Adventures at Home and Abroad

The truth is, I have no writing update. I've put Elvira on the shelf. For how long, I'm not sure. It may be forever, or I may revisit her after I move past the genealogy that's been sucking the life out of me. Every time I visit Dad, I ship myself more of Memaw's files and books. I promised him I'd go through everything at my own pace, and determine what we want to keep and what I can toss. Honestly, I can sit at the computer for hours staring at Ancestry.com and trying to match their crowd-sourced records with Memaw's work. And I must say, her work is better, more exacting. I'm so impressed at her labors. That woman spent 50+ years traveling to a gazillion county courthouses to look up land records, wills, and birth/marriage/death certificates. It was always a labor of love, but it obviously kept her engaged in her world for a lot longer than most people. So far, I've learned two things: 1) don't ever trust the family trees on Ancestry...peopl...

It's funny to think that John poo-pooed a trip to Ireland for so many years. I'm not quite sure why, since he always emphasizes the "Irish" majority (3/4) of his Irish-German roots. Perhaps he knew that once he visited, he'd want to return, soon. And so it is. We both loved this trip. The people, the gorgeous countryside, the sea. And the villages and larger towns, which hummed with vibrancy. It's actually a great thing that the sun doesn't shine as much as we seem to need these days, or we would seriously be thinking of moving. We lucked out with the weather, except for our first day in Donegal, when the wind blew a gale. Only a few spits and spots after that. Driving felt easier than in England and Scotland, perhaps because they painted a white line down the middle of all but the tiniest roads...psychological comfort, I suppose. We visited so many places, but I think my initial list of favorites include: Our walks. The breezy and chilly trek out ...