We met up with the Jrs at Ellis Park last Sunday for the final race of the season. I can’t win a bet to save my life, but Casey did alright, as did Samantha!
I had surgery on Tuesday to re-center my left optical lens and it went well. This time around the anesthesia left me drugged for a couple of days, more than in the past. Maybe I’m just getting old? After my follow-up appointment on Wednesday, we walked over to the downtown Market on Main. I’ve been meaning to visit since it started up in June, however, it doesn’t look like I’ve been missing much.
Anyway, I did drag around the garden, trimming and uprooting, harvesting, and arranging. Fall is in the air, and both gardens are finishing up their service.
My son, Michael, will be 44 on Wednesday, but we’re celebrating today at our usual celebrating place, so I’ll cut this missive short.
Family Stories will be a blog about the lives of my shirt-tail ancestors – aunts, uncles, cousins – and I’ve got some good tales to tell. For the Introductory post, I introduced myself and said a few words about my other ancestry blog. Looking for a photo of some sort, I came across a prose poem that hit me in my heart.
It appears that Della Joann McGinnis Johnson probably wrote the original version of this, but others may have edited/contributed. Whoever it was, I thank them. I’m happy to report that I’m not the only crazy person who feels the presence of their ancestors – even consulting with them – and who views graveyards as living things. This explains it…
THE STORY TELLERS
We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors – to put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. To me, doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one.
We have been called by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: tell our story. So we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors you have a wonderful family you would be proud of us? How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me?
I cannot say.
It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who am I and why do I do the things I do. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying I can’t let this happen. The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that they fought to make and keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are them and they are us.
So, as a scribe is called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take their place in the long line of family storytellers. That is why I do genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and put flesh on the bones.
Because I love writing this Report, because the format of “that was the week that was” is easy, because my loyal readers enjoy even the boring parts, I keep on truckin’. But, honestly, I want more people to read my stuff. I’ve got some stories to tell and they’re good ones. Hang with me while I get them written and published over at Family Stories. Until I get going, there’s a lot of good reads at All My Ancestors.
We’re off to the Races today with the Jrs (minus Nova, who has to work)! It’s perfect weather, and I’m feelin’ lucky…
Last week was good. Appropriate cards and greetings were sent to the lucky people who married my children. My long-time hairdresser coaxed my tresses into their usual bleached-blonde-blowout — yes, I actually pay to look this bad. A new longevity-of-phone-call record was set by me and my soul-sister – and I could have talked longer! BruBurger saw me twice, first for a lunch with my sister and then, a couple of days later, dinner with husband to celebrate our Anniversary.
My green beans and cucumbers are popping right up!
I’m still out early in the mornings to water and trim. Tomatoes and Peppers are finishing up their fruiting, but they look pretty spent. As soon as this heat passes, probably Wednesday or Thursday, I’m going to tear in and tear out in both the Edible and the Peace/Bird. I have the beginnings of an idea to transform the P/B garden this fall, complete with native shrubs and some sort of fencing to keep out the deer.
Speaking of deer, we have three fawns that visit daily, hanging out in our backyard with their moms nearby. They are darling. This summer we’ve attracted a couple of skunks – Pepe’ and one of his girlfriends, no doubt – who keep digging along our foundation. Pepper Flakes to the rescue.
I am returning to my Ancestry research. I’ve had my subscriptions on hold for a while, but upgraded to an international version for six months, and will be trying to catch up with my Scots-Irish roots, going back to our 17th century years in the Highlands. My German greats arrived later, and will be easier verify, so I expect to find that I’m some sort of baroness. I publish our family stories over at my Ancestry Blog, and if you have never visited, you really should! It is chock-full of interesting characters, many of whom haunt my house and heart. I’ll be bugging you more about this, so why not bookmark it and give it a read? www.allmyancestry.wordpress.com
Despite the oppressive heat, we’re going to Try to go to Ellis Park tomorrow to watch the thoroughbreds. The last time I attempted this maneuver, the heat shut down the track, so that could happen again. The season is nearly over, so I’m getting a little desperate. I don’t remember the last time I didn’t go to the races at least once in the summer!
Hope there’s some shade in your neck of the woods!
Despite the charming fantasy of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, the Actual, Factual, honest-to-goodness middle of summer here at Sonnystone is/was August 7. Many of our Spring-plantings have now aged out and we have just enough time to get in a second planting, so I’ve spent the week (mostly) pulling up and replanting, trimming, and harvesting.
Out in the Edible Garden, our tomatoes and bell peppers slowed to a halt under the heat dome, but they are slowly recovering, producing a half-dozen or so new fruits. By early October, we should have a big harvest of green beans, squash, and cucumbers…
The Big Show is the Sunflowers…
Or Maybe it’s the zinnias…
The Peace/Bird Garden is a little faded, but otherwise doing well.
We have a big week ahead – two birthdays, daughter-in-law and son-in-law, as well as our 45th wedding anniversary. We had some plans for this week-end, but Casey is having some dental problems, and we had to adapt so he’ll be better able to enjoy!
45 years is a long time. We never dreamed we’d get this old… Oh, well, beats the alternative. Hope there’s Love flowing around your neck of the woods.
Melissa and Eliza, Casey and I, made the 5-hour drive from Sonnystone to Dublin, Ohio, on Friday, checked into our suite, then picked up Emma from the airport around 11pm. So good to see her!
I took a series of photos in the worst lighting ever, chronicling the metamorphosis of the girls into Irish Dancers’ hair (wigs and a lot of poof). They will take a lot of work to make them legible; in fact, none of my pictures turned out well.
We started out at the Feis, where Emma won the “Dance-off” competition for the second year in a row. The honor involves a heavy traveling trophy and the opportunity to perform at the Dublin Irish Fest that evening during the Parade of Champions.
My video of her set that evening pretty much sucks, but you know what she really looks like, so I’d like to share this small badly focused clip of her introduction:
My heart was so full just hearing that!
We absolutely loved the Fest and plan to make it an annual tradition! There was music and dancing, whisky and fest-food, Great Company and good weather – what more could you ask for?
Though we had to give up Camp Sonnystone due to certain humans growing up, we didn’t give up the “hands” sign with this year’s Word. This was a big reason we flew Emma in, actually! We needed her paw-print…
This may be the last year, the final word, so to speak…or maybe not. Be what may, I will cherish these memories Forever…
Melissa and Eliza arrived on…um…I think it was Wednesday… I’ve lost track of the days.
Nova and Samantha joined Eliza and me to visit the Mall on Friday, I do know that.
The Jrs joined us yesterday for our Family Picnic (inside, of course) – green beans and new potatoes, corn on the cob, fried chicken, sliced tomatoes, cantaloupe, and watermelon filled us up. I don’t know why on earth I didn’t take pictures, but we all had a good time playing yahtzee after our feast.
Our plans have gang agley – gone awry, if you will. We had planned to go to Ellis Park today, but Excessive heat shut down the thoroughbreds for the week, Eliza is feeling under the weather (get it?), and I’m out of ideas of air-conditioned entertainment, so we’re just hanging here, talking and enjoying each other’s company.
I think that’s fine, really. We are still maintaining the gardens in the early mornings, though most of the plants in the Edible garden are shocked by the heat. I seem to be mentioning “heat” pretty often, so let me add some adjectives: blistering, sweltering, scorching, oppressive…it’s as bad as I’ve ever experienced and I hate to see my utility bill next month.
The Company is cool, though, so I’m living my best possible today – whatever day it is. I promise I’ll take more pictures as the week goes on. Thanks for dropping by!
It was a soggy week here at Sonnystone. I’m personally sick of it, and even the gardens seem over it. Despite the assault of storms, we made our way through a fairly mundane 7 days – time with Samantha, hair appointment with Dusti, monthly phone call with Kathy. Now, we are ready for something Fresh!
Eliza and her mother will be here by Wednesday evening and the Fun will begin. The rains are supposed to recede and we’ll put our pool up for floating and frolicking. Ellis Park will be dried by next week-end, so we’ll have a Day at the Races. Eliza is demanding Orange Chicken from the Mall food court, so it had better be there. They will be here until August 1, when we’ll head up the road to Ohio for the Columbus Feis and the Dublin Irish Fest. Sooo excited!
We’ve kept most everything propped as relentless rains pelted down, and that’s about all we can do. I’ve harvested and am still harvesting tomatoes of all sorts and green beans are plentiful.
After I talked smack about the squash and the bell peppers, they decided to give me some fruit…
My poor Peace/Bird Garden is simply saturated. It looks a little tired overall, but if you focus on the blooms, they are bursting with energy!
We’ll be finishing up the preparations for our company these next few days. I would love to hear from any of my dear readers who might want to meet up with us. Let me know! You know how to find me…
If you’ve been following me on FB, you’ll have noticed that my #1 grandie, Emma, is On Fire; she has been first in most of her recent feis outings and second isn’t too bad, either. She placed 22nd in the World Championships in Dublin, Ireland earlier this year and I expect she’ll do even better in this “national” competition.
She did better all right! She beat her nearest competitor by 100 points! She dominated!
Emma Magnolia Mayne Jose
The word Proud doesn’t really convey my emotions. This little girl set her mind to Win back in 2020. She changed from a dance school that continually put her down and dismissed her talent to one that builds champions. Doherty-Petri Irish Dance School, or let’s just shout out her coaches, Lisa and Karen Petri, complemented Emma’s “Winning” attitude with Expectations of hard work, exactly what she needed. Emma Magnolia is very talented, but it’s the effort she’s put in, the training, and the learning from the losses that is so impressive. She deserves this and it fills my heart with Joy to see her achievements.
I wrote:
Unfortunately, my little Eliza injured her ankle and it’s taking its time to heal. She’ll be dancing, though, and she’s good, so we’ll see where she ends up.
She “ended up” #26!!! That’s out of Hundreds, you know, and is a great accomplishment!
Eliza Belle Mayne Jose
She’s back to full-on practices, so look out for her, especially at their Oireachtas in October. Eliza is super talented and we’re going to be celebrating a #1 for her in our future, as well.
Emma is now on her way back to Colgate University, where she will be doing an internship. This means she is not able to visit Sonnystone this summer. Eliza and Melissa will visit toward the end of the month and we maybe, might be able to sneak Emma in to the Dublin (Ohio) Irish Fest held August 1-3, if her job is flexible. We’ll see. I am prepared for the grandies to grow up, but holding out hope that we’ll all be together at Christmas.
Through all the tears of Joy, I was also shedding tears of fear and sadness – very efficient, but I’d rather not… My sister texted that she had had a “mini-heart attack” on Sunday. She really minimized it, so when she went for a heart catheterization on Monday, we were shocked that they scheduled open-heart surgery for the next day. Turns out she needed a quadruple bypass! The cardiac surgeon nixed the operation, though, as she has a meningioma tumor resting near her brain stem… Sooo, back to the drawing board, the cardiologists put stents in two of the four, and scheduled her back in two weeks to place the other two. She did well, but a previously undetected aneurysm in her ?wrist? burst and her arm “blew up like a sausage in the microwave” (credit to my niece Lauren for the description). What next? They kept her a little longer and did a CT to search for any other potential problems. She’s now home, thank-you Lord! I was a basket case, but this Strong lady has just faced it down with her usual calm. Donna is 17 months older than me, and though we’ve been rather estranged for the last 10 years, she had recently started to be friendly again. I am so grateful and ready to help her and her family through this rough patch.
The garden is pretty, but not all that productive. Oh, the tomatoes are going strong, but where are the cucumbers, bell peppers, and squash??? We’re not quite halfway through summer (mid-point is August 7), so I will try to be patient, enjoy the pretty, and support my fellow gardeners at the local Farmers’ Markets.
The Peace/Bird Garden continues to host a plethora of birds, bugs, and blooms…
These summer days, hot and humid, are comfortingly familiar. I’m so grateful to be able to get my work done early, then relax and enjoy life from the swing, fanning myself, sweat running down my face, and contentment in my heart.
It was a good week here at Sonnystone Acres, despite “feel-like” temperatures in three digits and humidity described as “Very”. We were up with the birds getting the gardens watered and weeded and tied and propped, then I, personally, took it easy doing inside work or at the very least, shady porch work like swinging…
the view from the swing
The dang deer ate all of those lush purple garden phlox blooms in the Peace/Bird Garden. There is a little fawn running around in the meadow that I’m partial to and I’ve been lulled into thinking they are just cute little pets. I missed my chance to save those this year, but I’m dragging out the hot sauce spray for the rest of the season.
Our squash are still not producing fruit and their bloom time is over. I blame the excessive rains in their early days, because now our pollinators are buzzing around. I’m starting some seeds and hope to put some new plants out in a couple of weeks, as they are 55 days to harvest and that gives me until mid-September to get a good crop. Hopefully, the bees will see them this time.
This week in the Edible Garden…
butternut squashsweet cherry 100s
Samantha and I went to the $5 matinee on Tuesday, viewing Disney’s Elio. It was okay, good enough. Disney has really blown it with their recent films and I’m kinda sad about it. This one had no strong opening advertising and I guess they felt like they had spent enough on it. They need to take a look at their creators and try to get them back in touch with the audience. But it was cool in the theatre and we had a good time.
Hope you had a safe and happy holiday! We tried to ignore it, but our neighbors put on some very loud fireworks displays – we couldn’t see them, but we could hear them. It was just too humid to go downtown for the Eville show, so we tried to watch them on TV, but failed. Oh, well.
We’re back to living in the “family” room, though I’m still arranging shelves and such. That may never end, if you know me…
Next Week my calendar is Blank, so I may just do nothing — I’m very good at it.
The News from Sonnystone Acres 