This is my paternal great grandfather Edwin Barton, who served with the Royal Artillery in WW1 and his wife, my great grandmother Elizabeth (nee Bowers) Barton. The young infant on their laps is my great Aunt Eileen, who is still with us in her 90's. They had four daughters: Eileen, Louisa, Edie and Bessie. Louisa was my grandmother and youngest sibling Bessie is also still with us in her 80's. Wars have literally shaped lives and my great aunt Bessie was one of the British war brides that came to Canada after WW2.My father served in the British Royal Navy, starting at age 14. I found a great picture of him wearing his Royal Navy uniform in London 1955.
He was a Chief Petty Officer when he left the service after spending time in south east Asian waters. My father always attended or participated in Remembrance Day services and I can recall seeing him march or stand at the cenotaph on duty. He continued his service to others by being a police officer for many years.Now onto my maternal side of the family:
This is my cousin Simon in full dress uniform of the Queens' Horse Guard. He recently left the British Army after serving as an officer in Bosnia and later Iraq in the tank brigades. (To be truthful, I'm not certain of his unit) He is now in civilian life.
My mother was one of three daughters. Below is my grandmother Emma (nee Worden) Way in approx 1918 in her Wren's uniform. She served at an naval airship station in Kingsnorth, England.
This is my grandfather, Trooper Owen Way R.M.L.A WW1, her husband. He also served in the Home Guard in WW2. The First World War was also known as the War to end all Wars and so there was a huge patriotic push for everyone to do their part.
People think that soldiers and sailors have some kind of special nature or aptitude to be called to serve their country. Then, as now... they are simply the ordinary sons and daughters of ordinary people like you and me. While reasons for why such duty is needed may be questioned, their courage and sacrifice should never.Thank you from a grateful Me.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead.
Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.
John McCrae, a Canadian medical officer
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead.
Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.
John McCrae, a Canadian medical officer
Okay, that's under control... now what about lease sticks? The best spot for those seemed to be the big open space behind the shafts so I tied the lease sticks into place, using the side supports to secure to. Notice that I tape the ends 'just in case'. You only have to have dropped them once! There are also loops through the cross as well, another back up! The lease sticks can slide to and fro on these cords which is neat. When winding on, if the lease sticks meet a tangle, the sticks move, alerting you to a potential problem.
This is how it looked from the front. There is no reed in the beater and there is a wrap around the front beam to hold things steady. Now I remove the cross loops. That sucker is corralled tight!
Once all are done, then start on the far right bout and snug each group up tight, complete the knot and **quickly** move the next group and smartly race across the warp! When done, using the palm of your hand roll your hand from LEFT side back to the right, easing up as you roll towards the far right. Do this 2 or 3 times and then stop. Walk away and do something else for 20 minutes. When you come back the warp tension will be even. {no matter how fast you move tying from right to left, the right side will feel 'looser' when you are done. You'll want to tweak the warp endlessly! Jane Stafford demonstrated this on the Louet DVD on warping and this WORKS!} An old post of mine that shows this technique on my Louet loom is 
Then I went to the back of the loom and pulled my tie up cords. Eight treadles and I selected the centre eight for convenience. Almost there! Should be weaving soon...
I was so focused on getting details right, that I missed this point entirely. The raddle sat on the top of my *second* back beam. THREE inches higher than the normal beam. In my old method, I would slip the lease sticks through the gap. Below, see the extra height on the back of the warp. I have looked at this several times and I can't see where else the raddle could have gone unless I take the entire second warp beam off the loom and I really don't want to have to do that. So I hung my floating selvedges over the upper beam as well. But in the test piece woven with scrap yarn, I had a hard time finding the floaters to move the shuttle over and under. So I moved them lower to the normal back beam. Much better.
