Happy New Year

I've done it! Survived another Christmas Day. Far too much to eat at the homes of various relatives. Most of my presents were either soap or chocolate; not to read too much meaning into that. It's more a case of what-do-you-buy-somebody-who-hates-owning-Stuff. I promise this year I will ration the chocolate over the next couple of months, not eat it all in the first week. Oink oink, flap flap. How about you?

For those who don't read German, the little picture above wishes you a Happy New Year. My great-grandfather was a journalist, illustrator and photographer who worked for various different newspapers; he moved around a lot to keep ahead of his creditors. After fleeing to Sydney from New Zealand he ended up in Hobart as head of the Process Dept at The Mercury about 1897. Among his books I found an 1894 type catalogue issued by J.G. Schelter and Giesecke, Leipzig; it has my great-grandfather's signature and the date 1907 in the front. This is one of their samples. My current project is to scan all the images and if anybody is interested I might share them. I'm not sure how many there are, but the word "lots" should cover it.

In the meantime, I hope you are celebrating the Festive Season of your choice and have a very happy and prosperous 2010.