2004, when I was just learning to put a web page together. I don't want to fix it; I might forget how hard it seemed! top
Herbs—Pictures and Notes The herbs that grow in my own garden. The pictures may be a help in identification of some that you have yourself, or would like to plant. The notes are just my own observations—no scientific names or information I'm afraid.
Vegetable Growing at Home A few notes on companion planting.
Caterpillar Story The small white cabbage butterfly, Pieris rapae, is a scourge of cabbages, broccoli and similar vegetables. Swabbing leaves with soapy water can help, as can various dusts, but an insect almost too small to be noticed is probably the most effective remedy of all.
This series of pictures shows some of the main events in the butterfly's interrupted life cycle.
Yvonne's Mystery Tree We did find an answer to this one, but I've temporarily mislaid the information. top
Some of us, our friends and neighbours, pets and pictures
Questions or comments? I’d love to hear from you. My email address is here.
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