The Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival. Yay!

Stanley Beach, south Hong Kong Island

Happy days for the normal folk: a holiday, a 3-day weekend. 

Good exercise too! Fun for the littlies...

Our version, here in Discovery Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong:

Tai Pak Beach, Discovery Bay

The Forsythe Family of County Antrim, Northern Ireland

Grandfather's Birth Cert, from Ballymena, in 2018.
No. 113 is "Andrew Forsythe", paternal grandfather,
born in Northern Ireland in 1876. 

The "Forsythes" with an "e" are the ones that live in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Without the "e" it's the Scottish Forsyth's.

The Forsythes with an "e" likely were forced out of Scotland or were "encouraged" out of Scotland and to Northern Ireland in the 17th or 18th Centuries. State-sponsored colonization, known as the Plantation of Ulster. 

I may look further. Or maybe not. 

Should we Forsythes with an "e" be allowed a Right of Return? To Ballymena in Northern Ireland? Or to Scotland? 

For the Record. A summary of a longer convo. From Google's Gemini AI: 

Family History Research Report: The Forsythe Family of County Antrim

1. Decoded Birth Registry Details (11 February 1876)

• Child's Full Name: Andrew Forsythe
• Date of Birth: 11 February 1876
• Place of Birth: Tullybane (Tullynewy), Civil Parish of Dunaghy, County Antrim, Ireland
• Father's Name: Thomas Forsythe
• Father's Profession: Farmer
• Mother's Name: Bessie Forsythe (formerly Stewart)
• Registration District: Clough (within the Superintendent Registrar's District of Ballymena)
• Informant: Matilda McCormack (Present at birth; signed with her mark +, indicating she was illiterate; likely a midwife, aunt, or grandmother living in Tullybane)
• Date Registered: 29 February 1876
• Registrar: John Wiley

2. Historic & Cultural Insights

• The "E" Ending: The spelling of Forsythe with an "e" heavily signifies the family’s transition into Northern Ireland and distinguishes this branch from the traditional Scottish Forsyth.
• Ancestral Ties: Both parental surnames (Forsythe and Stewart) are classic Lowland Scottish names, confirming a deeply rooted Ulster-Scots Presbyterian heritage.
• The Local Economy: Being a farmer in Dunaghy parish during the late 19th century meant dealing with the fallout of the Irish Land War. Andrew likely chose to migrate to Australia due to agricultural hardships, lack of land ownership opportunities for younger sons, or targeted recruitment by Australian colonies looking for experienced farmers.

3. Strategic Next Steps for Records Research

Step A: Uncover Andrew's Grandfathers (The Marriage Certificate)

To extend your tree back another generation, you need to find the marriage record of Thomas Forsythe and Bessie Stewart. This will explicitly name the grandfathers of Andrew.

• Where to Search: IrishGenealogy.ie (Free, official historic civil records site).
• Search Strategy: Search "Civil Marriages" using Thomas Forsythe and Bessie Stewart (or Elizabeth Stewart) in the Ballymena district. Narrow the timeline from 1864 to 1875.
• What to look for: The certificate will list the names and occupations of both fathers (Andrew's grandfathers) and the exact Presbyterian church where they wed.

Step B: Pinpoint the Exact Family Farm Plots

Because the family remained in the same parish for generations, you can find exactly which fields Andrew grew up on.

• Where to Search: AskAboutIreland.ie - Griffith’s Valuation (Free land records mapped between 1847 and 1864).
• Search Strategy: Look for Thomas Forsythe (or an older relative like a William or John Forsythe) in County Antrim, parish of Dunaghy, townland of Tullynewy or Tullybane.
• What to look for: Note the plot number. Use the website’s map overlay slider to look at the 19th-century plot borders directly over modern satellite Google Maps.

Step C: Track the Farm Succession

To see who inherited the family farm after Andrew left for Australia, bridge the timeline gap using the land revision tax records.

• Where to Search: PRONI Valuation Revision Books (Public Record Office of Northern Ireland).
• Search Strategy: Search their digital land books for Dunaghy Parish covering 1864 to 1910.
• What to look for: Look for the Forsythe farm plot. You will physically see names crossed out in colored inks when a relative passed away and a new family member took over the tenancy.

Step D: Discover Andrew's Australian Arrival

To close the loop on his migration story around the turn of the century, look for his ship logs.

• Where to Search: The State Archives of his arrival destination (e.g., NSW State Archives for Sydney or Public Record Office Victoria for Melbourne).
• Search Strategy: Look for "Andrew Forsythe" (or Forsyth) in passenger arrival indexes between 1895 and 1905.
• What to look for: Look for listings noted as an "assisted immigrant" or "agricultural laborer," which confirms he was recruited to farm Australian soil.

To keep tracking Andrew's path down under, let me know if you know which Australian state he first lived in or if he married in Australia.

Europeans love America!

Coming over for the Football World Cup and it’s all over the internet, not just conservative sites. 

On YouTube, instagram, X, Tic Tok, people — foreign soccer fans — are posting their surprise and delight at discovering that, actually, America is a great country! Average folks are friendly, outgoing and kind. They even love its food…

The vid above is just one of the latest, by Greg Foreman. Himself an unabashed U.S. patriot. 

Me, I’m a “foreign patriot”, long-time fan of America and its folk. 

I don’t love America any more or less depending on who’s in power. As does the likes of the (now) ridiculous Robert de Niro. Most Dems are the same. Polls show a bare double-digit percent (mid teens) of Dems feel “proud of America” when Reps are in power. IOW, their love of country is based on politics). 

Sports Salt Mine

"Men are Back!" | Bridget Phetasy

Dear, dear Bridget Phetasy. 

I love her so much. 

A woman who's done the same voyage. From leftie to common sensical.... 

Trump Capitulates | Dan Schueftan

Sad but true. There were signs of this tendency when he stopped Israel from crushing Hamas.

This “deal” may change. We can hope. But for now, it’s giving in to the crazies in Tehran. Capitulation. Appeasement. 

World peace, regional peace, aside, this may he Trump’s worst legacy.

In Islam, a Hudna, a ceasefire, a cessation of hostilities, is only so Muslim forces can regroup and ready themselves for more attacks on the enemy.

Herat Horrors. Women killed for clothing choice

Your humble blogger, in Herat, Afghanistan, 1975

I thought about Herat because of recent horrid news that Afghani women in Herat are being shot, beaten, killed, imprisoned, because they're not following ever more draconian rules on what they can or can't wear. 

"Women in Afghanistan have officially lost all rights": link to the post by Jahanzib Wesa, summing the situation there for women. It's grim. 

Wesa asks: where's the outrage? Where's the U.N.? Where are the progressive women in the west? Why aren't they speaking out?

It got me remembering when we were there in Herat in 1975. It was pretty much the same then as it is now. 

But, you know, I didn't really think about it much at the time. Just seemed like, well, that's their culture. Because that's what they told us. I guess if we'd been asked, we might have voiced some doubts about the Burka. But we weren't asked so we didn't voice. 

It was over 50 years ago. Islam was not much of a thing. And the "culture" they told us about, they didn't tell us that it was Islam that made them suppress women like this. If anyone thinks that wearing those "Spook" costumes is no big deal, talk to women who've done it and have since liberated themselves. 

And then look below at how women are being treated by armed thugs, still, today, in 2026. Fifty years on. It seems, if anything, worse than when we were there half a century ago. It's their culture, innit.

The Ford Anglia we drove London to India, in 
the Khyber Pass, nearing Herat

Khyber Pass transport, 1975 (it's the same today...)

Full burka, Herat 1975, as today. Caption not mine...

Herat, courtyard of our lodgings. Ray, Sally, Robyn
and Herati locals. 

Herat, June 2026. 

Herat, June 2026

By the way, the photo of me at the top... that's before I got Amoebic Dysentery in Herat and had to rest-up for 6 weeks, eating only hard boiled eggs, and dosing on opium that my travel mates were kind enough to go out and score for me (though tbf, it was pretty easy). 

I found opium a Very Nice Drug.... (The dysentery not so much).

For me, amoebic dysentery kept recurring for years. One thing it did: kept me slim. When I arrived back in Australia, I shocked my family be being rake-like, a kind of hat-stand skinny. 

==================================

ADDED. I asked AI if it's still a problem in Afghanistan:

Yes, amoebic dysentery (amoebiasis) is still endemic in Afghanistan. It continues to be a widespread public health issue due to challenges with water sanitation, limited healthcare infrastructure, and poor hygiene. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]