Friday's Random Thoughts

I feel like I have been very bad at blogging lately.  Life has been so busy but so quiet...there hasn't been much to write about!   Life has been about organizing, business, committee meetings and the usual boring winter stuff.  My Aries nature is screaming for a little excitement!  No wonder I get so goofy about my birthday in March - it's seems to kick off the social and fun seasons!

- I saw the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  Highly stressful movie!  I have read all the books but putting visuals and sounds to the story really made it hard to watch.  Don't get me wrong, it was brilliantly done...I just could've used a glass of wine to get through it.  After the movie I had to drive home in a blizzard...for an hour.  I wasn't sure my body would remember how to relax after that adventure!

- I have been plowing through a few series of books - I finished the 44 Scotland Street series and am now working on the Sunday Philosophy Club series.  Both are by Alexander McCall Smith who also wrote the #1 Ladies Detective Agency.  I highly recommend his books, I have loved them for years!  I also read My Fair Lazy but Jen Lancaster...probably my favourite of all of her books so far.  Sometimes I need to take a deep breath and remind myself to try to remember to please attempt to be like a graceful swan.

- The Little Prince did his kindergarten readiness testing at the child development center in town.  We visit them a few times a year to make sure he is on track because he wouldn't speak until he was older than two...and now does, only because we put a lot of work into giving him no choice.  He went from days full of frustrated tantrums to reading within a couple of months.  Yes, I have that child.  Anyhoo, he did his tests and scored in the 96th percentile.  Of course I am bragging.  Dahling.  We never had any intention of sending him to school but it is very nice to see how our hard work educating him has paid off.  He can now read whole books meant for children in grade 1 and 2 which makes long car rides a lot easier!

- Hermes Scarf Friend is back in the swing of thing!  Thank you all for your good wishes and positive thoughts.  To recap...she spent NYE in the hospital after having three seizures and has had an MRI, lots of epilepsy drugs, a million tests and her driver's licence suspended.  So far there has been no cause found so I think it was a one off and she wont need to worry about it again.  In the meantime she gets chauffeured all over town!

- The Civic Awards committee is plugging along.  We got approval from council for everything we wanted - new brand, bylaw changes, new categories, new criteria and then some!  It was very exciting to go through the process and then take it to town hall to present it to council.  Our town hall is very old and all wood and when I walk up those big creaky stairs to council chambers and sit in one of the wooden chairs waiting for our turn...it makes me feel like I am in a movie!  I was humming I'm Just a Bill quite a lot through the process!

- Can you believe the basement still isn't finished?  The good news is the cabinetry is coming along and I see we now have lighting in part of it.  I was under the delusion it would've been done in April 2011.  Silly me.

- I have decided I want to go to Scotland sooner rather than later.  I haven't been since 2004 so it's time.  I am hoping to get there in May - it all depends on what my uncle says.  Hopefully he will be there and I can stay at his house!  My mind races all the time with all the things I need to do.  Not to mention all the scheduling I need to sort out for when I am over there...must fit everyone in!

- Speaking of Scotland....I will try to make a long story short...in 1939 my Gran's brother had a blow up with the family and left.  They never spoke to him again.  We have no idea what happened or why he left.  I have been working on my genealogy and family tree and found a marriage record for him from 1939.  The plot thickens.  I also found a birth record for his son...in 1939.  MmmmHmm.  Now, this would not have been the first 8lb, premature baby born to any of the lines of my family tree so I can't imagine the simple act of 'having to get married' would be the impetus for being disowned so I suspect his very, very, very Presbyterian family couldn't accept that he was involved with a Catholic girl, got her pregnant and was to marry her.  In Scotland, at that time...that was just not done.

Anyhoo...fast forward to 2011 when I decided to find out what happened to him.  A year of searching earned me a couple of WW2 passenger lists and what I believe is a part of his death record from 1970.  And nothing more.  A couple of weeks ago I contacted a genealogist in Scotland to see if she could help me with this mystery - within 24 hours she had the death record for the wife of my long lost uncle and it was signed by their son who was born in 1939.  The best part?  The son's home address is listed on it.  Yes.  A real address...on a real street.

After sitting on this information for a few days I formed some thoughts, sat down, and wrote him a letter.  I had to give enough detail that he would know I am for real...but not so much that he could use it if he isn't the right person.  I added that we want nothing from him except to know him and perhaps fill in some blanks and also asked him to acknowledge the letter even if it's to say he wants nothing to do with us.

So now I wait.  I mailed the letter more than a week ago so I can only assume it will be in his hands by now..  Of course, there are plenty of variables to consider.  He might be dead.  He might've moved.  Who knows...I just hope I hear back soon because the suspense is killing me!  If the letter is returned to me undeliverable then I will go there when I am in Scotland and start knocking on doors.  It worked for Kim Cattrall, it will work for me!


Have a fabulous day!