Yesterday we went to a family reunion. It is my Mothers' fathers' family. I had never met any of them before yesterday. Mums' Dad died when she was only 4. It was a very interesting day, and we learned some very interesting things about our history.  My Great Great Grandparents came over from Germany in the late 1800s'. There is a family home at Kalbar that was sold out of the family just a couple of years ago. Here it is.Three generations lived here.(Not my mother) The family who lived in this house were the first family in Queensland to have fresian cows. Not sure if it was Australia. People couldn't believe it when they saw these black and white cows, and would take photos with their box brownies.(Now black and white cows are everywhere) The family also had black and white horses and some thought these were fresians horses.

My Grandfather owned a funeral parlour. He bought this after his neighbour who owned it, was riding with the glass carriage, drawn by two horses, went under a bridge and, ummm, lost his head. The glass carriage is still around today. It was used at a Redcliffe funeral for a women my mother knew a little while ago.  My Grandfather was the first one to have a motorised hearse. After he died, my Grandmother ran it herself with great difficulty. She couldn't drive and would have to go door knocking to ask the man of the house if he could drive the hearse. My mother remembers staying up through the night doing the wreaths for the funerals the next day. They had  it really hard back then, but I am so thankful for our pioneers.

My mothers sister died at the age of 32. She was sick at home alone and decided to have a bath. While getting out she slipped and landed on her spleen. She bled to death. The neighbour at the time remembers hearing a banging. It was Mum's sister Joyce, banging a can of hairspray to raise the alarm. Joyce was  brilliant pianist. Practising for 8 hours a day. She used to play on the radio. I don't remember her, I was about 6 months old at the time it happened.