Your Family Heritage Recipe Book

Within your circle of family and friends are you known for making a special dish, the dish you are always asked to bring to a family gathering or a social get-together? I remember interviewing a blind 90 year old lady who told me that she was known as ‘the cream puff queen’ of her small South Australian town and that she had baked and filled literally thousands of these delicious cakes.
November is a great month to invite all members of your family circle to write out their ‘famous’ recipe and to email it to you, to be compiled into your family heritage cookbook. Ask them to add a photo of themself and to add an accompanying story associated with the recipe – perhaps about how they came across the recipe or how the recipe has been handed down through their husband’s family.
You can then copy and paste each recipe and add it to the collection before categorising them into a specific order – soups and starters, main courses, desserts, cakes and baked goods etc. If you wish to give copies of the recipe book as gifts, print off multiple copies of each recipe and place them in a plastic folder with plastic sheets inside. This way the recipes can be wiped clean of any blobs or splotches while cooking.
The important thing is to make a start and to get all family and friends involved with your unique recipe collection, as often the family favourite dishes reflect our cultural heritage and have been passed down through several family generations. Collecting the traditional recipes also provides an ideal opportunity to encourage grandparents to talk about their earlier days and to recall such tasks as churning the butter, making each meal from scratch (no freezers or microwave ovens), preserving fruit and vegetables for winter and collecting eggs from the chook yard.

Your Personal Timeline

Do you find that life seems to just rumble by in a rush of everyday events, making it difficult to recall or identify personal significant milestones? Drawing up your own personal timeline is an invaluable resource for remembering, recording and creating a solid framework on which to set out the special events, lifetime milestones and influential people in your life.

While the internet and local libraries can provide details of world or local events to use as background for your life story, the details of your personal life are what will make your life story come alive and resonate with your family, now and in future generations.

Can you name the people in your life who have most influenced you?
Do you remember how certain family crises impacted on your life?
Have you identified both the major and minor milestones in your life?
Which early decisions were either right or wrong for you?
Did you choose to travel the main highway or did you veer down the road less travelled?

By drawing up your own timeline, these and many other personal details of your life will become evident, adding depth, intensity and colour to the rich tapestry of your life story.

Want to know how to start your timeline? Contact Annie Payne at:
annie@historyfromtheheart.com.au

Songs About Dads for Father's Day

Here is my list of suggested ‘Dad’ songs which would be great as background music for your Father’s Day ‘Make Dad a Star’ video or even down loaded onto a special CD to let him know how special his family feel about him.
• ‘My Father’s House’, Bruce Springsteen
• ‘Daddy’, Beyonce
• ‘Oh, My Papa’, Eddie Fisher
• ‘In My Father’s Eyes’, Amy Grant
• ‘Father and Son’, Cat Stevens
• ‘Father and Daughter’, Paul Simon
• ‘Dance with My Father’, Luther Vandross
• ‘Papa, Can You Hear Me?’, Barbra Streisand
• ‘Daddy’s Little Girl’, Karla Bonoff
• ‘Don’t Cry Daddy’, Elvis
• ‘A Song for Dad’, Keith Urban
• ‘There Goes My Life’, Kenny Chesney
• ‘A Boy Named Sue’, Johnny Cash
• ‘My Father’s Eyes’, Eric Clapton
• ‘Leader of the Band’ Dan Fogleberg
• ‘Arms Open Wide’, Creed
• ‘In the Living Years’, Mike and the Mechanics
• ‘Daddy’s Home’, Cliff Richard
• ‘Ships’, Barry Manilow
• ‘My Old Man’s a Dustman’, Lonnie Donnegan

Please let me know if you have any favourite ‘Dad’ songs that you love and that I can add to my collection.

Annie Payne, Professional Story Keeper, History from the Heart Email:annie@historyfromtheheart.com.auWebsite:http://www.historyfromtheheart.com.au

Turn Dad Into a Star This Father's Day

“Lately I’ve been noticing I say the same things he used to say
And I even find myself acting the very same way
I tap my fingers on the table to the rhythm of my soul
And I jingle the car keys when I’m ready to go.....”
From ‘Song for Dad’, by Keith Urban

Have you, like I, found that you have unconsciously repeated some of your Dad’s habits and characteristics? He has so many roles in our day to day lives which are rarely acknowledged. Father’s Day, 6th September in Australia, is rapidly approaching and now is a great time to make some preparations for something more meaningful than the same old socks, jocks and slippers.

This year why not give Dad the ‘Star’ treatment and make a movie about his unique life? It’s easier than you think!
• If you have your own video camera, this will be easy, otherwise consider borrowing or hiring one for the day.
• Prepare a script, inviting the whole family to add their input.
• Gather some photos of some of the highlights of Dad’s life;
• Will you needs costumes for some family members to play other roles?
• What about props like Dad’s sporting cups, his Scout hat, his umpire’s whistle?
• Have at least one rehearsal beforehand to ensure that everyone understands their role and lines. Get everyone to tell Dad a story from his life.
• Why not select a couple of Dad’s favourite songs and make a music video with the entire family?

On Father’s Day, after serving him his favourite food for lunch, settle everyone down to watch Dad’s life unfold on the screen. The result will become a cherished family memory with a great video to watch time after time.

Or try making a CD of ‘Dad’ songs including such hits as ‘Leader of the Band’ by Dan Fogelberg, ‘Dance with My Father’ by Luther Vandross, ‘Father and Son’ by Cat Stevens to name a few personal favourites. Check my my website www.historyfromtheheart.com.au for a more complete list of song titles.

Go on, spoil Dad this year with a unique gift just for him!

Who is Annie Payne, Personal Historian?

My name is Annie Payne and my personal history business is called History from the Heart.

I work with people who want more than a family tree, by helping them to organise, collect and write their personal or family histories. I do this through individual projects, workshops and with allied products.

Typically, the clients I work with are:

• Adults, with elderly parents, who are unsure about how much time their parents have before the life stories are lost forever;
• Busy, time poor people, who are struggling to capture their family history;
• Elderly people, who need help to write their own memories.

I have many years experience and skill at encouraging people to reveal their long forgotten memories and to convert these into a readable, personal, interesting document to leave as a family legacy.

In other words, I add buds, flowers and foliage to your family tree.

Do you, or someone you know, need a service like this?

One liners:

• I save lives, one story at a time.
• I span generations by gathering stories for the future.
• I help memories live forever.

Remember - time passes, memories fade ...........and we take our stories with us when we go!

Twitch Your Nose to Remember Your Past

A friend 'tweeted' me this morning, telling me that her frangipani tree, in Florida, was flowering and that reminded her of me, living here in Perth, Western Australia.

This comment set off a chain reaction in my memory, as slivers from my early childhood in Brisbane popped into my head:
* the perfumed frangipani tree outside my bedroom window at Clayfield;
* blossoms in a dish on the dining table for Sunday lunch at Nan's;
* threading the flowers onto a piece of string to wear as a necklace.................... my memories of those carefree childhood days were easily revived by the fragrant frangipani tree.

What fragrances/aromas can you use to ignite your memory?
* Freshly baked bread or apple pie?
* The perfume Mum wore when she went out in the evening?
*The smell of Dettol that Mum used to dab on your cut knee?
* The smell of burning autumn leaves, reminding you of grandpa's garden?

Your nose is a useful, reliable aid to reviving early childhood memories - just inhale the aroma/perfume, close your eyes and let your mind wander back to when you first noticed 'the' smell. Then let the other associations flood back into your mind - where you were, who else was there, what you were doing.............. those old childhood memories will tumble out, ready to be written down in your journal or personal history. Get your nose twitching today!

10 Ways to Uncover Your Forgotten Memories

Do you want to make a start on writing your personal or family history but have difficulty in remembering events or people from your past?

Here are 10 practical tips to get you started:

1. Draw up a timeline - a note book is good, with a new page for each year. Fill in the events/people you remember under each year's heading.
2. Carry a notebook with you to jot down the thoughts that percolate up into your consciousness, once you start your project. Write them down and add them to the timeline book.
3. Dig out old photographs and ask yourself the who, where, when, what type questions as you look at the picture. Write your conclusions down, in pencil, on the back of the photo.
4. Select a family object (the family teapot, Gran's lace fan) and hold it in your hands, trying to recall the first time you saw it; who was holding it, what were they saying about it, where did it come from; how many other people have owned it? Write your answers down.
5. When trying to recall a certain era, why not play some music from those days? Put on the music, close your eyes and let the music release the memories of where you were, who you were with and all other associated memories.
6. How about using your sense of smell to uncover old memories? Open a bottle of Vanilla essence and remember Nan's baking days; or perhaps the smell of Dettol reminds you of when you broke your leg and went to hospital.
7. Think about the first time you tasted something, maybe eating an ice cream. Was it in a cone or a dish? Did mum make it, what flavour was it? Did you buy it at a shop? How much did it cost?
8. Do you remember the texture and feel of some things from your past - Dad's scratchy face in the morning, the swish of Mum's taffeta evening dress, the snuggly wamth of your eiderdown?
9. Think about some of the personal things you associate with certain people: Dad's gold watch, Nana's apron, Mum's black handbag and then remember special times associated with each object.
10. Family memorabilia - cards, letters, post cards from holidays past, passports, luggage labels, school reports or books - all of these have a story to tell to add interest, texture and depth to the fascinating story of your life.