Thursday, June 23, 2011

A Note about the Family

I'm glad you've enjoyed the shadow portrait of Prima.  I can't claim it as my own work as my talented daughter took it as a self-portrait on a very windy day at Zekreet. 

We are very shy in our family, sort of.  You may have gathered that 'Isabel Doyle' is a pseudonym, or you may not have noticed.  Sorry if you have been searching the internet for other news of me ...  Isabel Doyle was part of my maternal grandmother's maiden name so I feel entitled to use it.  She was of mixed Irish-Australian-Spanish-English descent, so I am rather a mongrel, really.

'Marius' is not my husband's  name either, but he has a rather high profile job in a very small place, so rather than risk embarrassing him (which I fear I am very adept at doing) I try not to identify him or his place of employment.

'Primus' is number one son and 'Prima' number one daughter (I wasn't trying to hide the fact they were all pseudonyms) who are delicate young adults both with unique names (nice old family names, but rare, not Peach-talcum-powder or the like), which if I used would make them quite identifiable to their social circle, which I have been forbidden to do.

And finally Exile-land:  I avoid idenitfying the place of exile by name because there is wall-to-wall censorship and eavesdropping here.  Somewhat naively perhaps, I hope by not using the Name I will keep below the radar.  The very strict internet rules also mean that I cannot use my gmail account associated with my blog.  I tried it once and got shut down and everything turned to squiggle-writing and in order to get back in, the authorities wanted my mobile phone number, which I was reluctant to give.  Primus helped me out by giving his number in Australia.

If we move somewhere else, I may choose to reveal all, but until such a reprieve, I am sorry but you have to put up with my games.

The cats all appear as themselves ...

x

3 comments:

jabblog said...

I rather like the subterfuge, if such it can be called. It's perfectly understandable that you should be so circumspect - in fact, compulsory, I would say. I hope your next posting will be in more favourable climes (and soon, though I suppose that's too much to hope for!)

Jenny Woolf said...

Goodness, yes. I wonder how much longer you anticipate being there?

Elisabeth said...

Well, how differently it reads, Isabel, with a little more knowledge. That said, we will talk/write some more.