Beautiful Days…and Finding Some Family…

 

  These last few days here at Lake O’ The Pines have been award winning…We have had great cocktail  hours by the campfire…

 

 

….and I have been able to don my warm weather evening ensemble, switching from flannels, to cotton..My shoes, however, must remain the same…My poor feet are still not liking my long walks with McGyver, so the Crocks RX with extra orthotics are still in my repertoire….

 

 

 

We have had a few really nice sunsets here….I hope you don’t get “sunset weary”, because I NEVER do!!…Heck, at our age, McGyver and I enjoy every darn sunset we get to see, right??

I SWEAR I did NOT enhance this..The clouds moved in and McGyver took it..isn’t it pretty?

Our neighbors here are either getting accustomed to my evening wear, or they are whispering and giggling when I am not looking..(I am more inclined to believe the latter to be the truth…)

There is an area here that has been burned ..I’m not sure if it was a controlled burn or if lightening started it, but it involves one sole area right at the entrance to the campgrounds…

 

There are also signs saying to be careful when going into the woods, as there are lots of trees downed by the draught Texas suffered this  year..and there is firewood anywhere you look..The park people are pretty clever, too.  They have cut down a lot of the dead trees, and you can just go get firewood anywhere…(thus saving them from having to haul it out..I like their plan.)

 

 

 

 

I really like the idea of an “outdoor” kitchen as in the left photo…especially with kids thrown into the mix… “You kids just sit right down here and I’ll make you lunch…NO..Don’t go into the camper!! Just look at your muddy feet!!”…very smart idea, right?? The site on the right it the camp host’s spot…Not too bad!

This past year, I  have been doing extensive Genealogy work at home…One member of our family in particular is very hard to find info on.  He is Eyles Sylvester Harnish..(Harnish was my paternal Grandmother’s maiden name, and Eyles was her brother’s son…I think that makes Eyles and me 2nd cousins)..I cannot find any birth certificate, but did find out that he moved from Arlington Heights, Illinois to Texas in the 1970’s, and passed away in 1982…Thanks to online research, I did find that he and his wife, Dorothy, are buried in Gladewater Memorial Park, in Gladewater TX…I say that ,to say this…As Den and I were driving here, I happened to see a sign to Gladewater and had a brain flash that some of our extended family was buried there….Soooo, next week McGyver and I are driving to Gladewater, about 40 miles from here, and visit his grave .  I called the online cemetery telephone number, and a nice lady looked it up and emailed me the location of Eyles’s grave in the cemetery.  This is a huge help, as the cemetery has over 3,000 internments!!  I never actually knew that we were coming this close to Gladewater, TX…There are many mysterious things about Eyles that I would love to know.   He has always been the different one, and before my sis died she said that there were lots about Eyles no one would talk about. Now I know I won’t find any answers at his grave, and I realize that “channeling” while standing over someone’s burial site will not give me the answers I hope for…I just need to see it. I find a certain satisfaction finding his final resting place..Being brought up in a cemetery has done this to me, I know. And you know I will post photos…Boy, this is sounding very weird, eh?

This morning, Den and I had our coffee outside,

..It started out sunny, but shortly the clouds moved in..The forecast says 81 degrees today and partly cloudy..I want the sunny part. Tomorrow Dennis and I are going into Jefferson and do some nosing around the Oakwood Cemetery in Jefferson to find Diamond Bessie’s grave…I know , I know…you don’t have to say a thing!! We will also make a side trip to the Jefferson General Store, Historical downtown Jefferson, and Auntie Skinners saloon…We’ll  be making a stop at Bulldog Pizza and get our carry outs, taking them back to the Hiker for later…So, get on your walking shoes, kids…If y’all are good, we’ll buy you a soda pop at Auntie’s….and no, you don’t have to hang out in either cemetery, you can stay in the truck…SISSIES!!

 

“All work and no play makes one the wealthiest man in the cemetery” ~ unknown