Month: April 2020

We all have, or claim to have famous persons dangling precariously from branches of our family trees.  My middle name, for example, is a family one – Hardy.  My grandmother, my father’s mother, was a Hardy that reputedly came over on the Mayflower.  Visiting the harbor in Plymouth, England some years ago, I found no Hardys on the manifest, so that’s probably a myth.  However, one distinct feature in the family is the beaky nose.  We’ve referred to it has the “Hardy” nose.  My father, grandmother, two great-uncles, great grandfather, and more cousins that I can count had it.  Looking up images of the famous author, Thomas Hardy, for which I should mention dramatically here, drum roll please, I’m NOT named, he too had the renowned Hardy nose.  Are we related?  Perhaps distantly, as the family goes back to the Norman Conquest.  So too in my mother’s family, the Doyles from southern Ireland, Arthur is a family name – my grandfather’s middle name and my great-grandfather’s first name.  Are we related to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?  It’s possible, and family folklore has long claimed it. Continue reading “Tracing Her Roots”

Every so often, I reread material that I’ve previously posted. As I went out this morning to get my newspaper and white, fluffy rain was dropping from the sky, I thought this appropriate to repost.  If you’ve read it before, feel free to move on.

OK – I’m looking out the window and snow is again falling from the sky.  We’re getting on to late April, and apparently Global Warming is not fully doing its job. Last weekend, we endured freezing rain and lots of it – I considered leasing one of those big Duck Boats that conveniently come up behind you and quack loudly in city traffic.  The floodwaters had subsided after a few days, so I thought – “I’ll bring out the deck furniture”.  That would create the illusion of some open space in the basement, but no . . .  . . . Continue reading “It’s Snowing Again! Again”

We in America are now beginning a national debate.  Do we sacrifice health and safety – human lives – for the economy to reopen and get the country working again, or do we protect lives and continue with preventive measures by staying home and letting large segments of the economy continue to idle?  Here are a few thoughts. Continue reading “Health and the Economy”

So, what do we do now?  Sit home and wait for the government to send us checks?  While I really like that idea – I was a supporter of Andrew Yang’s guaranteed monthly income – I feel, as many Americans do, that I should be doing something.  I’ve done some inside painting, and put some wallpaper up in the bathroom.  (An accent wall – too much HGTV).  The last of the snow has finally gone, but not much is coming up in the gardens yet.  The clean-up crew came through with their blowers last week.  I’m not sure if it’s too early to see what’s still alive or if the blowers took out everything and I’ll have to replant.  Typically, I’d be making plans to hit the nurseries about now – it’s still a little early yet to plant or set out containers.  But we can dream.  Plants and planting are the opposite of social distancing – they want to be close, personal, and friendly.  A few sturdy daffodils and tulips came up a while ago, in the warm spell, and then were covered in snow.  Now, they’re out there looking terrified – “Do I keep going and bloom or don’t I?” Continue reading “Spring is Cancelled”