Michigan Speaks

My long time friend from Michigan wrote to me today. She is probably the only person in the state without a computer and no desire to have one. She actually likes to sit there and write in longhand.

Know anyone like that?

I didn't think so.

Patti lives on the outskirts of town in a house taken from the pages of Victoria magazine. She has done everything herself, and her husband Ern has done the woodwork. Ern is so talented in wood. The lifesize horses he has carved! Oh stop me please. He is just outstanding.

Patti is no slouch either. She knows more about Victoriana than anyone I know. She can take something and turn it into antebellum. Here's her new project. She bought an old beat up motor home and has turned it into "Aunt PittyPats Pretty Camper Rose Cottage"... complete with three chandeliers, lace curtains, and roses galore! She has a little porch on it and has painted it inside and out. Putting her Patti touch on it.

It doesn't run. It isn't supposed to. Its mission in life is to sit there in the yard and be a gracious little getaway, so to speak. To sit in the evening cool, listening to the grasshoppers and the swaying trees, to watch the sunset and feel the breeze on your face, to let the day's worries waft away.

Good work Patti, my hat's off to you.

Kathygirl

The importance of family

This week I had something unexpected happen. Hmmm... maybe it was one of those posts I got. You know, the ones that say if you forward it to ten people in ten minutes you'll have good luck?

Anyway, I enjoy genealogy and have posted my tree on the internet. I use my yahoo email just because. Last week I went there to clean out the spam, and I had one email out of 1,192 that was a personal one to me. The subject was "family tree maker info" and I almost deleted it along with the others!

This wonderful email was from my cousin Di. Now what's the big deal there, you say?

I lost contact with this cousin in 1969, when my mother passed away. The last time I saw Di was at the funeral. Di is a lot younger than I am, because I'm the oldest of the oldest. So I'm more like an aunt to her in age talk.

I knew she was somewhere, but not spelling her married name right hindered me from ever finding her. She found me! But here's the really cute part. She didn't know who I was! Now isn't that nifty?

I am thrilled beyond words. This cousin has always been very dear to me, and we grew up having the same grandma raise us, and at the same time. Di was a toddler and I was a teenager then.

I know that the Lord had to orchestrate this. He is so generous. Thank you Lord for Di, and for putting us together again.

Kathygirl