Talking to my dad on the phone, making him laugh as he waits for my mom to cook his breakfast; bacon, biscuits, the works, pretending I'm jealous as he plays up how good it smells.

This brought me joy today....
 

morning
 

Love from Him..

and bacon.

*smile*

yup, life is goot...
 

Finally some good news, even if it interests only me ;).

I do genealogy as a hobby. On my father's side, I've been trying to prove for a couple of years that my great-grandfather was taken in or adopted by his aunt and uncle after his mother died. I had a lot of circumstantial evidence, but nothing that would impress the Perry Mason's of genealogy.

I knew the uncle was a Quaker, so for shits and giggles I wrote the Quaker group in Sparta, Ontario where they were from. I wasn't expecting anything, but a woman wrote back saying she was a cousin of some kind and that my hypothesis was right! Yay! She emailed me a memoir of his family, written by the uncle himself, pictures of his still-standing house, and other family pictures. That's genealogy for you; years of tedium with minutes of joy.

I still don't know what happened to his parents, or when, or where they were. But I hope that will come, too.

What hit me in the gut was that my dad and granddad were both named after this uncle, named Samuel. His something-great niece told me that he took in so many children from the town that he was known as "Uncle Sammy", whether related or not. My son is a Samuel as well-and I call him Sammy.

I'm honored to have Uncle Sammy even indirectly in my line.

And Day 2! At least genealogy-wise, I'm hitting it out of the park lately.

It was known that my father's mother was born in Scotland and came to Canada at age 7, where she was adopted by a family in Ontario. Nobody seemed to know how she got there, and I don't know how much she told my father. When I began my sleuthing, to make a short story long, I found the British Home Children. From about 1870 to the 1930's, there was a well-meaning attempt to give poor children in the U.K. a chance at a better life in Canada or Australia. These children, not all of whom were orphans, were turned over or scooped up off the streets and placed in orphanages. Quarrier's was a large orphanage in Scotland, and through contacting them (they are still a social service agency today), I found my grandmother and her brother's records and their birth certificates!

Their mother had died young, leaving my grandmother and the brother the two youngest children in a family of nine. Their father must have thought they would be better off in Canada and so turned them into Quarriers'. I can only wonder if my grandmother watched the coast of Scotland retreating from the ship, not realizing that she would never see her father or siblings again (there's more evidence that she and her brother could see one another in Canada). Did she think it was a big adventure, but that she would go back? I don't know. And how did her father feel? I can only imagine giving up my children to be adopted across an ocean, having known them up to age 7 and 8, so we're not talking little babies. I hope he knew that he made the only choice he could given the straights he was in.

Unfortunately, many of the BHC became little more than house servants or farmhands, not true children of the family. I hope both my grandmother and her brother lucked out and had good families, or at least a tolerable childhood. I do know my grandmother's family changed her name from Mary to Maud because they already had a daughter named Mary.

I was only seven myself when she died, and she had never spoken of Scotland to me. I have mixed feelings-jubilation at "finding" her, but sadness for being so uprooted.

Woke up feeling exceptionally good this morning. :)
Wondering what the day will present.

My bestustest friend just moved back to vancouver. We've both been globe trotting for... ah... 26 years? and we somehow always manage to wind up in, if not the same city, at least within a few hours of each other in the same country. we've lived together in four different cities too.

That is a real soul mate. I love my bezzi to bits. I'm so glad she's back.

she actually apologised to me for being crabby crusty pants yesterday. No. there's some people in this world that really don't have to apologise to me for moods. I don't give a fuck. She's one of them. My very old mates don't have to apologise for fuck all really. I know when they are sorry.

Oh. snap. I suddenly get that saying.

Being able to shut off the alarm and stay in bed as long as I wanted..... :)

Joy Factor! =)
 

The day is young and the sun it out (thank heavens!), but I came across a post out on the forum boards by Arwen and it's her signature phrase that entices me to adjust my attitude, which brings a bit of Joy to my life today.

And, I quote Arwen: "Seek Joy, Y'all!"


(Thanks Arwen!)

Finding out today that my custom woven tartan shipped from Scotland today. If all goes well, it should be here in 2 weeks!! *woot*

It's Rosie's 1st Birthday, Today!
 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1043376...5663/lightbox/

There are two pictures..one of her cake and one of her really enjoying her cake.


She's a sweet baby.

<3
 

my little girl calling me at work to tell me, that after two auditions, she made it into the school rock band. Instant tears. As good as it has felt at times in my life, when I had achievements or goals and accomplished them, it pales in comparison to how I feel today. I am so proud of her. *sighs*

I haven't relaxed , smiled or laughed this much in a while.
it's awesome

Seeing babies :cheer:

coffee klatch with two of my favourite people!

Leapin' Lizards, lol.
 

I like having to watch where I step every time I leave my apartment in order to avoid crushing the little lizards scurrying about underfoot in a frenzy of activity!

It even makes me smile when I'm in a big hurry [and maybe feeling a little testy for whatever reason] and they are teasing me and trying to trip me up by running around me in every direction. They are so cute and I just love that they live right outside my place; it's almost as though they are guarding it.

You can tell which ones are the babies and which ones are the grandfather/mothers by their sizes and coloring. The older ones almost seem to have an air of authority about them when compared to the little ones.

It's one of my very favorite things about where I live and makes me smile every time I leave or come home. :)

Walking miles on the beach all day for the past 2 days

Joyful day with Jackhammer.

Spent some wonderful time together snuggling, watching old movies, and looking out the window together at our backyard becoming saturated with fall colors. Talking about things we want to accomplish and places we have been.

Sweet, uninterrupted moments that make my soul warm. <3

Lazy Saturday morning with Red! Watching our 3 doxies and 1 aussie run and play in the nice cool weather. Getting dressed up for a night out for a steak dinner at one of our favorite places in OKC and getting home before dark. LOL We are busy planning what all we are going to do this next week during our trip to Santa Fe. The weather is going to be cool so tomorrow we are getting all of our fall clothes out to air out and start packing. It's been a long hard year for us and I can not wait to hit the road and have some R&R with my gal.

I found some bus driver gloves in my closet. Wearing them makes me feel like I wanna punch and slap everything because they are padded.

the final touches
 

Of our move coming along nicely..
our fur babies
my kids and grandkids
Him laying next to me after a long work day.

A
Conversation with an old friend

The sun the moon and all the came between

Cooler temperatures are awesome!

I got up this morning at dark-thirty and went out on my back patio. With the summer gone, it feels so much better outside now. This makes me happy and puts a huge smile on my face.

:)

Taking 2 of my grandkids up to the prison to see their Daddy, my oldest son. (the 5 yr old little boy does not understand that his Daddy is in prison, he just thinks he is on a special top-secret work assignment. Yeah, he will find out soon enough, but it works for him right now. His 10 yr old sister knows, though.)

Anyway, I took them up, like I do once a month, and just to see them all interacting is just so sweet to me. My son gets to be silly with his kids, they all get to hug on each other, my son gets to read to them, we absolutely stuff ourselves silly with the foods from the vending machines. Tues is his 41st birthday, and so today we shared an extra special treat from the machines today, strawberry shortcake!

Well, my son did some kind of sleight of hand with his son, and pretended that he was able to "float" in the air. My grandson actually BELIEVES, with a Capital B. He thought his Daddy was something pretty cool anyway, but NOW, I mean WOW.

These visits are always so very bittersweet. I hate that he is there, that he has to be away from his life and his family for so long. But as I sit there, watching him with his kids, and look around at all the other inmates visiting with their loved ones and just making do for one more day, and I hear the squeals of laughter from my grandbabies, my heart feels blessed.

Joy?

New pillows. (not the dirty kind!!) NEW PILLOWS!

4 new, giant, fluffy pillows alllllll for us! WEE!

Having the step kiddo for this week, after her week at her father's :)

Her desire...
 

MMmmmmm...waking to her beautiful smile, her long red hair all tousled from the night. Her deliciously warm skin against me as the sun peeked through the heavy curtains.

:moonstars: