Well here we are at History Tuesday and today I am asking if anyone has heard of Maud Butler, I expect most of you have not, I also had not heard of her till I was watching Tony Robinson’s Tour of Duty have to say that show has given me a lot of ideas for history posts.

Anyway let’s move on to Maud she was a 16 year old girl from Kurri Kurri in the Hunter Valley, in New South Wales, Australia.

During the First World War Maud wanted to serve and go and fight the war so she cut her hair dressed as a soldier and stowed away on a troopship however her boots gave her away and she was returned to Melbourne and had to go in front of a magistrate.

Maud was a 16 year old waitress with a sense of adventure she had attempted to register with the Red Cross as a nurse but was turned away so she decided to try something else as she wanted to go and join her brother in Egypt.

So on the 23^rd of December 1915 dressed as a soldier she climbed aboard a troopship waiting at the Woolloomooloo docks, she hid in a lifeboat.

She is described as a clear-skinned rosy-cheeked, bright-eyed type of country girl who really wanted to help in some way like her brother was. She managed to get hold of an Australian Imperial Force uniform in bits and pieces and had her photo taken in it. The day before she stowed away she went to Woolloomooloo Bay to see a transport there and met an office telling him she had friends on the ship. While talking to him she made up her mind to see him again as a soldier and went straight to a barber and had her hair cut short. The next evening she climbed aboard the Suevic, she said she didn’t realise ships were so tall and it was a struggle to climb up the rope but she managed it and hid in a lifeboat.

It seems this was not an incident that Maud wanted to share with her children and grandchildren and after another failed attempt to go to war as a soldier she settled down and lived for many years in Campsie, Sydney where she ran a private hospital until she retired, she died in 1987 at the age of 88.

Miss Maud Butler on the deck in AIF uniform, who tried to embark on the troop transport ship Star of England, and also on the ship Suevic. Maud had stowed away on the Suevic which sailed from Sydney on 23 December 1915, hoping to get to Egypt where her brother was serving. She arrived in Melbourne on 25 December 1915

It is 10.30am on Monday morning, it is a public holiday here (Queens Birthday) and I woke up tired this morning first time I have done that in a long time but still I was up at 7.30am because I was worried if I stayed in bed I would be the one that Sunrise would ring to win the money but of course they DIDN’T ring me.

We will be having Leo here tonight, and since Tim is on night work this week it will be just me and Leo and for the rest of the week it will be me and Blain.

Yesterday the girls came over for breakfast and Tim was here as well and have to say he liked that I did breakfast he said he really enjoyed it but would have liked it if I had some little sausages can’t remember what they are called but I couldn’t find them when I was doing the shopping as per usual when I want them they are not around when I don’t want them I see them all the time in the supermarket.

Mum was telling me that my dad is so frustrating at times, he has been complaining about the mould on the kitchen ceiling and yes mum knows it isn’t good and should be removed but she can’t do it and truthfully dad can’t either. Dad has a habit of saying that Dave (my brother) should go over and do it but truth is that Dave is busy he works and has his own home and family to take care of. Anyway yesterday dad said he was going to get up and clean the ceiling himself, mum told him if he did that he would be in hospital by nightfall as he is in no condition to get up and clean the ceiling with Exit Mould. Dad has many health problems and even if he didn’t fall off the ladder he would still end up having trouble breathing and very well might end up in hospital. If they had the money mum would pay someone to come and clean the ceiling but the can’t afford it so they just have to wait till someone has the time to go and do it.

I don’t have much news today, mostly because I am so tired and my brain isn’t working very well so I am just going to leave it here for this post.

Well it is now Saturday afternoon and what a day it’s been all the girls and grandchildren except Sydney-May who is at her fathers came over for lunch, Tim did fish for himself and the girls because Jessica asked him too and I had steak and we bought $8 worth of hot chips to go with.

Now this morning Blain was looking for his red handball which was behind the lounge so his mum pulled everything out and that set her off on a cleaning frenzy she has vacuum the whole house and cleaned up the bathroom and Tim’s office and then she swept out the front of the house. To stop the leaves being trampled into the house every time someone walks inside.

It was 26 years ago today that my youngest daughter aka my special girl was born at 4.15am, it was a Tuesday. Tim went and bought her a dashcam for her car for those who do not know what that is it is video camera that is attached to the windscreen of the car to record as she drives. He bought one for Kathy last year for her birthday and we have one in our car as well.

Jessica had wanted us to have Leo tonight while she goes out to her friends place and we said we would but in the end Natasha decided to have him instead to give me and Tim a break as we have had at least one grandchild every night this last week.

The girls will be back tomorrow around 9am for breakfast, I will be doing bacon, eggs and hash browns.

I have also managed to do 3 loads of washing and get it all on the line as it has been a nice warmish day although I am not sure if it all will dry but we will see.

Well that is all from me for today………………..see you tomorrow

How hard is it to do what’s right?

How hard is it to know what’s right?

For far too many these things are not known or too hard to find and near impossible to do, however, if more people took the time to think about what’s the right thing to do and followed through doing what’s right then they may find they are happier people.

I try myself to do what’s right, yes there are times when I fail but at least I try.

It is history Tuesday and today I am going to tell you a little about a German girl named Sophie Scholl, have you heard of her? I can tell you I had not till I saw something on Facebook about her that interested me enough to do a Goggle search and find out a bit more about her.

The graves of Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, and Christoph Probst in Perlach Cemetery. The cemetery is adjacent to Stadelheim prison where the White Rose members were executed.

She was born in 1921 and was one of Germany’s most famous anti-Nazi heroes, as a university student in Munich, Scholl, along with her brother, Hans, and several friends, formed a non-violent, anti-Nazi resistance group called the White Rose. The group ran a leaflet and graffiti campaign calling on their fellow Germans to resist Hitler’s regime.

At the age of 12 she was required to join the Bund Deutscher Madel ( League of German Girls) but her initial enthusiasm gradually gave way to strong criticism. She became aware of the dissenting political views of her father and friends and even some teachers. Political attitude started to play a big part in her choice of friends. In 1937 her brothers and some friends were arrested for participating in the German Youth Movement and this left a strong impression on her. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Youth_Movement

White Rose pamphlets and biographical sketches of members.

After she left school in 1940 Sophie became a kindergarten teacher, she chose this career hoping it would be recognised as an alternate to the National Labour Service which was a prerequisite to be admitted to the university. However, she was wrong as policy dictated that she had to serve six months of auxiliary war service as a nursery teacher in Blumberg. The military-like regimen of the Labour Service was what caused her to change her views of the National Socialism and eventually practice passive resistance.

Scholl first became involved in resistance organising after learning of the mass killings of Jews and reading an anti-Nazi sermon by Clemens August Graf von Galen, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Münster. She was deeply moved by the “theology of conscience” and declared, “Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don’t dare express themselves as we did.”

In 1943, Scholl and the other members of the White Rose were arrested by the Gestapo for distributing leaflets at the University of Munich and taken to Stadelheim Prison. After a short trial on February 22, 1943, Scholl, her brother Hans and their friend Christop Probst, all pictured here, were found guilty of treason and sentenced to death.

At her execution only a few hours later, Scholl made this final statement: “How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause. Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?”

Following the deaths of the White Rose’s leaders, their final leaflet was smuggled to England. In mid-1943, Allied Forces dropped millions of copies of the “Manifesto of the Students of Munich” over Germany. Scholl is now honoured as one of the great German heroes who actively opposed the Nazi regime.

In 20015 the movie Sophie Scholl: The Final Days was made it stared Julia Jentsch as Sophie, there has also been a couple of books about her written. Many schools as well as countless streets and squares in Germany have been named after Sophie and her brother.

Copies of White Rose pamphlets have been embedded in the pavement of Geschwister-Scholl-Platz outside the central hall of Ludwig-Maximilian University.

Good morning friends welcome to my Monday, this morning I am going to share a little about my nanna who turned 94 yesterday. She was born in Wauchope and was one of 13 children, she was married twice and has outlive both her husbands, nan had 4 children, 3 of which are still alive and 2 of which still visit her weekly more or less there are weeks we may give it a miss but that isn’t often.

My nan has Alzheimer’s she started to show the first signs of dementia way back in 1998 but wasn’t diagnosed with Alzheimer’s till around 2000 I think, when she started to repeat herself and ask the same question over and over some family members and so called friends stopped seeing and visiting her because they found her an embarrassment. This I can tell you really pisses me off, and I get annoyed when I hears people say they want to remember her how she was not how she is, I do remember her how she was and yes I see how she is but when she has thought flickers of memory which you can see in her eyes it really makes me feel good.

Like yesterday she had a few of those moments, when I went to say hi to her and give her a kiss, I say “hi nan it’s Jo-Anne, happy birthday” as clear as anything she replies with “where’s Tim” I wasn’t the only one to hear her say that so did my sister Sandra, I called Tim over to see her it was a wonderful moment. Later when my daughter Natasha turned up she went to give nan a kiss and said it’s Natasha nan made no sign she knew who Natasha was so I said it again with more Russian sound and nan’s eyes lit up she knew who I meant, as nanna always said Natasha in the Russian way. Not only did her eyes light up but she said I know and love you, Tasha spoke to nan for a bit with me there to listen and translate what she said you have to listen carefully as nan only speaks in a whisper and will only say a couple of words at a time.

This is a photo of all who turned up to see nanna for her birthday, my daughters Kathy-Lee and Jessica didn’t go, Kathy-Lee is one of those who can’t see the point as nanna isn’t “there” and she was going to see Michael’s parents, Jessica didn’t go because nursing homes smell like “death and old people” which this one does not I might add.

Tim didn’t want to go but I said I wanted him to go it was important to me and I have gone to a number of things over the years that I would have preferred not to have gone to but because I love him I went, so he could go for me, however, once we got there he seemed to have a good time.

He did complain that no one talked to him well except for my dad and brother, I told him we are a loud and boisterous family and he has become pretty withdrawn and he should know what we are like now so speak up and if you have something to say, say it.

Most people with Alzheimer’s only live around 8-10 after being diagnosed so nan is doing well as it is about 15 years since she was diagnosed and 17 years since the first signs of dementia appeared.

I would like to thank those who sent cards for nanna, didn’t get many but that is because my family are useless at times.

How is everyone on this Friday afternoon, ok it may not be Friday afternoon were you are but it is here, well since it is Friday it is five things Friday.

Too tired to move but have to do so anyway (boys to get from school)

Owls (on fingers, in ears, on wrist and around the neck) jewellery

Wearing slippers to go get the boys from school (would never have dreamt it when I was 20)

Clothes driers (need them in this weather)

Aching neck and shoulders (would love a massage )

I would like to say I have never died on the inside, but that would be a lie as I have as have pretty much any human, am I stronger and wiser, I hope I am but at times I wonder.