violetismycolor

visitors from abroad...

August is here and we have some terrible (cold and wet) weather and some lovely visitors.

Katharina, who was our German foreign exchange student seven years ago and who visits us for a month every year, is here for her month. She arrived last Sunday and we immediately whisked her off, jet-lag and all, to a birthday dinner for Zerek. 

Zerek turned 40 and he had all-day celebrations, starting with breakfast at Rosswood. We sat outside and the waitress took some really lovely photos. Breakfast was great and it was a lovely warm morning with the Willamette river rolling by. Lots of folks had their dogs with them. We talked about what was in store for Zerek for the rest of the day, which was meeting at various places with various friends to enjoy celebrating his big day.       

When Katharina showed up, we headed to the NW 21st and met up with Bonnie and Zerek again, this time at North 45 where we again sat outside. It was a bit hot by that time but we had a lovely dinner and then got Katharina home to (finally) go to bed. There's been a bit of jet-lag for her all week.

Today, we pick Lisa up from the airport. She is English and there's a long story about how she is connected to the family, but let's just say she's family. She was here in March and we told her to come back and visit again when the weather was better...but is it better? Not really. August has been either too hot or too cold and rainy. Weird, climate change-y weather. She is coming for 2 weeks and we have a lot planned for her.

This will be an interesting month with Bonnie's birthday and a visit to John's brother in the Okanagan. Can't wait!

It's in the eyes....

I am always interested in seeing traits repeated in families.  In this case, I am referring to physical traits.  I came across these pictures the other day and, BAM!  It smacked me right in the face.  My husband, JOHN CALHOUN, has the same eyes as his great-aunt, KATHLEEN CALHOUN.  John was about 39 years old when this photo was taken, but I am not sure exactly how old Kathleen was.  But those eyes...they are the same.  

Family history is so interesting, and I will tell Kathleen's story in this blog...wait, wait, I will get to it and it is worth the wait.

 I am not sure I see those same eyes in any of my kids, but I will look for them in photos from now on.  In the meantime, John was born in 1944 and Kathleen was born in 1886.  Fifty-eight years may separate their births, but those genes are strong.  I am not sure if they came down the Calhoun or Parke side, but again, I will keep looking at the old photos I have to see if I can trace them.  

This is a fun new avenue of research for me to go down.   Yippee!

On to family research

I have decided to change this blog into a family history and genealogy blog.  I hope to track my progress through the wacky, maze-y world that is all-things-genealogy.  I have found how much I LOVE doing research...I actually think I already knew that; why else would I have been such a history bug?  

I have a lot of history of my own side of the family, the Smoorenburgs, so I have been digging into my husband's side, the Calhouns.  This has proved fascinating.  I hope to tell the stories here in the blog.  Hopefully, other genealogy freaks like me, who may be researching some of the same folks that I am, can join in.  We can help each other.  

So, here we go!