Monday, May 7, 2007

Getaways are a sure cure...

Well, there's nothing like being away from home to give yourself a break from the rat race of genealogy.

We were in New England from Thursday to Sunday last week attending my aunt's funeral service. I managed to do a bit of research - I found the ancestral homes they lived in in Leominster MA, plus talked to many cousins at the service and reception - some of them I hadn't seen for 25 years. The highlight wasn't the adults - it was the 4 little grandchildren of one of my cousins! I had a great time talking to them and playing with them.

Over the weekend, I was presented with my aunt's papers and photo albums to take home and sort out - another task, but a welcome one. There are some treasures in this lot and I will probably post about them sometime on Genea-Musings.

I had the laptop with me over the weekend, and was able to post some notes about my exploits in Massachusetts.

Now it's off to Santa Cruz on Tuesday, returning on Sunday, to see my daughter's family, including the 1 year old and 3-1/2 year old grandsons. Oh boy! The little one is walking, and the older one is finally talking intelligibly. I will have the laptop with me, so should be able to read my email and post on the blog occasionally, but I doubt if I'll do much research.

My sure-fire way to put the little ones to sleep is to recite their ancestry in a monotone voice - I usually get back 5 generations or so before they drop off. The older guy wants stories, so I tell him about his ancestors (especially his grandfather!), but I embellish them a bit. Who knows what he will remember!

I can get back to the genealogy rat race next week - this week I'm going to play with the boys and enjoy myself.

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