We had a perfectly pleasant day today- some what of a rarity lately. I think that a major factor in this oh- so- little- house- on- the- prairie atmosphere was the fact that until around 4pm, The Girl really didn’t think that I would keep her from seeing the horse today.

I have never, ever done anything so nasty before. Yes, despite the fact that I very well know that Tuesday is her very favorite day of the week- socially-, despite the fact that I – now- know how tough math has been recently, despite that fact that The Girl sometimes feels like a prisoner in Iraq ( her words, not mine), despite that fact that I neglect hearth and home and sit behind my computer all day long, and- finally- despite the fact that I start nagging her the minute that she walks in the door after a hard day at school, I did indeed ground her today.

So sorry, no horse.

Once she realized this,accepted the fact that she still has to peg down my Achilles heel, she slipped into her comfies and actually cleaned her room. She even vacuumed it. She puttered about in the garden, telling me that the new roses have indeed taken ( have to check that one. Three days ago they looked dead as door nails to me) . A bit later, as I was preparing dinner, she off- the- cuffed me with a gee, it’s kindof nice to just be home.

Eh, so much for the meek inheriting the earth.

Hands clasped behind my back, gazing at my bare toe drawing circles in the sand, I admit that I spent what free time I had today at The Library of Congress. Did you know that they have whole books on line ?

Well, they do.

I shall even go so far as to hang my head and admit that I was reading about Daniel Boone . I kid you not. I read that whole pamphlet, all 74 pages, and found it neat, neat , neat.

Of course, one thing does lead to another, doesn’t it ? Scrolling down to the bottom of that page, how could I resist clicking on that American Memory link ? Like Alice in the rabbit hole, I simply found myself compelled by powers beyond my control to follow that link, and then, to do a search through the files on the name Kerlin.

Oh dear. Up pops the very chap that I am trying to link my lost family to. Perhaps I don’t want to link to him after all : according to the congressional record, he supplied arms during the revolution.

Nope, I’m not looking for roots in the Colonial version of Krupps.

Not at all.

But neat indeed, and all jpgs, so Google misses everything there.

One of the poor souls that I left sitting on their edge of their seat ( or- I suppose- one could say holding the short end of the stick) when I spent the past weekend rambling through Ohio and Kentucky was blackbird

But she ponied through and has some sinks up from a number of my favorite people. Stop by her place and add your sink.

I know, it’s a girly- girly meme, but I am just so curious.

As I was thinking the thought, turned on my left side on the bed, watching the round face , watching the curly blond hair, the curved eyebrows, the months old being that was The Girl sleeping, being overwhelmed by the love that I felt for her, the understanding of her- the first one, after all- I knew that I would always remember this moment, and that it would haunt me. I’m no fool, everyone bitches about going to Mom’s for Mother’s Day, so somewhere, down that road ahead of us, terrible things most likely were in store.

But at that moment, as I watched her sleeping on the bed next to me, I could not imagine anything, nothing at all, that could ever push me away from her, nothing that could separate us. How I loved her.

And I knew that some day, something would. It happens all of the time. Do you go out of your way on Mother’s Day ?

It has. Nothing dramatic, but the course has changed. It’s only been a few inches, but those few inches go off onto another tangent, in another direction. Nothing dramatic but I don’t want to go there. I want it to be where I am an ear, not a nag.

The Father says that we shall put things back on a good course together.

I hope so. For, somehow, The Girl and I have moved apart.

And I can hear her side so well. After all, of all the children, The Girl is the one that I can read best.

Being first born and all.

Early last week, I decided to change my tactics on tracking down the roots. As even vague acquaintances- why as even strangers that I stop on the street- know I have hit a total brick wall on one family. I have them in Ohio in 1850 and then they all vanish, except a grandson who claimed all of his life to have been born in Kentucky, in 1857.

Since I couldn’t find them, I decided that I would track down the comings and goings of their nearest and dearest, their Uncles and Aunts and cousins, to see if I could find a pattern of behavior.

A few days later, I was in touch with a man in California researching these same Aunts and Uncles, for you see, hemophilia popped up in the Brown family at about this very same time. He asked me to keep an eye out for anything that might indicate hemophilia. Why, I have three, count them three, Brown women as Aunts and a step- grandmother related to my lost group.

And finally, this weekend, I did a superficial survey of the tribe and did indeed find a definite pattern of the family going to Kentucky, to Louisville in fact, one after another, from 1832 on. I found one branch which might possibly be showing evidence of hemophilia . And that is all I did this weekend and most of today.

For hour after hour after hour.

Now listen carefully as I make one of my the- road- to- hell- is – paved- with remarks : I’ll get to the emails and comments that I owe tomorrow.

Really.

Don’t suppose that anyone out there has access to land deeds from Fredricks County, Va, circa 1801 to 1816.

Eh, I can dream.

I’m trying to think whose sink and junk drawer I would love to see. Basically, everyone’s. But if I had to pick two, I guess it would be Karan and Karen. ( I collect variations on the theme).

Karan because she is my friend in Velveeta and Karen for that exotic, foreign element.

Plus, I would bet good money that Jo has a white sink .

Now, take a look at Blackbird´s drawer, close up here.

When you have done all of that, check out the picture below.

Eerie, isn’t it ? Or perhaps it is simply logic that places batteries and candles in the same drawer.

A fitting meme for a place like this. Now show us yours.

After you have compared blackbird’s sink to mine, come back and read Meme Continued.

And- of course- should you want to let it all hang out, leave a link to your sink and/ or junk drawer either to blackbird or to me.

Preferably to her. It’s her curiosity and, well, it means a lot to her.

She is one curious woman.

I like her fine.

I am within 15 years of finding out how Sam ended up being an orphan. I’ve got the family in Ohio, within seven years, I have to find them in Kentucky. Sam was born in Kentucky, everyone agrees upon that.

A close relative of the family has a penchant for really bizarre names ( like Norburn and Overton, no Tom, Dick or Harry from this couple) and I keep bumping into them in my search for Sam. They are moving to Kentucky. And this is a family that moves together.

But I suppose if your parents name you Casalenah, you might find odd names appealing. Certainly more striking than your sisters names, two of whom are Hannah ( dime a dozen back then) and Rachel.’

Oddly enough, these three sisters- Hannah, Rachel and Casalenah- married into both sides of Sam’s family- his mother’s and his father’s, although not one drop of their blood runs in my veins.