Blogs which describe moments in my life, or the lives of my family.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, the great Russian writer, wrote those words. I’m sure they were written from experience. My grandparents, Paul and Olga Woronoff understood how important hope is to life. If they had not had hope they might not have survived through the tumultuous years that their homeland of Russia threw
From the moment I could read and throughout most of my younger years I was a bookworm. I read all day and at night I would hide under the covers and read by torchlight. Books accompanied me everywhere – they sat next to my cereal at breakfast and I would
Unlike Ivnia, the estate owned by my maternal side of the family, which I wrote about here, Nurmhusen, the estate owned by my father’s family, has had quite the positive change in fortune. I’ve written previously about Nurmhusen here. Since my last visit in 2017, the estate has seen major
Millions died in Soviet Gulags during their time of operation from 1918 – 1953. Luckily my great uncle was not one of them. I have written previously about finding letters and documents concerning my great aunt, her husband and their daughter. However, I was interested to know more about my
Mental fragility – it can happen to anyone and is often triggered by traumatic events. Last week I wrote about my grandmother’s grief and depression, which gave me food for thought – perhaps she had always suffered from mental fragility? I thought I would explore this idea. I know my
When my grandfather, Paul Woronoff, died in 1969 my grandmother, Olga, was devastated. She was 76 years old when he died, and they had been happily married for fifty five and a half years. Olga was not quite 21 years old when she married Paul and he was her whole