Meet the family

 Himself went off to East Cork to collect a vanity unit (er, what?) for our shower room which is about to have new tiles and the new unit - it's just a sort of cupboard really, I'm not sure where the vanity comes in.

And I had a very pleasant distraction. Some time ago a woman had contacted me and wondered if I'd like an archive of stuff belonging to my side of the family. She, it seems, is married to the cousin of my father's cousin. I think that's right. Sometime ago, the husband of my father's cousin died and now they are clearing out his papers. When his wife, my father's cousin (keep up) died, he contacted me and we had an amiable correspondence, mostly each Christmas.  But somewhere amongst all his things was my address and so she found me. I was astonished to hear that B had left all his money to the Gurkha Welfare Fund in honour of my father. Anyway, today the package arrived and it's fascinating, and also rather sad - so many people and so many lives now gone, some very early. The way it is. 
The photo on the right has given me most pleasure for it is my great grandparents, David and Hannah, and the smallest boy is my grandfather, John.  I had only seen photos the great grandparents in their old age before and this shows them in their prime. Wonderful details - looks at his gaiters - is that the correct term?  This side of the family are from the Scottish borders and are all ploughmen, shepherds and ag labs. David did very well and eventually became a gamekeeper on a big estate in the Highlands. I just love the look of Hannah too.

And do you remember we were working on a book for my cousin's 70th birthday - the other side of the family - well it has now arrived and we are delighted with it. Of course the mistakes are the first thing that leap out but hopefully only we will notice them,