Roots and Leaves

Yesterday, Katie and Honey came to make some food deliveries in town. I got to spend the morning with them. Honey was wearing her dragon costume hat. Here's a couple of shots of her, one with her mom and one with her dad. Everywhere we went, people cooed over Honey and I wondered what a baby thinks on her first Halloween. I mean, for all Honey knows, she's always going to wear costumes and make people smile. Why not?


Both Mick and I have hunched over our computers for way too many hours recently. He's working on a big poster project for Amtrak. Very exciting for him, but very tense, too.

I've been doing a family history research project while waiting for a client to get back to me. See, my dad's grandfather had a sister who lived on a farm outside of Little Rock some time ago. Dad came to visit "Aunt Angie" when he was a boy - in 1936 or so - and that was the last he ever heard of her. I wondered if maybe I could find out what happened to Angie White, maybe even find her grave.

I turned to a website called Ancestry.com where you can enter what you know about a person and if you are lucky, a leaf appears beside their name indicating that the Ancestry.com database has more information about that person. In no time at all - Bingo! - I found Angie and her husband in the 1930 census.

The Ancestry.com website should come with a warning label because it is so easy to get carried away. Before I knew what was happening to me, I lost several days and nights following leafy 'hints' at Ancestry.com, like an obsessed person. I told my sister Iris what I was doing because she's our family history expert. And Iris jumped into it with me: while I was sleeping, Iris would be adding new leaves and branches to the tree. Then I started adding Mick's family - more leaves, more leaves! - and now, our tree has over 750 people on it.

I tied myself up in knots tracing more and more details about more and more remote ancestors. Finally, I just needed to take a break. Mick did, too.

So yesterday, after our visit with Katie and Honey, Mick and I went to the Arkansas arboretum at Pinnacle Mountain State Park. Its a beautiful park overlooking the Arkansas river, just about 10 minutes from our home. We're continuing our quest to learn about all the gracious old trees in our neighborhood, and we hoped to pin down some details at the arboretum, like, what is the difference between a Red Oak and a White one?


Unfortunately, nearly all of the trees at the arboretum had already dropped nearly all of their leaves on the ground. We learned a few things about bark and such, but we'll have to go back in the spring to learn anything more. However, we got ourselves some fresh air, some exercise, and a delicious break from our computers. We sat beside a creek listening to the crickets and woodpeckers chiming in with the babbling water and the wind.

Of course, we're both already back at our computer screens this Sunday afternoon. But hopefully, with a fresher outlook.

I miss my friends and hope you are all doing well. Write me back sometime. I would love to hear from you!