geokin

Jessup Clan Blog

As part of the scanning project mentioned in the post below, I got sidetracked in the old, old family archives. I scanned a couple of major family histories and posted them on a separate blog -- the link is off to the left. The idea here is these will be safely(?) posted out in cyberspace for the foreseeble future. Its an experiment and we'll see how it goes.

Scanning the family pictures

I bought a scanner and have in mind to scan the family photos in the trunk at my father's house in Boyne City. Most of the photos from 1950 - 1980 are in 35mm slide format.  On my trip up north in October, my Dad and I fine tuned the "how to" plan and trialed the method. I'm going to scan them all at low resolution, organize them by year and post them here on the blog in photo albums. That way people can look at them and if they find special ones they like we can scan them at a resolution suitable for printing. There are some real doozies -- even non family members will probably get a kick out of the highschool graduation photos from the 1970s. You can find the start of the collection on the lower left hand bar of this blog with albums labeled "JMJfamily...".

Boyne City memory

When I made a trip up to Boyne a few weeks ago I brought my bike. On a whim, I decided to ride up to Rotary Park to see if the sign honoring my mother was still there. She was a City Council member and had been instrumental in getting the park created and funded. It occurred to me on the bike trip that the day was October 19th and the 28th anniversary of her death (the synchronicity of this kind of thing never ceases to amaze me, truly I know I struggle with it unnecessarily and don't give it its due).

 
The sign was there -- actually a very recently upgraded sign. How cool is that! I am sure my mother never played a game of tennis in her life but she would be very pleased that her name is still in lights (so to speak) at Rotary Park in Boyne City, Michigan after all these years.

"Michigan seems like a dream to me now...." (simon and garfunkel)

Well, obviously I have had bloggers block the past few months. So I changed the blog colors to possibly get started on a new phase. My electronic scrap book continues.

I returned to Michigan in September. I lived here over 30 years ago. I grew up here! I swear I started having reoccurring dreams I would move back here 5 years ago. How do these things happen? It makes me smile and laugh out loud. My friend Bruce is here for work. I'm here for him. We both have most everything still in storage scattered elswhere and find this 2 bedroom ground-floor apartment  a perfect place for right now. A bonus is my father is just a few hours away up north. I spend my days updating my resume, taking some on line classes and generally re-evaluating my situation in life. And a pretty darn good situation it is, at that! Stay tuned -- I know I will.

Someday when I can have a dog again.....

 This great looking dog named Jabba, is in the foster care of friend Janet Colbert in the Ft Collins area. She's watching him for a no-kill shelter. He looks a lot like the Staffordshire Bull Terriers that I have been admiring lately (pretending I am in the market for a dog). In Australia it is very common to see Staffordshire Bull Terriers with their owners on the beaches and streets. Everyone I talked to said "Staffies"  are great, friendly family dogs. They are related to American Pit Bulls and American Staffies so people naturally are wary of them,  I've been trying to read up on whether there is actually something to be worried about with Pit Bulls (and possibly their mixes) or if the bad press is the result of bad owners.  It seems there is a lot of conflicting information. I hope Jabba finds a home soon -- any takers? He's in good hands for the time being, anyway.

One month old in a white blanket

 

Minnesota Family Reunion

The Jessups/Liebernechts got together in Minnesota at Taylor Falls on the St Croix river for the weekend. We reminisced how we first got together the year I turned five and went to kindergarten.  I think that means we have been doing this for (gulp) 50 years. How could that be?

Anyway, we had wonderful time visiting with an excursion on    a  riverboat, a jaunt down to the river bank to see an awesome dam/power plant that was built in 1906 and the worlds best and largest "potholes" created as the glaciers started to melt with the end of the Ice Age (a bit prior to our family reunion tradition). The potholes were reamed out by silt in the swirling glacial melt-water. Some of them are over 80 feet deep. My cousin Sandy is looking in disbelief at one of the smaller "potholes" - well, I guess it really doesn't come across in the picture, but they really were quite the phenomena!

Sharing Liam-Please Pass the Baby

     

Megan eating Sushi with Liam in the amazing baby wrap

House sitting and a new car

I bought a new Subaru this weekend -- its blue! I am housesitting a beautiful home in the foothills of Boulder for the month of August. So I have wheels, a fantastic garden, two cats for company, yoga, friends in the vicinity , and a wireless network. What more does a woman need?