Tuesday, February 24, 2009
A Long Lost Aunt
Back in November 2008 I was doing a little on-line genealogy research and came across a message from a woman looking for information on William Jacob Simpson (Grandpa Vic's father). I e-mailed her, and she just now wrote me back. As it turns out, Billie was Grandpa Vic's half-sister. She was born in 1949 when Jake was 70(!), so she's 4 years younger than Mom but is her aunt. I'm not sure why we never knew about her (she is not listed in my Simpson genealogy book from Virginia - at least not where I think she should be), but I believe she is now our only living great-relative. She is actually our kids' great-great-aunt, if you can believe that. The internet is an amazing thing, isn't it?
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Jeff and I walked the 2.5 miles from our house to the downtown Minneapolis public library last week. I thought I'd post some photos so you can get a feel for where we live (remember to click on them to enlarge):
This is Jill at the baseball field turned ice rink in the park near our house. We walked past a guy with a hose spraying the field one morning. Guess it doesn't take much to make an ice rink!
Part of the field is fenced off to make two separate rinks for broomball and hockey. Ice skaters just skate around outside those areas.
We have to cross a bridge over train tracks to head south. There are tons of trains coming through the area all the time. I don't know that we've ever crossed the bridge without a train in sight.
This is a view of Minneapolis across the Mississippi. We live about a mile east of the river.
Our shadows on the frozen Mississsippi below!
Ducks found a break in the ice. It looked COLD.
To the north side of the bridge is a dam. The river was frozen so the water is all pushed under the ice.
This was part of the old flour mill tunnel system that used water to run the mill works. The city is working on renovating/protecting the area as part of a riverside parks system.
Inside the modern library. It was beautiful--but so many people are reading, we had no luck finding anything to check out.
The weather is cold, but that doesn't seem to stop Minnesotans (or us). I'd say this is one of my favorite cities to live and expect summer and winter visits from you all over the next few years!
This is Jill at the baseball field turned ice rink in the park near our house. We walked past a guy with a hose spraying the field one morning. Guess it doesn't take much to make an ice rink!
Part of the field is fenced off to make two separate rinks for broomball and hockey. Ice skaters just skate around outside those areas.
We have to cross a bridge over train tracks to head south. There are tons of trains coming through the area all the time. I don't know that we've ever crossed the bridge without a train in sight.
This is a view of Minneapolis across the Mississippi. We live about a mile east of the river.
Our shadows on the frozen Mississsippi below!
Ducks found a break in the ice. It looked COLD.
To the north side of the bridge is a dam. The river was frozen so the water is all pushed under the ice.
This was part of the old flour mill tunnel system that used water to run the mill works. The city is working on renovating/protecting the area as part of a riverside parks system.
Inside the modern library. It was beautiful--but so many people are reading, we had no luck finding anything to check out.
The weather is cold, but that doesn't seem to stop Minnesotans (or us). I'd say this is one of my favorite cities to live and expect summer and winter visits from you all over the next few years!
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