Of "The President's Weekend and a Siren's Song"~~~~~

Hello Darklings,

Well I only worked 2/3's of my day today, which was a good thing,  everything has been blooming so much, the mock cherry blossoms, the fruit trees are trying to come out as well as other things that I have allergies that is driving my Sinuses into fits.

All I can do it take my allergy meds, at least it wasn't a cold.  And speaking of colds, Sis is on the mend, she has started seeing her clients and is feeling lots better.

Well with Sis being mostly bed bound but for good reason,  Coralline and I were left to our own devices, but all was not lost, Doyle took us to S.F. to help celebrate Chinese New years,  it was quiet a swirl of things to completely confuse the senses but for us very enjoyable.

Although Coralline was very content to have quiet time at home as well,  but we did manage to run errands and even take in some antique shops.   When the weather is warmer I hope to take her to the huge Antique Faire that is sponsored by Michaans Auctions on the first Sunday of the Month.  But we will have to get there early.  And I am planning on us taking in again the antique shops in Niles (I confess I do have a weakness for that place) followed by pizza and then going to the Silent Movies at the Essay Theatre that holds films every Saturday evening, I'll have to see what will be playing.

I surrendered to Coralline's blandisments to paint my nails lavender and I have to confess the Essie brand of nail polish holds up very well, and the color "Warm and Toasty Turtleneck" is very complementary for an Elder Goth's hand.

Coralline was very happy to receive a special Valentine's card from her "pen-pal" and she say's "Thank You" and to be sure to watch for something in the mail near St. Paddy's day.

I had fun with Ancestry. Com, Sis and I decided we would try and trace our ethnic roots to see where did our family originate,  now we knew where our Grandparents and Great-Grandparents were born, and when they came to the U.S.  but were were curious as to how much of an ethnic mixture we were.

So went sent away for our individual test packets, and followed instructions and we got our results which not surprisingly were exactly the same.

We were 94 percent European extraction with the first breakdown of 31% Italy and Greece, 29% Iberian Peninsula (Portugual and Spain), 25% Great Britian,  well the first two sections I could understand but Great Britian--with a clear indication of Ireland?  That puzzeled us. 

When I read that out loud Coralline said to us "Does that mean you can really say 'Kiss Me, I'm Irish' "?

Doyle whooped at that and said "Shur an begorra!"  and went off seeking an Irish Beer but came back with a shot of Irish wiskey.

Of the remaining 6% that was intriging,  3% was Russia, 1% Sandinavia and 2% was from North Africa the areas incompassing Morroco, Egypt and Algeria.   But in a way it did explain why my sister and I really don't quite resemble each other, I have very fair skin but very dark hair, and she has fair skin, blue eyes to my hazel, and her hair is naturally deep chestnut reddish (no freckles)  Our late oldest brother had fair skin, dark hair hazel eyes, while our youngest brother had a darker complection dark hair and a brown eyes and both brothers would be outdoors a lot and not tan the same way.  Our facial constuction is the same but the coloring always threw people off. 

Dad use to say that would happen, his grandmother was blond with blue eyes, so he always felt that the blue eyes would pop up.   And Mom use to say that her family originated that she knew, from the southern part of Portugual the area known as the Algarve, which would have been invaded by people from North Africa.

As far as we were concerned it only created a greater mystery. 

But our extended President's weekend was on the whole nice and quiet, which was good, sometimes it pays to have quiet moments to enjoy the simple things. 

Then Monday evening we were invaded by my brother's invading hoard, all tired, snow burned and happy from the skiing adventure, my brother complained about the snow driving conditions but was glad to have had chains to put on the tires, and that the tire chain businesses were doing great business,  the boys were happy and my sister-in-law was happy no one broke a leg.  "We can't afford that!"  she said.

Fortunately I had made a good size meatloaf and fed the invading hoard and we told them about our Ancestry DNA,  Monica thought that would be a good idea, since we already knew what my brothers background was, all she had to do was her's and see what turned up as the mix in the children "But we'll only do one child as this is expensive"  At $99 a test I'd say so.

Finally it was time for everyone to go, and with a hug (lots of hugs) and a wave, we saw them off.

That night I reclined on the couch in the family parlor and continued to look over and ponder the DNA results, Italy and Greece what were those Greek and Romans doing?  I thought Dad's family originated in France??  But his family's home town was in France but near the Italian Alps, that could explain it.  But where did Russia and Scandinavia come from and Great Britian??  I thought and thought and then I remembered, Mom did say that although the family originally came from the Algarve, they did settle for several generations in the Azores before immigrating to America, and the Azores was a melting pot there, a place where sailors and traveler's from different lands would stop and rest, and according to Grandma she did hint that they did find the women of the Azores to be very beautiful and very seductive, she hinted that was how she got grandpa to propose.....

Hmmmm I thought, what family sirens enticed some luckless sailors to their "doom" with their soft, warmly scented with tropical flowers arms?   It reminded me of that song from the musical "Leave it to Jane".

"Come to us, We've waited so long for you,


Ev'ry day we'll make a new song for you,

come, come, to us we love you so.

Leave behind the world and it's fretting,

and we will give you rest and forgetting.

So sang the Sirens ages and ages ago."

Hmmmmm come to think of it, I have done that myself.......

Later Darklings