Backyard dreaming...

Due to a... difficult... neighbor, I haven't done any serious gardening for the past four or five years. Sad state of things, being uncomfortable in my very own back yard.

But Monday, NEW NEIGHBORS moved in next door - I am ecstatic. So, here's my little patch of green (with a light snow cover). I'll be talking about it a LOT more in posts to come. For now, let's just say that I have a lot of weeding to do - and am dreaming of a truckload of mulch.

Back home, back to the yard, back to myself again.

On St. Patrick's Day, I love to celebrate our family's Irish roots. Like so many families in this town, we have ancestors that came here due to the Irish Potato Famine in the 1800's.
.
This is my great-great-grandmother, Julia O'Hearn Brown ("Grandma Brown"), in a portrait made in 1897. I have sortof adopted her as my Patron Ancestor, and imagine that I see some resemblances between her and my own self - if nothing else, our names and our pale blue eyes!

According to my grandmother, our dear Nannie, Grandma Brown was a seamstress and did fine sewing for the ladies in the Cherokee Triangle - a very hoity-toity area at the time, I'm sure (and still quite lovely today).
.
.
And here is her husband, Patrick Brown ("Grandy" to the family). I don't have many details on him, but I hear that Uncle Bernie is researching the Irish side of the family as we speak! I can't wait to get to know Grandy better...
.
I am theorizing, though, that he and Grandma Brown attained some measure of affluence... their portraits are large, beautifully done "crayon enhanced photographs". The frames are ornate Victorian filigree frames with real gold leaf. I have Grandma's hanging in the dining room, but unfortunately Grandy's frame has gone missing. He's safely tucked away behind the dresser till I can find a replacement!
.
.
.
And this is one of their lovely children - Julia Marie "Lula Mae" Brown Asman, my great-grandmother Nana.
.
Nana attended a boarding school for young ladies - I have and treasure some of her notebooks from school. She married a doctor (way to go, Nana!) and spent much of her time volunteering.
.
I remember her at family gatherings at Mother and Daddy's... where she would play a mean ragtime piano for us!
.
.
So there we have it. My little claim to Ireland, such as it is... I started this morning with my bowl of McCann's oatmeal, and have my green on for sure. Next is a trip to the workshop, where I will put on Celtic music and do some sewing - as I was taught by my mother Joan, who was taught by her mother Juliana, who was taught by hers, who was taught by Grandma Brown, who was a seamstress and did fine sewing.
.
Julia, Julia Marie, Juliana, Joan, and Julie. Life spirals on out. Smile on my face. Erin Go Bragh!