Marin County, like much of Northern California, is in a weather spell of low humidity and high winds, which greatly increases wildfire danger. Prophylactic shut-offs of our electricity have been inflicted upon us, in order to prevent downed power lines from sparking wildfires. We just got our power back last night.
Our utility company, Pacific Gas & Electric, has been under fire over problems with its aging natural-gas and electricity infrastructures, some of which have not been properly maintained or updated. PG&E's maintenance failures have been blamed for several explosions and wildfires in recent years, and the company is in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings.
One aspect of the situation with PG&E that is not discussed much in the media is the company's inability to clear away trees and other foliage around power lines because environmentalists have prevented them from doing so. PG&E is not perfect, but when many of its customers demonstrate a preference for saving trees over human lives, it seems foolish to keep pointing the middle-fingers of blame in only one direction.
If you've ever been to Northern California, you have a pretty good idea why we love living here. The climate is relatively mild, there is a great deal of natural beauty that we treasure and work to preserve, and we value our neighbors and neighborhoods. The down-sides, such as the high cost of living and high taxes (somewhat mitigated by higher wages), do not outweigh the up-sides for most of us.
Since I grew up in Southern California, in Los Angeles County (smog central!), I enjoy the much-cleaner air we have here (when there are not wildfires burning). I appreciate living in a place near the water with lots of beautiful trees, hills, and walking trails. It is also nice not to need air-conditioning in our house. If it gets hot (sometimes over 80ºF but rarely over 100ºF), we have ceiling fans upstairs. Most of the year the weather is on the cooler side in Marin County, but without the hassle of snow.
Me walking near the Golden Gate Bridge (barely visible in the background) during a nasty wildfire season last November. Yikes!
The only bummer for me up here is that most of the year we have much higher humidity than in So-Cal (but not as bad as back East!), so I'm frequently fighting frizz in my type-2 wavy hair. Right now, I'm enjoying my "frizz-free L.A." hair with the low humidity, but I could do without the dry skin that goes with it.
Speaking of "back East," early this month I returned from the research trip I wrote about in my last posting, Exciting Plans For Midwest Research This Fall! Since I've gotten better at planning field-research trips, I was able to keep this one just under a month, even with several stops to visit family.
Walden and Sierra protesting my trip packing by laying all over my clothes!
Having entered I-40 East from my father's home in Barstow, it was a straight shot through Arizona, New Mexico, the Texas panhandle, and Oklahoma into Arkansas.
One thing I always do when traveling through eastern Arizona is listen to the Navajo Nation radio station (you can hear it at this link: KTNN), which plays classic Country music, Navajo folk and Gospel music, tribal pieces, and commercials that are in both Navajo and English. Love it!
Of course, in New Mexico, I have to stop for a bowl of local Chile Verde with sopapilla bread (like a puffed-up tortilla)!
It's always nice to take a get off the highway to take a drive through beautiful Amarillo, Texas, too!
One of the highlights of this trip was the opportunity to stay with my sister Denise at her charming home near Little Rock, Arkansas, both on the way East and then heading home West. Her husband Frank was in California still, working at his old job as he applies for new ones in the Little Rock area, so I didn't get to see him. But I was able to meet the newest member of their family, a wonderful tomcat named Rocky. Here is a photo of Rocky making a bed out of my legs, with Denise's other cat Midnight relaxing at my feet.
Like my striped PJs? They're the ones I bought to wear for a musical production of The Pajama Game that I was in a couple of years ago. Wearing them brings back fond memories of doing that show.
With plans to spend about a week in Northern Kentucky and Southern Ohio near Cincinnati, I booked a camp site at Blue Licks Battlefield State Park in Kentucky, which is the site of one of the final battles of the Revolution. The park is within 90 minutes' drive of every place I was visiting in the area, so it was perfect.
Thing is, I sleep better outdoors in a tent than I do in a hotel room with TV and noisy neighbors to keep me awake, so camping is good for my productivity. There are usually good working showers and bathrooms. Blue Licks had a clothes washer and dryer, too! My tent goes up in less than 10 minutes and comes down in less than 5 (I don't leave it up when I'm not there), and it can withstand rainstorms with little-to-no leakage. On weekdays, campgrounds tend to be populated by RV-ers who have a culture of looking out for each other, and they are always friendly. Weekends bring families, but it's great to see the kids having outdoor fun, and the parents always rein them in by a reasonable hour.
My trusty tent, nicknamed "The Mobile Red-Roof Inn,"
pitched at Blue Licks Battlefield State Park.
Camping is soooooo good for my travel budget, too! The average site costs about $20 a night. Kentucky State Parks were running a special that week--pay for two nights, get the third one free. I stayed for six nights and loved it!
The main Public Library of Cincinnati was among my first research stops in Ohio. As in most large cities, parking is a pain in Cincinnati. I've learned from locals that it's free to park up in the Mount Adams section of the city, where there is a historic church right next to a staircase that takes you downtown in a short time. Here is my photo of the view of Cincinnati from the top of Mount Adams.
Walking down from Mount Adams is easy and beautiful. The challenge is hiking back up those stairs to where you parked! Next time I climb them, I'll count the stairs.
Before settling in the campground, I drove up to Dayton, Ohio to attend a wonderful hands-on class on cemetery monument cleaning and restoration/preservation at the beautiful Woodland Cemetery & Arboretum. The evening of the same day, I made my customary visit to the Ohio History Center in Columbus, this time to attend a special event highlighting medicine in the 19th Century that included displays of fascinating artifacts and some fun living-history presentations. Very enlightening!
Here's my certificate from the class at Woodland (yay!!!).
In future posts, I'll discuss my progress on the cluster studies I'm doing of two historic cemeteries in Southern Ohio. I had a productive visit with some people in Brown County, where the cemeteries are located, and obtained much information important to my studies.
One thing I always do in Brown County is visit two cemeteries of particular importance to my family. One is Winchester Cemetery, where my great-grandmother's twin brother and mother, both of whom died young, are buried, along with many other relatives. The other is Ash Ridge Cemetery, which was founded by my ancestors and is populated with a great many family members, including my great-grandfather, James Melburn Prine, buried next to his second wife, Madge Morgan (my great-grandmother Lorena Segondollar was his first wife, who is discussed in a previous post, Mom's Home Town and C-SPAN For Genealogy). Their headstones have a nice, healthy plant between them that is prone to overgrowth, so I take a few minutes to trim it each time I visit, so you can read their headstones again.
Before trimming the plant.
After trimming, to reveal James M. Prine (1886-1967) and Madge M. Prine (1903-1960),
inscriptions not very visible in this photo.
Kentucky treks included visits to Owenton and Frankfort to conduct research on my newly-verified 3rd-great-grandfather, Thomas Benton Ford (discussed in the previous post, A DNA Breakthrough and Conference News). More on him later!
I ventured into two more cemeteries to photograph the unmarked burial sites of the two great-uncles who served in World War I that I mentioned in the post, Exciting Plans For Midwest Research This Fall! Great-Uncle Elmer Durestes Romans (1896-1936) is buried near members of his immediate family at Highland Cemetery in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. Elmer's wife, Essie Smith (1907-1966), is buried in Colorado (don't know whether she has a marker but will try and find out). Great-Uncle Alvin Thomas Romans (1899-1929) is buried with his wife, Marjorie Quinn (1904-1925), who predeceased him, at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati on a lovely hillside.
Great-Uncle Elmer's burial site, between the two stones in the center
of this photo. Notice the surname on the stone on the left is "Angel."
😇
Great-Uncle Alvin and Great-Aunt Marjorie are buried on this hill,
about 10 feet in front of that large fir tree.
Both of these cemeteries are well-maintained and beautiful. I have contacted them and have been given the green light to arrange for the Veteran headstones. I have also written a song about these two great-uncles. My plan is to record the song, include it in a video about their WW1 service, and begin a campaign to raise the money the cemeteries will require to place the headstones. When the campaign is begun, I will publicize it on this weblog.
Heading out of the Cincinnati area, I stopped near Nashville to tour the beautiful Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's home. The audio tour of the grounds is excellent, and it's nice to take a break from driving to walk around. I recommend Tennessee-native Jon Meacham's biography of Jackson, American Lion, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize.
On the way back to Denise's house, I stopped in the Memphis area on a Sunday and attended Liturgy at the lovely Saint George Orthodox Church, where I made a few sweet friends and was allowed to sing in the choir.
A nice photo of Saint George Orthodox Church,
from their website.
Another wonderful find in the Memphis area is the Germantown Regional History and Genealogy Center, where I spent a few hours looking through their stacks and chatting with a very nice lady who is a fellow member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Anyone who is researching Southern family history should visit this library in Germantown!
Following another visit with Denise, I continued on to Missouri, stopping in Independence to tour the newly-refurbished Eisenhower Presidential Museum. This was my third visit, but I wanted to see the re-done museum. I highly recommend visiting this site, which includes a tour of Ike's charming boyhood home. There is a beautiful chapel on the grounds where Ike and Mamie are buried. So worth seeing!
In Kansas City, I visited the National World War I Museum and Memorial. Walking through it gave me an overall somber feeling over the brutality we can encounter in this world. Kind of the way I felt walking through the slavery sections of the African American Museum of History and Culture in D.C. when Marty and I were there last year. In my opinion, all Americans should visit both of these museums, and learn from them!
The rest of the way home, the weather turned colder but I didn't encounter any snow this time. I needed to stop in Salt Lake City (of course!), so I took I-80. Here is a photo I took during a leg-stretch in Utah. Gorgeous!
There was a lot to report, and this blog post is longer than I usually write, but I hope you've found it interesting!
Until next time, dear ones!
Annie
"Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither." -- C.S. Lewis (from Mere Christianity, Chapter 3)
