“Love, me.”

Please excuse me once more.  Our family remains in that mourning season of life. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, Wednesday, August 22, 2018.  Dad asked his children to take him to mom's gravesite in honor of what would have been her 91st birthday and their nearly 76 years together.  We took flowers, mostly purple--mom's favorite …

𝄞We are F-a-m-i-l-y ♬

If you are a grandmother you may be one of a select few who understands the gravity of your intimate relationships with your grandchildren and their parents who by the way are your children that hopefully you and their father raised together. Now, none of us was handed a parenting guide when we discovered we …

A Sunday Morning Visit With Me and “Mr. Church”

I'm branching out this morning--taking that little fork in the road if you will.  This post still shares with you my feelings about my love of God, church, family, special moments, memories, and family histories.  However, in it, I also reveal my love for good music, a good book or a good movie; and, how I spend …

Christmas Traditions in Our Nation’s Capital

One of my former colleagues posted this article from a pamphlet he picked up at the Mary Surratt House Museum titled, “Christmas of Yesterday: A History of Our Treasured Traditions and Holiday Customs.” (If you recall, Mary Surratt was an alleged member of the Abraham Lincoln assassination conspiracy and holds the dubious distinction of being the first …

She’s Still Mom–Even With Alzheimer’s

In December 2010 after a fall on the sidewalk and a hit to her head and face, doctors ordered a CT (computerized tomography), scan of mom's brain. This CT scan was the first confirmation that mom had mild Alzheimer's disease. This was also about the time that mom had driven herself to church (just three …

Tumultuous, Terrific, Tragic, and Treasured Times . . .

The word "tumultuous" best describes my personal little world over these past 30 or so days. I know my family's events pale in comparison to the tragic and horrific events precipitated mostly by mean-spirited, greedy, and angry people of our world at large. To maintain my sanity and not be overwhelmed or sickened inside by these …

A Gentleman’s Calling Card – 19th Century Token of Everyday Life

A Form of Business Card With the printing press invention of the early 1800's, 19th century gentlemen used a form of business card to formally introduce themselves to others in a dignified style. According to The Encyclopedia of Ephemera, the acquaintance card was, “A novelty variant of the American calling card of the 1870s and 1880s, used …

Hello Again, Lathrops!

1800's:  Bradford County, Pennsylvania My maternal grandmother, Alice Lauretta Lathrop Ford [Loretta Ford], was born 121 years ago (March 7,1895), about 265 miles north of my home in southern Maryland. Wyalusing ("the good hunting ground"), her birthplace, was a small village in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, and the town and its name remain there today. The 1891 …

Our World Is Full Of Circles

Our world is so very large and yet we seem to travel in circles For example, today I had an absolutely delightful and rare lunch date at a small cafe at Friendship Maryland's Herrington Harbor South Marina Resort on the Chesapeake Bay.  My daughter and I joined a mutual friend who we have had only limited contact with …

Are You the Apple of Your Family’s Eye . . .

Or, the One Rotten Fruit that Spoils the Bushel? As I draft this post, my husband and I are driving to Virginia to be with our eldest son, Bobby's family.  We are joining him, his wife, and their youngest of three sons, Andy, who is graduating from the Virginia Police Academy on Friday.  Bobby's other two …

A Woman Before Her Time: Loretta Alice (Lathrop) Ford

My Role Model -- In memory of my maternal grandmother, Loretta Alice (Lathrop) Ford (1895-1968). She would have been 121 years old today--a woman before her time--god loving, pioneer-spirited, and up to any challenge despite her age, gender, social status or physicality--MY ROLE MODEL. I loved her dearly and daily life events keep her ever-present …

And, together they danced…

The Month for Lovers Continues... My niece, Caitlyn Boling (daughter of my brother John Arthur and his wife Joyce), and her new husband Anthony Rubio, honored my parents' (Frank and Norma Boling) 70 years of marriage together (2/5/1946) at their wedding this past Sunday, February 21, with an Anniversary Dance especially for them. As some …

A Family For All Seasons

It was before the Christmas holidays when I last sat down to create a new post. And, over these past few weeks, our family has shared good 'times' together on multiple occasions. As always at Christmas we were fortunate enough to have put on a wonderful spread of hor d'oeuvres, entrees, sides, breads, candies, desserts, …

Dogs Are Family, Too– Part 5 “Lord Jacob of Calvert (Jake)”

To once again borrow a few words from my good friends at Google, “the loyalty, affection, and exploits”of my dogs throughout my years on this earth have inspired a rich body of true, sometimes hilarious and sometimes sad stories that have only added to my life events.   And today, unfortunately, it is with heavy hearts …

A Fallen Limb

I came upon this poem today, author unknown, and it just seemed right for me to share it on my blog. It's been awhile since a limb has fallen from my immediate family tree and we have only God to thank for this. Yet others, very recently, in our biblical community have lost fathers, mothers, husbands, …

UPDATE: The First Ever Global Family Reunion–Saturday, June 6, 2015

One World. One Family. One Extraordinary Event to Benefit Alzheimer's Research: A. J. Jacobs organized the 2015 Global Family Reunion to celebrate the premise that essentially everyone on earth is related.  New York Times Article By ALEX WILLIAMS MAY 8, 2015 A. J. Jacobs, the best-selling author and humorist, was hoping to get former President George H. W. …

How’s Your Pre-Christmas Spirit?

Have You Been Scrooged or Is Family Your Focus? How's your pre-Christmas spirit going this year?  Have you just about had it with all the hustle and bustle that leads up to the big day?  Has your focus been on the reason for the season or has societal pressure and extreme commercialism pulled you in? …

Thanksgiving Invites–Anyone Dead or Alive

Who's On Your Guest List? How many times in life have you been asked; "If you could invite anyone dead or alive to dinner, who would be your quests?"  And sometimes this question has a follow-up or two: "Why?" And, "What would you say to them?" My Honored Guest List: I would first invite Jesus Christ …

More Than a Few Names or Mere Numbers

As an addendum to this week's post What's In a Name?, I revised my Surname Report in Family Tree Maker™. This report shows that our family's tree (including my spouse's family) has 10,772 persons in it.  Of those persons (living and dead), 52 percent of them are male; making my database's percentage of males three percentage points higher than the …

157 Years Later: CSA Sgt. Gideon W. Morris–Our “Battle of Antietam” Survivor

Freshly Fallen Bricks of My Morris Family Wall After searching to uncover more information about my maternal great grandmother's (Mary Susan MORRIS Ford) family, I once again stumbled and fell upon freshly fallen bricks of a wall I had pushed against for many years.  Until now, I primarily had focused on the origins of my Native American heritage through the Morris branch.  And then, …