Italian town with our name

Above is a little town in North, West, Italy with our family name. It is high up in mountains and is a quaint little town with a very long history.

While I was looking up the family name in the internet, I came across an artist with the family name who made me stop and admire his art. I wrote him a short note about how much I admired his work and telling him about my search for family name. He wrote me back, thanking me in Italian. (I had a friend who reads and speaks Italian translate the note.) He told me that there was this town, in Northern Italy, with the family name, where it is believed that many of whom may have joined the army of Garabaldi and were transported as soldiers, to fight in the war against the Spanish to free Sicily.

I have not gotten any further than Sicily in my research, as I have not gotten dates or names beyond my husband's Great, Great Grandparents. It is a romantic chance that somewhere, years ago that a family member might have traveled from this quaint town to Sicily many long years ago. I find this fascinating! I wish I knew a little Italian so that I could search back further. I know there are geneologists who can be paid to do the searching for you, but money is NOT what I have plenty of at this time. Ha ha! We can dream, though, can't we?

I did find out that my husband's Great, Great Grandfather lived in Terracini and was a furniture maker by trade, and displayed his works in the lower level of their 3 story home. This was found out by a cousin who found me on the internet and have been also researching the family. She had traveled twice to Sicily and found the family home and took pictures. Her Grandmother had the same father as my husband's Great Grandfather. Exciting to say the least!

Grandma goes to school for Grandparents and Special Friends Day

< Sarah, age 8, (on right, front, Red shirt) with her girlfriend in the 3rd grade class.








Matthew age 5, in his Kindergarten class. Guess who's the biggest kid in his class. He has a crimson shirt on. Their singing a spider song along with a recording.

When I came in the class, Sarah's teacher had each guest sit behind the kids we were there to see, and each child interviewed us about when we were born, our favorite playground game, (mine was kickball), our favorite book, (mine was Peter Pan), and I told her that's why I nicknamed her Mother as Wendy- a favorite name from the book, and what school I went to, (which was Roosevelt).
The kids then introduced us and read one of our comments that they had learned about from the interview. Sarah showed me her class books and she gave me a cookie shaped like a apple that she decorated. They had punch for the guests.
Later my daughter, Wendy, took me down to the Kindergarten class to see Matthew's class and the snacks they made from a rice cake iced in peanut butter and decorated like a spider with pretzel legs and eyes made of a couple mini marshmellows and two raisins. He then put two red licorish strings for antenna. After they ate, the whole class sat in the front of the room and sang a spider song while demonstrating the spiders walking on their legs, stomach, throat, and face and head. How cute was that!
Both kids are born in January, so they had to wait another year for school, so they are older than most of the kids in their class.
I think all the grandparents and Aunts and Friends had a great time visiting the kids in their classrooms, I know I did, except the tiny little chairs were hard to get out of !!! LOL!

One student in Sarah's class had his Grandpa there, and his Grandpa had gone to the SAME school and THE SAME CLASSROOM when he was small, many years ago! How neat was that!





THIS is the PROUD GRANDMA (ME) with her two beautiful Grandkids, Matthew and Sarah, and the kids are smiling big that Grandma was able to come to this Special Day ! (thanks for Wendy and Mark for picking me up)
( if you look to the right beside my ear, there is a picture of Matthew tacked onto the drawing of hands he drew in class)

Grandma will go to school for Grandparents day.

Tomorrow, I'm going to Sarah and Matthew's school for a Grandparents day celebration in Royal Oak. I hope to get some good pics of my two youngest Grandchildren. Looking forward to it.

Amber Turns 10!

Amber turned 10 on Monday, September 26th and I am so proud of my big girl! She is so lively and loving, and we love her so MUCH! We took this pic at a neighborhood park, where we played with Sarah and Matthew. LOOK, she is almost as tall as ME! What happened to that little tyke that you could pick up with one hand? How the years are flying!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY and many more young lady!

Double Vision??

I was watching the grandchildren one day until their father got home from work. I wanted to experiment with my camera, so I stood each grandkid in front of a huge mirror in my dining room and snapped a dual image of both kids. I had to black out the background images of the room and got these neat pics! This one is Darin, and below is Amber . What do ya think?

You weren't human in your past life, you were
magical. Now that you've been given a human
body you enjoy life very much and appreciate
people. You have a job to do and that's why you
were given a human body. Make sure you make
wise decisions.

How did you die in your past life? (for everyone)
brought to you by

OH! To be able to turn back the clock!

This is a copy of my high school graduation picture WAY back in 1967. How I wish I could turn back the hands of time and become that young looking face once more. The years have taken a tole on my face and turned me into a twin to my grandma. I look into a mirror and see someone I don't recognise as me. I've had a tough life, over the years, but the person I see in the mirror looks more like a 60 year old than a 56 year old woman. ALTHOUGH, in my heart, I still see myself this way, in my head, only I am much more knowledgable about life. The gray hairs I see now,are just not the me I pictured back then.

Any of my blogging pals feel the same way? I challege you to post your pictures of the best of yourself...............whenever that would be.

Sunday is Grandparents Day

To all those Grandparents (Like me)


Happy Grandparents Day!
Thanks to FLOWGO.com

AWW! Summer is leaving SOON!

I can't believe summer is almost over and I don't know how it snuck by so fast. I have been experimenting with my digital camera over the last year and got some good shots of the lovely flowers in my yard and around the little pond in my back yard. You will notice the little birdies and the variety of sweet fairys that have inhabited and enjoyed my gardens too. We can look at these and dream, when the snow is flying and making us miserable.

I've been so busy

Forgive me for not writing for so long. I have been working diligently on a family tree blog for my kids and grandkids for several days. I have documented my husband's family and mine as far back as we know so far, which extends to both our great, great grandfathers, with pictures when we had some. With the help of older Aunty's and cousins who had any information to add to what we have, and pictures they donated to us, we have found out a lot about our heritage. I am sorry that we know no other languages like French or Italian, otherwise I would pursue even further back into our heritage. I find that the information we have so far, is so exciting, that I would love to find out even more. We even heard from a distant cousin who lives in California, who was also researching the family tree and had found our name in a website. She provided both pictures from Italy, and further information about my husband's common great great grandparents. Even writing an Italian artist with a common last name, gave us information that there is a city in Northern Italy with our last name, that might indicate that his family might have originated there, long ago, and then migrated to Sicily later.
Does anyone have the same kind of interests in researching their past, and have any suggestions on how to proceed?
_______________________________________________________________________________

Moms
Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you’ve had a baby .......... Somebody doesn’t know that once you’re a mother, “Normal,” is history.

Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct ...
Somebody never took a three-year-old shopping.

Somebody said being a mother is boring ......
Somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver’s permit.

Somebody said if you’re a “good” mother, your child will “turn out good.”
Somebody thinks a child comes with directions and a guarantee.


Somebody said “good” mothers never raise their voices .....
Somebody never came out the back door just in time to see her child hurt another child, or another child hurt her child.

Somebody said you don’t need an education to be a mother.
Somebody never helped a fourth grader with her math.

Somebody said you can’t love the fifth child as much as you love the first.
Somebody doesn’t have five children.

Somebody said a mother can find all the answers to her child-rearing questions in the books .......
Somebody never had a child stuff beans up his nose or in his ears.

Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery ....
Somebody never watched her “baby” get on the bus for the first day of kindergarten.

Somebody said a mother can do her job with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back ......
Somebody never organized four giggling teens to a shopping trip to the mall.

Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets married ....
Somebody doesn’t know that marriage adds a new son or daughter-in-law to a mother’s heartstrings.

Somebody said a mother’s job is done when her last child leaves home ....
Somebody never had grandchildren.

Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don’t need to tell her .......
Somebody isn’t a mother.

Pass this along to all the “mothers” in your life.

I borrowed this from Momma's corner blog with a few changes by me. It was so true in my opinion.

Do you believe in Reincarnation?

Let me diverse a little bit, and ask others if they ever has the feeling or had a fascination with certain people or places that seem so familiar. Could this be a sign of a past life way back in our hidden memories? Or maybe it's just a fascination of mine for information of what the lives of past history were like. But, mainly certain kinds of history are most fascinating to me.

I wonder, why I feel that once I was an Egyptian, I have watched shows and read everything I can about them. I feel a sense of being there once, I see myself walking the markets, seeing the temples, wandering near the pyramids and living in mud huts along the Nile. It seems like I was there, and reading and watching about it just brings me into a dreamlike movie like I am seeing myself in those pictures.

Another fascination or memory is of being a early American Indian probably in the days before the Europeans arrived to settle here. I see myself living in a stick hut with animal skins as a covering for it, and living in the woods subsisting on what nature provides.

Another memory is being a young person traveling in a wagon train, crossing the plains to the West. When I read about or watch shows about the hardships the pioneers lived by, its like a re-enaction of past memories of my own experiences.

I don't know if you experience the same as me, but when I read a book, article, or watch a movie concerning the above subjects, something inside me tells me I am watching or reading about experiences that I have had before. I see a story so familiar or my mind says, " I knew that." that it seems strange to me and I can't stop till the story's over. Reading or seeing shows about other things don't strike me the same way that the above subjects do, so, yet I wonder what is the connection?

Do others of you get a similar feeling about things experienced in their lives, I wonder? I think there might be something like past lives or re-incarnation.

Sunday - Darin's 11th Birthday Party

On Sunday we were invited to Darin's 11th birthday party at a local bowling alley. Caroline had entered his birthday and won a bowling birthday party. The two hours of bowling was free, we just paid for shoe rentals. The neighbors came along, and also my cousin's son, Steve, who has become a best friend of Darin's. My husband even bowled, and he hasn't done that in many years. I could not bowl as my right hand is not co-ordinated, or strong enough. We all had a great time. The kids had been learning a lot since they bowled in a family league last fall, and they did well. Caroline brought his cake to the party. Here's a little view of some of the fun we had.
Darin with cousin Steve toasting his birthday

Caroline with her Dad Bowling





Neighbors bowling









Amber was pleased with her

bowling score

Happy Birthday to a really great Young Man- DARIN !

A little about daughter #2 WENDY

I have been reminded by my daughter Guendalyn, who I have always called Wendy,(my favorite name) that I have not ever written in my blog about her. I am sorry for that! It wasn't intentional.

Wendy is Caroline's youngest sister, but only a year and a half younger. They grew up more like twins, but so different in personalities. Caroline was tough,a fighter,and fiercely independent at a young age, and Wendy was the sensitive and a devout church goer. Wendy being younger, would master anything her older sister did, at an earlier age.

In alliance with arrangements with her sister, Wendy comes over every week, mostly on Fridays and helps me tremendously with house cleaning, (like washing walls, floors and cabinets), caring for my garden beds, and generally fixing things up nice. She has even offered to paint the walls. She is the hardest worker and goes above and beyond anything we ask of her. She is so caring and has given me so much support through my illnesses and my recoveries. She's my youngest baby and I love her so much. I don't how I could have done as well without her help. (Heavens! Because I couldn't do too much for quite a while after my illnesses)


She is the mother of Sarah and Matthew (aka; Buddy)and has her hands filled with taking care of two young children. Matthew is only 5 years old and at the tender age of 2, could master games on the computer as well as her sister, Sarah, who is 8. Even without knowing how to read. He and his sister are very knowledgeable about Pokeman games and cards and have a vast collection of both. Matthew and Sarah are very smart and I love them very much and look forward to seeing them grow up.


I am so proud of the two daughters I have raised, I am so glad they care so much for me and their Dad. We cannot repay them enough!

These are cool!

You Belong in 1963

1963 If you scored... 1950 - 1959: You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in! 1960 - 1969: You are a free spirit with a huge heart. Love, peace, and happiness rule - oh, and drugs too. 1970 - 1979: Bold and brash, you take life by the horns. Whether you're partying or protesting, you give it your all! 1980 - 1989: Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day. 1990 - 1999: With you anything goes! You're grunge one day, ghetto fabulous the next. It's all good!

What Year Do You Belong In?

And.... I guess it's not too far off?

Try this!

Your Hidden Talent

Your natural talent is interpersonal relations and dealing with people. You communicate well and are able to bring disparate groups together. Your calming presence helps everything go more smoothly. People crave your praise and complements.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

This was fun!

BOOMERS GREAT ADVENTURE! (a children's story)

by Paula Bagnasco


DEDICATED TO MY GRANDCHILDREN:
DARIN, AMBER, SARAH, AND BUDDY

COPYWRITE 9/15/2004
Illustrations copywrite September 2004 to January 2005

Boomer's Great Adventure

Boomer's Great Adventure

Boomer and Nicky were two fat and happy little hampsters who live in a habitrail cage at Darin and Amber's house. They had a carefree life, filling their pouch like mouths with seeds and running around the tunnels. They loved sleeping soundly in their litte upper chamber. When awake, they spent a lot of time chewing long and long on their mouths full of seeds and getting fatter and fatter.

Occasionally Darin and Amber would takie them out and play with them, allowing them to run up and down their arms or cuddling by putting their cheeks aganst their soft fur. Boomer especially liked rolling around in his big plastic ball so he could explore more of this outside world. He discovered that it was much bigger and more wonderous the more he explored.

He saw huge, strange animals that would occasionally sniff the ball and then dissapear somewhere into another room. It wasthe dogs that lived there who were interested about this strange little creature in the plastic bubble was. They could'nt smell it, whatever it was, so they never bothered trying to get at it. Boomer was glad these strange creatures didn't try to eat him.

=

Boomer in ball/ Dog

On Saturday, Darin would clean their cage and make sure they had fresh food in their bowl. Boomer was sitting in his upper chamber munching some of his seeds, but when he stood up nice and tall, the lid fell off the top of the chamber. He saw that he could escape and thought, "Gee! I can go out and see some of the world. What an adventure this will be!" So at that, he climbed out and down the table cautiously. Soon he scurried along the floor down the hallway.

Boomer escapes

When he reached the living room, he scooted behind the media center and hid for a little bit, then quickly headed for the kitchen. There was some familiar things he had seen from his bubble, but there was also so many nooks and crannies that looked intriging. He was never able to explore there before. He hurriedly ducked into the crack between the stove and cupboards into a strange, dark world he have never seen before. There was tall drawers he climbed into and out of, and he was having a merry old time exploring the new space. In one drawer was a big bag of bird seed, so he packed his cheeks with some, so save for later on in his journey.

Upon climbing down the last drawer he explored, Boomer saw movement in the dark and went to see what it could be. It scurried along the wall and Boomer followed. Suddenly there was a little light in the area coming from a small mouse hole in the wall and that's where Boomer met Buddy. Buddy was a Daddy mouse who has been occupying the interior of the wall with his nest of 5 little baby mice. In the corner, Buddy's wife, Sarah guarded the babies who peeked out from behind her. Boomer tried to introduce himself to Buddy. Buddy just stood there looking at him with a strange look on his face. Buddy was wondering just was was this strange animal with the big cheeks was standing before him.

Buddy said, "What are you? And what are you doing here?" Boomers stepped up and told him, "I'm Boomer the hampster and I'm out here exploring this new world I found. What are you?" "I'm Buddy and we're a mouse family. We've been living here searching for food to feed my family here." Said Buddy as he motioned behind him. Sarah was in the corner sheltering her babies in the nest and she pressed herself further back into the darkness.

Boomer meets Buddy and Sarah

Buddy retorted, "We don't like strangers, and we sure don't like stranger that are not like us!"
"Well!" Boomer said, "I don't want any trouble. I'll just get on with my adventure, and I won't bother you or your family. Nice to meet you Buddy." At that Boomer was sidestepping slowly toward the mouse hole in the wall. Suddenly a much larger, dark figure stepped out of the shadows to block the way.

Bart was blocking the exit. "I say IF you go, WHERE you go, and WHEN you GO!" Bart exclaimed. Boomer froze in his steps while the big ferocious King mouse snarled in his face. "How did you get in here, and where were you going?" said Bart. "I just escaped from my home cage and was exploring this new world." shuddered Boomer, gulping. Suddenly Bart grabbed Boomer by the neck and squeezed, forcing a volcano of seed to spew from his cheeks into a pile on the floor. "And what have you got here!", exclaimed Bart.

Bart chokes Boomer

Bart growled angrily, "So your stealing food from us!"

"Oh no!" cried Boomer, " I just found it up there.." Boomer motioned up to the drawer space he had just climbed down from. " I was just saving it for later, when I get hungry." Boomer sighed meekly. "Any food to be found her is OURS!" choroused Bart and Buddy.

"You will pay for this!" Bart snarled. "Cheeks like yours might come in handy for hauling a day's meal to us. I'm not letting you go anywhere."

For the next three months, Boomer was chained up by the neck in Bart's house under the dryer. Bart only set him free to seach for food while Bart stood in the dark shadows watching and waiting for him to bring a pile for him and the others. Nightly the dogs of the house were put into their dog crate by the people to sleep. Boomer then would be on the hunt to find anything he could haul back to feed the mice. The more he brought, dog nuggets, bids of food from the cupboards, or any morsal of food from under the table, the more they wanted. The baby mice were getting bigger, and always cried that they were still hungry.

Boomer started saving a few scraps of food in his cheeks, and when Bart wasn't looking, Boomer would drop a little extra for the baby mice. Sarah could only smile at Boomer as he went by, while the baby mice would cover the pieces with their bodies so Bart could'nt see.

Boomer knew that Bart was very powerful, and he didn't think he could win a fight against him. Boomer had been a fat, lazy little hampster and never had to fight anything in his life.

After searching all night and bringing all he found to the mice, Bart would grab a big armfull of food from the pile Boomer deposited for himself. Then Boomer had to be chained up again and follow Bart back to his bed consisting of a sock under the dryer. Bart would drop a few crumbs in front of Boomer, then crawl up in his nest of dryer lint and sit and glare at him while munching on his goodies. The chain was fastened to a pipe next to Bart's head and any movement make the chain clatter against the pipe. At the slighest jingle on the pipe, Bart would sit up and growl at Boomer.

Boomer longed for the days when he felt so safe in his cage, munching his seeds and playing with his good pal Nicky. "Will I ever see Nicky again? Will Darin and Amber ever hug me, and play with me again?" Boomer wondered.

During the day he could hear noises and movement throughout the house, but Boomer was sure that Bart heard it also. Boomer could see Bart's outline in the darkness, sitting and glaring at him.

Boomer worked so hard, and Bart and the other mice demanded more and more from him each day. Little did Boomer know, that his hard work was making him stronger, and was no longer a fat and lazy hampster.

One Evening while searching for more food, he could clearly hear the voices of Darin and Amber sitting in the dark living room laughing at some movie on television. Boomer ventured a little farther than normal in his quest to find food, while Bart stood nearby watching him. Boomer was listening to the kids voices, "I just got to try it!" Boomer exclaimed.

In one quick leap, Bart attacked Boomer, trying to grasp Boomer by the neck and raking his claws in Boomer's forehead. "Oh no you don''t!" cried Bert. Boomer easily shook Barts now fat, lazy body off of him, sending Bart sliding across the floor. Boomer ran faster than he had ever run before in the direction of Darin's voice.

Boomer escapes to Darin
With one great leap, Boomer was up on the edge of the couch and he scrambled onto
Darin's lap. "Boomer!" shouted Darin. "Where have you been so long?" Darin quickly picked him up and turned on the light to look at him better. "Oh! He's hurt!" yelled Darin. Darin then washed his hampster's sore head and hugged him against his cheek. "We've been looking for you for so long!" Darin murmured. At that, Darin put Boomer back into the cage with Nicky while he watched them snuggle together at their bowl.

After a good meal and a big drink, Nicky and Boomer climbed up together into their chamber and huddled close together for a long nap. "I've had enough adventure for a while, it's good to be home."

THE END