Butterflies, fairies and lollipops :)

Auntie Margaret and me!

Meeting up with one of my aunts this weekend was therapy indeed. My family is one divided and I had not seen Margaret for a very long time, over 25 years, and until now I have seen few of my extended family, my parents died a fair while ago, so this was a chance to discover a little bit about me and my roots.
I have a few childhood memories of Margaret, my uncle and my 2 cousins, and the same goes for many other aunts cousins and extended family. 
Margeret was so very welcoming and we had a lovely weekend catching up with chit chat.Old albums were brought out to ponder over while we sipped tea and munched on lovely light Welsh cakes, she lives in Wales and is very proud to do so. We also got to learn a few Welsh sayings and discovered lots of Welsh culture.

My great Grandmother

My Great Great Grandmother

Over the past few years I have spent time tracing the Wall family tree, and have researched back to 1700 and discovered where and when these people lived but until now many have remained faceless.Margaret enlightened us with happy and sad stories of days gone by and helped fill in some of the gaps. Many of my ancestors came from Shropshire and worked on the land and judging by their photos life was quite tough.
As we turned the pages I could find few facial similarities between myself and the eyes looking back at me, I suppose I have taken my Mothers Jewish looks on instead! But some of the stories my aunt shared made me realise some of these people had left their footprint on my funny little ways. I discovered my Gran loved fairies and always decorated a small tree at Christmas with lollipops for the children who dropped by. If you have read any of my other posts you will know my fascination with fairies, perhaps it is due to her that I break the shell of a boiled egg on finishing it, to let the fairy out. And up until a few years ago I always decorated a branch sprayed with gold and silver paint with colourful lollipops for anyone who dropped by over the festive season. I seem to of stopped doing this now my gang have grown up, but maybe its time to return to the tradition!
I am the worlds worst fidget and rarely keep still....oh and talk to myself....light candles each day and it appears my aunt is the same. I worry sometimes about old age too, but Margaret is 76, wears really trendy clothes, loves life, and buzzes around like someone much younger.....oh and she is also having a tattoo done next week of 2 butterflies....I am a fan of butterflies too. 'When I am old I will will wear purple' springs to mind, but in this case its 'when I am old I will have a tattoo'....he he 

My Grandmother and Grandfather on a day out

                                       

A young grandfather

Granny as a girl

It was fantastic to gather up the stories of her childhood with her brothers and sisters, and all the extended family, the album really came to life.And I feel I have discovered a little bit about me!

My Gran, Margaret on right, Peg (Primrose left) Clive (my Father) in front

So if you have an elderly relative, drop by and get them to chat about the 'good old days' you will be surprised at the little snippets of information that they give you about family....and Oh boy do we have lots of skeletons in the cupboard!!! But that's another story.
Hugs for now M xx