Thanksgiving

Early anniversary flowers

Holiday excitement is in the air as we prepare to join Ward's family to celebrate this day of thanks. The smell of sausage is wafting by as Theo browns it for the sauerkraut dish he is making. I have 10 lbs of mashed potatoes heating in the crock pot, and Wally just cut up the brownies he made last night. Ward made a fruit salad and is adding the last bit of fresh fruit to it. The kitchen has been bustling over the last 24 hours, but it has been gratifying for me to watch the dance that has been going on. There seems to be a perfect coordination between staying out of each other's way and offering to help. It makes me happy to see my family working together this way, and for that, I am very thankful. 

Wally and Ward are putting extra chairs in the car, so I'd better go help get everything else ready.

However you choose to spend your day, whether it be spending it with family, taking a nap, or reflecting on all who have left us, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. 

Thankful Sunday-June 12, 2022

 I am thankful for a fun day with the family.

Nothing earth-shattering here, but it's always fun when Ward and I can get together with both Wally and Theo like we did yesterday. We had a rare day where none of us were working, so Theo, Ward, and I piled in the car to go to Wally's. The conversation on the way was interesting as Theo, the one with the economics degree, explained the impact of the many variables affecting today's inflation worries. This is something I have no background in, so I always find it interesting-especially when someone explains it to me, and I don't have to sort through a lot of reading to get the same information. 

We met briefly at Wally's apartment before heading out and got to see the tomato he's growing on his balcony, from which he's already eaten two tomatoes. We have a few blossoms on our plants, but are a long way away from getting fruit. However, good things come to those who wait, right? 

Wally knows I enjoy seeing other libraries, and he has wanted to show me his local one for a while, so that's where we headed next. As the males in the family browsed their favorite sections, I checked out how they had things organized and the displays they had. I sometimes pick up tips when visiting other libraries that I can take back to work. This time I saw a small sign I might use.

A surprising number of people think they
shouldn't take a book from a display. But, of course, that's what we want.

After perusing the library, we headed across the street for lunch. It had been raining all morning, but never hard enough that an umbrella or raincoat didn't keep us protected. It was nice to be in an area where we could walk from one place to another and do it in the rain. The lunch spot was a New York-style pizza place with reasonable prices, especially considering what food costs these days. I got a gigantic piece of supreme pizza for $5. It was big enough that I had it for both lunch and dinner. However, if I go with full disclosure, I also had some cookies to supplement the pizza. The meal of champions - pizza and cookies. :)

Then we went into Baltimore to visit the Second Chance store - a building thrift store on steroids. Theo had never been there, so the rest of us thought he needed to see it. Just like my first visit, I flitted from one thing to the next amazed and awed by the amount and variety in the store. We were there to look for bar stools for the new kitchen. However, despite the vast amount of merchandise, we did not find any that would work for us. But it was fun looking. I was about halfway through my visit before I remembered to take pictures. A few of them are at the bottom of this post.

When we were tired of Second Chance, we took Wally back to his apartment and headed home. But the fun wasn't over yet. We stopped at Aldi's along the way to pick up a few groceries. Then, finally, we returned to fussy cats who wanted to be petted, and all was right with the world.

So there you have it. Our fun day: an economics lesson, a visit to a library, a big slice of pizza, shopping in a giant thrift store, and a stop at Aldi's. Sometimes it's the little things. In fact, it is usually the little things, especially when you get to enjoy them with family.

A few things for sale at Second Chance.

To There and Back Again

 Ward and I just spent a long weekend in West Virginia for a family reunion with my family. 

Let's get the COVID concerns out of the way that you all are wondering about. It was a small vaccinated crowd, outdoors with plenty of room to socially distance. And even though we were all glad to see each other, there was little to no hugging. I felt as safe there as I do anywhere else. Now onto the trip.

On the way there, we left the beaten path to visit this Amish planing mill. Ward enjoyed seeing their processes and talking with the workers. I did not enjoy how hot it was.

The next day we were up early to set up at the Ft. Boreman Historical Park where the event was held. 

The park overlooks the confluence of the Little Kanawha and Ohio Rivers. Originally the site was a Civil War fort to protect railroad facilities.

The following day, we visited the WV Botanical Gardens before heading home. The gardens were at the site of an old reservoir and had different garden rooms carved out of the forest. 

One of the many gardens was a fairy garden. You can see some of the fairy houses that have been built in the background.

There was a butterfly garden.

Close to the butterfly garden was a gazebo
where Ward was doing his thing of seeing how it was constructed.

There was a pond with marshy ground around it.

And a boardwalk through a swamp.

To summarize our trip:

It was HOT! Thank goodness for fans.

We saw lots of beautiful scenery both in the mountains and along the river.

I am very lucky to have the family I do both immediate and extended.

Until next time...

And We're Off!

The group that started it all.
My father is the tallest one in the group.

 

This morning we begin another trip across the mountains to my family reunion in West Virginia. I'm up early waiting for Ward to join me so we can begin the loading the car. 

Besides visiting with family, we have two new-to-us parks we plan to visit. I'll share some of the details with you next week.

Until next time...

This and That

There's a lot more basil to pick.

 I don't go to work until this afternoon, so I am devoting the morning to processing basil. I have my third batch of pesto in the food processor ready to go. However, Ward has a meeting now, so the actual chopping will have to wait because the food processer is one noisy appliance. (Our food processer, by the way, is almost 40 years old! We got it as a wedding gift.) So while I'm waiting for the go ahead with my noisy project, I've decided to check in here. 

Ward and I have two trips planned for this month. One is going to Pennsylvania to do some genealogy work for Ward's family, who were Polish immigrants around the turn of the last century. Both his grandfather and great grandfather died young, so there's not much oral history to go on. We are going with another brother and his wife and plan to explore church records, cemeteries, and the historical society. I like trips that involve exploring with a purpose - they're like scavenger or treasure hunts. This one fits the bill and I'm looking forward to it.

The other is to West Virginia for my annual family reunion picnic. We take turns among the families hosting it, but because of some difficulties, the next-in-line are not able to do it. So, I've stepped in to make it happen. The numbers have dwindled over the years, but it's not something I want to give up. Normally, we have a much longer planning horizon, but it's all doable. Thank goodness for the internet and phones or this job would be a lot more difficult than it is. We don't live close to where it's going to be held, so the logistics are a bit complicated. 

An earlier family picnic when we would gather for my grandmother's birthday every year in July. There were 13 more cousins to come after this. In case you're wondering, I am the one with the curliest hair.

I've been given the go ahead, so back to the kitchen and the wonderfully smelling basil.

Until next time...

Thankful Sunday, June 2, 2019

I am thankful for the closeness of family.

When Ward and I finished college, we moved from the Mid Atlantic area to the Gulf Coast where we lived for 15 years. We enjoyed ourselves in New Orleans as young professionals and liked our life in the suburbs of Houston. However, we always missed our families. They were a several-day drive or airplane trip away, and we spent of all our vacation time visiting them.

Yesterday, we had a birthday gathering with Ward's family.
This is the newest member of the family with her grandpa.

 After Wally and Theo came along, we decided it was time to move closer to their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. This was in the days before Facetiming and other such services, and the boys were mixed up about who all of their relatives were.

It was a scary move, because our salaries decreased and our cost of living increased.  But we did it. We moved within driving distance of all of our relatives and within an hour or two of many of them. And we have never regretted it. Our kids got to know their relatives and we have been able to be share weddings, graduations, and birthdays with our families. We have, also, been close when there have been hard times, illness, and deaths. Times when families really need to be together.

 So for the closeness of our families, I am thankful.

D is for DNA

A few posts ago, I made some provocative statements about finding a new relative. Of course there were questions about what the rest of the story was. I can't tell a lot of it because it's not my story to tell, but I'll try to explain what I can.

In short, through DNA and Ancestry.com, I got a new close relative. Below are the details. Or as many as I can tell. Feel free to skim or skip ahead.

My sister, let's call her Mary Ellen, had been researching our genealogy for several years and as part of that, she had her DNA tested and the results entered into to the Ancestry.com data base. In general, testing provides a breakdown of ethnicity, e.g., Irish-20%, Native American--20%, etc,. and tells you how likely it is that you are related to someone else who is in the data base. For example, your notice could say that a certain person is a 3rd or 4th cousin of yours with high confidence, or low confidence. However it's up to the parties involved if they want to be in contact with each other and share any information. One will contact the other through Ancestry and if the other party is interested, they will respond.

This picture is part of both the past
and present stories.

One day Mary Ellen received a notice that there was a very high confidence that someone was closely related to her. Up until this point, she had been able to figure out how different notices of both distant and close relatives fit into the family trees. But this one was a mystery. Mary Ellen didn't know who they were, so she contacted the other party, let's call them Cathy, to get more information.

As it turns out, Cathy was administering the information for someone, let's call him Abraham, whom she was convinced was related to her because of the many things they had in common. Cathy had Abraham take a DNA test to confirm this.  It turned out that Abraham was not related to Cathy at all, but he was related to us. Mary Ellen starting sleuthing to figure out what was going on. She talked to close and distant family members as well as studying all of her old notes. When my sister thought she might have the answer, she convinced another one of our relatives, let's call her Beatrix to take a DNA test to test her hypothesis. And Mary Ellen was right.

Or in short, a man we thought was our grandfather wasn't, and some other stranger was.

Suddenly, many things from the past became a lot clearer. Big things and subtle things we had never noticed before, now made sense. It took a while for all of us to process this new data. Our family story that we had identified with forever was now different. It was a strange feeling.

In the midst of readjusting our thinking, I realized something important. Colon cancer was no longer in our family history and we could have colonoscopies on a regular schedule now instead of an accelerated one. That was certainly an unexpected blessing.

The whole story is much more complicated than I have explained here, But that's what I've got to share at this point in time.

Have you had any surprises in your family history?

Thankful Sunday--March 15, 2015

I am thankful for shared family memories.

When I talk to my family, I can mention someone like Mrs. Schoolcraft or something like a pea sheller and get a smile and a knowing look. No explanations are needed, but stories often follow. For these shared memories and the family closeness they bring, I am thankful.

Thankful Sunday--August 3, 2014

I am thankful for family and friends.

Some of the family and friends I spent the weekend with.

This weekend I went to a family reunion and caught up with family and friends. A good time was had by all, and I enjoyed three kinds of deviled eggs, played cornhole, and learned that my paternal 4th great grandmother was a famous Indian fighter.

Details, details:

• Not only did I enjoy three kinds of deviled eggs, I had a slice of a Twinkie Cake--chocolate cake with cream filling topped with chocolate icing. I guess it could be more appropriately named, a "Hostess Cupcake Cake" but whatever it was, it was good. :)
• Yes, I did win the cornhole game I played because Ward was my partner. Let's just say that I am a little wild with my throws and not a big scorer.
• My 4th great grandmother was born in England 1761 and after coming to this country she was kidnapped by Indians and all of her children were killed. After a period in captivity, she made it home to her husband. Then she had some more children of which I am descended from. Apparently, she was famous and has been written up in several books, but I had no idea she existed until recently. Now I have stories about my brave grandmother to go with stories about my great, great uncle's moonshine business. (However, I guess that business took a certain kind of bravery too.)

Family Stories

Okay, this is getting old. For the third time in a month and a half, I got the phone call. The one after which, I jumped in the car with my sister and met my mother in the emergency room three hours away. Usually, we get there about the same time, but this time she beat us because she got to go by helicopter. And this time was different in another way. After a couple of days, my mother was feeling better and started to act like her old self again. So, this meant her stories came out. My sister and I shared knowing looks with each one and occasionally we let the staff in on our family secrets. But sometimes, they just left the room with a puzzled look. 

We may get more puzzled looks soon because this recent adventure gave a whole new set of stories to share. We won't expect everyone to understand as we tell about the helicopter ride and the hammer toes. However, my mother, sister, and I will nod knowingly and smile as we remember.

Families

Unfortunately, I've been spending time at a hospital again. My mother had a fall, and I have spent the last few days with her in ICU. Thankfully, she is improving, but will require a lot of attention in the near future. If I'm absent then and again from here, that's where I will be.

The ICU is an interesting place. People who are there are quite ill and require a lot of medical attention. Because of this, there is limited access for visitors, and families spend a lot of time in the waiting room just waiting. And this is where in a very short amount of time, my sister and I got to know some other people quite well. We heard about others loved ones illnesses of stroke, pneumonia, car accidents, and gun shot wounds among other things.

There was one family that stood out in particular. We first "met" them when we arrived and heard one of their phone calls. The caller, a woman, was quite upset. She went on to talk about some complicated situations that we didn't understand, but didn't sound very positive. As the day progressed we understood better what she was talking about. They were there to support a middle-aged man who had had a very serious stroke. They included a couple of ex-wives, a present wife (the caller), and a present girlfriend. There were people of all shapes and sizes. Grandmas in wheel chairs, crying babies, and teens with studs in their body. Some had been sleeping in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs for days but they were all there--dozens of them.

As time progressed, the patient worsened and his 18 year old daughter had to make the very difficult decision of whether to operate or not. Both decisions had a high probability of death, but she chose surgery. We listened as the surgeon told them the operation went well and now it was a wait and see game. I cried along with them as they felt relief that their father, cousin, boyfriend, etc. had another day.

I don't know the final outcome for this man, but his family reminded me what families are all about. Families don't always get along--sometimes in a big way. But when it really matters, they put differences aside and do what's right. I am hoping for the best for this family and every other family I met during those few days in the ICU waiting room.

Life Happens

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." 

This saying was never so true as it has been for me recently. During the last couple of weeks, I have made two trips to the emergency room with two different family members. One was close by and one was several hours away. Subsequently, there was also a lot of time spent in a hospital. Both people are making forward progress, but it will be a long slow road. 

These events have brought a lot of things into focus, the most important being how lucky I am to have supportive family and friends. Also, it reminded me how very grateful I am for the people who have chosen the medical profession as their calling. It is not a job I could do. God Bless all of you.

Easter Gathering

Laughter, tears, silliness

fill the day

Family, connections, love,

fill our life