Relations

So this was all started when Clare and I were planning our trip through New England. I decided I wanted to visit my relations buried in the Hartford Ancient Burial Ground.

Then Melissa got the bright idea to take a short day trip to Doylestown, PA where another of my reputed relatives (by adoption) lived. Off we went to the James A. Michener Art Museum to see if we could find the direct link between him and my grandmother, who is also a Michener.

The curators shook their heads when I asked, and we visited the library next door and could find no direct link. So what does Omouse do when she is confounded and wants to know more? She uses the Googles.

Here's the summation:

Out of the number of people I'm supposedly related to:
David Crockett (dismissed long ago by Bruce Crockett)
James A. Michener (Grandma said)
Ulysses S. Grant (Dad)

Total found lurking in family tree? : Zero.

Other random people I'm related to:
Geoffrey Chaucer
Jane Austen
Queen Elizabeth II
Georgia O'Keefe
James Barrie
Andrew Johnson
Mark Twain
John Locke
Bette Davis
Humphrey Bogart
Henry David Thoreax
Emily Dickenson
Lucille Ball
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Laurence Olivier
Robert Louis Stevenson
Gregory Peck
Willa Cather

And the following First Ladies
Laura Bush
Jane Pierce
Anna Harrison
Elizabeth Truman
Edith Roosevelt
Florence Harding

Coolest

I guess having my 18th Grandfather as Chaucer has to be pretty cool. The rest are just mostly cousins.

After tracing back the lines, I found the Mathis's go back to 1680 Virginia. The Crocketts don't go back that far at all. Most of the higher connections are through Maude Hanks, who is my Mom's Great Grandmother on her dad's side.

This information set off a chain reaction, and Mel wanted her tree done as well. We found her line all the way back to Sviede the Viking and Alfonso the Slobberer.

We do take this information with a grain of salt... knowing that we rely mostly on the work of others when we get way back. It's actually rather easy once you get back before 1930 and you can troll the census data and the other people's trees to pull in information.

Right. Soon to be off to Ikea!

Well, I did it!

Script Frenzy is now past the 20,000 finish line.

Which is slightly amazing, considering I've been moving Mel all day. I almost didn't think I'd get it done. Blug, blugh, bleh.

I'm tired now. Bed time.

Stacy Wedding Pictures

Tricia's secret of taking photo yourself: Put the camera up high.






The Uncle's Bar and the rather large key lime cheesecake margarita things that really weren't that good, but I was so far on the right side of happy that I drank the whole thing.


So at first glance this is a picture of Tricia with her tongue sticking out... but if you look closer, it's actually a picture of Tricia and Michael... don't ask me what he's doing behind her, but you can see he's not imbibing in sickeningly strange aforementioned margarita.


Okay, you must admit this one is cute...



But this one is cuter. I have a penchant for taking pictures of cute flower girls and ring bearers at weddings. Maybe I should be a baby photographer.


Pretty Bubbles... in the wine. Notice at this point we're not sitting up very straight. Or at least I wasn't. We were drafted into serving champagne... and then the DJ called us employees of the Lodge. I really think some of the guests in the back thought I was a waitress.
Sigh.

Not so good picture of me, but at least it's a picture of the bride.

Hey! Graphics!

So aren't they cute? I made two different versions of this picture, which I really think is a rather interesting commentary on our family. This is the first.










And this is the second.

Scriptfrenzy!

Okay, it’s that time again! Name! That! Thingy!

I’m one of the worst people for naming things. If I had my way, every girl would be Kate and guys Alex* but I want to branch out. I’ve already done the “name them after your distant relatives” and the “Name them after Shakespearean Characters”. I need something new for ScriptFrenzy.

So here’s a quiz for you to take:
Winning names will receive acknowledgement and my Eternal Thanks!

Brief Synopsis... as planned so far... I'm thinking Space Sci-Fi... in sort of a world with no aliens, but a bunch of planets that used to be colonies of an Earth Federation that broke apart. My MC was a sort of Secret Service agent on an Isolationist planet. She's accused of treason, but found innocent, though no one treats her like she is. She catches a ride from a black market trader and takes off for parts unknown, only to get dragged back to her planet when somebody starts killing all the agents and the people they protect.

Places:
Isolationist Planet: High structure utopia. Pristine and Gleaming vision of the future.

Poor Podunk Settlement: Invaded and looted by every passing pirate.

Desert Planet: think Middle East on steroids.

People:
Main Character: Female Secret Service Agent. Think: The morals of Jack Ryan, the moodiness of Starbuck, and the butt kickin’ power of Jason Bourne

Black Market Smuggler: On his last run before retiring. Old, grizzly, but affable.

Spunky Teen Techno Sidekick: Haven’t decided on gender, but you know the type.

Ruthless gang of Space Pirates:

Handsome Young Senator: Possible love interest. Somebody’s definitely trying to kill him.

The Queen of Plastic Surgery: Power mad beauty queen.

Best Buddy: Possibly the one who betrayed MC, unwittingly or not.

Executive Rear Kisser: I’m imagining something along the lines of Percy Weasley.

Who Knew?

How evil are you?

Congratulations!

Okay, so I've finally heard from the Clare. Was getting a little worried that she was being sucked down some dark hole and not given enough light.

Nope. She's just getting married!

Not that I think that's the reason for the incommunicado. That I will blame entirely on the technology. Right Clare?

Anyway, I just hope she picks a better wedding date than my cousin Stacy... Cinco De Mayo. Other than being on a day when everyone else has a party for me to go to, it's also smack dab in the middle of CA state testing. It means that I have to take a day off of work, and leave my little munchkins with a sub to give them the test. Fun, Fun, Fun.

I of course will vote for a summer wedding or a Christmas wedding, just so I don't have to take huge amounts off work and fly to charming Ol' England for just long enough to get over my jet lag and back again. hehehe.

I do think long engagements are the long way to go. More time to have lots of parties. Okay, that's also kidding, but one last thing before I have to jet off to school this morning...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLARE!!!!