Starting to feel a little overwhelmed. I have a shower for my daughter coming up May 6th and then the wedding 5 weeks later. My daughter who is away at college is suffering from an impacted tooth and is scheduled to have her wisdom teeth removed next Thursday. This will be where she is going to school which is 2 hours from here. I should be there with her but I can't get the day off at our little gift shop. Not enough people for coverage and it is a plant delivery day. My son is having some enemia issues and is 18. Now he needs an MRI on some lower abdominal swelling and then will have to see a GI doctor. My second son (have 5 kids) just got a job in Dallas, Texas and he and his wife will be moving there as soon as there house sells in South Carolina. The darn wet and cold weather isn't helping either. I have a plant swap I have to get done. The old "when it rains, it pours". I have enjoyed this swap immensely. Thank you Shirley for such a great time. Loved this idea and hope we do it again sometime. Margo

Wow....what an amazing list of people.... too many of them no longer with us or active here. It is nice to remember some of their names and their struggles that we shared. Thanks for the memories.

A few areas of note: Upstate NY...nestled in beautiful green mountains is Cooperstown, Pa...a Victorian village, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame, The Cooper House, with a beautiful exhibition of folk art and Indian artifacts from all over the counry, and the farm museum..all at the base of beautiful Lake Oswego. Worth a stay of 1 or 2 days on a car trip. Drop down south, into Pa, and the Pocono mountains, a 3-4 hour drive south into the Philadelphia area. Along the way, you can stop at beautiful Washington's Crossing, on the banks of the Delaware river, where the continental Army of the American revolution crossed into Trenton, NJ to confront the British one Christmas Eve. Philadelphia. Valley Forge Park, where Washington's army stayed one winter, and received much needed training from european military generals, that allowed them to eventually cross the Delaware and begin winning the war. Museum of artifacts, log huts, reinactor demonstrations, and tours through Washington's Headquarters building. You can stay in one of the many hotels in the Valley Forge Area, because it's only a short drive or commuter train ride) into Philadelphia. Independance Hall (2 weeks around 4th of July is full of activities, culminating with morning ceremony at Independance Hall and parade, fireworks over the river in the evening. Constitution museum,this is fairly new...within walking distance of Independance Hall, I haven;t been there yet. Betsy Ross house - home of the oft reputed maker of the first american flag. Benjamin Franklin museum...on the parkway that Ben himself designed - a great science meseum that was my second home as a child. at the end of the parkway is the Philadelphia Art Museum....where tourists gather to run up the steps ala Rocky Balboa fo movie fame, and take pictures of each other hugging the Rocky statue at the base of the steps. South Philadelphia...home of the Cheesteak...the corner of 9th and Warton sts, 2 famous, rival cheesesteak places Geno's and Pat's. PS - I'm a Pat's fan. Fairmount park....the largest park enclosed in a city in the US(bigger than cenral park in NY), and home of the first established Zoo in the US. A 2 hour drive east of Philadelphia, and you're at Atlantic City, the beach on the Atlantic Ocean, home of the famous boardwalk, and now a big casino town. And lots, lots,, more. And lots, lots, more

Three of my great grandparents came from Canada and spoke French in their homes. I was raised in a primarily Franco American community and attended parochial school through 6th grade where 1/2 of the school day was taught in French. Sunday Mass was said in French. My parents, aunts and uncles spoke good English but a fond memory I have of holidays are of conversations going back and forth between French & English. Relatives always sang and spoke to little babies in French because it was "softer". As a child I used to dream in French. What a rude awakening, though, when I took French in HS! My background sure was a mixed blessing. I could read and write well, roll my r's but there was such a distinct difference between Parisian French & what I grew up with that it I had a lot to unlearn. I ended up doing well in both French & Latin. But sad to say, by the time we did a student exchange when DS was in HS with a family from Brittany, I hadn't used my polished up version of French in decades and what surfaced was my Eliza Doolittle version ;) At least we could all communicate. I've always wished I'd kept up with it. When we visited Paris in 2011 I was able to read, but was too shy to try to use my French. I wish I could learn Turkish. My DIL is from Turkey and DH & I did our best to learn a few phrases before we met her family. It is a hard language to learn. My DS is fluent in 4 other languages but struggles mightily with Turkish. He & DIL have lived in Denmark for 7 yrs. With my 2 yr. old GDD they speak English at home as a family, and DIL speaks Turkish to her and she Skypes in Turkish with her other grandmother. At daycare they speak Danish. Surprisingly, GDD, seems to be grasping all 3 languages and answers in the language spoken to her. That's the time of life to learn easily, it seems. Holly-Kay, go for it! And thank you for the inspirthing post!