Jonathan gets to go to his auntie Jenny's for a sleepover today; she's leaving work early to come pick him up and take him to her house about mid-afternoon. Needless to say, Jonathan has been most excited all week about this. When he woke up this morning, we could hear him say, "Yay! I get to go on my sleepover today!" And then when he was heading for our room to get his morning cuddle, he stopped off at his calendar to double-check, and we heard, "Yep, sleepover's today". Then about 7:45 a.m. while Dale was getting ready for work, he said, "Where's Jonathan?" (I was being cozy in bed still and said I didn't know.) Dale went out to the living room and found him sitting in a chair by the window; I heard him ask Jonathan what he was doing, and Jonathan said, "Waiting for Jennifer."
Last night I had a great time at the first session of the Plan II seminar for this spring--the topic is "The Elements of the Good Life". I took good notes and am hoping to reproduce part of the discussion here in my blog as I did last spring; I like thinking about it again as I write about it.
But I can't do it now. Must get teeth brushed and myself showered so that Jonathan and I can head out to spend a few hours with Jessica and Eamon. I'm taking a 25-second video clip of Eamon & Jonathan lying on our guest bed together, when Eamon was only about 4 months old or so. My prediction is Jessica will melt--it makes me melt!
Bit gray here today, so a good day to visit friends. When Jonathan and I come back home, we'll get a loaf of fresh bread going so that Dale should smell it when he returns from work. It's a nice smell to come home to.
I just found out that my cousin Tom had an article published in the Atlantic Monthly last October. It's a bit about St. Peter's bones and a bit about early Christian and Roman history. Tom lives in Italy--used to live in Rome--and is personally familiar with many of the old catacombs and underground sites there. I just read the article this morning and thought it was pretty interesting. You can also read responses to it (and his address to those who wrote) in the current issue (you have to scroll about 2/3s of the way down to get to the ones about his article).
I worked hard all day Saturday, yesterday, and today on family history stuff, and now I'm too brain-dead to concentrate on it anymore. So, here are a couple of web sites I've come across recently that are pretty interesting.
One recounts a molasses disaster that occurred in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1919. It was very hot, so the molasses expanded, and the tank holding it was inadequate for the task. It sounds funny, but 21 people died (smothered in molasses, I believe). Go have a look at the site--it's a curiosity. Family engineers-in-training, take note!
The other is one that has some neat aerial photographs from WWII. Some special magic was done on some of them to produce 3D pictures. Unfortunately, the site appears to be down at the moment--an article recently appeared about it in a British newspaper, and I think it generated a lot more traffic than it was expecting! Dale did get to look at the pics before the site was taken down, and he said they were worth it. The pictures include American troops landing on the Normandy beaches on D-Day, the seizure of the Pegasus bridge by British paratroops, the aftermath of the first 1,000-bomber raid on Cologne, and the German battleship Bismarck as the Royal Navy hunted her down.
I can't believe a week has already gone by since my last entry--and I thought I was doing better! So here's a quick recap.
Daddy arrived last Sunday afternoon from Wichita Falls. We were all lazy around the house; it's nice when there's synchronicity of mood like that. Eventually Daddy & I bestirred ourselves to go out to Radio Shack and Randall's so we could eat dinner that evening. (The Radio Shack was to get a part so Dale could digitize some of the taped oral interviews I've done and burn them onto a CD for me. I'm hoping that will help the transcription process move along a little faster.)
We had a nice time with my dad here, Jonathan especially--he does love playing games. Wednesday morning Dad took off for Bandera and Mom arrived in the afternoon. She went to bookgroup with me in the evening (serendipitously hosted by Jennifer & Stepan this month). On Thursday and Friday she was absolutely wonderful and went to the grocery store both days so that I wouldn't have to go. What a reprieve to get to skip a couple of grocery trips! Thursday evening Jennifer & Stepan came over, and since Felicia was spending Wednesday & Thursday here on the futon, we had a nice group. I made a stir-fry dinner of shredded pork tenderloin, mung bean sprouts, and Chinese chives (garlic chives) from my garden--it was a hit. Then we all gobbled down a bunch of ginger sandwich creme cookies for afters and felt bloated. (At least I did!)
Friday we had an easy dinner--Mom fixed crab cakes, and I did corn on the cob and steamed broccoli. On Thursday I had also made both regular bread and dill bread with the Kitchen-Aid that I've borrowed from Jessica & Archie, so we had that as accompaniment. Saturday morning Mom took herself off to Bandera, and Jonathan was attached to Dale all day long so I got absolutely loads of family history stuff done. Daddy and I got him a copy of The Master Genealogist at 50% off last month through a special they were having, and it's lit a fire under me to know that someone else will be browsing through my database--I've had to finally make some decisions about how I'm going to record research status on a person or a line, for instance. Now I'm going through my data to try to bring it up to date with my new system.
Beautiful day here today--mid-seventies and not a single cloud. Jonathan and I ate our lunch outside on the deck (Dale was on a bike ride), then we sat next to each other and rocked in the shade. The little birds are coming round in greater numbers now; I'm seeing more goldfinches and house finches than I have for a few months, and the tufted titmice, cardinals, Carolina wrens, and chickadees are still present too. It's lovely to see them all hopping about in the trees and among the bird feeders.
Today was one of those days where I never got even a first wind, let alone my second wind. Dale was up and out of the house by 7:15 a.m. for a bike ride, but Jonathan and I stayed in bed until 9:45 (J. has a bit of a cough and is not quite 100% at the moment). Then we made pancakes and started on a fresh loaf of bread, during which preparations Dale returned home and I then got to finish making the bread by myself as Jonathan was firmly ensconced on his Daddy's lap watching Led Zeppelin and Rush DVDs.
I intended to shower while the bread was on its first rise, but I got distracted doing various things and ran out of time. In the end I had only just gotten out of the shower when Daddy arrived from Wichita Falls about 2 p.m. It turned out we were all tired and slow today (except Dale, who did slow down a little as the day went on) since Daddy had played a round of golf with some childhood friends in WF the day before in the wind, rain, and cold, plus his 5-hour drive from WF to Austin. At nearly 5 p.m. we left Dale & Jonathan playing Crazy Eights while we went to Radio Shack and to Randall's for ravioli for tonight's dinner.
My clever husband is now, thanks to what we got at Radio Shack, able to upload the audiotapes I have made of oral histories & "interviews" (with Kathleen & Margaret; Grama Karl; Grama Sprong; and Joy & Brian) to the iMac, clean up the noise and hiss, and burn the digitized files onto a CD for me to use. Hopefully that will speed up the transcriptions I make, and one day I could splice bits together to tell a whole story.
Everyone else has had the light out for a while, even my dad. I've been reading The Return of the King and found it difficult to put it down; thank heavens I have only the last book to go (books 5 & 6 are in TROTK). About 20 minutes ago I leapt off the couch and flew down the hallway to Jonathan's room as I thought I heard him crying out as though he'd had a nightmare, but when I opened the door to his room, he was peacefully asleep. Turns out I heard a cat howling outside, not for the first time. Certainly got my adrenaline going though. But that's worn off now, and I am taking myself off to bed.
P.S. Congratulations to auntie Kathleen for doing so well in the half-marathon on Sunday morning! And to John & Felicia as well for getting off their behinds and doing the same thing. Makes me feel quite sluggish . . .
Friday afternoon Jonathan and I packed up to leave Amanda's and headed over to Kathleen & John's house to spend the night. We were most pleased to find Courtney & Matthew still there, and then even more pleasantly surprised to find out that Tim, Felicia, Cat, Gisele, and Hannah were coming over also! How sweet to have a nice uncle like John who uncomplainingly cooks for all these people who descend on his house every time I show up in town. I hadn't told anyone else we were coming since I knew the house was not in its best state due to the recent pipe replacement and also since we were going to be there less than 24 hours, but of course our wonderful grapevine did its job, and I was happy it did.
At bedtime Friday night, Jonathan got to have his story read to him by his auntie Kathleen (up in Courtney's bed--thank you Courtney!), and he was also accompanied by Hannah (Kathleen in the middle, of course). They read out of the Beatrix Potter book that Jonathan got from his uncle Lee et al. for Christmas, and Hannah seemed to be delighted with the story. Kathleen said that when she & Hannah left the room, Hannah said to Jonathan in a very sweet tone, "Good night, Jonathan. I love you so much." K. and I agreed later in the evening over popcorn & ice cream that it's too bad they don't live closer together as we think their personalities might mesh nicely and they'd become good friends.
On Saturday morning I entertained Kathleen while she cleaned up the kitchen and did laundry by relating to her all the stuff I've found out over the last week about our family, going back to one of her ninth great-grandfathers. (John was also forced to listen since he was putting up drywall in the kitchen, but he said he didn't mind.) It was fun to share it all with someone, and K. said it certainly made doing the chores a lot more enjoyable.
I just spent a few days in the Houston area--two nights with my friend Amanda, who has a seven-week-old daughter, her first child (husband James was in Las Vegas on business). Jonathan went with me and got to spend some time living in a house with a little bitty baby; it was quite a nice experience. He was very sweet and gentle with the baby (Kara), and he liked to show her things to play with, press buttons on her toys to make lights & sounds occur, and help change her diaper. Of course, I don't know how long that would last . . . guess we'll find out come May!
He also was quite taken with Amanda & James' beagle, Rocket. When we arrived Wednesday evening, Rocket was most excited and barked quite a lot to let us know. Then Jonathan saw the baby, and Amanda commented to him that "I have two babies--one that barks and one that cries." Well, I think that set up some funny linkages in Jonathan's brain, as he told everyone he spoke to for the next few days that his mom's friend had two babies, one that barked and one that cried, and he gave the impression that he thinks the dog also came out of Amanda's tummy. So there's some reengineering to be done in his mind there.
It was lovely to get to cuddle an infant again, and the way she slept on my chest or all nestled up against my cheek and neck was delightful. I do like holding a baby and helping them go off to sleep, and feeling their little bodies relax against mine as they give in. I'm looking forward to the arrival of my own.
And a couple of days ago I was excited about finding John Jeffrey and his family in the censuses . . . within a few hours of making that post, I was exchanging e-mails with a cousin (I have no idea exactly what relationship yet) who is one of the most helpful people I've ever met. She directed me to loads of information about the parentage of John Jeffrey's wife, Jane Weaver (my great-great-great-grandmother). Both of Jane Weaver's parents are apparently pretty well researched already, although of course I have no way to independently verify the data at this time (some of it is sourced as being in family papers held by an individual), and there is a mountain of names and info.
Within about 20 minutes of getting a bunch of info on Jane Weaver's maternal grandfather, John McMillan, I called Grama Karl to see if the surname McMillan was familiar to her; it was not. I then read some of what this cousin had written to me, and one item she jumped all over--she had known that some ancestor had founded a college, but that was all she knew. Turns out it's this guy.
Basically, all these folks are our Presbyterian line of ancestry. Jane Weaver's paternal line, the Weavers, are of Welsh descent and have been in America for ages. They were originally Quakers, but a Weaver in our direct line was disowned on 26 July 1770 by the Meeting for taking a test of allegiance to the "new government", and after that they were Presbyterians. You can read a bit about John Weaver (my 4th great-grandfather, I believe) here; he's the one who begins the second paragraph, and the man in the first paragraph is his father.
Another line, which I believe ends up going into the Weaver line in the above paragraph, is of Irish Quakers. The cousin who has been corresponding with me says that Irish Quakers were generally not "native" Irish but rather emigrants from England. I know next to nothing about Quakers or Friends so have nothing to add to that.
Now, the McMillans (grandparents of John Jeffrey's wife) were not only Presbyterians but Presbyterian ministers (both the grandfather and the great-grandfather of Jane Weaver). The McMillans came from Northern Ireland, specifically Carnmoney Parish in County Antrim, sometime around the mid-1700s, and settled in Pennsylvania. The Rev. John McMillan helped found what our cousin describes as a "very prestigious and pricey school" in Washington County, Pennsylvania, called Washington and Jefferson College. She says that there have been McMillan reunions since 1902, and the last three have been held on the college campus at the college's invitation (she speculated that "they finally noticed us and figured they might get some donations"--she sounds down to earth!), and she commented that there was a fairly large contingent from Texas at the last reunion (they are held every two years). Also, she said that she had not realized any branches had gotten cut off as ours apparently has, and I have the e-mail address of someone to contact with our information and to get added to the reunion mailing list.
The Presbyterians apparently died out in our line when John Jeffrey McCullough, the son of members of a Protestant church, married Sadie Kenefick, an Irish Catholic girl (these two people are of course Kitty Lou's parents).
So, what a deluge of information! I am a little overwhelmed at keeping it all organized, but on Monday I hope to make a dent in getting the names entered in. It's pretty neat to have some lines on this side of the family go back so far now (the Sprongs and Ensigns, on Mom's side, were both already researched back to the 1600s).
So I've been entering in the information from my great-great-great-grandfather John Jeffrey's obituary that Daddy and I found at the Mid-Continent Library last October, and when finished I thought I'd poke around to see if I could find his family in the census anywhere. One frustrating thing about the obit was that many of his daughters (my great-great-great-aunts, I think) were listed, but under their husband's names (Mrs. Rogers of West Virginia, Mrs. Robert Faulk of Knox township, etc.)--grrr!
Anyway, I looked through the 33 Jeffreys (I'd left the given name blank) in Ohio in 1860, but none of them were mine. Then I thought I'd check in Pennsylvania, since his obit said he moved there "early in life", and lo and behold, there he was! With a damn big family too--he and his wife Jane, both 47 years old, along with 7 daughters and 3 sons. They lived on a farm (his obituary said he was a "tinner" but I'm thinking he was actually a "tanner"); in addition to the whole family, a 17-yr-old boy named Elias Adams also lived there as a farmhand.
That's good enough for me to go to bed on tonight. I love getting results!
After an astonishingly warm weekend here--we all wore shorts and T-shirts and the air conditioning came on for three days in a row (highs around 80)--it is literally freezing here today. I've been wearing a beautiful woolly scarf from Dale's uncle Colin most of the afternoon 'cause I'm just plain cold. Temperature outside is about 37 degrees right now. Dale commented a few years ago that he understood a little better why I could never adjust to the cold--it doesn't get cold and stay cold here, so you can never settle into it. All it does here is get hot and stay hot.
Anyway, I just went out and filled up all the bird feeders for the little dicky-birds so they can try to stay warm too. After distributing the black oil sunflower seeds, millet, seed blend, and soy nut balls to the appropriate feeders and then putting everything back up so the raccoons, squirrels, and the skunk can't get into it, I went over to the "vegetable" garden I did last year to check on the strawberries. When Mom and Dad were here over Xmas, I noticed that I had a *lot* of little strawberry flowers and baby fruits on the plants that I'd been too lazy to dig up from last spring (I thought they didn't work out too well, but I've been too much of a procrastinator to do anything about it). The six small plants I bought have spread dramatically and now take up a space about 4 feet by 3 feet.
Well, I poked around and rustled some of the oak leaves that had fallen on top of the strawberry plants (I leave them there figuring it's natural insulation to help protect them from freezing), and would you believe I found a ripe, huge strawberry? A beautiful deep shade of red (I probably should have picked it about two days ago). Something had nibbled on one side, but I just washed it and cut that bit away, and then I popped the rest of it straight into my mouth. It was like having a bite of sunshine! I think strawberries are about as easy to grow as weeds, and I have plenty of experience with the latter. When I taste a homegrown strawberry, I'm always taken aback at what a burst of flavor it is; nothing at all, not remotely, like the ones sold in stores (even good stores like Central Market or Whole Foods). It was lovely.