Heeyaaa!

Considering I spent the day at several different cemeteries, pretty good.

I plan to go back to my dad's grave more often.  I also plan to go back to my grandparents' graves.  Their tombstone is one of those flush with the ground ones and it's starting to get covered with dirt.  I want to sweep it off.  I was surprised my mom had already been there and left flowers.  I thought grandma and grandpa wouldn't have any. 

My sister didn't go out to dad's grave after giving everyone so much grief over his tombstone.  He did not have one single flower until we go there. 

I went with my aunt and uncle since dh hates cemeteries.  I found the graves of my first ancestors to come to the US.  And their stone was in excellent condition.  I got lots of photos for my genealogy.  I was pretty happy about that. 

Going to dad's grave was hard - made harder by the fact I saw the graves of several of my friends' parents, too. 

The ones whose graves I found were Swiss.  My ancestors are from Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, England, Scotland, Italy, Russia and Africa.  My maiden name (which I don't really like) was Swiss. Where is your family from? 

You can't tell from a tombstone who was much loved, but you can tell who had a lot of money to spend on a huge ole tombstone.  I didn't see any of those new ones that play videos.  Thank goodness!  I have a cousin who has a photo of him on his.  Kinda creepy. 

I think you can learn a bit about people and what they value from tombstones.  I wouldn't go every month, but once a year is okay.  Next time, I'm bringing a tripod.  My photos turned out all crooked because the wind was blowing so hard (about 60 mph) that I couldn't hold still. 

Well, they've been here a long time.  My first American ancestor arrived in 1607 Jamestown.  My Johnny-come-lately ancestors arrived over 150 years ago.  They've had lots of time to get around.  Russia and Italy surprised me though.  I wouldn't have guessed those.  I'm lucky because one side of my family has kept their genealogy for over 500 years.  I didn't have to do much there.  I had an ancestor way back there who was a Swiss knight and nobility was required to keep their genealogy and from then they just always did. 

It is an interesting hobby.  I started it because I didn't even know one of my great grandfather's names.  All I knew was that they were Irish.  I thought  they came to the US fairly recently, but I traced them back to 1752 Virginia.  Their name is the most Irish name ever, so somewhere, someone lived in Ireland. 

So what have you been doing, Ward?

Nah, he's a 9th cousin to the Queen.  He's also related to George W. Bush which I sometimes tease him about. LOL

Hong Kong Disney.  That's a long ways away.  Why Hong Kong instead of the one in Florida?

Yep, if a few thousand people die, I could be Queen.  LOL! 

Sounds like a big trip.  have you been to Asia before?