Roughly the same size

I am working on two more state entries and it doesn't make it any easier when you find that references to some historical leaders are nearly non-existent while others get a passing mention in the most oblique circumstances.

Atop that is the fact that I have been back in my home state for two weeks and constantly sizing up how much has changed each time I return. We stayed mainly in Fremantle the first week and Margaret River the second and bummed on Mum for a couple of days. She got us tickets in a raffle for the new Anglican school and so it was that we found ourselves on a table of three - half that of other tables - answering biblical and local questions in amongst the more stellar ones. I must have been thrown a little from the normal intense concentration I apply to these things as not only was I not answering questions I would normally get (tempus fugit anyone?) but was sabotaging other players by not hearing what they were saying.
But it was all good fun and we held our ground considering the handicap.

It was also a delight to be exposed to my Dad's raconteuring skills. He filled in some blanks that maybe I didn't want exposed to my partner but it was worth it for the ones that - despite a childhood on Daddy's knee hearing stories this good, there were important ones that I had never heard. Maybe he just thought he'd told me the story of how he came to Australia but when he told Astrid the exact date of his arrival I couldn't help thinking this was solid gold. This was catching up with family and satisfying a records manager penchant for knowing where you're coming from, all at the same time. The amazing thing is that Dad got off the boat on 27th November, Mum was born on 28th November, and sister Robin on 29th November. All different years but you appreciate the concentration of events.

I do love visiting family as it seems more and more as the years get further between us that there is a real focus on our lives and how we relate. As much as I was uncertain how some things would pan out; they did. And we filled our time with a fair smattering of touristy behavour and the odd swim in the sea. I caught up with old mates; one even "waiting" at Fremantle station when we got there. And I got to goggle over babies again, which was wonderful.