Family

     Last week I spent 6 days in Ohio visiting my dad's side of the family.  I hadn't been back there for about 15 years!  In the past 2 years every time I spoke with my Aunt Mary (my dad's baby sister) on the phone she would ask me if I was ever coming to see her again.  My Aunt Mary is my dad's only sibling still living.  My grandparents have both been gone for a long time.  I have only two cousins on that side of the family, Sharon and Monica.
     I had the great joy of traveling in Italy with Sharon in September!  That was the first time in many years since I had been able to enjoy spending time with her.  So I was anxious to see her again and to also spend time with Aunt Mary, Monica and Sharon's family.

Aunt Mary with Sharon (standing) and Monica

     They rolled out the welcome mat!!  Sharon's husband, Bob, and son Aaron picked me up at the Cincinnati airport and drove me back to Sharon and Bob's house in Oxford.  They spent the next couple of days entertaining me and showing me all around their "stomping ground" and feeding me!  If they were busy it fell to Tucker, the amazing wonder lab, to entertain me and he did that quite well.
     On Friday, Aaron and his adorable wife, Song, drove me to Aunt Mary's house in Adams County, about a two hour drive east along the Ohio River.  It was so good to see Aunt Mary and Monica.  Aunt Mary had a stew fixed for us for lunch and then Aaron and Song headed back to Oxford (which is a suburb of Cincinnati).
     Aunt Mary's land goes right down to the Ohio River and is surrounded by rolling hills and farmland.  Years ago this was tobacco country.  I remember going to a tobacco auction with Grandpa in a huge old barn where the giant tobacco leaves were hanging from the rafters.  You still find barns that have the old tobacco advertisements on them.  These days you find more corn and soy being grown.

Looking towards the Ohio River from Aunt Mary's kitchen

Two of Sharon's paintings - the large one is of her mom's barn

     Aunt Mary drove me across the river to Maysville, Kentucky, (home of the Clooneys) where we visited a lovely little museum which has an amazing collection of miniatures.  These are tiny houses decorated like real houses from different time periods in history or from different countries.  I loved it!!
     After lunch she drove me to the cemeteries where my grandparents and great grandparents are buried.  One of those cemeteries is next to an old church called Moore's Chapel.  Up on a hill outside of the little town (although it isn't a town anymore) named Blue Creek where my grandparents lived.
The other cemetery is on High Hill where the Manchesters had land two hundred years ago.  The family still owns the hill and it is called the Manchester Cemetery.  It was pretty awesome being able to see all the old stone carved grave stones with family names on them.

My great-grandparents

Morse Chapel Cemetery - graves date back to early 1800s

My grandparents

A new sign for the cemetery on High Hill

The old old gravestones marking the Manchester family graves for three generations

     Aunt Mary and Sharon both have done a lot of research on the Manchester and May family lineage so I got lots of stories while on the winding hilly back roads of Adams County.
     Saturday night Monica and her boyfriend, Ed, came to Aunt Mary's for dinner.  Monica lives close by which makes it nice for all of them.  Many many years ago Monica went to Europe with me on one of my tours.  Aunt Mary has gone with me twice.  So it was about time that Sharon went on a tour with me! ha!

Aunt Mary on a trip with me long long ago

     Sunday Aunt Mary and Monica drove me back to Oxford where Sharon had a huge family dinner all prepared.  Her daughter Sara came with husband Jeremy and kids Olivia and Curtis.  And Aaron and Song came also.  So there was a house full!  Tucker was beside himself with joy at such a full house and so many people to love on him!

Cute Olivia with Tucker

     Monday night was my last night to spend at Sharon's and she decided that I should go to her painting class.  Sharon is a wonderful water color artist.  I am so impressed with the things she has painted.  Her instructor was very knowledgeable and a good teacher as she showed the class every step along the way.  She would call everyone up to her table in front to demonstrate a step, then send us back to our own tables so we could attempt it ourselves.  Then after a short time she would do that again.  And continued with that pattern until it was time to go.  The two hours flew by!  I can see why Sharon loves it.  (She was very sweet and complimentary of my attempt!  I told her it was because she loves me and didn't want to hurt my feelings! ha!)

One of Sharon's paintings - the Colorado mountains

She made this one into a card.  I love it!

     Tuesday morning Aaron, Song, and Bob took me to lunch on our way to the airport.  And then I had quite a time getting out of Cincinnati - none of which was weather related!  In fact, there were no problems with the weather until I got to my car in the Colorado Springs Airport parking lot and had to dig it out of 15 inches of heavy snow at 9:30 at night!
     All in all it was a great adventure and I'm so glad I was able to visit my Ohio family before I move to France.
     Oh yes, and one last thing - THE BRONCOS WON THE SUPER BOWL!!!
     Thank you for reading about my Ohio adventure - one more step on the path to France.  Now I'm back to painting - the walls and ceilings, not lovely watercolor paintings like Sharon does!  Silly me, I invited my West teacher group to my house for our monthly dinner.  So that keeps me motivated to get things done!!  Wish me luck :-)