December 15th, 2022 | Family, Friends, Genealogy, General, Holidays
Best news first. my Dear One’s grandson Miles proposed to Holly, apparently in a New York City photo booth, and she said yes! While last year’s missive announced the nuptials of my nephew Dan (a brother’s middle son) and Lish out in Minnesota, this year I am...
September 19th, 2019 | Family, Genealogy, General, Indigenous Peoples
As the Reverend’s 80th birthday was coming up, her sister Belle called and asked a favor: would I be willing to print off a copy of the family genealogy for a gift? Like the one she had received from her kids on one of her own big birthdays? Reverend and Belle are the...
February 4th, 2018 | Education, Family, Genealogy, General, Health, literature and poetry, Math and Science
My sister used to drive me crazy—well she still does in many ways—for her interactions with her daughters. One of the worst things was her flat assertion about her younger daughter’s problems with math. “She can’t do math,” Sister said. “She get’s it from me.” Then a...
January 1st, 2018 | Family, Genealogy, General, literature and poetry, Society at Large
I decided a few days ago that I would record every book I finished reading in 2018 and say something about each. As it turns out, this book, It’s All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World’s Family Tree by A.J. Jacobs (Simon & Schuster, 2017), a Christmas gift...
December 12th, 2012 | Cooking, Kitchen and Table, Friends, Genealogy, General, Holidays, Memory, Time Passes, Travel
In the waning months of my “Year of Present Living” we finally got to Lithuania. Both of us acquired a whole bunch of new cousins in 2012, as well. That’s what happens when you shake those family trees with vigor and a little manic enthusiasm. Our dinner table,...