Dude checking me out at Costco said I was going to have a happy Thanksgiving.  One way or another.....

I hope you guys all have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

-P

Today is my paternal grandparents' 69th wedding anniversary.

That's a lot of years.   It's a little depressing to think that even if I ran off to Vegas *today* to get married (forgetting, of course, that I have no one to marry), if I were to remain married for 69 years, I'd have to live to be 105 years old.  

He was 20 when they married, and she was 16.  They'd met at a roller-skating rink.  And they remain as devoted to one another today as they did 69 years ago.   

I'd happily trade in some of those years if I could find a love like that.  

Here's a photo from about a year after they were married:

There's a BUILT IN ice strip on the bar that's to keep your beer cool!!!!

This was at the Capital Ale House in Richmond.  We went there to see John Doe, and it was a great show, great new venue, great beer, lots of folks I knew, and, oh yeah, COLD BEER!

I'm way too easily amused...


Earlier in the day, this happened:




Me (with fresh new haircut), Deanna, John Doe and Laura at the John Doe in-store at Plan 9.  

Earlier today, I was going through the drive through window at a fast food restaurant.  There was some delay with something I was getting, so I was sent to pull forward and someone would bring my food out.

Just as I pulled up, a man exited the restaurant and he and I had a very nice chat.  His name is Maurice and he is a 53-year-old disabled veteran (with a birthday next month) who drives a Lincoln.  He has 8 brothers and sisters - one brother lives next door to him in Varina, and a sister works for the City of Richmond and just got a raise and a promotion as incentive to stay an extra 8 months instead of retiring.  

It occurred to me that just after that brief conversation, I know more about Maurice than many of my co-workers, some of my friends, and some of my family members know about me.

And I think it's time for me to start changing that.  Not that I have any intention of talking to random people at the drive thru.   But I could be less, as Jeff described it, "guarded."

This is me today.

And I don't know how or when or where, but there will be many many alcoholic beverages for me this evening.

Many.

What possesses people to constantly chime in on or otherwise hijack another's phone conversation??

It's annoying as hell being the interruptee/hijackee.  It kills my concentration, not to mention my ability to even hear the other party.

I don't mean offering help or advice when the person is obviously struggling.  "You need directions to that thing over there?"  This is perfectly fine and even appreciated.

But going beyond that, offering opinions on what they assume to be the content of the conversation, and other assorted comments from the peanut gallery.... what does the interrupter really get out of doing this??  Does it really feed their ego that much??  Aren't there other ways to accomplish that?

Today is my parents' 44th wedding anniversary.

Just thought I'd share :)

One of the BIG things that drew me to genealogy was all the time I'd spent with my grandmother's photo albums, and learning who some of the subjects were, imagining what their lives were like, what was going on at the time of the photo, what they felt, etc.

In the course of research, I've come across some 30 odd photos that nobody seemed to be able to identify at the time.  We've since identified a few, mostly involving my Great Great Aunt Cora, but I still love looking at them, and if your screen's not still broken from the last photo I posted, I thought I'd a few.  These were likely taken in the early 20th century and were likely taken in or around Grayson County, Virginia: