W. Cleon Skousen

The First 2,000 Years : From Adam to Abraham by W. Cleon Skousen



A fantastic work that clarifies the first few books of the Old Testament, up to the times of Abraham and the birth of Isaac. Its a must read for anyone

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Relatives and language

a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/794472.How_Children_Learn_Language" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"> How Children Learn Language by William O'Grady



I learnt a fascinating story of linguistics which I had never before thought of with regards to children learning to speak from babyhood through this book. Curiosity had me find this book. It was rhe name William Delaney O'Grady. As of Irish descent with lots of Irish tales come down from the 'oldies', Delaney has long been a middle name, usually for the third son, since 1640 Ireland and the fight against the British. Is this professor/writer a relative?

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Another book read

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Somehwat similar to the Bronte writings, but an enjoyable tale of that period of time in England. Writers of that era seemed to write of the poor girl, with certain standards, who, after a lot of trauma eventually marries a rich man

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And we should weep

The Earth Shall Weep: History of Native Americans by James Wilson



I learned about the American Indians of the past and the modern era and the tragic life that some lead, about the casinos on the reservations, and I learnt of the Indians who fight to live a good life despite all the descrimination. This work of Wilson's has opened my eyes to what many Indian tribes went through and in a way, similar to our own Australian aborigine

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A bit of Australiana

Slim Dusty Walk A Country Mile by Slim Dusty & John Lapsley



Slim Dusty's Walk A Country Mile is a tough but often hilarious trip through the mulga. It is told by a man who started his singing career as a farm boy with cowdung on his boots and became Australia's most successful country music performer...and a bush legend.
On that long road to success Slim Dusty has busked for a bob in trains and pubs, owned the biggest tent show on the country showgrounds, and hauled caravans around the ocntinent taking his music to the back of beyond. He has sung just about everywhere from outback cattle camps to Sydney's Opera House.
In this book, written in co-operation with John lapsley, well-known as a feature writer for the Australian, Slim Dusty tells about his lifetime of music, about the places he's been, the people he's met, the friends he has made. And he tells the true story behind his best-known song, "A Pub With No Beer."

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I read this to my brother Chris while he was in Brightwater. I used to read a chapter each time I visited him then play some Slim Dusty music

Am on to this one

The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir



Have just started this...one of the wives of my 14th great grand uncle Henry VIII

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A favourite book

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel



A fantastic piece of work that portrays a reality view of Sir Thomas Cromwell. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Hilary Mantel did her research very well to put this mighty tome together in an enjoyable format. I intend to read it again. It is also another slice of family history

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Tommy

The Second Virgin Birth by Tommy Taylor



I intend to read this book and to see just what imagination has done for Tommy. The loss of his daughter inspired him to write it.

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Curent reading

Three Richards: Richard I, Richard II And Richard III by Nigel Saul



More relatives. These seem a rum lot as i have just started to read it will comment later

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John of Gaunt

19th great grandfather John of Gaunt of Pontefract, Yorkshire
John of Gaunt was born 6th March, 1340. He grew up in a nursery with his two brothers and two sisters in England under the watchful eye of his mother Phillipa. The nursery was serviced by half a dozen nurses and two governesses. He was educated from the age from five to ten in written French, some English and some Latin. There was no standard English during his time. That occurred in the late fifteenth century. At aged ten, he went to his brother Prince Edward the Black Prince, heir to the throne and Prince of Wales, in Spain and was trained in knightly warfare and regularly participated in tournaments. He was an excellent rider and horse-breeder. His horses, like all the other knights, were large and similar to Clydesdales. He participated in battles when aged 13, and served with his father King Edward III (20th great grandfather) on the Scottish frontier.
Aged 19 he married Blanche, heiress to the Duchy of Lancaster
John of Gaunt was 6'2" with blonde hair and reddish beard, portraying his Viking ancestry. He was known as the last knight, for warfare tactics changed and the knights were no longer needed
John of Gaunt was a multi billionaire
His capital value of his estates, houses, movable property (jewels and artwork) came to over $100 billion in our money today
John of Gaunt was in the vanguard of fashion and lifestyle, in values. His avowals of chivalry, courtly love, decent treatment of highborn women, loyalty to his difficult king and nephew Richard II out of respect for monarchy, his patronage of friars and poets, his personal bravery and military skills, his physical strength, his benign treatment of his mistress her became his third wife, and devotion to his progeny legitimate and illegitimate. All this put him at the forefront of the aristocracy of his day. He just resistd the coming of a new age – that of the Renaissance. But he set the model for European aristocratic behaviour that is still effective and durable among the social elites, particularly among the British, Americans and Canadians of today

Daughter Phillipa married Joao 1, King of Portugal, beginning a dynasty that eventually led to the English domination of the world

Prince Edward caught malaria in Spain and was forced to retire to his home in England where after a long and terminal illness he finally died. His wife Joan of Kent took care of him.

19th great grandfather

The Last Knight: The Twilight of the Middle Ages and the Birth of the Modern Era by Norman F. Cantor



What a inhospitable environment John of Gaunt was born, lived, married and warred in and what a magnificent man he was...I like that

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survival kits

PYA - Prepare Yourself Australia


Survival Kits - Links
Great Australian Sites
www.survival.org.au

www.aussurvivalist.com

www.camping.com.au

www.bushfirefront.com.au

Australian maps and travel resources

www.4wdtasmania.org

survival links

As I am Manly Ward, Brisbane Australia Stake's Ward welfare Specialists, survival teachings, gear and links are very much part of my agenda, so here is one:

What happens when the rain comes

A walk along the slippery Dairy Creek-Mount Augustus track to where the Geeranoo Creek crossed it
Ainslee Steadman organises a fresh water supply

It was in the Gascoyne area just east of the the little hamlet Gascoyne Junction. A sheep and cattle Station Dairy Creek was on my agenda for study during my 1996 field trip. Two days after I arrived at the station, the owners Ainslee and Trish Steadman, loaded their utility and truck and set forth for the Gascoyne Junstion Picnic Races, a great event for everyone for many miles around. They left Friday evening, leaving me to feed the dog, pet baby magpie, the fat cat, start the lighting plant to run the lectricity for lights, fridge and freezer and generally be prepared for when the Aboriginal staff turned up requiring food. On Saturday I wandered around the station homestead complex, and accompanied by their dog Kori, which is Aboriginal for girl, wandered off across the wide Geeranoo Creek to the shearers quarters and shed. The sky was overcast, and as my wanderings progressed around the shearers quartes, the clouds progressed also and thickened and darkened. By the time I made my way back to the homestead, a light rain was falling. By evening when I went to start the lighting plant, the rain was falling heavily, which boded ill for the race meetings. Next day a very wet world greeted me, and the Geeranoo Creek, which ran behind the homestead, was running a banker. The creek washed out the piping from the well to the homestead complex that was the necessary water supply. Ainslee and Trish arrived home after slithering their way along the notorious Gascoyne-Landor Road, now a muddy quagmire, followed by a young couple in a van, who were stranded because the four roads leading out of Gascoyne Junction were closed. Within two days the homestead tank was empty of water and we were on rations from two jerry cans. The rain had stopped by now. The following day, three days after the floods, Ainslee was able to get out and get an engine from one of his outcamps. This he proceeded to set up, with the necessary poly piping, to pump water from the lowered creek to the homestead tank. Trish, her sister Jill, myself and the young lass Linda did the biggest wash you ever saw. The rotary clothes line was full, all bushes had articles draped over them, the veranda with its railings around the buildings were covered with articles. Gascoyne bore water is a dreadful brew and very hard and salty. What Ainslee had pumped up was lovely, soft clear water.

A good read

href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1574546.Faith_Rewarded_A_Personal_Account_of_Prophetic_Promises_to_the_East_German_Saints" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"> http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1574546.Faith_Rewarded_A_Personal_Account_of_Prophetic_Promises_to_the_East_German_Saints">Faith Rewarded: A Personal Account of Prophetic Promises to the East German Saints by http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/411899.Thomas_S_Monson">Thomas S. Monson

My rating: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/105828486">5 of 5 starsA tremendous story about the German Saints behind the Berlin Wall and how Thomas S. Monson, an Elder, risked his life regularly to cross check point charlie to visit with them, encourage them, and teach what he could of the Lord's message. The faith of the Saints behind the iron wall was tremendous and inspirational to read about and something I use sometimes in my own life to remind me when things get tough. These Saints were rewarded by the building of the Freiburg Germany Temple and not long after the wall came down. Today this magnicient man has been called to serve as our Propeht, Seer and Revelator in the Church's First Presidency
http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3793535-colleen-o-grady">View all my reviews >>

Are You Irish Or Normal | bookfavourites.com.au

Are You Irish Or Normal bookfavourites.com.au

Dance of the Matai

Dad wrote the Dance of the Matai in 1957 after witnessing two venerable and grand old gentlemen, heads of their people in their respective ways, bare foot and wearing their lavalavas, meeting when out one day, and the courtesy they extended to each other in the Samoan way. He sent it to John, who considered it his favourite poem. I must say I love it also.

DANCE OF THE MATAI
The dignified Matai, with his solemn stately tread,
Walks in lonely wisdom, and his head
Remains unturned
To the chattering children passing by.
A group of laughing girls is divided, and it flows,
Rippling in the sun warm breeze that blows
Sea fresh and clean;
And the girls are silent as they meet his eye.
Dark blue lavalava, silver hair,
Big brown body, and brown feet bare,
Pride in his bearing, pride in his face,
Proud of his lineage and proud of his race,
The Matai goes by.

He meets another gentleman in similar array,
Wise and proud and stately, on his way
To visit friends;
And as men of equal rank and equal birth,
They pause to greet each other, their voices deep and low,
Gentle as their handshake, soft and slow
And full of grace;
Then something stated moves them both to mirth.
High pitched yodelling, falsetto high;
High pitched giggle and hard slapped thigh;
Dignity surrenders, as dignity must'
When big brown children dance in the dust,
'O le siva A Matai

(John Patrick O'Grady 1957)

It is a truly remarkable and descriptive poem, that one could almost visually feel and see these two powerful men greeting one another and sharing a joke. Dad was certainly a very gifted man.

My Friend Willy

My friend Willy is a lovable chap,
He has a warble full of glee.
He sits on the chopping block out the back
Eating pieces of meat for tea.

His tail will dart back and forth,
As he gives his cheeky whistle.
Like his family down south to way up north,
He cheerfully sings his epistle.

Teasing the dog by riding on its back,
He manages to pass the day,
Or dive-bombing the cat to make him scat,
He chases him far away!

Cheeky Willy sits on the clothesline,
Enjoying a ride in the sun.
Warbling to me his song so fine,
You see - he thinks I'm his Mum!

This poem was published in May's Creatrix 9, an online journal of WA Poets Inc