Acknowledgements
My sincere thanks go to:
My husband Al for happily agreeing to accompany me half way around the world in search of my Catalan relatives (apparently when you're married you have to make these kinds of sacrifices!), for putting up with me burning the midnight oil trolling through the archives trying to find just one more of my Catalan kin, and for providing me with wine & pizza for sustenance on those many long nights I spent in the study poring over indecipherable writing in another language.
My relatives, some who may have likened my techniques to something close to those used in the Spanish Inquisition, in my quest to obtain the maximum possible information about them and their families. Special thanks go to Richard Llorens who provided a lot of photos and information, without which we would never have been able to find many of the relevant family sites in Catalonia which we have now visited.
My LiveMocha Catalan friends Cesc, Josep & Victòria who cheerfully & patiently encouraged me in my quest to learn Catalan in the face of a horrendous Australian accent and some terrible faux pas, both of which they politely ignored. Cesc & Josep also helped me with the Catalan and Spanish translations on this website to ensure that those same faux pas wouldn't see the light of day here. Special thanks go to Cesc who, graciously and generously gave of his time to wade through my elementary level Catalan writings, transforming them into legible & intelligible Catalan.