Category: Our Traditions

I promise I won’t turn this into a quilting only blog, but I’ve recently learned that quilting has a very big footprint in my life. Everything I’ve ever come to really enjoy and cherish, has ended up having some place in my family history. It just so happens, quilting is also one of them. If I hadn’t hurt my ankle, I’d get Grandpa’s baby quilt down so I could take some pictures of it. That’s not going to happen today though.

Quilting actually has a much more recent footprint on my life. Two of my Aunts came to Maryland this Spring and taught me the basics I needed to know about quilting. They taught a third Aunt at the same time. It’s become such a passion for me, and I talk with my Aunts all the time about different patterns and fabrics. It’s a lot of fun for me.

I also learned a very valuable lesson from my Aunt when she sent me a box recently.

She sent me a box full of quilting patterns. Quilting patterns from the 70, 60s, 50s, and the 40s! These weren’t her patterns, but someone from her quilting group. When I saw all the different names, it made me realize. You may not have children or grandchildren that are interested in your “hobby”. However, that doesn’t mean it’s worthless. You just have to find someone who can appreciate it. Whether it be your niece in Maryland, or a friend at your quilting class.

Heck, there were even a few practice blocks in there! Hand sewn I might add. The same can be said for my genealogy. I might not have children or grandchildren one day that will want my stuff, but that doesn’t make it worthless. I just have to keep my eyes open to the possibilities.

By the way, my favorite trick is the sandpaper trick! No slipping and sliding for those templates!

You heard it hear first. Three of my Aunts are planning to road trip from Ohio to Maryland this week. They’re leaving Ohio on Wednesday, so hopefully all goes well and they get here Wednesday too. We have plans to show them around town a little better this time, since it’s not July 4th “Crazy” around here. I don’t like to go around our town on Thursdays, let alone on a holiday weekend. It’s better to just stay indoors and hide under the sofa… Okay, I’m exaggerating again.

I’m very excited though, and hopefully I can update some of their grandchildren’s information while they’re here. I’m not above grilling them! It’s always fun when I see my Aunts. This time is already showing great promise. My Aunt Melinda is going to help me with a quilt or two. I’m going to make a birthday cake for my Aunt Cindy since her birthday is on Thursday. I’m even going to tone down the powdered sugar in my icing so she can really enjoy it. My icing is usually a little too sweet for her. It should be great fun! My Aunt Molly is coming this time too, and it’s been so long since I’ve seen her. I can’t wait to catch up.

Now I just need to think of some things I can ask them in conversation about genealogy. They usually talk a lot about when they were growing up anyway. I just need to write down some of the things I’m fuzzy on so I can ask about them. Like where in Kentucky did their parents get married? I have conflicting reports. Who lived around them that were treated like family members? Maybe they were!

I have two posts coming up this week because I’ve actually been much more organized. I have them planned already, just got to write them up and illustrate with pictures now! One will be an update to my Yearly Goals. How am I coming along? I’m a little shamed and surprised at the results of that one. The other will be a breakthrough I had on my Webb line that I tweeted about late last night. Technically I shouldn’t have made that one yet because I haven’t gotten to the Webbs yet, but as a twitter friend said, “A breakthrough is a breakthrough!”

Before the crazy fun starts though, I’m going to scan in these tintypes and get them sent out in email. I only wish I knew who they were. Since most of my photos are Thorward photos, is it them? Or is it rare photos of the Moore family? I can see further analysis is needed on my part!

If you’ve read even a smidge on this blog, you know that I don’t get out much. I won’t call myself a shut in or a hermit, but I’m not far from it! I really hate to leave, but when the going gets rough I can do it. That’s not necessarily what is happening here. We’re visiting Miami for the holiday. My brother is hosting it for the first time in 10 years and this time he’s doing it from his very own house. The last time he hosted, he was living in a studio apartment with his then fiance. I was still in high school and the biggest thing I got to take on the trip with me was a new CD walkman and some new drawing supplies.

This time is a little different. In 10 years, my road trip experience has changed dramatically. I don’t spend the week before I leave going to the store for batteries and CDs/cassettes. I don’t take 5 books with me for the long road. I read fast!

This time for the 1069.7 miles (15 hours and 48 mins) I’m not taking much, just two things.

That’s right, Wheat Thin Stix and my new camera. You see, over the last few years I’ve learned I really do enjoy watching the scenery around me. I like to sit in the front passenger seat and help whoever is driving navigate. I like to see the miles tick down on the GPS. There’s nothing like seeing those miles tick down.

I’m going to take a little break from the computer world while I’m gone. I hope the internet doesn’t collapse while I’m gone, that’ be bad, very bad!

My kitty is so photogenic. I’m going to miss the little booger. Even if he did earn his name of Cujo. Now I know how my neighbor feels when she leaves her dogs with me. It’s tough leaving them!

So this is me signing off for now! Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans an just Happy last week of November to everyone else!

Note: I have no affiliation with Nikon or Nabisco. They are not compensating me for this post. I just use their stuff. Technically I eat the Nabisco stuff, but it works all the same.

I’m going to be doing a little genealogy today and I can’t wait! I think I’m getting somewhere with all those Mays ancestors. Or at least, I’m getting somewhere with the group I’m working on now. I don’t have much time today though because we’re in a dash to finish setting up our Christmas Village. That’s right we’re setting up our Christmas Village this week. The original plan was to start November 1st but we’re even running late on getting started early. The village is our biggest project at Christmas, and it’s also the one that we enjoy the most. After barely getting it up in time last year, we decided to start November 1st this year. Unfortunately, we didn’t know then that this would be our busiest year in a long time! We’ve been traveling fools for family events. Just when we get settled from one, we’re dashing to another. So now that we’re finally back in our grove from our trip to New Jersey, we’re about to jet off to Miami for Thanksgiving!

That’s right, I said Thanksgiving in Miami! How fun is that going to be? My brother has purchased his first house and he’s decided to host Thanksgiving this year. It’s been a long time since we’ve all been together for the holidays so we’re jumping on the chance!

This is a panorama view of last years village. It’s technically in 3 parts.

Here’s where we’re at right now. We’ve got 2 villages in place and all of the buildings have lights. My next step is to set up the “Forest” which is all the trees in front of the bureau. Our hope is to have it done before we leave for Miami. I’ll let you know if we make it!

Does anyone else always say Happy Birthday in the voice of Frosty the Snowman? Oh that’s just me? Nevermind then.

Today is a special day in our household. Today is the 235th Anniversary of the United States Marine Corps.

In August I posted my father’s Marine Boot Camp class photo. The Marine Corps birthday hasn’t always been big in our household. I know my Dad has always talked about his time as a Marine but until I was older, I just didn’t get how big his love of the Marines was. In fact, my father being in the Marines is the reason that I’m here today. You see, my mother’s brother was also a Marine. It was how my parents met. My father and uncle were both stationed in North Carolina when my mother went to live with her brother. The rest is history.

Not only are my father and uncle Marines (there is no such thing as a former Marine), but my cousin is also. That’s 3 people I wished a Happy Marine Birthday to today on Facebook. If there are any Marines in your life, be sure to tell them Happy Birthday and don’t worry, they’ll know exactly what you’re talking about. They take this day very seriously and I’m sure it would bring a smile to their face. I’d make my Dad a cake but the last cake took us so long to eat it got a little fuzzy. He’ll just have to settle for some leftover Halloween candy!

One day, I hope to write a memoir. Not to publish or distribute. Just a  way to maybe connect with future generations of my family. Llewellyn’s journal has made me feel connected to her and I want to recreate that in some small way.

If I were to write my memoir, I’d include all those funny child anecdotes, and not to mention all those teenage years where I was unruly and needed a good talking to. I’d be sure to include how I dealt with the fact that I was bullied mercilessly in middle school. All that drama and deep thinking wouldn’t be a very accurate portrayal of my life. To be perfectly honest, we’re pretty funny in this family. Our family is not only filled with drama, loss, and tears. We’ve had a whole lot of laughter too. The latest adventure I’m definitely putting in my memoir. It would be titled “The Comedic Chapter”.

You see we’ve had a battle going on since we put our new house on our property. We lived in a trailer here forever and never once had an issue with anything. You put a shiny new house on a lot of land and all of a sudden you’ve lost all street cred in the neighborhood.

The first year there was a mysterious incident where our mailbox was infested by ants. When I say infested, I mean INFESTED. After much discussion, we don’t believe there was any reason for it but hooligans. You know the type.

Six months after the infestation, our house was broken into. The only things taken were an X-Box and a bag of quarters. Well and the laundry hamper they used to carry it off. Again, HOOLIGANS. We have all kinds of shiny equipment that would make anyone drool. Yet it wasn’t touched.

The second year (or six months after the break-in), our mailbox fell victim to a rash and rare case of Mailbox Baseball. We’re pretty sure that’s what it was since the box was only hanging on by a nail. It wouldn’t have been so bad except we were the only mailbox affected along the whole street.

The third year, our signpost was physically picked up and thrown onto the pavement. How Rude! When I say physically picked up, I mean they had to use force because we’d gotten smart and started sinking things pretty deep. The signpost was shattered on the hard surface of Highway 235.

This Saturday was our breaking point. Things just went too far. Only this time, it wasn’t anyone’s fault. Well, no one’s fault that we can prove. On Saturday morning a police officer knocked on our door at 6:30AM. He was informing us that our mailbox was involved in an accident on the road. The kind police officer handed over what mail he could find in the dark and gave us a information booklet about being the victims of a crime.

When the sun came up and we could finally go out and survey the damage. We were all shocked to see the carnage left behind.

This is all that survives of our mailbox. The poor box was shattered. We’ve just put up our new box. It’s only temporary while we get a battle plan together. Gosh darnit, we will not be victims again. My idea to paint stop signs on the box was rejected.

This is what I would put into my memoir. This is a peek into our everyday life. Dinnertime conversations can be anything from politics to ways to thwart mailbox vandals. It’s at least a way to break up all the monotony of everyday life. This is what I find interesting. You never know what a future family member could take away from it. Will they call us the eccentric nutjobs? Maybe they’d keep reading in hopes of finding a sitcom like chain of events? Or maybe they’ll take the advice given and get a big, oversized dog to chase off any would-be vandals. It seems to work for my neighbors.

It’s been so busy around here this week. My Aunts and their husbands visited for the first time in like 30 years this weekend. So we were busy cooking, catching up, cooking, and revisiting some old haunts. It was definitely a great visit. I’m getting much better at prying information from people. Don’t worry, there was no harm done, but sometimes you just have to steer that conversation back around to why Grandpa’s family practically disowned him. It’s just vital to my getting to sleep at night. Many things my Aunt told me, she said if I ever published before she died, she’d haunt me forever. Yikes!

We definitely have a project we’re working on though. Our own family cookbook. We have a very basic binder in the shed we can use. Everyone is going to send me some recipes for it. The ones that don’t, well I’ll just bug them until they do. The idea came about when I was showing them the Mrs. Rowe’s Restaurant Cookbook that I wrote about earlier. Both of them loved it so much they immediately had me order them both a copy. They should have them by next week, if not the end of this week. So that’s something we’ll be working on, and we hope to finish putting at least a first copy together by Christmas. We’ll see how things go!

Unfortunately, because my Ohio Aunts were coming, I had to miss my annual New York Moore Reunion. My dad and siblings went, but I stayed in Maryland to help Mom with the company. I don’t regret it! I did miss not seeing everyone but I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot of family stories when everyone was cutting loose. Now all I have to do is log them in One Note before I forget all the who, what, when, wheres.

I’ll keep everyone informed about how the Recipe book is coming!