Addendum: I was discussing my to-do list with my friend Kat Kelley at the comic book store.
Me: So the arborist will come and he'll raise the crown on the front yard tree, and he will "proportionally" shape the two tall back yard trees. Because my backyard neighbor, Faustine, was complaining how they were shading out the light in her kitchen.
Kat: Oooh, Faustine is such a good name for a low-stakes antagonist.
Me: It really is! And then I contacted Fiona, the Gardener...
Kate: Fiona the Gardener! This story is writing itself. What great character names!
Me: Like Cottagecore but crossed with Mapp and Lucia comedy of manners. Oh, and the arborist's name is Remy.
Kat: [sigh of satisfaction] Perfect.
Make it a low-stakes nothing-much-happens bedtime story.
Those would be great character names!
Cousin Explainer tea towel
My grandparents were cousins by marriage (there was another Ransohoff-Westheimer marriage in the generation above theirs) and so there is a whole branch of that side of the family where we are both third and fourth cousins.
Going in the other direction, I have seen it asserted that one's grandparents' siblings should be called your grand-aunt or grand-uncle, not great-aunt or great-uncle, but they do not seem to be getting much traction.
we are both third and fourth cousins.
Whoa. And no time travel?
You'd be amazed at what shenanigans people get up to without time travel.
At one point we had custody of a family bible (my father's mother's mother's family). They kept marrying cousins and names kept repeating - keeping Columbus separate from Columbus F. On my mother's side, one great-great- grandmother of mine married, he died and she married his brother. Supposedly had 20 (!) children, including several sets of twins. My mother remembered Milton and Wilton,, Cordelia and Ophelia (someone was reading Shakespeare that year) as well as several others.
I think my most interesting genealogical tidbit along those lines is my great grandfather whose mother, first wife, and second wife (my great grandmother) were all named Emma
Contact liaison for Matilda's Japanese abroad program and go over application requirements.
Brendon lived with a Japanese family on a rice farm when he was 9 in an exchange program when his dad was stationed there. He loved it. Also, best food ever. Fresh rice balls and noodles of yum.
This story is writing itself. What great character names!
Sounds like a delightful read to me.
Jesu, I've gone down five times to tell them to take less off the front tree.
Stressful.
They took a lot off the back trees, which is okay. But I don't want to lose the shade and cover of the canopy of our front yard tree.
