Tap..tap.. tap... Hello? Is this thing on?

I've been a bit... lax. Some might even say lazy. A totally irresponsible blogger. Ok. Fine. You're right. I have been downright irresponsible. I will try to make amends.

Granted, it's not all my fault...well, it is... because it's my blog, but we've had a big change in lifestyle. We're no longer expats. We're repats. Repatriotates. Is that a word? It should be. It is now, and it's appropriate. It's based on real language, but does not quite fit, which is often how I feel even though we've been back in the US for nearly three years now. Maryland is truly beginning to feel like home to me, but at times, I still feel like an alien, and that is very distracting.

Oh well... it just needs more time, and time is something I've got. 

So, let me catch you up! 

Ha! Yeah... right... Not happening... 

Sorry. I'm about two years out of date and catching up isn't going to happen. Instead, I think I shall just blog about random stuff and if flashbacks and stories happen, then good. If not, then there will be new stuff and new photos. I will, at least, try to post new and old photos with each blog, but I'm not promising that there will be any pattern or logic to it.  

What's up with me? Well, today is better than yesterday. Yesterday, my back hurt a lot, it was hot, I could not get much done (because of the stupid back) and there was a dead raccoon in the yard. By afternoon, though I started to feel a bit better, it cooled down, and I was finally able to let go of the frustration of not being very mobile. A good attitude goes a long way and that's really all that changed from morning to afternoon... my perky positivity was simply a little slow to get started yesterday. I recall exactly when it kicked in too. Honor had had a friend stay over last night and the friend's mom had just come to pick her up. I was outside trying to reach the hose to clean the chickens' watering can. (My back is being stupid, but I can still do some small things) As our friend was driving down the driveway, she stopped due to problems with her emergency brake. About this time, another friend, a neighbor, showed up with her hayfork to collect the dead raccoon (for an autopsy) which just happened to be only a few feet away from where the car was stuck. I hobbled down the hill to go check in with both of them, and they were both concerned about me and seeing me on a cane.  That three-way conversation, about the cane, the car, and the dead raccoon was so perfectly absurd! How could I stay in a grouchy mood? It was a reminder that even when life gets a bit... weird... it is what it is. It is what we make of it. My neighbor was cool and helped with the dead animal, my friend got her car fixed, and my back will get better. Life is good. 

One nice thing about being forced to be careful with my back, ie. stay out of trouble in the yard and/or workshop, is that I didn't have to feel guilty about staying inside and working on the computer. I spent hours digging through Ancestry.com and working on my family tree yesterday. I was fine-tuning some work on one branch on my father's side of the family connected to settlers who came to the US in 1634 and settled in Massachusetts.

This guy is my 9th Great Grandfather - Rowland Stebbins:

"Rowland Stebbins - Sarah Whiting

· 23 March 2014 ·

Rowland Stebbins was born in 1592 at Stebbing (English parish-Bocking), Essex County, England, of a "family of great antiquity." He was baptized on November 5, 1592 at St. Mary’s Church in Bocking. He was the son of Thomas Stebbins. He married Sarah Whiting in Bocking on November 30, 1618. In 1634, with his wife and four children (Thomas-14, Sarah-11, Elizabeth-6, and John-8) and a Mary Winch (possibly a niece), Rowland Stebbins sailed in the ship "Francis" from Ipswich, England to the Colonies.

Because of his parentage. Rowland was considered a "person of quality." He is included in "Tile Original Lists of Persons of Quality" (Hotten's List of Emigrants) . The Stebbinses sailed from Ipswich as the nearest major seaport. Coming to the New World would have been an adventurous but not unusual undertaking in 1634. Although the Pilgrims had landed at at Plymouth Rock only 14 years earlier, emigration to Massachusetts was already booming. From 1629 to 1640 nearly 10,000 people were transplanted into the colony.

Because of his parentage. Rowland was considered a "person of quality." He is included in "Tile Original Lists of Persons of Quality" (Hotten's List of Emigrants) . The Stebbinses sailed from Ipswich as the nearest major seaport. Coming to the New World would have been an adventurous but not unusual undertaking in 1634. Although the Pilgrims had landed at at Plymouth Rock only 14 years earlier, emigration to Massachusetts was already booming. From 1629 to 1640 nearly 10,000 people were transplanted into the colony. Rowland Stebbins and his family first settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts. In 1635, he moved to Agawam, Massachusetts (afterward named Springfield), which was a colony founded by William Pyncheon. His wife, Sarah, died Oct. 4, 1649 at Springfield, Hamdon County, Massachusetts, aged 58 years.

Rowland is reported to have been assigned a sitting in the first seat of the church along with four other men. He was a freeman in 1664. Between 1664 and 1669, Rowland moved to Northampton, Massachusetts and was one of the first settlers there.

Rowland is reported to have been assigned a sitting in the first seat of the church along with four other men. He was a freeman in 1664. Between 1664 and 1669, Rowland moved to Northampton, Massachusetts and was one of the first settlers there.

Rowland was a surveyor. His skills would have been very much in demand during this period when dozens of towns and thousands of farms were being carved out of the wilderness. Indeed, he and his immediate children were involved in at least six new settlements ("developments," as we might call them): Roxbury, Springfield, Brimfield,

Longmeadow, Northhampton, and Deerfield. Twenty-four male petitioners founded Northampton in 1653. A 1661 church covenant shows seventy-five men and women in town. By 1674, Northampton held 108 men and the total town population stood at close to 500 persons.

Rowland Stebbins died Dec. 14, 1671 at Northampton. His burial place was found at Northampton in 1850 and marked. His will is recorded in the Will Book of Springfield, dated the first day of the first month of 1669-70."

Possible photo of an old portrait of Rowland...

 His gravestone...

I can't credit the author, for the story above, as s/he is not listed, but here is the original link. (I've copied this here as I don't want to lose the story in case the original poster removes it.)  https://familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/6010964

I was able to find Rowland Stebbin's name and family listed in Volume 1 of "The Great Migration begins - Immigrants to New England 1620-1633", information that was confirmed in other documentation, including FindaGrave.com and Ancestry. https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=20048398

Rowland Stebbin's descendents, children and grand-children, were present in Deerfield during the historic "massacre" that took place in 1704. Some were killed in the village. Others died or were killed along the route to Canada. My 6th Great-Grandmother, Thankful Stebbins, was 13yo at the time of the raid and was one of the 80+ captives to have survived the march to Canada. She was adopted (god-daughter) by the commander of the forces that attacked Deerfield, and she assimilated into society there and was eventually baptised as Therese Louise. At age 19, she married Adrien Charles LeGrain dit Lavelle. She was apparently well liked and respected by her community, and she and her husband had eleven surviving children.

"Thankful STEBBINS at age 13 was brought to Chambly after her capture, probably by one of the HERTEL brothers, and according to Coleman, Thankful lived at the Hertel manor at Chambly. Fournier says that shs was ransomed in 1706 by Hertel. Thankful was baptized 23 April 1707 at Chambly as Louise Therese STEBENE, the godparents were Zacharie-Francois HERTEL, Seigneur of Chambly and Madame de PERIGNY, wife of the commandant of Fort Chambly, Her baptismal record says erroneously that she was from "England". Thankful/Louise Therese was the godmother of Jean Baptiste DENOYON, son of her sister Abigail, In 1708 at Boucherville.
Thankful STEBBENS and Adrien LEGRAIN had a contract of marriage drawn up on 1 Feb 1711 at Notary Tailhandier. Thankful/Theresa Louise STEBENS and Adrien Charles GRAIN dit LAVALLEE were married 4 Feb 1711 at Ste Famille de Boucherville. Jacques DeNOYON was present at the wedding and quite likely Abigail STEBBENS. From her marriage with Adrien LEGRAIN, Thankful/Therese Louise STEBBENS had 13 children. The family lived in the parish of St Joseph de Chambly. Her death on 11 July 1729 at Chambly followed the birth of the least child about one week. The children of Thankful/Therese Louise STEBBINS and Adrien/Charles LEGRAIN were:Francoise-Therese, born 2 & bapt 3 Mar 1713 Chambly; Guillaume, born 28 & bapt 30 Dec 1714 Chambly; Marie-Jeanne, bapt 30 Aug 1716 Chambly; Marie, bapt 5 Feb 1718 Chambly; marr 7 Jan 1738 St Joseph de Chambly Jean-Francols BESSETTE; Marguerite, marr 27 Nov 1738 St Joseph de Chambly Joseph PEPIN dit LAFORCE.; marr 2nd on 8 Oct 1742 St Joseph de Chambly Michel LAGEU dit SANSCARTIER; Charlotte, bapt 6 Jan 1720 Chambly: marr Mar 1742 La Conception de la Pointe Olivier BAPTISTE VIEN: Isabelle/ELISABETH, born 17 Dec 1721 Chambly (mother called Louise THESMEN): as Elisabeth she marr 22 June 1741 La Conception de la Pointe Olivier JEAN BERTRAND; Judith, bapt 3 Jan 1722 Chambly: Antoine. bapt 1 Nov 1723 Chambly; Marie Therese, born & bapt 2 Feb 1725 Chambly (mother called Marie Therese LEBEAU); marr 23 Jan 1736 St Joseph de Chambly Jean Baptiste LARIVIERE; bur 21 July 1753 St Joseph de Chambly. Anonymous, born, bapt at home by "bonne femme" Bessette; died & bur 6 March 1726 Chambly. Charles-Antoine, born & bapt 2 June 1727 Chambly; marr Ist 31 Aug 1751 La Conception de la Pointe Olivier FRANCOISE BESSET; marr 2nd on 3 Nov 1756 Chambly Suzanne VALLIERE; Veronique. born & bapt 4 July 1729 Chambly; Some of the above children likely died in Chambly at a young age. Only 27 burials were listed in Chambly from 1701 to 1730."

I believe that most of the above came from "Baker, C. Alice True Stories of New England Captives 1897". I do not know if there are any other existing photos of Thankful Stebbins/Therese LaGrain, but in the 1880's, the author, Ms Baker, traveled to a burial ground at Fort Pontchartrain in Chambly and one of the few grave markers, slabs of oak, was for Therese.  

Bored yet? Hey, I find this stuff fascinating! One of Thankful's daughters, my 6th Great-Grandmother, married a man with the Pepin dit LaForce surname. He was only the second generation to use this name (my maiden name is LaForce) as his father was the one who adopted it. It's a French Canadian habit. Weird, I know. Anyway, before that, the family name was Pepin. I'd had some difficulty tracing this line of the family until I learned the secret of the 'dit's. 

Have I been up to anything else? Well yes, of course. I'm nearly finished writing a novel. I'm about 47 chapters in and it's looking pretty solid. I have other books outlined to follow it. To be honest, I really have no idea how to be an author, but I've been working on this concept and this world (it is fantasy/scifi) for years now. I've written short stories about it and have tried outlining a book about it before, but I never found the right story to tell with it. Just having this wonderful concept of a world, and a fairly well developed idea about characters, was not enough. I needed a story idea, one story idea(!), and I had to choose what perspective to tell it from. I think that I've finally figured that out. So far so good at any rate. Anyway, do I know what I'm doing? Will it be good enough to publish? Will I be able to figure all of that out in order to even try to get it published? I have no idea. I like it, what I have so far. It's working. I'm having fun with it. For now, that's plenty good enough for me. 

What else? It's summer break. The kids are out of school and we're staying busy. Brian has signed up for an art class through the county summer school program in order to fulfill a graduation requirement (one credit of fine arts). Taking the class in the summer will free up an hour during his schedule next year so that he can fit in another math or technology credit. Honor signed up for a volleyball class.  I don't have any pictures of Honor at volleyball. She's only had one meet so far. Brian seems to be enjoying his art class though. 

We had a friend of Honor's come down from Canada to visit for about ten days, and then Brad's brother Matt and his family came out and had a mini-vacation in the DC area. We did a bit of sightseeing with them, including a short tour of Gettysburg. 

The take-away from Gettysburg was, from Brian, that we needed to go back and do more as there was a lot to see and we'd barely scratched the surface. Honor was reminded of the open fields of green grass and stones from photos she's seen of Scotland. Now, she wants to go to Scotland.

Has this blog post been random enough for you yet? I hope so. I'm trying. And I will continue to try and write more often. No rules or promises! I'll wrap up by saying that my stupid back is less stupid today than yesterday, it's not as hot out today, and our yard is free of dead animals. Hopefully I will be able to go out and do some easy work this weekend. One day at a time. For the rest of today, I plan on taking it easy. Some indoor chores and laundry will be plenty, and maybe some more writing this evening. We've got a storm building up outside now, and I'm looking forward to the rain.

Love and hugs! - Connie

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 !!BONUS!!

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As I've been such a wayward and undependable blogger and have not posted in a very long time, I'll try to do a bit of random flashbacking on a regular basis to atone for my misdeeds (missed deeds?). 

Today is 14 July, 2017, so I'm bouncing back to share some of July 2004 when Brian was about 3yo and Honor was about 1.5yo.

Beanbags ... one of the best toys ever invented! You can sit in them too, or so I've heard. 

Brian taught his baby sister to take flying leaps off of a chair, landing in the beanbags. It was hilarious. A little nerve-wracking, but we survived. 

 

Fourth of July!

 Amazingly enough, I still have this laundry basket. Despite years of play and abuse and work, it's still alive. 

Brian went to a Montessori school and Honor loved to visit!

Playing in the wading pool, or, you know, not playing in the pool and choosing to sit on mom and dad and get us all wet too. 

Brian's first room. He helped choose the decoration. 

Honor with one of her favorite toys. 

 Brian in his favorite tree at our old Columbia house. 

Honor, NOT allowed in Brian's favorite tree... 

Remember the 2004 cicada invasion? We do!

Looking for cicadas. 

Free Cat Carrier–and Talabat for delivery

We ordered Lebanese food from Mais Al-Ghanim last night and it was so tasty! It’s a restaurant that’s been in business for a long time and their foods are simply very good and the quality is always amazing! From their website:

“The history of Mais Alghanim Restaurant dates back to the previous century when our founding father Edmond Barakat (Abu Emile), opened a canteen for the employees of Yusuf Ahmed Alghanim & Sons Co., called “Mess Alghanim”.

Over time, strong ties and personal relations grew between Abu Emile, Kuwaiti, and Expatriate Families extending over three phases and three generations. The first phase commenced in 1953 during which complete meals and take-away services were offered transforming the canteen into a restaurant for one and all.”

We ordered a mix of good grilled meats – lamb, kebab, and chicken – as well as a variety of salads and sides, like hummus, baba ghanouj (an egg plant dish), muhammara (a walnut and chili dip), fattoush (mint and cucumber and tomato salad), falafel and spinach fetayer. It was all amazing (just like it always is! It’s one of our favorites.)

Also – we placed our order through Talabat.com which is a great online service for food delivery, from their website:

“Talabat.com is the largest online food delivery portal in the State of Kuwait, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Sultanate of Oman and State of Qatar. Order your favorite food online from hundreds of our restaurants with a simple click of a mouse.”

Our dinner came delivered in handy boxes too. And we know what boxes are good for… cat containment! Pumpkin demonstrates how well the box fits. Pixie said that she will only perform if I give her treats…

Unless I don’t want her to perform…. balancing on the washer when I’m trying to load laundry isn’t helpful. (But it’s cute to have all of the help…)

Who needs GPS?

How to find a new place in Kuwait:

First, I looked at a contradictory map on a clinic brochure and attempted to compare it to Google Earth online maps. The search function just laughed at me, so I matched up several significant points of reference and convinced myself that I was in the right part of the city. I drew up my own new map. I had NO idea which of several roads were the exact road that I was looking for, because they weren’t labeled on the brochure or Google maps, but I knew it was somewhere in a defined area with mostly known borders.

Got in the car.

Went north on highway 30, which is also Istiqlal street, which is also Fahaheel road... or Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al-Saud Expressway... depending on where you are and which way you're going and which map you are looking at.

I went past 4th ring road, which is also Salem al-Mubarek road, depending on where you are, and probably what sign you are near, or what map you may be looking at.

The next right takes you to an off ramp, go left for Cairo Street. Right is Baghdad street, except it's not marked as such on the roads, or on my brochure, or called that. At least not that I saw. But it does have two names, online…

Looking for the first major intersection... which has NO street name signs. There’s a park on one side, and some big signs for some ministry on the other. Long sentences. In Arabic. Good luck with that at normal traffic speeds while negotiating the 3 lane circle. I drove straight through…

I turned at the next major intersection, because what the hey! Why not?!? Seeing actual street signs with accurate names to verify my location is apparently NOT the way to do things here. GPS use is for wusses. If it looks good, then turn! Engage psychic GPS. It may or may not have been the 'Amman' Street on the clinic's brochure, and I think it was Harun al-Rahid st… even though I saw no signs with that name… BUT…  so what? It looked like a very promising street. Those other names on the street signs that were clearly NOT Amman or Harun??  I think that they were just trying to confuse me.

One of the next landmarks on the map was some petrol station. Nope. No petrol station. I saw all sorts of little shops and things, but no petrol. Toward the end of the road, was a tall orange building with a pharmacy attached. It looked friendly enough. I made a bet that there might be other nice medical buildings around and took a random turn at that happy orange building… I drove a little ways down the lane and saw another named building that was given as landmark. So, I stopped on the side of the road to look around. I looked up at the building that I was parked next to… and it was my building. Ta-daa!

Later, looking back on Google maps, I see where the petrol station mentioned may be, and how there might be a faster way than going around the block, but I can’t recall having seen it as I drove past…. I’ll try again some other trip.

This is pretty much how I get around here.

When we arrived, our truck was delivered with a dead battery. It was old and needed replacement. The garages nearby did not have what our truck needed. Everybody told us to go to Mishref. Ok, we were very new, but we did know that Mishref is not a shopping center. It’s an area of the city! It’s not huge, and I’m not sure what the boundaries are, but it has got to be an area several square kilometers with shops, schools, neighborhoods, etc. Nobody could tell us road names, but this one guy gave us the helpful directions of waving his hand ‘that way’. So, we got in the car and drove ‘that way’ toward Mishref… and wandered right over to a garage in Mishref that had the type of battery we needed. Ta-daaa!

We found plants the same way. We’d gone shopping with some friends at one point and they said that garden supplies were basically ‘over there’. We got further directions from other folk, who told us ‘Shuwaikh’, which, like Mishref, is an area of the city, not a specific place. Yet, one afternoon after school, Brian needed a pot for science, so we got in the car and drove to Shuwaikh and went ‘over there’. And that’s where the plants were. And a pot.

I’m finding my way around pretty well these days. Just do NOT ask me for directions and expect a straight answer….

Dead Sea Resort

After the short trip, coasting downhill from Amman, we arrived at the Marriott Dead Sea Resort. How to describe it, other than it lives up to what we expect from Marriott. Very nice quality, very friendly staff, nice rooms and accessories, etc. It’s a lovely place, not that we spent much time exploring the facilities. As soon as we dumped our bags in our room, we grabbed our swim stuff and headed off to the water. It was quite the hike.

Just when you think you can’t possibly go downhill any further… there will be another set of stairs come into your view in the distance…

At least it was a pleasant walk. The resort is nicely laid out. I mean, if you must walk for a long hot distance, and it really is needed… how else to get down to the water?? This isn’t a pool, it’s a nature area! Well then, when the hike must be hiked, it’s nice to have a pleasant area to meander through.

Stop and admire the flowers, then more downhill…

Why am I so fussy about the hike? I don’t really mind the walking, and it was, like I said, nicely laid out for walking… it really is… paths, stairs, ramps, etc. It really didn’t feel like we were walking that far. But. This was about 3-4pm, the temps were at least 104F (which was the last temp I saw on the car thermometer before the valet took it, and it tends to be pretty accurate), and this was not a minor slope to the beach. The hotel is at –383 elevation. The sign on the shore is at –423. That’s 40 meters to descend and ascend in the heat. 40 meters is about 131ft. If you estimate a single story of a building to be 10ft, then we’re talking a 13 storey building. No elevator. In 100+F heat. Sorry to be a wimp, but excuse me while I pause by the waterfall!

More stairs.

And even after reaching the beach, there’s still a bit more ‘down’ to go.

Yay! We’re almost there!

Brian was ready to hop right in, but had to stop for sunscreen. We almost didn’t need to bother. One of the brochures claimed that, because of the very low elevation and perhaps thermal inversion, there’s an extra atmosphere layer here and therefore, extra protection from the sun. From this website http://www.deadseatourist.com/climate.htm

“Sunlight at the Dead Sea is high in therapeutic UVA rays and low in burning UVB, so extended exposure is safe and low-risk. The filtering effect comes from a thick atmosphere: the Dead Sea is about 1,200 feet below sea level and the ozone layer above it has minimal depletion.

The Dead Sea is the only place on earth where you can sunbathe for long periods with little or no sunburn because harmful ultraviolet rays are filtered through three natural layers: an extra atmospheric layer, an evaporation layer that exists above the Dead Sea, and a rather thick ozone layer.”

Two days in the sun there and I don’t think I tanned or anything. Compared to Amman. On Sunday, Honor’s class had a pool party. It was only 2 hours and I spent most of it in the shade… and I used sunscreen… and I still got slightly burnt.

No worry about sunburn, but the light was still bright!
And now is the part where you have to imagine photos of us floating effortlessly in the Dead Sea water. Yes, I failed to get family floaty photos. Why? Because it was 100+F and it was HOT!!! There was no way I was going to stay on the beach taking photos when there was a sea full of refreshing cool water to swim in.

We were glad that we wore hiking/water sandals. The ‘beach’ is all rock and hard to maneuver, even with shoes, but totally worth it to get into the water. You really do float… whether you want to or not.

You definitely do NOT want to get water in your eyes or mouth, but of course, you’ll likely manage to do both. We did. Fortunately, there are showers on the beach! There were signs warning folk to ‘swim at your own risk’ because there are no lifeguards, but seriously, you aren’t going to sink… even our skinny bones kids floated. It was funny watching them try to get their feet back down under water to stand up!

After a good soak, Honor and I went up to try the mud.

We only lathered up our arms. Again, remember those temps I told you about?? The thought of smearing hot mud on thickly, anymore than we did, was simply not that appealing. It was fun to play with a little bit though.

Enough’s enough… we went back into the water! With and without mud, we all ended up with super soft skin and hair. It was very nice. Extremely relaxing too.

Of course, Marriott being the great resort/spa that it is, you don’t actually have to hike downhill, clamber over rocks, and deal with the heat. They have a full spa with, among other things, a Dead Sea water pool indoors. Sauna. Whirlpools, etc. But we went the ‘all natural’ route. Maybe, if we’d spent more time there, we might have checked out the spa. It looked very nice.

Eventually it was time to head back up… yea… all the way back up. Whew! But did I mention? Despite the heat, the air there is nice to breathe. Something about the atmosphere made it very easy.

A couple of signs on the beach, talking about the area and swimming.

Max depth is 377m (1200ft) Really? How’d they measure that?? How did they ‘sink’ anything that far! ;D We could barely reach under to pick up rocks! Of course, we did try to reach under to pick up rocks… which is how we got the water in our mouths and eyes! Live and learn.

Brad also forgot the rule about not shaving before swimming the next day. Ouchies.

Anyway, back up the hill…

By the time we got back to our room, we were STARVING! We’d had breakfast, but skipped lunch. There was only about an hour until the steakhouse opened for dinner, but we simply couldn’t wait that long. It was impossible. So, we wandered over to Champions for some TexMex. Fajitas and a margarita… Mmm!

We left dinner just in time to catch a lovely sunset from our room balcony.

After sunset, they guys wanted to relax and read, but Honor wanted to go swimming. I went down with her, but the pool was closed. Instead, she and I took another hike down to the shore of the Dead Sea. It was a much more tolerable hike after sunset!

The next morning, after a nice breakfast where we ran into some lovely friends of ours from Amman, and watched in awe as Brian ate enough breakfast for four kids, we went back down to the water.

It was so quiet and still and calm.

Peaceful.

These photos were taken from up on the path. Again, it was hot. I simply grabbed a few shots before tucking the camera away to go jump in the cool water with my family.

Brian and Brad weren’t waiting..

Honor did a little swimming, but all the wandering around had given her a blister. An open blister… and the salt water was NOT kind. She sat out and played with rocks and mud.

We didn’t stay long. We didn’t want our little girl to melt. Instead, we went back uphill to play in the pools.

A view from about mid-way to the top.

The pools were lovely too, and one had a water slide for the kids.

Brad had to go find Brian when it was time to go… that slide was too much fun.

I think they had a lot of fun!

I have some more photos of our road trip back to Amman, but they can wait until next time!