translation!!

Don't remember if I said I was born in Germany ( 1945) and have my government baby book and my Mother's too.  But I can't  translate either of them totally and can't decipher the hand written names of my grandparents on my Father's side.

When I was born in Werther ( western Germany) my Father was a soldier in Poland. After the war he was living in East Berlin but my Mother and I managed to join my Grandmother in London...so we never met  and I didn't find this baby book until my Mother had died and there was no chance to ask questions!

But...my teacher daughter has found a "German" genealogy group that is part of our library system and meets in the Midwest Genealogy Center and spoke to one of the members . She says she can translate what I'd like to know!!

I have done the beginning "tree" on ancestry.com and members of my tree in the UK and Germany have filled in lots more... but not knowing my Father's mother 's name etc. has put a stop to adding on that side!!

There are times when I am amazed when matches show up... Germany really kept amazing records... one linked me to a saint in the 14th century!!

Another college visit

 My grandson, his Mother and sister visited UMKC - University of Missouri Kansas City - this morning. My grand daughter will be attending it this fall after completing her two year program at the local community college and wanted to go along for Dominic's visit. 

The visit went well.. saw lots of the campus and heard about what college life would be like for him and found his ATC scores qualify him for several scholarships!! Scholarship money is always great!  At UMKC he could live at home and commute or live in a dorm...Commuting would mean a car!!

UMKC has lots of older buildings so Dom's tour really exhausted his Mother.. lots and lots of stairs!! Plus the campus is on a hill... more stairs!  I could tell how exhausted she had been because even with a nap she yawned and yawned when we were at our craft group ( a stitch and bitch to be more accurate!) this evening.

What a morning... evening celebration will follow

Heavy heavy thunder woke me around five... no lightning though. It rattled on and off for about two hours but very little rain.... but that changed ! I unloaded the dishwasher and made a cup of coffee and was going out for the Sunday paper ( don't want to miss a whole section of funnies) when the sky opened up and it poured and I mean poured. We got about an inch in 15  minutes!!

When that was done it was off to the grocery store for the last minute things for Dom's 17th birthday affair this evening!! Food will be typical summer stuff ... like hot dogs, beans, chips ,salads, ice cream and cake!! I bought  Styrofoam plates to make cleaning up "easier"!!

The "celebration" went well and the weather co-operated. We all sat out on the deck and talked etc. till it was time to eat. Dom's requested cake was his Mother's chocolate no-flour cake with granache  (sp?) frosting!! Yum

 

electricity off and on

My computer hates it when the electricity goes off ! Yesterday it went off four times and when I tried to turn it back on late last night it took forever to get through updates etc.!

It went off again this evening and thought "on no" and expected the same old rigamarole... but not this time!

We have been watching work trucks on the street at the end of ours. Motors have been running for days and moving from house to house with some sort of hose affair. No idea what they are doing... according to a sign posted .. it's utility stuff.

Dom's college trip

 Dominic enjoyed his breakfast at Ernie's in Colombia but enjoyed his scheduled college "interview" even more... saw dorms, all of the campus etc. He learned that college freshman are divided by college majors so they know others in the dorm have similar interests!

They also took a look at Columbia itself. I was surprised to learn that the Univ of Missouri has about 30,000 students!!

Next week they are going to the Univ. of Missouri Kansas City ( downtown Kansas City) ... the week after to Kansas Univ. in Lawrence, Kansas

This evening some of the kids from our cul-de-sac stopped by... "selling" home made bracelets and popsicles!...One asked about two rescue cats from years ago and when we said our two had belonged to my son they wanted to come in and see them! Kind of a fun interaction

Looking at colleges

 My grandson and his Mother headed off to Columbia, Mo to the University of Missouri this morning for his first college visit.

Don't know (yet) how things went but my daughter sent me a picture of my grandson enjoying lunch!

Sunny days

 We have had quite  a few sunny days... temps up to low 80 's and the a/c running by late afternoon. Not bad but it has caused lots of mosquitoes to hatch especially the tiny ones!

We took a walk through the park... lots of lazy Canadian geese resting under trees and along the lakeside.

Then yesterday light rain started and it rained all night. No watering necessary this morning... Funny how rain can pour in one place and then be absolutely dry a mile away!!  

My teacher/daughter will be taking my grandson on college appointments... Next fall he starts his senior year and they want to visit some of the colleges/universities within  1.5 hours car travel time. This is the first summer that my daughter is not teaching summer school... so is free!!

Sunday... Bob had plans for yard work today but it rained off and on so he didn't have to do it!! Pleased !

 

we're in a severe drought

I read in the paper today that our area is in a severe drought. I knew we hadn't had much rain this past winter and no real measurable snow... but drought?!

Well that article encouraged me to water my plants on the deck boxes.... and will try to get into a routine.

We are hot today...86 F...little high for the beginning of June.

Tigger ( the orange cat) loves to lie on the floor under my ceiling fan... turn it off and he gets up and leaves!!