Tracing Family Branches

 On Tuesday this week our beautiful Charles Cuthbert Drake, better known as Charlie passed away due to heart failure.  He was the most gentle, loving family member, friend and companion.  He was meant to be our daughters dog (she got him with her birthday money when she was sixteen) but two days later my husband and Charlie had totally bonded with each other and it stayed that way until the end.  My husband had been medically retired from the Australian Army in 2006 after twenty two years of service and Charlie arrived in his life at just the right moment for him and all of us.  Earlier this year he seemed to step back and let our other dog Isabella lead with the support duties instead, passing the baton so to speak but maintaining a close watch to make sure she did everything right.  He passed away peacefully in my husbands arms on Tuesday morning, tended to by an amazing caring veterinarian and surrounded by love. We were blessed to have him in our family...

This has been a milestone month for my blog as it has reached over 50000 page views!  I was not sure which would happen first for me this year, my turning fifty or reaching the 50000 page view mark (by the way I hit the half a century mark first 😉) but I am grateful and delighted that both goals have been achieved. I thank everyone who reads my blog for doing so and hope that it has been and continues to be informative and entertaining for extended family members and others!  Upon reaching this milestone I took a good look at my blog and realised that the name didn’t really fit properly, as I have pushed past most of our families branches roots in Australia and ventured overseas to various parts of the globe and so I have renamed it ‘Tracing Family Branches’.  The new title is a bit of a play on my first name and I believe it better reflects the content and direction of my blog. My passion for genealogy continues to grow and I am so glad that I decided to pursue this in...