Although many of my Dad's side of the family live about 45 minutes away, I must confess that I rarely see them. This week my Dad's youngest sister, my Aunty Joan, is over from Canada with her son, my cousin Grant, whom I had never met before. So I took the opportunity to take Mum, Tom and Anni over to my Aunty Edie's house to see them. These three ladies on the sofa are my Dad's eldest sister Edie (looking good at 85!), his youngest sister Joan and his sister Janet. It was my Aunty Janet who worked at the mill with Mum and introduced her to Dad. Mum was delighted to see them all again.
It was lovely to meet my cousin Grant. He and Tom shared some very similar mannerisms, which was fascinating. Here we are along with my cousin Carol. Carol was so cool when I was growing up, she worked for air traffic control and invited me over to work with her for a day when I was about 16. She even organised for a pilot to take me on a short flight in a little plane. From there we headed further north to Haslingden to visit my Dad's younger brother, my Uncle Brian. Uncle Brian has really been through the mill lately. He had a heart bypass and half a lung removed within a month and starts chemotherapy tomorrow.
Uncle Brian is such a sweetheart and the kids love him. When my Dad died, he really took care of us, ringing every day to make sure we were ok. Even now he rings to let us know that he's ok. It was lovely to see him and to see how well he was doing under the circumstances. Our final pitstop (one short shopping trip and parking ticket later) was for dinner with my sil Dee and my enchanting niece Erin, who charmed the socks off my Mum.
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