Tombstone Tuesday Mary Lambert Fitch

When I was wandering through the St Mary's Cemetery in San Antonio, TX, this stone caught my eye.  My early family starts with Rev. James Fitch in Connecticut. 
I have found she was with her grandmother Mary Dresch on the 1900 census, her dad was from Pennsylvania and mom from Texas. 
Found her on the death index but no information other than death date and place which I already have.  Wonder who she was, what sadness was in her life, did she have TB as many did in the 1920's?  Another mystery.  Did find a private tree that has her listed sent them a message.  Now wait and see.  : (

Sentimental Sunday The Hero and The Train Transformer.

The Hero was always experimenting, especially in his teen years.  He was also quite mischievous.  He had a twin brother. According to him, they were usually fighting 75% of the time.  When I finish this story, you will understand some of it.  ; )
The motivation behind this story was simply to see if he could do it.
The Hero carefully searched the garage for his old electric train set.  They had not used it for years, so his mom had stored it in the garage.  He had just finished reading in his Everyday Science book uses of transformers.  His thoughts were "Can I do it?  Can I get away with it?"
Methodically, he set up a table near the door of the garage, placed the transformer on it,  looked for and found some old electric wire.  He took the wire, and hooked it to the transformer, then attached the other end of the wire to the door handle with enough wire to allow the door to open and close.  Next step, he looked for and found some leather gloves. Plugging in the transformer, he was ready.  He stuffed the gloves in his pocket after closing the door carefully, and went off to find Dick.  He was sure that Dick would want to see what he had invented.
A bit later, they arrived at the garage.  The Hero had his gloves on and quickly opened and closed the door behind him.  Then Hero sneaked around to see what would happen. 
Dick was perturbed that the door had been closed in his face and grabbed the handle to open it.  Well....after the initial shock and dance, Dick let go of the door handle.  The sight of his brother dancing and yelping sent the Hero into a fit of laughter.  (The transformer was not strong enough to harm anyone, just sting them...this according to the Hero's dad.)  When Dick saw what had happened, oh my, the chase was on; and because the Hero was laughing so hard...Dick won. I can only imagine the aftermath. can't you?  ; )
Girls, you might want to wait a few years before sharing this with you sons.

Sharing a Slice of Life 'Snakes'

As I have reflected on this prompt from TexasBlu, I have come up with the probable reason for my awful aversion to snakes. 

I began reflecting when we did the prompt on camping.  As early as I can remember, we would go camping and fishing every summer.  The men had a competition on who could catch the most and who caught the biggest.  When we were old enough to hold a cane pole, we were taught how to fish.  I think it was to teach patience.  Maybe that is why none of my children have patience.  LOL    The point is, I had to hand worms as early as 3.  I hated their feel and the way they would wind around your fingers.  Maybe that is why I get willy feelings when Red Beard hands the grandchildren snakes... 
Then when I was 5 and fishing with my mom for fresh fish dinner, there was this BIG cotton mouth snake that swam right for us (cotton mouths are aggressive snakes that aren't just protecting themselves).  My mom screamed, threw down the pole and grabbed me and ran.  Pretty impressive on a young girl.
I know we should be kind to all living creatures...and I am (I don't hunt down snakes) unless they come into my territory then I am protecting my family. 
Case in point.  When the snakes come in my home, they are in trouble.  I have shot a snake that had eaten one of the pair of doves we had.  I have supplied tools for killings snakes that were attacking my men in the house.  The Hero a gun.  The son, now that is a story, a two by four board.

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi link

My oldest son in his mid teens and sisters came in after we had gone to bed.  As they came in by the wood stove, he saw two snakes on the floor.  He grabbed the cinder shovel from the fire tools and swatted at them yelling for help (don't know where the girls went, maybe one will make a comment) .  I ran down the stairs to a scene from Rikki-Tikki-Tavi only it was my son and not a mongoose.  No gun upstairs, so I looked for a weapon, the only one I could find was a two by four 4' long they had for repairs.  I ran back down where he was yelling, 'One is getting away!'  I threw him the board and he killed both.  He was our hero for such a brave deed.  It was apparently a pair of copperheads looking for a place to have their eggs, and had come up the chimney cleaning hole.  Still gives me the willies just thinking about it. 
All things considered don't you think I have a right to be very wary of snakes!  Well, I do. ; )

Wordless Wednesday Butterfly "Queen" Butterfly

Danaus gilippus drinking deeply from Asclepias 

Tombstone Tuesday Evergreen Cemetery

Click here to go to Evergreen Cemetery

I have found a new distant cousin, Howard.  He has shared about his family and I have learned about a Gray and Blue Civil War Retirement community.
This is from his letter.

These are my 2nd great-grandparents, Leon Selwyn Shaver and Ella Cecilia Brigham.  They left Michigan to go to the Swan Colony in Fitzgerald, Georgia in 1895.  It was a retirement community planned for the veterans of the Civil War.  If you look up the history of Fitzgerald, Georgia, it's really a very inspirational story.  There were veterans from the North as well as the South who all came together and treated each other with mutual respect, blue and gray marched together, shoulder to shoulder, in the first parade they had in late 1895, if I remember right.  Ella, however, died there in 1896 from Malaria which she had contracted either before or sometime during their trip.  Her husband and children moved back to Michigan after her death and he married her sister Alice. 

Howard

Sentimental Sunday The Hero and The Angel With a Gas Can

This is a view of The Hero and I as we would drive.  My daughter caught this because it was a typical view in their childhood.
We often took trips together to business functions, to see family, to be together.  I guess that was the most important function of all our trips was the time we got to spend with each other.  
The events around this trip served to give the Hero a great story, actually two stories, but I will just relate one this time.

We were on our way home from a trip to Utah and were reading scriptures, in particular, Kings, Chronicles and Samuel. We had made it to the straight of way on I80 in Wyoming (a side note...Interstate 80 (I-80) is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States, and the gas stations are well spaced ). The Hero was driving and I was reading.  He would make a comment, ask a question, and we would discuss what was being read.  He was very auditory.  I wasn't.  That is why I would read.  We started with Samuel, then would see a foot note and jump to the foot note and back again.  That is how Chronicles and Kings worked their way in.  It was fascinating to us and back and forth I would go.  We became so engrossed in our subject that time flew. 
Suddenly, the Hero made a gasp!  It startled me into this world and I said 'what's wrong?'
"Look at the map, see how far we are from a town.  Ah, we are on empty."  What! had we really been that caught up in our reading that we had failed to notice the gas gauge and had not stopped for gas?...Apparently so.  I grabbed the map and said 'Where are we?' His answer, "I asked you."  'Guessing from our last stop and the time, we should be approaching Laramie.  About 15 miles, I would say.' 
At that moment, we saw a sign the said the next exit was for Laramie.  We decided to take it because it looked closer on the map to town.  (Have any of you driven the back roads of Wyoming?  Nothing for miles.)  We made it two miles, when chug, chug, choke, we came to a halt on the side of the road,  He got out and raised our hood...no, we did not have a gas can, that would have taken planning...in the hopes someone would come by to help.  I hooted and said,'you need to walk to find someone.  That looks like a house', I motioned across the way to a structure in the distance.  He was silent, just considering our situation, hot, no shade, no water, and no phone, hmmm. Time for a prayer.  Just after he finished the prayer,  a car appeared down the road.  The car pulled up beside us; a lady and three children.  She was gestured with her cigarette in her hand at the pickup and ask what was wrong.  The hero sheepishly told her what had happened.  She said, she would run to her house and get some gas for us and be right back.  I looked at the map as she drove off saying, it will be a while.  No more than 15 minutes had passed when she was back.  We put the gas in the tank, then offered to pay her.  She wouldn't accept payment for the gas, just told us where the nearest station was and took off to take the kids to a lake...Lake? 
We quickly headed to town, noting that there were not any roads, or houses until we got to the edge of town 15 miles away, and it took us about 25 min. to make the trip.  We couldn't figure out where the lady or "Our Angel" had come from.  The Hero decided she an angel who was an answer to his prayer that we would receive help. 

The moral, my grandchildren, is that when you are doing a thing that is right, you will receive blessings for it.  Yes, even and unlikely angel bearing a gas can.

Irish Stories 21st edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture: Aine Queen of the Fairies

I have spent much time trying to figure out what I would use as my Irish story.  The main claim I personal have to Ireland is my first born daughter's name, Aine.  I made a post about naming her before, click here to read about that.

The Irish have many stories/legends about Aine, Queen of the Fairies.  She was a Celtic goddess that they moved to fairy status when Ireland became Christian. 
She lives in a invisible world to our eyes, although a few have seen her.

According to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Áine:  Áine (Irish pronunciation: [ˈaːnʲə]) is an Irish goddess of love, summer, wealth and sovereignty and Áine is strongly associated with County Limerick.
An appealing legend comes from stories of the the Sidhe.
Aine was a mortal woman who was taken but the fairies and became was of the clan O'Corra. And, my favorite, because she does not slay the mortal who was overcome by her beauty is: 
"The Earl of Desmond once saw Aine combing her hair on the bank of a river. He fell in love with her and seizing her cloak made her his wife. The offspring of this union was Aine's enchanted son Geroid Iarla, who lives under the lake awaiting his return to the world of men. Once every seven years he emerges from the water as a phantom riding on a white horse."
I see her as a beautiful woman, with striking eyes, flowing hair, and a bewitching smile. 

My daughter could have been Aine.  ; )


I will look for our family connection as I search Limerick for my Dyer family.