Aboyne Doll's outfit done

Be aware that this whole topic is highly addictive. ;-)

Oh, right! NOW you tell me....

;-þ

Beverly

Better late than never?

Well I suppose. ;-)

Actually, when we got very interested in tracing the Ickes line back in the fall of 2001, there was DD and me, as well as my younger brother, all pursuing leads all over the internet. We had located the small town in Germany where one of the first Ickeses to come to America came from in the early 17th century, and DH and I had started planning a trip to visit those areas.

It all came to a screeching halt when DH was killed. But, now my daughters are once again interested in locating the original family homesteads, taking pictures, and perhaps making rubbings of tombstones, so we're at it again. And it really is very addictive. One finds a lead, and pursues it madly!

Beverly

I have a cousin who does all that for me. ;-) She's done our common ancestors, back to 466 CE if you can believe some of the research done by others - she says take it with a grain (or pound) of salt. For a Xmas present, she was going to do my father's family, but they have been most uncooperative. She's having trouble finding where my grandparents are buried and what records might be there. We think they went from Scotland to Nova Scotia to Ben Avon, Pa.......but so did thousands of other Scots, and the names are not always clearly helpful. She loves the research. I find it tedious.

Joanne, yes this is very addictive. If I felt better I'd be doing itmyself. But, I did find out that my mother's family has an international newsletter which posts updates monthly. Has your daughter checked out all the churches in the last known area where they lived? Cencus(sp?) records? LDS files? Last known area property/per capita taxes? Property titles?

Yes, that I know. Our family name went from Guttan (1412) to Gut(1500's) to Guth (1500's) to Good to Goode (both Anglecized after1730's immigration to US) plus all the other associated names from daughter's marriages.

I also know things can get sticky when a child has broken with family rules/propriatety and marries someone the family doesn't want them to. My nana was blackballed from her family for two marriages and divorces a century ago and I just can't understand that thinking. The rest of us don't exist to that family. They won't talk to or about us.

Sometimes we need to tread carefully on these things. Sometimes they need to be dropped. A tragic thing in these days.

Good luck in your's and your cousins' search, AK in PA

My cousin is LDS, ran the genealogical library in her area, has taught genealogy both in church and in the local community college. She's done work for the state of Florida, too. She's very thorough. My family is not her highest priority, of course, except on the shared lines.

Some of the historical stuff is pretty hard to understand these days, but the world was smaller then, and they took some things very seriously. Even the DAR has some very rigid positions on who can participate and who can't. A hold-over from those days, I think.

Thanks. You don't be chance live in Fayette County, or come from there, do you?

My sister and nieces would dearly love to do it for me and mine...but they are LDS and have an ulterior motive. No way I want them messing about with *my* family history.

I think it's interesting and fun, but I'm not obsessed, either. I'd love to find the areas in Germany DH's ancestors came from (both sides), and also more information about my paternal and maternal lines. However, with names like "Price", "Brown", "Bennett", and "Hard", it's a tougher search. :-(

My aunt (Mom's sister) does have a lot of information, but her father was apparently a black sheep, there is a brick wall prior to him. He emigrated to the US in the 20s or 30s, and we know nothing at all about his family.

I'm having cataract surgery *early* tomorrow (ugh, why do surgeons want to start work at 7:00 AM???), so I'm off for my beauty sleep. :-\

Beverly

The worst they could do is "baptize" you by proxy after you are dead. I doubt you'd care much then. ;-)

There are records somewhere - nobody is born a black sheep. It's just a matter of getting access and spending the time and energy. You'd probably have to go whereever he came from to find it. Then it might be in an unfamiliar language, and a lot of trouble to deal with.

Congratulations and best of luck. I hope you have the fantastic results friends have reported to me - not only cataracts gone, but good vision for the first time. I'm almost disappointed that my cataract is such a slow grower. Almost. Not quite......

Joanne, I know some of my line didi go and settle in western PA, some moved on to OH and others still further into the midwest. I wouldn't be able to give specifics until I read through the newsletters again. AK in PA

Best wishes on your surgery, Beverly. My sister recently had it, with great results.

Doreen in Alabama

I just don't like the idea of baptizing folks without their consent. Period.

He came from the Birmingham, England area. My aunt did go there a few years back, but found almost nothing. The language wasn't a problem. ;-)

So far so good. I was quite thrilled that immediately after the surgery I was able to focus with my right eye, sans specs. The increased swelling of the cornea has diminished the affect as the day wore on, but I'm sooooo looking forward to having the other eye done in three weeks. Trying to figure out which eye to use, at the moment.

Good luck with having yours progress... ;-)

Beverly

Thanks so much! I hope to be able to start working on getting your AG patterns back to you soon. Weird how depth perception is completely fouled up when your two eyes aren't "working together". I'm not sure how long this lasts, or how I'll be able to drive. I see the doc for my post-op tomorrow, maybe he'll have some ideas.

Beverly

DS mentioned the same thing about depth perception, but it was normalized in only a few days I think. You probably won't have to be patient too long!

I am *not* concerned about the patterns, so please don't you be.

Doreen in Alabama

My opthalmologist let me drive almost immediately with wrap around sunglasses (important), the second eye in 3 weeks. He also said that the "riipening" myth is now passe and that surgery can be done when the catact starts giving trouble. The surgery is a piece of cake to what it used to be.T hat was 3 years ago. I'm 84 now and wish that was the least of my health problems. Dot in Tennessee

I think one problem is that if I wear my glasses in order to see with the un-operated-on left eye, my right eye is struggling to focus with the new lens implant through the old prescription specs lens (exceedingly blurry). I tried removing the right lens, but that made matters worse, as the astigmatism correction for my left eye made each eye see things about a foot apart on a vertical scale. :-( So right now, I either patch my right eye and use glasses, or leave off the glasses but then I don't have any correction on my left eye, and the right is still pretty blurry from the trauma to the cornea.

Unfortunately the first lens he implanted this morning was defective, so he had to remove it. That meant making a larger incision, and additional stress on the cornea. I have every expectation that the drops will calm things down soon, I just am not sure how I manage for the next three weeks until they do the other eye.

You're very generous, thanks! How is your DGD?

Beverly

But, did you have *severe* myopia? My difficulty is that I either have corrected vision in my left eye with glasses (but then my right eye can't focus), or corrected (but still a bit blurry) vision in my right eye without specs and *no* correction in my (very nearsighted) left eye. And my depth perception is way off, it would not be safe for me to drive like this.

I am hoping the doctor will have a suggestion in the post-op exam tomorrow. I'm not sure how I'm going to get around for the next

3-4 weeks, there's a limit on how much time my sister and DDs can spend chauffeuring me.

Beverly

You are too kind. Much too kind. LOL!

You mention depth perception -- something I have never had but drive just fine. There is a condition called amblyopia, which is hereditary, and runs in my family. I nearly lost an eye as a child because of it. But for depth perception, my brain apparently compensates by using things like the height of telephone poles, etc., to determine distance. I promise, I am a safe driver!

Beverly,

How aggravating that the first lens was defective and necessitated the additional procedure! Sending good thoughts that healing goes extra fast now.

We got very good news from DGD's surgery. All the pathology reports showed that they were able to get clear margins all around when the tumor and bone were removed. Her chemo will continue for 18 weeks, however.

Doreen in Alabama