HOME AGAIN

Well, I'm back home after a week's vacation, most of which
was a great visit with my Aunt Dot, and my cousins Diana
and Louise and their husbands Gary and Steve.We saw the
Ohio Amish country, saw some really beautiful countryside,
and ate some great food.

Oh yes, Aunt Dot and I talked some genealogy. I got to see
her collection of family pictures and Aunt Dot gave me copies
of some of them.(Thanks Diana for the scanning!). I'd brought
my printed family groups and family trees and a copy of a
story I'd found about an Ellingwood relative so I was able
add some things to Dot's already extensive research but
it was a drop in the bucket compared to what she's given me
over the years.



Then the last night in Ohio they surprised me with a
birthday cake and some gifts, which I will describe in
the posts to follow but I will say that I was given something
that I never expected and I will always be be grateful
for it.


After Ohio we swung down through Washington DC
ostensibly to see some of the monuments but I was
surprised again by a visit with Stacy, a online rp friend
of nearly 11 years now, which she and my sister had
been planning for months now!


Speaking of my sister, I owe Cheryl a big thank you for
driving me around all over creation and for planning
all this with Dot, Diana, and Louise in Ohio and with
Stacy in Washington. I think this has been in the works
since around Christmas, when Cheryl said to me "Let's
go on vacation together." I never had a clue what she and
the others were up to!

Love you, Cheryl.


So, you'll be seeing a few posts in the next day or so about
the visits, the traveling, the rainstorms, coal mines in
Pennsylvania and other happenings that are now family
history!