Our heritage

This months interest of mine is our heritage. I found an app to do a family tree, and so far I have added 105 of our closest relatives. I'm hooked but am hampered by the fact that I don't want to pay money to trace ancestors at this stage. I'm not sure which sites I can trust, so need to do more digging on my own. The most interesting site I have found so far is one that has a project to photograph and document grave sites. I found photos of my dad's grave, all 4 of my grandparents and my great grandfather too. Although the cemetery is not too far from where I live, it's not safe to visit it, I really appreciate their efforts. I remember as a little girl, we would go the the flower shop over the road from the Primrose cemetery in Germiston, every Sunday morning. The shop had wide red polished steps, I think they were curved leading up to the display of tin buckets that held all the flowers. I can still recall the smell in that shop with its red polished floor. I learnt what Glads were (gladioli) and carnations and baby's breath. We would all go as a family with my Oumie (Gran) and my parents, brother, Dolores my aunt, sometimes my uncle George too. Once, my uncle George was screamed at by a person visiting because he sat on the gravestone 😀. He was never too fussed about protocol. There were always 2 old ladies visiting the grave near to my Dida's grave, they would be there in an old VW beetle car. I think they brought their lunch with them. They wore black from top to toe, even covering their heads, maybe that's the reason I still wear black to work every day. From the day I went back after Richrds death, I have never worn any colour to work. I think the word is a mantilla for the head coverings they wore; strange how you remember stuff so clearly from your youth. My Oumie died in 1971 so these memories were from before that.