Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. First entry, coming up.  But I guess first thing's first: if you don't get why I'm looking for Maude, you'd better get your hands on a copy of the movie ASAP.  It's near-absolute perfection.  I do take minor exception with one particular plot point, but I'll forgive it as necessary to make the movie what it is.  And I still love Jamie Baird for introducing me to it back when I was 20. 

What did I do today?  I took a break from all of the worries about work visas, ESL training, housing, and money for my impending move to Poland(!!!), and I went to visit my grandparents.  Since I was headed out to their area, I thought I'd stop at St. Mary's in Fancher to stroll through the cemetery to look for my great great grandparents' grave.  Since I first thought about the possibility of moving to Poland, I've developed a fascination with finding out where I come from.  I'm hoping to trace my family back to the point where I can go visit the towns, cities and villages where
                                    my ancestors come from.

On this search, I've stumbled upon a bit of a mystery.  My family has always assumed that my great great grandfather, George Betro, was from Italy.  Someone who knew him told my grandmother that George grew up somewhere in the south of Italy, near the crossing to Sicily.  When I look him up on ancestry.com, I find that he (and his wife Pauline and several sons and daughters) are all recorded in several censuses.  But each one lists a different place of birth for him, and a different place of birth for his parents.  Wisconsin, Philadelphia, Italy, Syria, Prussia, France...I have no idea where he comes from!  I do, however, know where he's buried.  I thought that maybe the cemetery might give me clues.  Maybe his parent's names, a place of birth, something.

After wandering for ten or fifteen minutes, I finally found it:

Alas, it really offered me no information I didn't have already.  But it was pretty cool to stand there anyway, and to pay my respects to people who made their way over here (on ships!) to start a new life, and ended up creating my family.

Because it was a beautiful day, I was driving through the country, and I had my camera, I began seeing delicious photo ops everywhere I looked.  I firmly believe that, when you're holding a camera, everything starts to look more compelling. So I passed a lovely afternoon being enchanted by everything I saw.  Here's an abandoned farm house that caught my fancy:

Yes, those trees are really growing right out of the house.

Finally, since I was visiting long-gone family, I stopped by my Grandpa Irv's grave just to say hi on my way home.  The sun was shining, but as soon as I reached his grave, it started raining.  If you know me, you know I love rain.  Especially warm rain.  So I said thanks to Grandpa and went home, where I saw...

A double freaking rainbow!  Right over my house.  My mom says that means someone from the beyond is trying to contact you.  Hmm...