It was a busy weekend indeed. I went down to Massachusetts to visit with friends and family. First I went to dinner with my paternal side to celebrate my grandmother’s 86th birthday. She very much enjoyed having her clan around her. She pinked up with pride knowing all of us (except Rebecca and Wolf) came out to see her on her birthday.

Second, on Saturday, I was in Boston for an anti-war rally. About 5000 people were there despite the gray, humid weather. Thankfully the rain held off until after the march was over.

Third, I had brunch with MFM on Sunday, which I quite enjoyed. I’m sure I sounded a little idiotic rambling on and on, but I do that when I’m nervous. Despite my nervousness, I believe I made a connection and hope to start on the writing project with her as my partner. I feel it’s too big a project for me to do by myself. I would like other lines of our family to become partners of this project also, but thus far I’ve not been able to make connections.

The project I speak of is to write a “comprehensive” family history. Right now what I have is a list of names and dates which isn’t compelling reading. I want to incorporate stories of individuals, and of individual families, along with pictures and oral histories/herstories to give the reader a broad overview of our family, how we’ve changed class (from the “poor” to the working to the middle), how the roles of our women have changed, how each of us was raised and what our expectations for future members of our family are.

The Jens were awesome and put me up for the weekend. I got to see their new house in East Boston and all the work they’ve done to it: tiling, pergoting, painting, etc. It was nice to see them in their own home instead of a rented place with a leaky ceiling.

Overall it was a good weekend. Next weekend we’re leaving for Pennsylvania to celebrate Samhain. Actually, we’re leaving on Thursday and will return on Sunday.