Finding My Roots

Recently, my cousin Alexis and I set out to find great grandparents on the Ashley side of our family tree.  Alexis’ mom had taken me to some of the graves several years ago and I made some quick notes.  Using these notes Alexis and I set out… our first stop in Lakeville on Kingman Street we found the Strobridge Cemetery.  Here we found Andrew and Ana McGee our great great grandparents.  Unfortunately their head stones are broken and in very poor condition, I took a picture but it really doesn’t show anything and I did not take notes, so a return visit is a must.  There are only a few stones around them and none give us any information we can relate to our family.  So next stop Assonet Cemetery on 79.  This is a very large area with many graves old and new scattered about in no particular pattern.  We eagerly set out on foot to find: Fredrick and Lavinia Haskins our great grandparents on our mothers side.  There are lots of Haskins but we had given up for the day and were driving out when Alexis spotted them!  The stones are quite impressive and decorative …we were really excited to find them. Lavinia’s stone needs some cleaning and I’ll be visiting again soon and will clean up in the spring.

Consider the roots of a tree we don’t see them but we know they are responsible for the health and beauty of the limbs and leaves.  Today I saw some roots and I thought how beautiful.

 

Birding at Barney’s Joy

May 20, 2018
Barney’s Joy Beach Dartmouth

59 degrees foggy and windy

3:00pm high tide

Piping plovers are nesting and I spied one keeping my distance I got a decent picture…also willet, sanderlings, and egret.  We had a lone osprey fly over, several barn swallows and a few king birds that I couldn’t capture with my camera.  We were alone on the beach….  me and the birds with the sound of the surf….makes for a wonderful afternoon.

Heads or Tails

Spring is here and a young man’s fancy has turned to love!  I’ve been running into a multiple turkeys rafters  (I looked up the correct word for a group of turkeys) lately with the same thing on their minds.  I have first hand knowledge of how protective they can be so I simply huffed on by went home and got my camera and returned.  Yes! They are still there and posing a bit until they weren’t and moved along.  I met two groups of twenty or more about a mile apart. But I liked those at the RR crossing best  perhaps because they was a safe distance between us.

Summer Solstice

Enjoyed my day at the Beach, it was a bit windy and foggy. I found a few treasures.

Mother, May I Ramblings

I remember having lots of fun with my classmates at recess playing Mother, May I.  This May with the crazy weather  I’m playing Mother Nature, May I.

Some of my questions to Mother Nature….

May I go out without a sweatshirt?

May I go out without an umbrella?

May I see the sun?

May I have peaches on my peach tree?

May I walk in the backyard without getting Lyme disease?

May I see blooms on my hydrangeas this year?

Only one blossom on this dogwood tree…I’m sure she will have more surprises for me!

April in Maine

I have lived most of my entire life on the same street in Massachusetts.  It’s a nice street, with nice houses and families but I have always wanted to move to Maine. My house was close to the schools my children went attended.  It was an easy commute to my work.  We had great neighbors and gardens and chickens.  But I kept wishing to move to Maine.   In 2000 my husband and I looked for a place up there even came close a few times to buying but always found a way to procrastinate our dreams away.  But don’t feel too sorry for me because I have a “Fairy Godbrother”, he and his family have hosted us for many weekends and more.  They open their hearts, and doors, and bedrooms, and table to us every time we’ve asked.  Their hospitality is warm and loving.  What a treat to gather at their table and telling and listening to family stories!

This past week we had one such weekend, celebrating MM’s birthday.  The Grand Boys were on vacation and joined us.  His children and grandchildren were able to be there too.  That meant a table set for  15 after church on Sunday. What a blessing to be there with them all sharing stories and love!

Outside a massive trench was dug from the house to a sawmill.  They are piping electricity and water out to the mill and garden.  So after our dinner everyone was outside helping with the project. Of course digging in the dirt is like heaven to most 4-60 year old, men, boys and even the girls reveled in the dirt and mud.  After  lots of showers, a few loads of laundry and a good night sleep we headed home on Monday; with a head full of memories and  wondering when we can go back.

 

 

November Beach Day

Super low tide as result of full moon, made for a beautiful day at the beach.  Temperature was 48 but the sun was shining and there was no wind.  I thought we would collect drift wood and shells, maybe see some starfish in the tide pools but the beach was very clean and wide and long.  Great for sliding down the dunes on your belly,

drawing and rock piling

First Fall Visitors

Happy to see these feathered friends back…it has been awhile. I think they are eating my grapes and raspberries. I also noticed my raspberries bushes are missing lots of leaves, could it be these beauties or deer?

Speaking of raspberries my black ones were really bitter this year. The tiny red ones were delicious, popped them right off the cane into my mouth.

Mockingbird Blues

My rambling thoughts on Nelle Harper Lee and her books To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM) and Go Set a Watchman (GSAW)

My fascination with Nell Harper Lee started when I read the book In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, twenty years ago. I was amazed they were childhood friends and famous writers from a small southern town. That she had written TKAM and won a Pulitzer Prize at such a young age, and then disappeared from the publishing world. I knew she lived in New York and was in with the party crowd of the flamboyant Capote. Obviously intelligent why no more books?

Recently I heard of the Marja Mills book, The Mockingbird Next Door, peaked my interest I read it as fast as I could. I discovered Lee: reads constantly, loves sports, does not watch TV or have a computer and does not like the outside world invading her private space. She has received many honorary degrees as well as countless opportunities to speak; which she no longer accepts. I came to understand the quiet southern woman’s hesitance to continue and compete with her previous unexpected success. Lee, said of her success “I hoped for a little, as I said, but I got rather a whole lot, and in some ways this was just about as frightening as the quick, merciful death I’d expected.”

And so she still lived in New York 5 months out of the year, returning to Alabama and her family in Monroeville. She keeps a journal and writes to her many friends, her head filled with stories just no more books. Until this year at 89 years old with her sister, trusted adviser, gone she has published Go Set a Watchman, and I; like countless others awaited its release. Placing it on hold as soon as I could. While waiting I read TKAM. enjoyed it and would like to re-see the 1963 Academy Award winning movie with Gregory Peck.

Then this week the library notified me the book was available…it was an ebook and the audio version….still I eagerly started listening. Well, I learned I’m not the listening kind of book reader, constantly falling asleep, losing my place, and starting over and over and over. Of course I had heard this was about grown Scout, and it does start off like that but there are many chapters that go back to Jem and Scout and their childhood adventures. Me… I like a book that keeps a nice neat chronological timeline and GSAW doesn’t do that. Scout weaves through her past and present often and perhaps, it was the audio version that didn’t suit my reading style. The most astonishing thing in the book is the disjointedness of Atticus, so revered in TKAM and his downfall at the end of the book. Scout wasn’t the only one upset with him…is Atticus a bigot….was he always one…perhaps I need to read GSAW with my own eyes.

Summer is Heating Up

Temperatures are rising I need two bottles of water for morning tennis. Our matches start at 8 and can go to 10:30, holding my own in the first two sets but this weather is not helping my 3rd set.
Came home today and filled the tub with cold water whoa that felt good.
My flowers are loving it though, will have to give the hydrangea and drink tonight, everyone else looks happy. Lots of Great Spangled Fritillaries on the cone flowers and the tansy is about to bloom. I weeded yesterday but can’t today too hot.