September 1 is here! Wow, and we are still having hot and very humid summer weather. Oh, want to remind all of you out there. The Christmas Cactus are blooming---NOW is the time to begin your Christmas list of gifts you hope Santa might bring you if you have been good this year!! Have you??? Of course we all know the answer to that. Certainly you have!!!! But have I? Oh definitely!! Now that--that is over, onward to blog.
The Christmas Cactus above has a wonderful name. I love it! Thor Nille, and it is starting to bloom with that startingly beautiful color that you see. What a fantastic bloom. I have a whole corner of my patio full of many Schlumbergera(Christmas Cactus). Several are blooming, I see red, majenta, orange colors as I view them there. They are something my Mom always liked and she had some in the patio there in the house when we would visit near Christmas.
I have been working lots on Genealogy as has my Mrs. It is much fun to find out about those in our family line who came before us. My people came over from England in the 1600's and located on the east coast of America, and I always wonder how they made the long voyage over here. It must have been a difficult time for them. I have read a bit of those early voyages, and the food was limited, water stored in barrels aboard the ships and it would take weeks, maybe months to get here.
My GGGG Grandfather John actually was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and while out on patrol with 12 others, John Saxon was attacked by British troops at Phillips Woods. 2 soldiers were killed in the fight. They returned to Dobbs Ferry. John was discharged at a place called Summerstown Plain, Stephen Town, NY, in the County of Westchester about Jan. 1, 1782. He had served his 8 months.
And, of course, how can I not mention my GG Grandfather Alvah(Alvey) who was a soldier in the American Civil War. Alvah, youngest son of Gilbert., was a soldier, and he was assigned to the Thirty-first Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry and joined his regiment at Bridgeport, Alabama. He then returned to Nashville and was in the battle at that place where his regiment lost heavily. He was also in the Battle of Franklin. He accompanied his regiment as far as Duck River in pursuit of General Hood, at which place he was left sick in a hospital. I have a wonderful photograph of him in his army uniform, it is a bit torn and tattered, and he looks absolutely exhausted and very tired. I don't know who took the photo but it is wonderful to have it.
I have always thought that it is very important for people to know from whence they have come, and who their descendants were. Why? So that you have an understanding of who all those people who came before you in your family line are, and perhaps your place in the history of this Earth. I know as some of my descendants moved westward from New York, at times they had to cut down trees in the middle of forests, and built temporary log cabins while they worked on their permanent houses. How capable they must have been!
Today it feels like the hot and humid Caribbean. We are feeling the monsoonal weather from down south and I wonder if it will get cold, ever.
Hmmmmm.......Christmas list? I wonder what the heck to put on it. Maybe some chocolate cupcakes or a chocolate cake with extra frosting, or some homemade lasagna, or maybe homemade tostadas. Really the gifts from home are the best in this life. That is what I think.
Merry Christmas List Everyone.
