Moments in Time

Blogs which describe moments in my life, or the lives of my family.

Windows to the Past

Six photograph albums and a tub full of loose photographs sit in the wardrobe of my spare room. Most of the photographs are from my maternal side of the family. There are so many of them, I am daunted by the thought of sorting through them. One of them is

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Chrysanthemums and the mothers in my maternal line

Chrysanthemums are the traditional flower for Mother’s Day in Australia. They are also the birth flower for November, which was coincidentally my mother’s birth month. There appear to be many different meanings for chrysanthemums. Some say they symbolize optimism and joy, although some believe the yellow chrysanthemum is meant to

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Marriage, Hardship, Illness and Death

This is a picture of my paternal grandmother. She married my grandfather on 20 November 1912. She was 31, my grandfather was 36. By early twentieth century standards, and for a first marriage, they were older than the norm. My grandparents had at least five children between 1913 and 1919.

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Tsar’s Easter Kisses

Today is Orthodox Easter. Unlike the rest of the Christian churches who have been using the Gregorian calendar for over three centuries, the Orthodox Church still follows the old Julian calendar. They also calculate Easter to fall on the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon. This means that

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Easter – no bunnies, no chocolate

Easter Sunday is here and once again the holiday reminds me of food. Last year I wrote a post about some of the traditional Russian Orthodox sweet dishes eaten only at Easter; the Kulich and the Paskha. For several years I tried my hand at making both of these. Mostly

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Russian naval officers on the Standart

My grandfather was a lieutenant in the Russian navy. He served on the Imperial Yacht, the Standart, which had been built by the order of the Russian Emperor Alexander III. This photo shows a group of Russian naval officers, together with Tsar Nicholas II and his family. It is taken

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