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Well here we go again. Traveling. I said I wasn’t going to go anywhere for a while but when your hubby takes a job out of state you just have to go visit him. After all you both miss each other.

This was a two fold trip, him working, me getting to meet another one of my sisters. And what a wonderful visit it was. That is until hubby got food poisoning. He was a sick puppy by the time I got him back to the hotel, which cut our visit with my sister. But, there is always another time. Her son and his wife were also able to be present. I really didn’t get to take but one picture. Yes, I see a resemblance. It’s really refreshing to finally see someone else who you resemble.

Another high light of my visit was traveling a portion of old Route 66. In 1956 my mother loaded  five children in her old 1948 Oldsmobile and headed from Fort Drum, New York to Los Angeles, California. Dad was stationed in Japan and had a follow on assignment at Fort Ord in Northern California. The family would be there to welcome him on his return. In the meantime as we traveled old Route 66 in the Ozarks Mom stopped at a gift shop and I bought an old corncob pipe. I kept that pipe for years until finally a few years ago I gave it to my oldest son.

As my husband and I retraced the old Mother Road our map pointed out the many gift shops along the way. I wish I could remember more of my trip west but alas, all I remember was watching for the Route 66 signs to make sure Mom didn’t loose her way.

I finally found a map, from AAA, that shows how the Mother Road starts in Chicago and goes all the way to Santa Monica, California.

Now it’s time to get back to writing and finishing the book. So until then………

It’s already the end of January, where has the month gone? The more I do the more there is to do in a day. Plus, now, I need to get tax papers ready for the tax man. Oh let me go back to those good old days where I could sit and watch television, read a book at my leisure, sit on the beach, sit on the porch and watch the birds, and jump in the car and take a long ride to look at the country side. Now I’m teasing you. I don’t remember doing any of the above recently.Or, even when I was younger. It seems like I have always been chasing little ones, laundry, cleaning house, running errands, and you get the picture.

Okay, most of you know I’m on the go, traveling here and there. Yes, I’m guilty of that and now I want to hop a flight and go to Missouri and meet another sister. I’m supposed to go in November but I have a chance to go earlier so maybe…

I’m still adjusting to the hubs being retired, and I know he has a lot of adjusting to do also just being with me twenty-four seven. He says he is loving it. Me, I’m adjusting.

The book I’m working on, Chasing Rabbits, is coming along nicely. Of course I’m still working on editing and adding new content. I’m hoping it will help others who are searching for their families through DNA.

So, I guess I need to get back to the book. I updated my bio this morning, filed a bunch of receipts, cleaned out the cubby hole that holds the bills. That was a chore. I didn’t know I shoved so many receipts in it. I updated rosters and now updated the blog for today. Whew, now on to editing the book.

Until then my friends…

This year, 2016, has been a wonderful year filled with so many blessings. My cup is running over and my saucer is full. I found my biological father (he passed away in 1973) but have met with several of new siblings. Looking forward to meeting a couple of the rest of them. Never thought I’d have such a large family. All total I now have seven sisters and five brothers. Sadly two brothers have already passed on along with one sister.

Now on to bigger and better things in 2017. I’m looking forward to the second book being published (it’s a memoir along with how I was able to find my father through DNA). I do hope and pray it will help someone else who is searching for answers. I have several short stories I’d like to do something with and last but not least, I have quite a few devotionals I’d like to put in a book form. Maybe someone else would or could use an uplifting devotional.

I should be home most of the year this year. I don’t know how I’m going to do it as my feet start itching if I’m not on the road. We have a big trip coming up in the middle of the year so hopefully the book will be ready to be published by then. Actually my bucket list is still growing, now let me see here, Niagara Falls, Bar Harbor, Boston (my mouth is watering for fresh lobster),  Mount Rushmore, Washington D.C., Gettysburg (again), back to the Pacific Northwest, and as you can see it gets bigger and bigger.

I am blessed beyond measure to have a Heavenly Father who loves me, a wonderful and supportive husband who indulges me and spoils me every day, a beautiful family with many children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. I have my health along with friends who are there to share my good times. I pray you all have a very Happy New Year.

Until then…………………………………….

It’s that rush, rush, push, and shove season again. Christmas. Everyone is in a hurry to get their shopping done, going to parties, making that last minute gift, or better yet searching for that last minute gift. Only 19 more days left to Christmas.

Christmas…what is Christmas? It’s not the gifts, food, visiting family, or wondering what I’m going to get from Aunt Jane this year. It’s time to stop and listen. Listen to your heart, listen to what the real reason for the season is.

God sent his only son to be born in a lowly manger, to grow into manhood, then die on the cross for our sins. For my sins. I will take time out and go to His birthday party and praise Him and thank Him for His birth and for His suffering and dying for me. I know I am a daughter of Christ. Praise Him.

Merry Christmas

Until then……………………….

Here it is folks a great place to buy a book, meet authors and talk about their work. The First Annual book signing for local Christian authors.  Hope to see you there.

My how time flies. Is it because I’m getting old? Or older? Let me put it another way. I’m not getting older, I’m maturing. Maturing on the outside but still the young, vibrant, energetic, adolescent person I’ve always been.

My friend, Judy, and business partner. Now she has taught me a lot about writing and she keeps me straight.

Now don’t start laughing at that. Inside I can still dance circles around the outside me. It’s just the outside me has slowed down a bit. What took me a half hour to do in my younger days now takes me four to five hours to do.

Here’s an update on book I’m working on now, although it’s slow going. I’m halfway through it. Like the book before life is happening and it keeps pulling me away from the computer all too many times. As some of you may know it starts out as a memoir but slowly morphs into how I found my biological father through DNA. Oh, yes, I highly recommend DNA.

Yes, I’ve been traveling again. Going to conferences too. I need all the education I can get. My annual Girl’s Get  Away or rather The October Girl’s Get Away was great. I extended my time this year from two days to five and now I’m looking forward to doing it again next year. We laughed, played games, watched The Phantom Of The Opera, ate, slept, and crafted.  I’m friends with some of the most talented ladies. And they’ve taught me a lot.

Wondering what to do next. So much to do so little time.

I’ve been keeping hubby on his toes too. There is always something to do around the house. Now that he’s retired I can think of hundreds of things to keep him busy. Oh wait a minute, isn’t it almost time to put up the Christmas lights???

Until then……………………….

I looked at my posts and thought “Wow, I’m way behind in keeping up with my blog!”

So here it is. I’ve been traveling. A lot. First I went to a wonderful mystery writers conference in Nashville where I met Janet Evonavich and Robert Randisi. Both are mystery writers but Robert also writes westerns. He writes a book a month! Well that can intimidate a person, but a writer must press on and do his own thing.

After the conference my hubby joined me and we were able to take in a few sights plus visit with a granddaughter and her family. That was our high light. Beautiful great grandchildren. Love them bunches.

I was home a couple of weeks and then it was time for our annual trip to the north woods of the Pacific coast. The weather was wonderful, refreshing, cool, and we hated to come home to ninety degree weather.

So let me give you a small tidbit of our trip. So glad hubby loves me. We arrived on Friday, met with children and brother for a day. Then it was off to Hope, Idaho for a few days before returning to spend more time with my brother and sister in law.

We arrived at the resort late afternoon Sunday. All the while we drove I watched as clouds gathered. I told my husband we were in for a storm. We walked up to the reservation desk and told the clerk we were here to check in. She couldn’t find our names. I laid the paper work down that had our conformation on it. After several minutes my husband picked up the conformation paper and looked at me. “We are a week early.”

OOPS. The clerk checked her records and sure enough we were scheduled to come in on Friday, not Sunday. Check in was Friday to Friday, not Sunday to Sunday. She called her supervisor and after a few minutes we were registered guests. Thank you Pend Oreille Shores.

We unloaded our luggage and bags of food for a few days and decided we needed to grab a bit to eat since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Now Hope, Idaho does not have much in way of restaurants so our only choice that night was the floating restaurant at the resort. We decided to take the car around the building as it started raining. By the time we parked it was coming down quite a bit. We ran down the dock to the restaurant and entered. Our seat by the window was great as right next to me were two sail boats bobbing in the now churning water. The waitress gave us our water and menus. We said hi to another couple who said the food was great. Our appetite was spiked. As the waitress got to our table the lights went out. She apologized and said we can’t serve, although we were able to talk her into a bowl of soup that was delicious. Green chili corn chowder. The electricity was out for four hours. We sat in the dark contemplating going to bed early when the lights come back on. So time for PBS.

So thus began our week in the woods.

Until then………………………

Recently I was approached about my Wood family line. I’ve been so busy trying to find my biological father that I’ve forgotten, well maybe not forgotten, but, put this ancestral line on the back burner. And they play a pivotal part on my mother’s father’s side of the family.

I was stuck on my fourth great grandfather for quite some time, so I pushed it out of my mind and didn’t follow up. I knew Ebenezer was born in 1798 in New Jersey, according to all of the census reports, but I really couldn’t find anything past that.

This is where DNA comes in, again. Love DNA! I have a couple of matches on my Wood side and they were able to fill in the blanks. The matches are on Ancestry, although I am listed on Family Tree DNA and 23 and Me. And, I do need to get my paper trail all taken care of. Just to make sure I have all my information correct.

Here is a quick run down. Alexander Wood b. 1 Jun 1770 ? d. 9 May 1848 IL m. Mary Polly Dodd 1792 NJ. Their son Ebenezer b. 1798 NJ d. 1871 MN m. Rachael ?

Ebenezer and Rachael’s son Rufus H. b. abt 1841 NY d.? m. Eliza Barnes Stoddard 10 Mar 1873 MN.

Rufus H. Wood and Eliza daughter Ida Viola b. 16 May 1880 Dallas Co, IA d. 12 Jan 1918 Intl Falls, MN m. 1895 Guthrie Co., IA Charles Green b. 1873 KS, son of Nathaniel Green and Clarissa Barnes.

Eliza Barnes Stoddard and Clarissa Barnes are sisters, James Reuben Barnes and Mary Olive Bower.

Charles Green and Ida Wood Green’s son Clifford b. 1895 Yale, IA d. 31 Dec 1940 MN m. Bessie Valentine 31 Dec 1940 MN.

Clifford and Bessie’s daughter Annabelle Loretta Green is my mother. So you can see where the Barnes, Green, and Wood line are intersected. Makes life more interesting.

I’m still following up on more information about my biological father. It’s really getting interesting.

Until then………………..

It’s happened again. I have a match through DNA on the Bradstreet name. I found about the name Bradstreet when I was doing my husband’s genealogy. Humphrey Bradstreet was born Apr 1594 in Ipswich, England. He married Bridget Harris. They had seven children. They emigrated in 1634 on the ship Elizabeth landing in Boston.

So you’re asking yourself, why tell you all this. Well, I’m chasing rabbits again. All I did was check my DNA matches to see if I had any new ones. I did they had the name of Simon Bradstreet who became the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. His daughter, Mercy Bradstreet married John Hazen.

Just because this information was written down I have to  check it out for myself. What’s that old saying, “I want to see myself.” I thought maybe he, Simon, was related to Humphrey. maybe they were brothers.

I googled both men, Simon and Humphrey. They are both listed in the Boston Transcript 1906-1941 but I couldn’t put them together as being brothers. Both were from England, Simon coming over in 1630 and Humphrey in 1634.

And there it is, I’ve wasted three hours chasing rabbits again. I was only going to check my DNA then work on my book. Well, maybe I didn’t waste the time, after all I did find new information on Humphrey that I can add to my husband’s tree. So nix the book and update his tree it is.

Until then………………………….

Whoot. Whoot. I learn something new everyday. This morning I was going through my pictures looking for my business logo. Didn’t find it but was looking at old pictures I’d scanned. Some, because they were small, had a lot of white space around them. So I thought why not try to crop them. It took me a couple of tries to get it done but here I am at about four years old. Can anyone remember these old swings?

While looking through the pictures I saw quite a resemblance to my granddaughter. No wonder when I look at her I see myself doing some of the same things she does. Now I know why my cousin told my brother I was a snot when I was little. Really???

And by the way Mom, where was my jacket. I see snow on the ground here.

So now it’s back to the pictures. And yes, I did see my logo I was looking for. Guess I will get to work on that and see what I can do. Oh no, you know where my time is going to go today instead of writing. Twenty lashes….

Until then…………………………