You may be wondering, what is the “real” world? It’s right there. Right under your nose. All you need to do is look up from your electronic device and it is there…
Before.
Back before this electronic age, people lived to enjoy life and not be lost in some glow.
I will take you back to a time when there were hardly any or no electronic devices. Our ancestors spoke to each other. They would visit their neighbours. They would enjoy outings. Some had no mechanical devices, that is no cars, no tractors and no washing machines, to do things we take for granted now.
“Two Hands.”
Can you see yourself having to wash your clothes by hand? A lot of us probably have never washed dishes these days either. A machine can do it. The old way was “two hands.” Yes, using your hands to dip into soapy water, to remove all the grime from dishes including pots and pans.
Copper Boiler.
I remember my maternal grandmother lighting a fire below a large copper boiler so she could wash clothes. This same copper was also used to cook the Christmas ham. She would go out into the fields on the farm and herd the cows so as to get fresh milk for the house. Nothing bottled.
Old Memories.
Do you have old memories? Of your ancestors, who would you like to have known? What questions would you want to ask them? Tell us in the comments. I have so many questions for them. I could probably fill a book.
Most of these days, no answers are available, since we seem to be afraid to talk about our ancestors. I have an enquiring mind and it gets me into trouble. You may have noticed that the last few postings have appeared “dark.” It was a way to empty my mind of these thoughts and connect me to the past.
Burning Question.
One burning question I would like to ask one of my paternal great-grandfathers is: How did you travel from Suffolk up to Yorkshire (both places are in England) in the late 1800s?
I am aware that trains were about, horse carts were too, walking would have been a big thing back then… I have an understanding why they would have moved. Even now, as I write, my mind cannot get around to answering that question. This is part of the real world.
Two English Brothers.
In my family tree, I have two brothers, one is my great grandfather on my maternal side and they both ventured together out to Australia.
They lived in Shropshire, England and made their way down to Plymouth to catch a ship heading to Queensland, Australia. How did they travel? Walk, train, got a lift? I will never know the real answer. After some discussions with fellow historians, the probable answer was train. It does make sense but I’ll never know the answer. This is the real world.
Magic.
Now, to great magic in the real world. We can all hide behind our electronic devices.
Guess answers, even rely on artificial intelligence. If you do this path, please, please check the responses. It may appear as magic but, oh boy! Question the AI. It tells lies. It attempts to please, especially if it doesn’t know the answer. More on this in an upcoming post.
Fake.
What is the real world? Maybe we’ll never know. So much has changed recently. Fake seems to be it. We all need to take a step back and look at the world with different eyes. What is it that you see?
Acknowledgements.
The text of each section was used and interrupted by Canva AI to generate all the pics in this writing.
Ancestor Family 