Some Updates

I've had a little time to do some genaology this week. Ancestry.com has changed things a little so that it is easier to get around from person to person, so I've been doing a little clean-up on some of my lines. I don't think I've mentioned that we also have Greek ancestors who were in Constantinople, Turkey. We have some French and Norman forbears who did some take overs in Turkey.I guess it was around one of the Crusades. We are also related to some of the Greeks who were also playing take over in Turkey. One was named Andrinikos Dukas Kamateros. He was born in 1108, in Constantinople. His wife was Theodora Kalusine Komnera, born 1126, also in Constantinople.

We've even had some of our French and English forbears who died in Bethleham or Jeruselam, probably on Crusade. The thing that's surprising though, is that some of them took their wives along. We have one ancestor who's name I can't recall just now, proclaimed himself King of Jeruselem and actually ruled for awhile. Can't say our family didn't have nerve.

On the Welsh front, we have Llewelyn Ap Iorewerta who was born in 1173 in Aberfraw Castle in Cearnarvonshire Wales. Most of our Welsh forbears came through the Clark side. One of our Great Grandfather Jefferies married Emma Clark here in Utah,and there was born our Welsh lineage.

We are also related the "Alfred the Great". He was supposed to be one of the first great kings of England. He did have great statesman like skills and could handle men. However, there wasn't really an England, as such, then. It was in the ninth century and England consisted of London and the surrounding area, called Mercia. The northern part of the country below Scotland was called the Danelaw and consisted of, well Danes, who had decided to settle down and enjoy the spoils of viking. Wales was bigger and occupied the area east of Mercia. Still, Alfred managed to keep Mercia for his people and laid the foundation of the future England. I had read stories about that time period and felt pretty pleased to be related to Alfred.

On another note, we're looking forward to a wedding next week. We'll be loading up and heading for greener climes next Tuesday. Whee!!!!!

Just Keep Trying

I thought by now, at my age, that I'd be coasting to the finish line. Just taking things easy, having some fun along the way, my life in hand, very little angst. Guess what? It just ain't so. I guess some of us are destined to push our way to the finish line. Not that I'm expecting the finish to be right around the corner. If I had my druthers, I'd end it all in my sleep at the age of 102, having lived well and worn everything out, ready for a new life on the other side. Unfortunately, the struggle continues. Fortunately, it's not as bad as my teens, thank the Lord.

I have days when I have trouble finding anything to be thankful for. Of course, those are the days when I really need to find those things to be thankful for. After all, I'm still breathing, walking, talking, etc. I have loving family still, and friends. There's a big lumbering Dog who thinks I'm pretty great, though I'm probably 2 nd on her list, but that's okay.

My job is problamatic much of the time lately. The things I enjoyed in my job, sometimes get lost in its' demands, though a sweet child always brings a smile to my face.

Sunday, I let myself be drawn into a bit ot a political argument with a customer, that I've usually enjoyed. I really felt bad and beat myself up for the rest of the day. I get upset with myself for getting side tracked. I'd love to be perfect, but then I'd probably decide there was something wrong with that too.

You get to a point in life, when you realise you just might not make all those goals you've had. What really anoys me is that I fail to make any headway on things that I've wanted to do, it seems, all my life. You'd think that I could fix, at least, one or two things that I want to change about myself. My Son wrote about everyone being on their own path, which I firmly believe. Sometimes, though, I'm afraid that my path has gotten faint, or I've slipped off from it and I'm just wandering around. Maybe I should just enjoy the wandering for awhile,or maybe I should find a way to stop for awhile and listen for instructions.

My Opinion

I've been reading my Son's family blog about Father's day. It sounds like it was mostly good. My Son was making the point that what a child experiences with their father, molds their expectations and ideas of God, the ultimate Father. I think that may be right. Athough my concept of God has changed since I was a child, I think your first concepts probably are very influenced by thr relationship you have with your own earthly Father. My Father was very loving, though quite strict. He was careful to not make a promise that he couldn't keep. I remember once, I was supposed to wait for my Grandfather to pick me up from grade school, but I went to Primary with a friend. My Grandfather couldn't find me and finally went home without me, to get my Mother to help him look. By the time they got back, I was at the school waiting, realising that I was probably in trouble. Mom was so upset that I'd frightened everyone, that she told me I couldn't go to the play or concert that the high school was doing that night. My Aunt MaryLou was in it and I had been promised I could go. I was upset, but truthfully, I think I knew I deserved it. After my Dad got home from work, he told Mom that it had been a promise. By that time, it was too late to go to the play. Dad told me I'd been very wrong to worry everyone and need to be punished. I got a spanking, then I was taken to the drive-in in Tooele for a movie, to make up for missing the concert. I was probably 8 years old, but I've never forgotten it.

I didn't always agree with my Dad, and he certainly wasn't perfect, but he did teach me about keeping my word, or not giving it. Maybe that's why my kids heard "maybe" so often.

I must say, that my concept of God has grown as I have I guess. My belief is that God is Love. That said, I don't believe that you recieve everything you ask for, in the way that you ask for it. We can ask for anything and God, in his Love will give it to us. However, we don't have the right to tell God how to do His job, so He will give to us in His own time and in His own way. Being a Loving Father, He will give back to us beyond our dreams, since we usually tend to think too small, forgetting that God is Omnipotent and all-powerful. The trick is believing, expecting, and accepting. We need to be grateful for all that we have, the breath that we take, the fact that we live, the many things in this world that are beautiful. If we wnt love and beauty, we need to look for it and be grateful for that which we see. If we focus on the unhappy things, the ugly or the lack, that will be what we keep experiencing, because that's where our focus is. When I find myself down and not interested in getting out of bed in the morning, eventually, I'll remember to focus my attention on the things that are good and remeber to thank God for all the good I can see. Usually, things will perk up in awhile.

I don't say my belief is the only belief, only that it usually works for me.

Living Honestly

I sometimes find myself agreeing with a person I'm talking to, all the while, knowing that I don't really agree. It may be a co-worker, or a manager or a new acquaintance, or even a stranger. I'm sure that we frequently do this just to be agreeable, or because the issue isn't particularly important at the time. I guess it may not be that important if it is just an occaisional happening. There are some who would say that anytime you don't assert your own beliefs can be living a lie, therefore damaging your own soul. After 911 I often had problems when listening to some of my more militant co-workers. I'm happy yo say that I didn't validate their views on wanting vengence because I didn't agree. I mostly listened and kept my opinions to myself, deciding not to cause discent at work. This made me feel that I had been untrue to myself, though I was pretty sure I wouldn't have changed people's minds.

When I was younger, I pretty much voiced my opinion whether anyone asked for it or not. Getting older either mellowed me, making me realise that telling everyone what I think is,at best, being a bore and at worst, an exercise in futility. I have tried to learn not to judge others and to accept them as they are. Trying to convince everyone of the rightness of my opinions and beliefs is can be frustrating and usually, not worth it. Still, how do you make sure you are being true to yourself? By letting someone believe that you agree with everything they say, am I being honest? Does it even matter?

I guess you have to keep checking how you feel about yourself, whether there's a feeling of disconnectedness or a bit of guilt over something you've said or not said. Is it another person you may have wronged? If not, maybe the person you have wronged is yourself. I thought I'd have more answers to life by the time I got this old, but my ideas have changed nearly as much in the last decade as they did in my 2nd and 3rd decade. I'm not sure we ever have all the answers. If we think we do, we're probably wrong.

Looking back at this rambling post,I'm not sure I said what I wanted or if it was worth doing. Oh well, I'm just rambling anyway.

Back to Genealogy

I've been working on both our Scottish and our Welsh lines lately. The Welsh lines are a bit of a challenge since the names are nearly unpronouncable. Some of the place names just look like a string of letters, a long string, but usually include a province or county that's recogniseable. Many of our Welsh forbears came from around Glammorgan or Monmouthshire. As an example of interesting place names, there's Morgan Ap Maredudd from Cyfoeth, Meredydd, Gwynllwg in Monmouthshire. Notice the use of w and y and l in everything. There is a woman named Tangwlstl Verch Rhys. The Verch seems to be used for women. I don't know if it's like Mrs or some other form of honorific. At least with the "Verch", you know it's a woman, sometimes the only way to tell.

We are related to Daffyd Ap Llewellyn. There was a prince of Wales by that name and also a great Welsh poet. I googled the name, but it's hard to figure, as the time frame doesn't quite fit either character. Once you get back in the 12th or 13th century, it's always a little hard to be sure of dates unless the person is famous and well researched. I almost think I'd prefer to be related to the poet. We've got more than enough royalty.

I struggled a bit with the Robert The Bruce line. MaryLou seemed get the direct line just fine, but I had an extra John Bruce that skewed everything, even though my line before the king was fine. I think I've got it right finally.

We also have connections to the early Spanish Kings as well. Once you establish connections to the Capets and Plantagenets, you end up related to half the royalty of Europe and Scandanavia.

Obviously, many of our forbears were farmers and businessmen and even peasents and thier lines taper off fairly early. Some lines don't go farther than the 17th century. Some countries are harder to find info on too, like Ireland. I did get onto a message board for the Haggerty family and noticed my cousin had been doing some of the same searches that I am, but that was in 2004. Now I need to find out whether he had ant success or not. I did pick up a tidbit about some Hagerty's in the 1600s who came to fight the English with the O'Niel's (the clan we were sept to). They even ended up with a castle, actually 2, one in Ireland and one in Austria. I doubt that it's our line though, but it's nice someone in the Haggerty clan had a castle. Anyway, I keep plugging away.

So Much Pain

I was all ready to write another post on the Welsh genealogy that I've been doing, but after reading a series of posts on my Son and Daughter-in-Laws blog, I feel the need to talk a little about pain and dealing with it.

I understand that in this life,pain is probably inevitable. How much you suffer, and how you suffer can be a choice that we each can make. My Daughter-in-Law had an extreemly painful childhood. She has endured a great deal of pain and suffering. I won't say I know what she has gone through, because I don't, and nobody else can claim to either. We have no way to get inside another person's heart and mind to see their world. I can only see from the outside. I see a person who, at some point, decided to fight against her suffering and fight to lead the life she wants. I know that she is still fighting. I see a strong woman who has so much love to give. I also see a woman who fights her demons and and doubts. I would like to let her know, that even people with good childhoods have to fight doubts and their precieved weaknesses.

I worry about my Son and his depression. I am sorry I didn't see the problem sooner. I worry about how much of his childhood contributed. I am very glad he is addressing the problem and not playing the strong silent type that so many men do.

When you are fighting depression and problems, it can be difficult to focus on what's right with the world. It can be a temptation to look at everything through a dark lense. It is very important to look for the light, for beauty and love. I used to write down at least 3 things I was grateful for every night before I went to bed. I kind of got away from that. I noticed that some days, I'd wake up and not even want to get out of bed. There wasn't anything that I could point to that was wrong, just nothing much right or worth getting up for. I decided I should remember to count my blessings, nothing formal like before. I just tried to remember a thank you when things were going right, or I was feeling happy, or something good happened, or even if something bad didn't happen. I think, that if you thank God for the things you love, He'll make sure you get more of those things.

I've lived long enough now, that things that used to bother me so much, are less important, maybe because I have tried to let some things go, to obsess less. It doesn't always work, but it's better. Maybe, I'm living such an uneventful life, nothing gets to me. Maybe I've achieved, on my own what Prosac once offered me; emotions on an even keel, no lows, but then again, not too many highs either.

New Book

I've been using this book to check my genealogy with it's charts and maps. But yesterday I decided to start reading it. It's called "Robert the Bruce, King of Scotts".It is supposed to be the definative book on Robert Bruce. It's quite readable and I am enjoying it a lot.

I've discovered that my son Robert is quite excited about his connection to Robert Bruce. When we named Bob, it was to honor an Uncle on his father's side of the family. We didn't know about the famous connection. It's been quite fun. It turns out that Robert Bruce was not Celt, but Anglo-Norman. However, he did speak Gaelic, as well as Norman French and Northern English, making him trilingual. He became Earl of Carrick through his mother, who was Countess of Carrick in her own right. From his father, he was Earl of Annandale, a holding close to Carrick.These holdings were on the south western side of Scotland. In fact, Carrick was on the Irish Sea. Robert's family also had English holdings in Essex and Midlands.

There were Scottish kings before Robert the Bruce, but they did not control the whole of Scotland. Robert's distinction was the uniting all of Scotland under one rule.

So far, I'm reading about the meschinations of England's King Edward I after the untimely death of Alexander the third, leaving only a girl child as hier because his two son's had died with no issue. The child was his daughter's child from Norway's King Eric. The Scottish nobility wanted to set up a regency of 6 men. Edward agreed if they would swear fealty to him as the more powerful king. He eventually insisted that Margaret, only 6 years old be brought to Scotland to be raised and to be married to Edward's 5 year old son. By the time she arirrived, she was ill and eventually died. Through other meschinations and intimidations, Edward put John Balliol on the Scottish throne. At this time, Robert was only in his teens, and his grandfather, Robert, the Competitor, was trying to put his own family into contention for the throne, always believing in was his family's by blood right.

It is all very interesting and I am enjoying it very much. I've always had an interest in History, especially old History, so the genealogy is a good stimulus for more study.

The Importance of Pets

As all of the family is dealing with the loss of my Son's Family's adorable Sheltie, Angel, I begin to think about all the pets I have had in my life. It seems that I've had at least one animal in my life for most of my life. There have been times, usually during mourning for a lost pet, that I have been without one, but soon, the old imperative to share my life with another animal gets too strong. I find a new pet to enlarge my life.

During my childhood, I usually lived where having pets was not a problem and I frequently had more than one at a time. We almost always had a few cats around, whether outdoors,indoors or a combination. Much of my life I slept with at least one cat, sometimes two. There seemed to always be a dog at home except when I lived in 2 different Utah Power and Light company housing, but we had cats then too. I also had parakeets and goldfish at times. I remember the piglet my Dad bought to raise for future meat. He warned me it was not a pet, but I named it anyway. When it was time to butcher him, my Dad warned me and I hid under the bed until it was all over. I did eventually manage to eat some of the meat, but not without a little twinge.

I've loved and lost quite a few pets in my lifetime. We had a black cat who was a bit of a runt, so I tried to keep it house bound. I didn't know then that you need to have them nuetered or the males keep marking their territory. Bob got very upset when Sooty urinated in his new mocasins. They were totally ruined. We finally let Sooty out into the neighborhood. He came back in the morning ruffled and dirty, but seemingly triumphant over the other cats. His penchant for fighting was finally his undoing. He finally was hurt enough that he couldn't recover, though we did have him into the Vet, he ended up with bleeding stools, indicating internal injuries. I finally took him into the Vet to be put to sleep. When Bob came home from school and I told him about Sooty, he wanted to know whether we'd do that to him if he got sick. He nearly broke my heart. He was around 7 years old, I think, and really couldn't understand why there should be a distinction between people and pets. It's very hard to explain to a little boy, especially when you're not too sure of things yourself.

It's amazing how your pets can fill up your life like they do. Yesterday, MaryLou and I went to the grocery store to get groceries and dog food for our monster dog Lady. We were out at the car, putting things in the trunk when it thundered. The first thing both of us thought of was Lady. She's afraid of thunder. Of course, we hurried home to comfort her. Like I said, they're a big part of your life. People who've never had pets can't understand how important they are to us. We who have pets can't understand those who don't have pets. We're sure they are missing something in their lives.

Painful Loses

It seems that our family has been having a streak of painful losses for the past few years. I guess that's true of many families. It just seems like it's piling up sometimes. I think that it must be an indication that we are investing love in our lives, otherwise, people and pets leaving us wouldn't be so painful.

My Son and his family are undergoing the possible loss of a beloved pet. I've been though that fairly often. Each time, I tell myself that I'll do without a pet,because it hurts so much when you lose them. It just seems so unfair that animals have so much shorter of a life span than we do.I still end up with another pet, because they give so much love and really don't ask for that much, usually.

My heart goes out to my Son and Daughter-in-Law and my Grandchildren. It is so painful, but the unconditional love you receive from a pet is priceless.

More Musings

I can't believe that I used to post nearly evey day. Now I'm lucky if I post once a week. With the weather better, and yard work to do,time is slipping away again.



I got a wonderful email from my friend Zara, who was once staff for Michele. Actually, she was much more than Staff, she was a true mentor for Michele and I was thankful to God every day for her. I still am, actually. She pops up with an email just when I need it.



Anyway, Zara was telling me about an art project she was involved with on May 9th in Sugarhouse. They had artists and dancers around a creek that goes behind businesses there. They had dancers in the trees, and bright fabric floating in the water. They used umbrellas embellished by different artists scattered about. Zara said she felt Michele's spirit there. Later, she found out that Michele's supervisor, Scott, had donated the rest of Michele's umbrella collection for the project. I'm sure Michele would have loved to see all of her umbrellas being enjoyed that day.

I have a new project. I'm keying information from old records for Ancestery.com. It's Ancestery World Project, and volunteers view the records online and with some enlarging, try to fill out the pertinent information. I've been mainly doing immigration records,which is fairly easy if it's legible. The batch I did today about put me over the edge. One of the papers I was trying to do kept appearing upside down. Really hard to read that way. I finally got it working. My accuracy has been 84%, but it's slipping down to 82% the last couple of days. Handwriting was a bit different last century. Hope my eyes hold out!

Thoughts of Time

I just had a birthday.I mentioned to someone I worked with, that I don't think I ever expected to be this age, at least not for years and years. Strangely enough, it has been years and years. That's what happens when you're not paying attention.

I was reading an essay about time recently. The author's point is that time is actually speeding up, not just our perception of it. I'm certainly aware of the perception of time passing faster. Every year seems to pass faster than one before. That's perception. However, this author discussed how many things happen in a time period, like a year or a decade, or a century, then cited how many things happen each decade or century. Things occur more rapidly now and have been speeding up at a break-neck pace with no sign of slowing down. Certainly that's been happening, but I'm not sure that proves that time is moving faster.

I know that I feel, quite frequently, that time is slipping away from me. My own life, in some ways, is slowing a bit, but everything around me seems to be in a hurry. My Aunt, people that I work with, will stop every now and then and comment, "Wow, May is more than Half over! Where did it go?"

Sometimes, I just feel time slipping away from me. Then I fret that I'm not doing all that I should, I'm not using "time" as I should. I always hear, "everyone gets the same 24 hours a day", but somehow, someone's put the clock on fast forward it seems.

After Effects

Here it is May. In fact, in 3 days, it will have been one year since my daughter Michele, left us. She's been in my mind a lot lately, in fact for the last several weeks. I was remembering how hard it was to have her hooked up to machines and tubes, when I wanted, so much, to simply hold her. She was my baby, and I could only hold her hand, or pat her foot. It was very frustrating.

I also remember that I didn't seem to dream of her, at least not that I could remember. Last month, I had dreams of her several nights in a row. In these dreams, I was able to hold her, at last. When she was alive, I sometimes dreamed of her running away getting into harmful drinks,or getting lost, and I would wake in a cold sweat, having to assure myself that she was safe. At least, she was a safe as we could make her. The dreams last month would start out like my old ones, but, in the end, she was always really safe, and I was able to hug her and hold her. Maybe, it was my subconcouise, helping me to start healing.

I guess that accepting the loss of a loved one is an ongoing thing. It still doesn't seem right to lose a child. It just seems to go against the "way of things", though it does happen often enough. I am more accepting. After all, her absence is a fact, I can't change it. I still do miss her, as I miss my parents. I guess that doesn't really change. It's life, it seems.

Flip Book

I belong to a creative crafts club, and we sometimes get the chance to test new products for companies. Recently, I tested something called a Flip Book. I had to have a digital camera and computer, and know enough to take a 30 second video, then download it to my computer. I decided to take a short video of Lady, the family dog. After I downloaded it and replayed it, I was concerned because the TV was on, so there was a lot of extraneous noise. Then there was me, trying to get Lady to look up at me. She looked at me once, saw the camera and started looking anywhere but the camera. I signed onto the company's website and followed the simple instructions to download the video to their site. Because I was testing the product, there was no charge to me,but the cost for one Flip Book is $8.99, plus shipping, total is around $11.98.

I wasn't totally sure exactly what I would be getting, but I didn't need to worry about the noise, at least. What they were testing was the process of making your video, downloading and ordering. I wrote a review for the company. This week I received my book. It's about the size of my cellphone. It's got the cover I ordered. They take your video and break it down, picture by picture. You just flip the pictures quickly, and there's your video! No power or battery to run out. You can carry it in your pocket. It's really quite fun. They also offer greeting Flips books, 4 for $19.95. I'm assuming that these are shorter versions, but haven't seen them yet. This seems to be a new company with a cute idea. Only time will tell, if it's a hit.

Royalty, That's Us.

I think that I wrote once that we were not descended from William the Conqueror, but were descended from his half brother, Richard. Richard went with William and fought in the Battle of Hastings. For his reward, he was given much land and many titles. He took the name of Earl of Clare, and the area he ruled in Ireland was names county Clare in the family's honor.

I was working on another line of our genealogy, and discovered we are descended from the first King Henry of England. He became king after his father, King William, the Conqueror. So, we are directly descended, after all. This points up a discovery I've made, in my researches. Most of the royals were related to each other at least in one line, and often, in several. The nobility seemed to want to keep the titles, the lands, and the money, as much in the family as possible. They made alliances with other families, but there was just a lot of inter-marrying.

We're also descended from Henry the second. His family was the Plantagenants, who produced many of the English Kings and Queens. Henry II wasn't the son of Henry I though, different family. Don't get excited about being related to Richard, the Lion-hearted though. He and his brothers, Prince Geoffery, and Prince John were from Eleanor of Aquitane, HenryII' wife. He set her aside, and imprisoned her in a castle in France, then took up with Rosamond, who gave him a son, in his old age named William Longsepree. He is the one who is our ancestor.

In any case, we're also related to several Scottish Kings, including Robert, the Bruce and several early French kings. I'm sure you notice, however, it doesn't do much to improve our current lives. I've always loved studying earlyhistory,so now realising there were some of my ancestors living that history,has made it seem a bit more real to me. It's fun, anyway.

Updates

I haven't been posting so much lately. I actually worked all this last weekend for our now quarterly promotion, A Taste of Sam's. This time it was called A Taste of Spring. Of course it snowed, but then it was LDS Conference weekend. Storminess is pretty much a given. This next Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I work to sell people things for Easter. I guess people still have to eat, and for our Catholic members, it's the end of Lent. They're probably hungry for something besides fish by now.

We had some nice days on Sunday and Monday. Today, we went out and enlarged some flower beds and nearly got blown away! It's raining now. That's okay, rain is good. Over last week, Snowbird got 14 feet of snow. Pretty nice. Sure glad it mostly stayed in the mountains.

Another thing that keeps me occupied is genealogy. It can almost get to be an obsession. What will the next century bring? How many kings are we related to. When you get back before the year 1000, it seems that there's a king behind every bush! Of course, there's so much inter-marriage, that it gets confusing. On the Peck side,(Mom's Grandfather's side) we go back to the Normans and the Vikings. On that line we aren't directly decended from William, the Conqueror. We are, however decended from his brother Richard, who became Richard De Clare. Imagine my surprise when I was doing the Scottish line to find out we are decended from William through his son Henry who became King of England after William. Then there all the Scottish Kings. There really was a MacBeth. He killed one of our royal Scotts ancestors with the help of the English king. Of course, these people were killing each other off right and left, even though they were all family. Sometimes, midevile times can seem romantic, but there were some real disadvantages. Even the richest of them would have not had a comfortable bathroom, or even one with much function

Oh, and we're related to French kings and German royalty, as well. It's quite amazing, but I guess there were a lot less people then, plus many of the royalty kept concubines in the 4th and 5th century, and it seems thier children were accepted. Probably they wanted huge families as a power base. Even so, it sure shows how connected we are to each other.

I've got kind of discouraged on the Haggerty line. The Irish don't have much of thier info online yet, or even on microfilm. They also charge for a lot of the information. I still haven't made the connection from Elias Haggerty and his father who was born in Ireland yet. I'll keep plugging away though.

More Geneology

Here is the Haggerty Crest. As you can see, there are 2 gs in the name. I think the extra one was dropped with my Grandfather Gilbert, or perhaps his father Silas Sharp( the first). I have been in contact with someone who is also researching the Haggerty line. His family name is Watt, so a cousin. It's been kind of fun comparing notes and stories.

One of the questions he had was about the change in the spelling of the name. He had heard stories that there had been a falling out over a family business that didn't go well,and part of the family dropped the extra "g" in protest. I suspect in had to do with the county in Ireland that the family came from. The Northern counties in Ulster, were more often protestants and spelled thier names with one "g". Those from farther south like county Cork were more likely Catholic and used the 2 "g" spelling. It could have been something else, as well.

I had already seen the family crest, but I was able to get a download from an Irish website. There's a website for Aran sweaters. Each family has their own design for an Aran sweater. The Haggerty design is really pretty, but $250 is a little steep for me right now.

There's also an Irish connection through the Peck line. My Grandmother Jefferies maiden name was Peck. It seems that she has, so far, the most interesting lineage. It can be traced way back bcause she was desended from royalty, making her easier to trace. The Peck line went back into the 1100's as Peck, then became Provost and finally, the names were with titles so every one was different. The names were often Fitz followed by the father's name. One ancestor was William Fitzgilbert. He accompanied William the Conqueror,(who is a cousin) to the Battle of Hastins in 1066. For his valor, he was awarded many titles and given much land. He took the name William de Clare. One of his estates was in Ireland,and he lived and governed there. He must have done a good enough job, because they named a county after him, County Clare.

It's fun to look at the royal lines because there's so much information on them and you can feel the history. Some of the lines are more difficult to research. The Hagerty line is proving to be that way. There are so many of them and many immigrated to the US so it's hard to separate the facts. Maybe someday, I'll go to Ireland and see things for myself.

Changes

I just finished reading a news column from Thomas Friedman. He quoted an article from "The Onion" where a Chinese worker in plastics talked about the crazy things Americans would buy, like salad shooters, use them for awhile, then just throw them away. You know, I used to have a salad shooter. I used it quite often for awhile. I must have thrown it away or hopefully given it away when I moved after my divorce. I've actually kind of missed it though.

Getting back to the point: Friedman says that this depression may actually be more than just a depression. 2008 may be the year that Mother Nature, and the stock market said "stop". It's time to stop spending more and more for things we don't need, stop trying to make more money than we need, and stop using up our natural resources and throwing away whatever we get tired of. He mentions that we're constantly working to grow more and make more money to buy more things made in China so they can get more money to buy more T bills so they can lend us more money to buy more..... You see where this is going.

I've always thought that a country who's gross national product is essentially it's consumers spending more and more is likely heading for a fall. Have you noticed a falling feeling? Fortunately, people are beginning to realise we need to build sustainably, recycle etc. Hopefully, it will all come out well, but the new world may be different from the old.

Update

I can't believe I haven't posted since Feb. 19 ! I guess I've been spending so much time doing geneology, that I just didn't get around to it. I also wasn't sure anyone wanted to read another post about my ancestors.

The past couple of weeks I haven't been feeling too well. I'm not sure what's been wrong, just another strange virus going around at work I guess. The first week, I had so much back pain, I couldn't sleep unless I used a heating pad.Then I got blisters from the heating pad. That's been a lot of fun. I'm sleeping okay now, but the blisters are itching. New kinds of fun.

We've had lovely warm days, temps in the 50s and 60s. We even reached 70 one day. We've had really strong winds for the last 3 days. Today we're back to snow. Seems like a typical March. Yesterday I was toying with the idea of starting to dig out a garden spot, today I have to clean 2 inches of snow of my car. Still, the sun is shining bright and the wind has calmed.

My poor bank account is getting szhitsophrenic. One payday can be almost normal, the next has only 3 days on it. The last posted schedual gave me 12 days off. Fortunately, I got asked to work tomorrow, giving me 2 days this week. I haven't a clue what will happen next week. Vendors are cutting back on demos due to the economy and it's the vendors paying for demos that pays my salary. The last time we had a normal amount of demos was the weekend before and the weekend of the superbowl. Maybe March Madness will produce some demos. There's always Easter, but that's not until April. I'm thinking of trying to change departments. Still, with my not feeling well, at least I haven't had to call in sick, but I have worked sick. Oh well, I haven't been that bad anyway.

I've been looking at my spelling in this last paragraph. Not good!

I can't resist a little geneology. I found out we're related to William the Conquerer. He was actually the brother of our ancestor, not the direct ancestor, but still, kind of cool. This is from my maternal grandmother's line. Charlamaigne also shows up, but that's certainly something to take with a grain of salt. I discovered an ancestor named Mael Coluim Mac Doinnail, King Malcolm I of Scotland, evenfound a picture. He was born in 0983. He was also in that same maternal line. It's amazing how the lines spread out, like a tree, right. I've found over 2800 people and that only includes my own lines, not my ex husband's lines. That includes a lot of brothers and sisters who I probably won't persue, other than a few recent people.

Musings

I've been ignoring my blog just because I'm a bit obsessed with geneology right now. Here is my daughter-in-Law, Lisa, putting up blog posts for her photography business, packing up and moving, doing blog posts on her family blog and she still finds time to keep up with Facebook and keeps thinking up ways to keep the rest of us busy keeping up with her. I guess I don't have any excuses about being slow to post.

I've got so many people on my family tree now, over a thousand, that sometimes when I'm working on a line, I don't even know which current relative I'm following. A couple of days ago, I actually got people born around the year 960. It gets kind of confusing back there, and you're never quite certain how accurate things are, but it's sure fun. There's a William Garscoine in every generation, for about 6 generations.Now that gets confusing, I wish the family had numbered them. I've run into one man that's supposed to be the High Sheriff of Yorkshire. There's another who's the 2nd Earl of something. Those who went to Cambridge or Oxford have lots of info on them. Most of these people are on the Peck side, at least from one of the female lines. The Pecks were from my Mom's female side. They were in Massachusets from almost the beginning. They're all English, except when they married into the French. The Jefferies were also English, except when they married into the Clarks, who are Welsh. The Pecks married into the Ures and Muirs, who are all Scots.

On my Dad's side, the Hagertys are from Ireland and proving to be hard to research after about 1810. My Father's mother was a Burns. Her line is English, Scots and some Swiss. My Great Grandfather Haggerty, (notice the spelling change) was married to Hester Ritenour. Dad thought she was Pennsylvania Dutch, but much of the family is from Germany. Anyway, it is very interesting.

More Geneology

I can't believe how much fun I'm having doing geneology! The problem is that I spend hours looking up information. Every time I get birth dates in an earlier century, it's exciting. In some lines, I'm at 1494 for a birth date. How cool is that? I've been quite surprised at how early some of my ancestors appear in the United States. Some from my Maternal Grandmother's side must have been almost original immigrants.

I originally got into this because I was trying to find out if the stories about one of my Paternal Grandfathers marrying an American Indian woman, was true. Supposedly, several Hagerty brothers left Ireland during the Great Potato Famine. I did research on that. It occured in 1846 through 1848. I checked some ship passenger lists, and there were quite a lot of Hagertys, but I couldn't trace them without starting from myself and working my way back.

I was quite surprised to find my Great Great Grandfather Elias Haggerty was born in Pennsylvania in 1810. My ancestors had been here before the potato famine. Elias' father was born in Ireland though. I'm not absolutely sure I have the right person on him, as there are some conflicting evidence, but his name may have been, Believe John Haggerty. That name is no stranger than some I've come up with.

I find myself trying to imagine the life some of my ancestors lived. It really boggles the mind. I also ran into some really old information. It seems most modern Irishmen all come from 3 sons of a man called Milesius, who was a Celt from either Italy or Spain. They decided to conquer Ireland. Their names were, Heber, Heremon, and Amergin. It seems that Heber took over northern Ireland.The date listed was 1699 b.c. The great King, Brian Boru came from Heber's line. The Hagerty family also came from Heber's line. Anyway, it's quite facinating!

New Obsession

I've been a little lax in posting lately, but it's just that I have a new obsession. My daughter-in-law emailed me a question about my grandfather's ancestry. I could only give her some general, hear-say information. I decided to try doing some research online. I kept running into no information for my family name.Then I found a website that gave names in English for names listed in Gaelic where I found a couple of different spellings of our name. Unfortunately, it was from a list of clans and families in around 400 a.d. Today I found a mention of the name in a history from 1699 b.c. ! Imagine that!

Most of my family came from the British Ilses. On my Mother's side were Scots, Welch,and English. On my Father's side were Irish, at least on the male side. I'm not positive on my Grandmother's side. She could have been scottish or Irish. My understanding, from family stories, there were several brothers in the family that immigrated from Ireland to Canada during the Great Famine. I've read a lot on that, Now I'm trying to get passenger lists or even names of ships and dates of travel. It is so interesting to read about the happenings and all that these people went through and to think that one of you ancestors was there. I'd like to get from me to them, working backwards as you mostly need to do. I'll tell you though, that info from 1699 b.c.has really whetted my appetite to go as far back as I can. It is just facinateing.

It seems that most of the Irish come from 3 brothers whose father was a Celt from Spain. They were Milesius, whatever that is. The three brothers went to Ireland with thier armies to conquer the island. Thier anglesied names were Heber, Hereman, and Amerigan. Heber's line was where my family name came from. It's also the line that King Brian Boru came from. He's played a huge part in Ireland's history and Myths. I didn't find any kings in my family line. Oh well, who wants a king in the family anyway.

It's quite difficult to find a lot of info in Ireland due to the famines and rebellons etc. There are archives in Ireland, but they aren't online, so far. I could just go over to county Donegal and see for myself, right. I think my Aunt and I will go to the LDS Church Family History Library. We should be able to get quite a bit from there. I also joined a geneology message and discussion board for the U.K. so, I may pick up some things there. Fortunately, I'm enjoying the research aspect of it all.

Getting Carried Away

I'm on a social website called Facebook to keep a bit more in touch with my family, plus it's fun. However, today I learned how mindless it can get. There are whole lists of things, places, products and people that you can become a"fan" of. Unfortunately, you can spend 20 minutes running down pages of lists and clicking things you are fans of, without wondering whether you want to be a fan of something that sounds cool, or whether you really know anything about what you're becoming a fan of. Is there any purpose to it? I'm certainly not sure. Still, I just became a fan of dozens of places, organisations, and foods. Did I accomplish anything but to fill up 20 minutes of time I could have used elsewhere? I guess I can put it down to playing.

We've really run the gamut in weather this past week. We got one of our usual temperature inversions, with the resulting polution being pretty severe for over a week. The polution became fog for a couple of days. In fact, my drive home last Thursday night was pretty rough. Then we got rain for a couple of days, which turned into snow yesterday. That led to shoveling and other fun things. It's still January, so I'm sure we'll have more snow. If I was the boss of winter, I'd mostly keep the snow in the mountains, and the rain in the valley. Nobody seems to be assigning me the job, so I guess I'll have to deal with what is.

A New Day

Yesterday, America made history. We elected the first African-American as President. It was noteworthy that his inauguration was one day after we celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday. It's like his dream finally came true.

As wonderful as that is, the really exciting thing is the calber of man that we have elected. That he is African-American, is just icing on the cake.

My impression of Barrack Obama, is of a man who is comfortable in his own skin, someone who has confidence in his vision of how things should be, but not afraid to ask for help. He seems to be open to opposing views and other ideas. He certainly seems to be someone open to the modern world, it's technologies and new ideas. He still wants us to remember all the values that America was built on. He's asking us to help build a new vision of our world, incorporating all those values. It's so refreshing to be asked to do something other than to "go shopping"! He recognises that "We the people" are ultimately responsible for the direction our country goes. He can lead, but we need to follow. We can't ignore things that are wrong in our country, niether can we wring our hands and cry that we can't do anything.

The problems facing our nation are so vast that we're going to have to be patient. We need to give things time, and we can't expect miracles. President Obama is a man, a good and intelligent man, but he'll probably make mistakes. We need to keep supporting him anyway. Who among us hasn't made mistakes

The Blows of Life

Sometimes it seems that life can really hit you hard. It just hauls off and gives you a big kick!

In our local newspaper, I read a story recently that made me sad and glad. This woman, is 61 years old and had been diagnosed a year ago with MS. Her husband of 40 years, found an older mobile home in an established mobile home park and moved her into it. Then he sold their home and disappeared. She's not heard from him since, and has no idea were he is. Maybe he didn't want to take care of her, or maybe he just didn't want to watch her deteriorate. I guess"in sickness or health" was part of the marriage vows he forgot.

Unfortunately, the furnace didn't work and the water heater was shot. She had no hot water and no heat. She did, however, have electricity and a roof over her head. She also had caring nieghbors who found out about her plight. They got her an electric blanket to help her keep warm at nights, and on the colder nights had her sleep in their mobile home and offered her their shower. This lady can only walk with a walker. She can't work, but has disabilty payments of which, her lot rent takes up half. She goes to the local food pantry to supplement her food.

A really great thing happened. Her situation became known to a contractor and a plumber in town. She now has a new furnace and a new water heater with new pipes. All of this was donated and completed by her birthday. She figures that a warm home and hot water for a bath, is about the best birthday gift she's ever received.

It just goes to show, life can bash you around, but it can also lead you to good people and better days.

Reading

I've been a bit lax in my posting. Maybe it's cause I spend too much time reading and not writing. I just finished "Thud" by Terry Pratchett. I have so many of my books put away, due to my moving. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy Pratchett's Disc World series. These books can make you laugh out loud. They are also a comment on human nature.

In this book, we meet Sam Vines again, chief of police in Ankmorpok. He's now a Duke, thanks to marrying Sylvia. His one absolute in life, other than being a "copper", is being home at 6pm to read "Where's My Cow?" to Sam junior. It's a picture book, suitible for a small toddler. Inspector Vimes even manages to yell it from memory from hundreds of feet under ground, and Sam Jr. hears it. Of course, the disc world has it's magic.

The main idea of the book is to discover the secret of Koom Valley, and to stop the fighting between Dwarf and Troll, before they reinact the Battle of Koom Valley.There are some great side stories about different kinds of people learning to get along, like werewolves and vampires, who normally don't get along. (Imagine that)

I enjoyed the book so much, I'm thinking of re-reading some of the first ones, especially the ones about witches. Unfortunately, I don't think I still have them. Time to get a library card.

The New Year, So Far

One of the first changes for the new year is that my work hours have been cut. During the holidays I usually work 4 days per week. I was trying to prepare myself for the decrease in income when I usually go back to 3 days per week. Suddenly, I have to re-do my budget again. I'll only be working 2 days per week, at least in January. It could be worse, some are cut to one day some weeks. Even the fulltime people have to give up one day a week. We are just not getting the orders for demos as much. Hopefully, as time goes on, things will pick up. There is one advantage, one less day a week to deal with driving in a snow storm.

Speaking of snowstorms, we had a fun one last Friday. I'd been hoping it would hold off until I got home, but it didn't. It started raining around 6 pm. By the time I got off at 7 pm, it was beginning to snow. When I got to I- 80, the snow flakes were getting big and visability was getting worse every moment. When I first got onto the freeway, there were 4 lanes with totally invisable lines. You headed where you thought you should be, then prayed. Eventually, as I got farther west, the freeway is down to 2 lanes each way, so I just hugged the outside lane, listening for the bump, bump, bump sound that would tell me I was too far to the right. People were being pretty careful, only going around 30 mph. The roads were so slushy, that when anyone passed, they gave you a slush bath. Luckily, I had put new windshield whipers on a couple of weeks ago. Needless to say, I finally arrived home safely.

The next day, it took me 10 or 15 minutes to get my car door unfrozen and opened. The road crews had done thier jobs during the night and the roads were in pretty good shape. It was a fast moving storm, sort of hit and run. Lots better than those storms that hang around for days. I must admit that everything was pretty the next morning when we went out to clear the driveway. The sun was shining and the trees were covered in thick snow. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture. Maybe next storm, it's only January, after all.

Happy New Year

Here's hoping for 2009 being a "good" new year, whatever your idea of good is. Hopefully, we will all reach, at least the most important of our goals and aspirations. Notice I didn't use the term, "resolutions". I've gotten away from making resolutions. I think that we get too hung upon forever breaking those resolutions, then feeling like a failure. With goals and/or aspirations, we can always revise or refine, or even just chuck them if they don't serve our good.

I've looked at my New Years goals and it seems that I make the same ones every year. Obviously, those goals are not working. I've tried to revise and reword.....still no go. Maybe, just maybe, these goals aren't met because they're the wrong goals. So many years, too many to count, I wanted to lose wieght. It didn't work so much or at least not for long. I revised the goal to being fit and healthy. Seems like a good goal, but hard to measure unless you set up parameters to meet. Wow! That sounds like fun. I also made goals about money. Well, wasn't that a great success?

This year I've decided to be easy on myself, at least I hope it will be easy. Maybe, the feeling that I need this goal, is a sign that it won't be that easy. You see, I think I need to enjoy life more, have some fun. My goal is to bring more fun and enjoyment to my life. Of course, everyone has a different idea of what is fun, and that idea can change from one day to the next. I just want to live my life, not just fill it up with "have tos" and "should dos", and add more of the"want tos". As the past has shown me, life can and will, throw you unexpected curves, at least I want to be able to say I've done, at least, some of what I've wanted to do. Sometimes, all the power we have is our choice in how we will react to what life throws at us.

One nice thing about a new year. It can be like a blank slate, anything can happen. I'm going to try and focus on the positive. It can be a very good year.

Last Day of 2008

I like to review my year on Dec 31, when I can.Usually, that's in my journal, but I'll do it in my blog this year.

2008 was probably my least best year, I'm afraid. Losing my daughter, Michele, is right up there with being one of the worst experiences in my life. It was so unexpected, despite the fact that for many years, when she was younger, I was afraid that she would drink something, or run off and get into trouble that would lead to her death. The past several years were quite calm after her years going through puberty and getting into a group home. Because of the excellent care she received from Turn Services, I began to relax. In fact, I had started to worry about how Michele would deal with my passing. I guess no one could have predicted she would have a brain tumor.

There was a great deal of pain in Michele's passing. There still is, for that matter. Even so, I was amazed at the lives she touched, and the people who were there with me and with her, giving her their love and energy to get through her last task. I am so grateful for them.

Strangely, gratitude is an emotion that rivals sorrow for this last year. I had help and caring from so many people, those at the hospital, those people who worked with her, people that I work with and my wonderful family who bear the sorrow with me. I hope they all know how grateful I am to them.

I can barely remember the first few months of 2008, but from Michele's passing onward, the year seems etched in my mind. Strange.

I got to get to know a little about my granddaughter to be, when Sam and Solanah drove down from Vancouver to see us after Michele died. They knew they wouldn't be able to stay for any funeral proceedings, but were here to show thier support for us. I'm grateful.

I'm so grateful to my son, Bob, his wonderful wife, Lisa, to my grandchildren Caitlin and Ethan, for thier company and presence during the planning and services for Michele. We had this little 2 bedroom house, filled with the people I love, mattresses everywhere, and it was great!

I got myself busy doing yard work with a "green" people power mower. It was really quite easy. It helps when the mower is new and the blades are sharp. I had planned to plant a garden, but hadn't got the grass dug out before Michele's passing. After that, I just didn't have the energy, or the heart to dig it out. Hopefully, I will get that accomplished this year.

We didn't do much movie going, but did go to an art exhibit last summer. Gas prices were still high, so there weren't any road trips. Most of my travel was commuting back and forth to work in Salt Lake. By the time I needed to start my extra Holiday hours, the price of gas was coming down. For awhile, it seemed that the price was in free fall, dropping a couple of cents a day. Now it's up a few cents, but seems to have leveled off. (hopefully) I have a new co-ordinator at work, but things aren't too changed. It does seem that there's a bit more micro-managing with the recession and all.

A really bright spot has been the election of Barrack Obama as President. He has so many problems ahead of him, I give him my prayers for strength and good judgement.

The future looks a little scary right now, but I have a lot of hope for us. I was reading an article in the news that most people feel much the same way for now. Maybe we'll be forced to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and make a kinder, better world.

I know this is kind of long, and I've only hit the most important spots. Onward and upward to 2009!

Quiet Christmas

We had a quiet Christmas yesterday. The south wind was setting up a raquet though. I could never seem to figure out if it was snowing lightly, or if all the flakes in the air were just being blown around from existing snow. There was about an inch of snow on the roads though, so MaryLou drove down to get Maureen for dinner.

I cooked dinner, nothing too elaborate, a cranberry pork loin. We did pig out on cheesecake for dessert. It seems that all three of us got food for Christmas, lots of chocolate. By 4 pm, MaryLou took Maureen home. Later, we realised we couldn't hear the wind anymore.We looked out and it was snowing like crazy.

Today, I got up with a sinus headache around 5 am and took ibuprofen. I got up at 6:30am and got warm clothes on to go out and dig out from the storm. We had at least 6 inches,maybe a little more. By the time we cleared the driveway, porches and walkway, it was after 8am. I cleared my car a bit, but need to finish. I got snow in my boot and my pant bottoms were snow crusted. One of my feet was so cold that it ached for awhile after I got into the warmth. My head was still hurting, so I finally decided not to go to work today, I'll make it tomorrow though. Can't afford to take too much off.

We're actually seeing some blue sky here and there.It's really cold though, about 22degrees. I don't know why I grump and groan about the cold and snow every winter. After all, it is winter, and it comes every year whether I want it to or not. Maybe I should find something fun to do in the winter that I could look forward to every year. Might work, as long as it doesn't require driving in ice and snow. Lotsa luck, right?

Odds and Ends

It's been an interesting week or two. We finally got busy at Sam's Club with the Taste of Sam's event. Every week-end after that was pretty busy. People aren't buying as lavishly as they have the past couple of years, but they are still buying some of the things they really like, even if the price is a bit higher. I was really getting tired from the extra hours, plus we've been required to work later hours. All of our week day shifts are from 11 am to 7pm. That puts me home pretty late. Last Friday we had a pretty big snow storm and it took me 2 hours to get home. Things will slow down for awhile now.Maybe I can get rested up.

My daughter-in-law got me started on Facebook. It's been kind of fun, so far. There's a lot of fun things you can do. I've already added some friends, of course they're all related, except for my grandson's fiance, and she will soon be officially related, though she's already part of the family.

The weather up in the Northwest has been scary. I think they have more snow in the Portland area than we hae in the Salt Lake/Tooele area. I worried about my family being on the road, but it seems that it's been so cold, that one cars'battery went dead, and another had a flat tire, so they're not on the road too much for awhile. Instead of road problems, they have to worry about cabin fever.

It's been pretty cold today, or at least seemed so with a south wind blowing in another storm. Christmas Day is supposed to have a pretty heavy snow storm. We're staying home,but my Aunt Maureen is coming here for dinner. If the storm gets too bad, I guess MaryLou or I can drive her back and forth.

We spent the morning going into Salt Lake to visit Mom and Michele's graves and put some poinsetias on them. All day, I've felt that something was missing. It's been like waiting for someone to arrive, so Christmas could begin. There's kind of an empty space in the house right now.

Lisa did a beautiful version of one of the pictures she had taken of Michele and sent it to MaryLou and I. It is really special and we both cried when we saw it, but we appreciate it so much. Lisa always sends out a family picture for thier Christmas card. Solanah is included this year too. The family always has wonderful poses and attitude for the picture. They all should be on the stage.

I've been a little lax on my posting. Sorry, but I've been pretty tired after work and busy on days off, maybe a little lazy as well.Hopefully, I'll get better

Blah, Blah, Blah

As you may see from my title, I'm not in too great a mood. I've been trying to post at least once a week, more if I can. I'm just putting down words to say I've posted.

Christmas is next week. There's not much to say about it, except that I'll be through doing a 4 day work week, that's nice. It will be a very quiet day for us, I think. It will be white, I'm sure. We haven't got huge amounts of snow, just persistant storms coming through. I could even deal with that,I think, if it wasn't so blasted COLD! It'sabout 15 degrees out there now. I need to replace my windshield wiper blades before Friday's storm,but I'm really resisting going out in the cold.

When things get dark and I get grumpy, it's time to find something to be grateful for. I filled my gas tank for under $12 last Sunday. Prices for gasoline are about $1.39 per gallon, so far. That's something to be grateful for. We have a roof over our heads and the furnace works. Our shower is done and works. I still have a job and, so far, my hours haven't been cut. I enjoy the people I work with. I enjoy most of my customers, especially the babies and toddlers. I have a wonderful family,even though it is one smaller this year. The snow is only inches deep, not more than a foot deep as it was last year. We are starting to pile it up in the mountains. I have books to read, crafts to do, the internet to play with. I have clothing to counteract the cold, and I don't have to work in the cold, like some. I guess I have things pretty good and if I'm open to the possibilities, things will get better and better. I know all that, but, just for today, I'm still a little grumpy, but I'll be better tomorrow.

Procrastination

Today the sun is shining brightly. We have just a light breeze and the temp is around 35 degrees. We ended up with about 2 inches out of Monday's storm. I hoped if I ignored it, that it would melt. Unfortunately, we are on the wrong side of the street. We face North. This time of year, the sun is toward the south, so it's mostly behind the house as it goes across the sky. That means that the house shades the walk ways and quite a bit of the driveway. Anyway, the snow was still there this morning. I finally had to bite the bullet and go shovel. Of course, by now, there are footsteps and ice all over, so the walks and driveway are only partially clean. Hopefully, what sun we do manage to get, will melt at least some of the packed snow and ice. If I had not procrastinated, the snow might be gone by now.

To go on with my exciting life; I'm not sure if MaryLou's dreaded virus is aware of me or not, since I always have some sinus problems in the cold weather. MaryLou isn't coughing so much, but she still has a full head. We both got good news from Social Security today, a nice 5% cost of living raise. With me still working and paying into the program, I usually get a little boost in December,which is nice. Considering my salary, it's just a little boost, but better than nothing.

I work the next 4 days and we may get snow. After last year, I'm not looking forward to the commute. Hopefully, it won't be as bad as last year. After the holidays, we may get slower at work and I may get hours cut. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what the economy does, just like everyone else.

Snowy Day

Today it's snowing. It's supposed to be a light snow. I guess it is, as it's been coming down for about 3 hours and there's only about an inch accumulation on my car, so far. The ground is still a bit warm, so it took awhile before it started laying. I can appreciate the snow today, as I have the day off, just the laundry to do.

I love how quiet it seems when it is snowing. Of course, if there's a wind, and it's a blizzard, it's not too quiet. Rain makes a sound when it lands, but snow just settles lightly down. I'm trying to find reasons to be happy about snow, can you tell? I mean, we live in high desert country and we really need the snow, so I might as well try to like it, at least a little. As a child, I liked snow quite a bit. I built snow men and snow forts and made snow angels. Obviously, I didn't drive at the time. I even liked to help clean the walks, just because I didn't have to.

My Aunt, MaryLou is not feeling so well. She's bundled up in her quilt, forcing fluids, trying to fend off a cold. I'm hoping to avoid catching it, as I really don't have time to be sick. Maybe, if I'm very quiet, the virus won't notice me?

The Season

Today, we were thinking about how much Christmas decorating we were planning to do this year. Our nieghbors have their lights up and lighted figures out. All over the city and county as well, there are lights springing up everywhere. I halfway expected to see fewer displays this year, what with the recession and all. I guess that either people are putting up a show of hope, or maybe just doing what they always do, out of habit.

We've decided to leave our lighted figures in the basement. We'll probably use some small lights on the fence, just to show the neighbors we're still here. We've got our wreaths up and the mailbox decorated. Indoors, we've put out one or two things. We may put out a little more, but niether of us feels like going all out this year. The economy plays some part, but mostly it's because we are still in mourning. I imagine this year will be the biggest problem, and that it will fade a bit with time, but, for now, my heart just isn't into a lot of decorating. That doesn't mean that Christmas will mean any less. In fact, it will probably mean more, in many ways.

Our weather is still on the mild side. Last year on Dec.1st, we had a huge storm. I'm not feeling left out though. I'm still driving into Salt Lake 4 days a week, so milder weather is easier. I'm sure it won't last forever. I'll just enjoy it while it lasts.

We have new stores in Tooele. A new Big 5 Sports opened recently, and a new Sears appliance store had their grand opening on "black Friday" and did very well. We have a new Gold's Gym being built that will open around the 20th of Jan. Right now, you can join for $21 per month. I've been trying to decide if I can afford it or not. I'm just a little worried that things at work will slow down in January and my hours might go down. Last year stayed fairly busy, but this year could be different. I guess only time will tell. In any case, we're still surviving, plumbing bills and all.

Thanksgiving, 2008

I've frequently railed at the fact that Thanksgiving seems to get lost between Halloween and Christmas. Now, I'm thinking that might be a good thing. It hasn't become quite so commercialised as the other holidays. There are still advertisements for food and all, but not the unrelenting push to buy, buy, buy.

Today I'm thankful for many things, some big, some small. All of these things add to a life lived. Most of all, I'm thankful for my family. I have a wonderful Son and Daughter-in-law who have given me 3 wonderful Grandchildren. I don't see them anywhere near enough, but by seeing them less often, I notice all the ways they are growing and maturing. They are positively amazing in thier accomplishments and thier great views on life. I miss them a lot. I'm so thankful that they are what and who they are.

I lost my beloved Daughter this last spring. Sometimes it's very hard to find things to be thankful for in this occurance. However, I am thankful that I was with her at the end. I'm thankful that I was able to see the many people she touched and made a difference to in her life. Despite the pain of her passing, I will be forever thankful that she was a part of my life.

I have two wonderful Aunts who have been there for me my whole life and who, in many ways, saved me when the bottom fell out of my financial life.

There are many seemingly small things to be grateful for, that really make life a blessing. There's sunshine and rain and even snow and wind. There's flowers and trees and weeds and all the other living things that we share this planet with that add to our lives. Even the lowly mesquito has it's place,(I guess). Being able to stop and rest can be wonderful, especially when you've done the work that got you tired.

I'm thankful for my belief in God and my sense of His presence, that small voice within that gives you love and ideas. I'm thankful for all the people that are also a part of God, and therefore me. I'm thankful for the ability to choose, whether that choice works out or not. Hopefully, I take the choice that's founded in love oftener than not.

In this time of uncertainty in the world, may we all make choices based in love and hope and gratitude and we will make for a better world. As the saying goes, "become the change you want to see in the world."

"Taste of Sam's"

"Taste of Sam's" is over for another year. It's always nice to have it over, especially if it was busy. It was definitely busy!

Every year, usually the weekend before Thanksgiving, Sam's Club has an event called, A Taste of Sam's " where we go all out to demo the new holiday products, as well as the tried and true products. Of course, I'm speaking of food products. We have the whole demo staff involved, some cooking in the kitchen and trying to keep up with demand. The rest of us are on the sales floor, serving the members and their guests. We are generous with the products and keep serving from 10:30 AM until 6:00 PM, then we have to clean up. We do this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I was on the dessert table all 3 days, changing partners each day. We gave out samples of cheesecake every day, always one flavor from The Cheesecake Factory, plus a couple of other brands we carry. We offered apple crisp, nice and warm, with vanilla bean ice cream. We had mini eclairs and cream puffs, sugar cookies and something called profiteroles, which are like puffed pastry dipped in chocolate with flavored cream fillings. Two days we offered fair trade coffee, and one day eggnog.

You have to pretty much get an assembly line going, putting all the samples on a plate and getting them out to people. Bear in mind that you're serving from frozen cheesecake that needs to be cut all day. When we were serving ice cream, we had to keep it from melting as much as possible. We'd just get going good, when someone would want coffee or eggnog and one of us would have to stop to pour. Because of temperature concerns, the drinks couldn't be put out early.

We were busy all three days, but Saturday was unrelenting. Of course, each of us had to take breaks and lunch, leaving the other to slog on by themselves.

The first two days, we were taking cheesecakes out of the freezer maybe 2 at a time, so they were pretty frozen. It really became difficult to cut them. On Sunday, I took 4 each of the 2 cakes we were doing and let them soften up while we were getting set up for the day. That worked a little better, but by the 4th cake, it was soft enough to be sticking to the knife. We figure we served 2000 people.

I went home each night and had to put heat packs on my right hand.With carpel tunnel and arthritis, I was pretty uncomfortable. In fact, all day on Monday, I wore my brace, which I usually only wear at night.

By Sunday night, we were all pretty tired. At least I've got 4 days off now. I did the washing yesterday, going up and down the basement stairs and packing up the clean clothes while MaryLou worked on the tile for the shower. She got the area around the tub faucet re tiled while worked. Today, we went down to Home Depot to get a few more tiles and realised that we were both really tired and needed a day off, so we are relaxing for the rest of the day.

Happy Birthday,Michele

Michele, I wish you Happy Birthday, Honey. I really miss you! I hope that you are doing all the things you were unable to do during your life, like talking to anyone, not needing to sign. I'm sure the Angels have always understood you just fine, but hopefully you're sounding off on all your thoughts out loud now.

It doesn't quite seem like you've been gone 6 months. There are so many ways that you are missed. The up coming holidays seem very changed without you. Aunt MaryLou and I each bought a pumpkin to put on the porch. After Halloween, we smashed the pumpkins in remembrance of you. You always loved "turkey day". It will not seem the same this year.In fact, we haven't the heart to cook up a Thanksgiving dinner, we'll probably go out,which you also enjoyed doing once in awhile.

Michele, you touched the lives of many people, especially your family. You added some interesting dimentions and experiences. Thank you for all of those experiences. Thank you for all the love you gave us. As your Mother, I felt your unconditional love and I am grateful for it. I only wish I had been as unconditional with you. Miss you Honey.

Repairs

Have you noticed that, very often, when you think you have a simple repair job, it just seems to grow? Our cold water tap in the bathtub was leaking. It's an older home, so I figured that we could just take off the tap and replace a washer, just like we did in the"old days". My Aunt informed me that the pipes went back into the kitchen and we needed a special long wrench that we didn't have.We'd wait until we could afford to call the plumber. By that time, the leak wasn't a drip, but a stream.I shudder to think how much water was going down the drain everyday!

When the plumber came out, he said he liked to change out both taps at once. The hot water tap came out fine, but the cold one wouldn't budge. Since the back of the pipes are under one of the bottom cabinets in the kitchen, it would be very hard to get to them. We decided to let him go through the front, removing some of the tile to get to it. The cold water valve was stripped out and needed to be replaced. Considering the house was built around 1945, and these are the original taps, they've held up very well. Since the cost of a one handeled faucet set is compareable in price to the original 2 handles one, we decided to go with the single handle. We still have some of the original tile downstairs, we planned on replacing it ourselves. We even decided to go ahead with having a shower plumbed in, rather than keeping our useless handheld one.

As you can probably imagine, costs are climbing! Once the water valve and shower pipe were in, we realised we might not be up to repairing the holes in the wall ourselves, even though the plumber told us what to do, and I had seen my Father do it, we really lack the experience and tools, Now we have someone else coming in on Saturday to do the sheetrock work to close both of the holes. We are still going to do the tilework. We've both done that before. Unfortunatly, we don't have enough of the old tile. We're hoping there's enough to tile around the tap. MaryLou forgot she used some of the tile on her old kitchen cabinets. We'll look for a match, but the tile was originally bought in the 60's, so we may have to get creative with what we put around the shower and around the window. Oh well, it will be wonderful to have a working shower.

Another thing that seems to happen frequently. Having to almost clean out my savings account after I've finally got it built up, and so close to Christmas too. I guess I need to turn it around and be grateful that I have money in savings to help, right?

Barack Obama Wins

I have been a supporter of Barack Obama for quite awhile, though I did vote for Hillary Clinton in the primary election. As the campaign went on, I became a little worried about Bill Clinton's role in a Hillary administration. As we all know, Obama hung on to become the Democratic candidate for the presidency.

I started out pulling for Obama because he was Democrat and not Bush, but I soon began to listen to his speeches and saw something that I hadn't seen in years, a candidate to vote for, not just someone who was the lesser of 2 evils. I can't believe what that did to my outlook. Finally, someone to get excited about! I signed up to get emails from the Obama campaign, I donated to a political campaign for the first time in my life. I discussed the issues with friends and co-workers. I have to say, I went into election day with excitement, but with a little bit of forboding. After the disappointment of the last 2 elections, I guess I was worried that John McCain would pull a rabbit out of his hat at the last minute.

I was amazed at the early decision! I couldn't believe, at first, that the news was calling the election right after the polls had closed on the west coast. I held my breath for awhile,then let myself believe. I think when I saw McCain giving his concession speech, that it became real to me at last. A note on McCain's speech; it was very nice and like the "real" McCain was back. I'm not sure what happened to him during the campaign, but it didn't seem like McCain was the man that we'd known for years.

President elect, Obama, gave a very inspiring acceptance speech, bringing a lump to my throat several times. He seems fully aware that his job will not be easy. There is so much to do, so many problems, he's going to need all the help he can get. He's asked for our support and sacrifice. Isn't it nice for a political leader to ask that, rather than do tell us, like Pres Bush did after 9/11 to go shopping.? The American people are better than that, they just need to have someone believe in them, as Pres elect Obama does.

It's very early yet to make judgements,but I feel a breath of fresh air and a sense of change.

This and That 2

I was just noticing that I have only posted 2 times in October. October is 2/3 over. Opps! I guess I've been a bit lazy. I know I'm not writing in my journal as much either. I guess sometimes I either don't have anything to say, ot what I might say doesn't feel important enough to get myself writing.

I've spent the morning loading stuff picked up at the storage yesterday from the car to the house. I had a lot of jewelry that I've collected or been given over the years. Some I will take to the D.I. for give away,and some I will scavenge for parts for new jewelry.

I can't believe how many books I have collected, many of them unread! I've taken some to the D.I for give away, but it's kind of hard to part with some of them. Eventually, I will probably bring myself to give some more of them away. I noticed in the newspaper that the SLC public library was selling books for a rediculously low price and thought, "Wow! Just what I need, more books!"

The "Nearly"Last Rose of summer

I took this picture a few days ago. It's not as clear as I'd like, too wiggley. I planted about a dozen lilys on the east side of the house. MaryLou planted some bulbs in the front. I also planted a pretty lavender and white mum and a lavender plant. The strange thing about the lavender plant is that it ends up out of the ground every few days. The soil around it looks like someone either hit the plant with a ball or something, or that something, like a cat has been rolling over the plant until it's out of the dirt. It does smell very nice, though it isn't blooming. The leaves just smell good. I wonder if some neighborhood cat thinks it's as good as catnip?

Anyway, I've replanted it twice, this last time moving it to the front of the house, near the front porch. I hope it stays this time. I might have to move it to the back yard, but then I'll have to deal with Lady.

Life has been a bit strange lately. I suspect that's true for many of us. With all of the uncertainty due to our financial melt-down, plus the coming election, with the requisit mud-slinging, I guess we're entitled to be a little on edge. For myself, I have to add the fun of working in a retail setting with everyone worried about this next season,whether it will be okay or whether sales will be flat. I still have to increase my working days, and goals seem harder than ever to reach. Management seems to be pushing a bit harder than last year. One semi bright spot is gasoline prices coming down a bit.

I've been going through my smaller storage unit lately. The goal is to clear it out by this month's end, so I can save the money I'm spending on it. I've been going through some old pictures. In a way, that has been somewhat bittersweet, seeing my children as babies and toddlers, then growing up. I'm still dealing with Michele's loss and seeing her baby pictures is a bit hard, plus all the holidays coming up haven't helped. I just try to focus on good things. Like today, Maureen took MaryLou and I to breakfast. It was a beautiful day. The sky was so blue it almost hurt your eyes. No matter the worry, there's always something beautiful to see.

Quiet Sunday

It's Sunday, and I'm off work. I'm ignoring politics and the economy and spending a quiet day.

It rained yesterday and snowed in the mountains. It's October and time for the LDS Conference, so it storms. I'm not sure why, but probably 90% of the time, we do get storms during fall conference and spring conference as well. The timing of the events is probably the most logical reason for the inclemant weather.

I worked yesterday and it was just sprinkling when I arrived at the store, but throughout the day, I would see members coming in with wet hair or wet overcoats. On my way home, there were still patches of rain, some even heavy. I turned to the south, on my way into Tooele. I looked to the southwest and I could see a little clearing of the clouds on top of South Willow Peak. There it was, the first snow of the season! As I traveled closer to Tooele, I could see snow above Middle canyon and Settlement canyon. It was very pretty.

It seems strange that I welcome the snow, when just a few months ago I was cursing it. I could say that snow in the mountains is welcome, which it is. We live in a high desert state and we depend on snow in the mountains. Still, I will admit that snow can be beautiful for it's own sake and I certainly can enjoy a quiet snow falling outdoors while I view it from the warmth of home with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate. I even enjoy being out in a snow storm, as long as I have nowhere to go and can retreat back indoors when my feet and hands get cold. I guess there's just something compeling for me, in the changing of the seasons. Isn't it a shame that we so quickly, get tired of each season, and look forward to the next one. The one season I really like to draw out longer is Fall. I enjoy October and November very much, especially October. It has to be my favorite month. I love the cooler temperatures, the turning leaves, the harvest. I love pumpkins. We'll soon be buying some, displaying them on the porch, and looking forward the the grand smashing on Halloween, to honor Michele's momory.

I'm Confused

I've got to say, on one hand, I'm somewhat pleased that the House of Representatives didn't pass the bailout bill. I will say that I'm quite surprised though. I thought they were all scared by the financial crisis. I guess they were more frightened of the voters, at least those who are up for re-election this year. I'm sure they heard from many of thier constituents who were against taxpaper money being used to prop up the companies who gambeled and lost. On the other hand, if the government does nothing, we're most likely in for a deep recession, which may last for more than months, more likely for 2 or 3 years, according to some accounts I've read. I'm not too excited to go through a recession. In my job, I'm already seeing customers curtail thier spending to mainly necessities.

I read an article in the Christian Science Monitor that says that the government should not artificially prop up the economy, that it will only postpone the changes that need to be made in our ways of doing bussiness. They also feel that we just will get another melt down later on that will be even worse. Unfortunately,what the US does or doesn't do affects the rest of the world. Our markets and finances are so intertwined throughout the world, that a recession won't just affect the US, but much of the rest of the world.

I am certainly not qualified to figure out what we should do. My heart goes out to those who are facing foreclosure due to subprime mortgages. I have certainly been there myself. In fact, the company who held my mortgage, has already gone under itself. I guess we just watch and hope and do a little praying that those in power do the right thing. I don't think "we the people" are helpless though. We can mend our own dealings as much as possible, pay down debts if possible, don't take on any more debt if we can help it. Maybe it's time we got away from the instant gratification attitude many of us have and think over any big purchases we may have been planning, even though that might make a problem for retailers. We just need to get back to living within our means. Buying on credit and buying anything that's new has a lot to do with the problems we're facing now, the housing bubble bursting was just the trigger.

Questions About Economics

I have often scratched my head, trying to understand how it is that the American economy seems to depend on my spending money. Everytime there's a blip on the economic radar, it seems it's because people didn't spend as much as expected on back to school products or on holiday giving. Is our gross national product the spending of money by the populace? It seems so much of our economy depends, not just on our spending money, but on our investing in companies, and even on our using credit.

I was reading an oped article by Harold Myerson, who is a writer and editor of American Prospect and the L.A. Weekly. He is of the opinion that the failing companies like Lehman Brothers and Merril Lynch deserve to die due to their poor management and greed. He mentions that over the last 8 years, the U.S. economy has created only 5 million jobs, and the median income of American households has declined. Our infrastucture is failing,(bridges, roads, airports) New Orleans has not been rebuilt. He asserts that American productivity within the United States is no longer the prime target of investment. Now household consumption, known as shopping, comprises 70% of our economy---that's 70%, people. We get to keep our country afloat economically by spending more of our decreasing income on products from China.

Mr Meyerson goes on to lambast Wall Street for turning thier backs on America, only caring about profit and themselves. He says that it wasn't always this way. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, bankers like August Belmont and J.P. Morgan invested European capital in American rail roads and steel. The Whig party, a forerunner to the Republican party, committed to develope the country's infrastructure. Later, as the Republican party, they created land grant colleges to help the populace get an education. The currant Rebulican party seems to have loyalty only to large corporations. These are the same corporations that want Americans to take on more debt to buy more things that they probably don't need, then cry foul when these people can't pay their debt. Now these corporations are beginning to admit that they may have pushed credit onto people who really weren't able to handle that much credit.

I'm not totally comfortable with the Treasury's huge bail-out proposal either. Other than the government buying subprime mortgages, there doesn't seem to be a lot of info on what will actually be done. The fact that one man will have all that power with little or no oversight is a recipe for disaster. I know Congress is trying to put in oversight, as well as some help for individuals,but it is tough going. Hopefully, they will stay in session until it gets done better,and not take the easy way out just so they can get home to campaign for re-election. It seems, to me, that the electorate would be more impressed by seeing them doing thier jobs.

Rain

Since the subject today is rain, I thought I would add a picture of a rain storm we recieved on Labor day this year. We received over an inch of rain in this storm. Since Tooele is in the foothills of the western side of the Oquirrah Mountains, any appreciative amount of rain will run downhill to the North or West. This day, it even ran over the parking and onto the sidewalk.

We got a lovely rain yesterday morning. It was gentle, one of Mother Nature's gifts. I enjoyed watching it. I was also thankful that we didn't have to do our usual Monday lawn watering. I was able to start the laundry early, and finished just after 1 pm. Usually, I have to wait until 10am, when we're supposed to finish the morning watering. That puts me later finishing the laundry. There's just not enough water pressure to water the lawn and run the washer too.

The rain reminded me of the storm we had Saturday in Salt Lake. We had several minutes of thunder, then it started raining on our store's metal roof. What a racket. I was regreting that I couldn't get out to see the rain. That's the trouble with having no windows. The skylights just aren't the same thing.

A member came by my cart to try a sample of my chicken salad. He had a baby with him that looked to be no more than a year old, or less. We talked about the storm and he went on to tell me that he had rushed up to the front door so he could show the rain to his little son, but by the time he got there, the rain had stopped. I thought about how sweet it was that he wanted to share the storm with his child. A little later, I heard the rain start up again and I hoped that he had been able to share it with the baby.

Fall Outing

Ididn't have to work last Sunday, and MaryLou didn't have church, so we decided to take a little trip into the mountains and see whether the fall follage was out. We invited Maureen and planned to make a day of it. We went to the Alpine Loop above Timpanogus. I discovered that while I don't get carsick when I'm doing the driving, I don't do too well as a passenger.

The leaves were just beginning to turn, mostly the scrub oaks and box elder trees. Only a few of the quakies were turning. The colors weren't as bright as I had hoped. It's been a very dry summer. That's usually the case when the colors are a bit on the dull side. The picture on the bottom was taken as we went on the Mirror Lake highway, the one on the top was on the Alpine Loop. We went on to Evanston.WY. We stopped there for lunch.

We've had a disease in the lodge pole pines aroung the state for several years. I was really sad to see how bad it has spread. There are many trees that are like dry sticks, and many others with the red, dry needles of the disease. It almost looks as if there are as many diseased trees as there are healthy ones. I'm not sure whether loggers could get to the trees on the steeper slopes or if they would even want to. To be truthful, we could probably use a fire to clear out the diseased trees. Of course, that would take out the healthy ones too.

We probably would see more color in another week or so, but with me working weekends and gasoline still a little too pricey for another trip,I guess this will have to do for this year.

We Need To Read Carefully

I've been reading an article from The Christian Science Monitor, whom I consider to be fairly objective. This article advised people to be careful about reading articles about Sarah Palin, and not take things written at face value. The author chastises the media for not reporting objectively and backing down from doing their research and homework,bowing down to the GOP campaign people. Things that were reported in the early days of Gov. Palin's pick as Sen McCain's running mate, were not followed up on. Soon, the press was parroting the party line,as the GOP tries to "create its' own reality".

The problem for many average, busy people, is that they see campaign spots repeatedly, and because they either don't have time or don't know where to research for whatever is true, they end up believing what they see and hear constantly and vote that way. Later, we all begin to wonder how we got into another mess, or why things don't get any better.

Considering the last nearly 6 years, I think it's important to look at many sources and read as much as we can before we make up our minds on election day. We need to use our brains as well as feelings to decide how to vote. Please don't vote on looks, your nieghbors' advise or the wishes of whatever group you may belong to.

Thoughts and Feelings

Yesterday, I was doing some cleaning and dusting in my room. I was cleaning one of the 8x10 pictures I have of Michele, when I suddenly felt such a wave of grief and disbelief that it almost felt like punch in my stomach. I thought,"I can't believe she's really gone!" These things hit me, usually with no warning, just some little thing can trigger it. Later, I realised that it was Sept. 8th, Michele has been gone for 4 months. It still seems quite unreal to me, for some reason.

I'm working a little bit more lately. We are so short handed at work right now. Last Friday we had 4 people call in sick, plus our new co-ordinator has been in the hospital. There has been lots of shifting of demos and hours. Next month we will probably see an increase in the amount of demos with the up coming holiday season. I'm sure I'll be pressed to work more days. I'll probably work some more, but with every extra trip, it costs more in gasoline. Prices are coming down a bit, but Utah still has one of the highest costs, tied with Montana, in the nation. Unfortunately, with the higher food prices, it's getting harder to get our sales goals. Thank goodness I've already had my yearly review.

The weather is cooling some and we've actually had a couple of good rain storms. Our summer water total by Aug. 27, was just .41 inch. Over Labor Day weekend, we recieved 1.11 inch of rain in Tooele. We finally have some green in the yard. I was afraid we were going to have to convert to sage brush. It's cloudy and breezy today. We're expecting rain this evening and tomorrow. It will be welcome. I must say, I've certainly remembered , with fondness, MaryLou and my trip to Long Beach summer before last. There was so much water compared to Utah!

Book Review

I just finished a book by Sue Monk Kidd called "The Mermaid Chair". This is a very good book about a woman going through, essentially, a mid-life crisis. She begins feeling restless when her only daughter goes off to college. The woman has what most would call, a very successful marriage, but the cracks are starting to show. She is an artist who has limited herself to making little art boxes. Things come to a head when she is informed that her mother has cut off her finger with a cleever.

The woman, Jessie, goes home to be with her mother on the little South Carolina barrier island where she grew up, a place she had happily escaped to go to college. Now, she must deal with her mother's possible madness,and her own confused feelings about her home, her mother, and her fathers' violent death when Jessie was 9 years old.

A very important feature is the monestery where the Mermaid Chair resides, a chair honoring its' patron Saint. She resists any help from her psychiatrist husband, in fact tells him to keep away.

We meet very colorful people from the island, and dog Max. Jessie also meets Brother Thomas, to whom she is instantly and strongly attracted. We get to know several of the other resident monks.

It is a book told with compassion and passion. Jessie finds a part of herself that she repressed at the time of her father's death. In fact, in many ways, his death is the focal point of the book. I highly reccomend it.