) ( ) Good Morning Family! .-.,--^--. ( Come on in. . . \\|`----'| - The coffee pot's on. . . \| |// ...and we even have decaf, | |/ tea, and hot chocolate! \ / ------ Today's topics include: 1. Welcome to new cousins 2. That awful front page! 3. The Reunion If you've been with the family for at least three weeks, you'll probably want to skip the following paragraphÂ… TO OUR NEWEST COUSINS ~~ On behalf of the entire family, I'd like to extend a most hearty welcome to those cousins who came into the family fold this past week. We are very glad to have you with us and hope you'll stay and remain a part of our online family. As soon as you're comfortable with us and the list, please send in your Bower[s]/Bauer or Baur lines so we can all see how we're related to you. We do not have a fancy format for sending in records or queries to the list. Post as many as you wish! If the data has anything to do with Bower[s]/Bauer or Baur ancestors or any of the 81+ variant spellings we research that might help someone, please feel free to post it. Every scrap of information is appreciated. If you haven't visited the homesite of this list yet, you are encouraged to do so. Our home is Bower Community, located at <http://bowercommunity.com>. There, we currently have two sites: The Bower Family Homestead [a.k.a., the Homestead] is our primary homesite and the gathering place for much of our information. It waits to join us all in welcoming you into the family at <http://bowercommunity.com/homestead>. Smaller is our sister site, the Bower Cottage, which houses most of our projects including an online GEDCOM fed by quite a few cousins from our lists. Find the Cottage is at <http://bowercommunity.com/cottage>. THAT AWFUL FRONT PAGE! To be sure, I am now firmly, most stoically convinced that you are the nicest, most patient group of people I will ever come to know! I visited our home this week. Oh... my... gosh! I can't believe something I planned so well, turned out the way it did; I'd wanted to try something new. I did and it sucks green eggs! I won't do that again! Oh, the front page looks great and all, but to have it follow you into the house??? No, that wasn't in the plan. I will be changing the front page again sometime in the next couple days so it doesn't "follow" you inside! You can expect another change relatively soon. :-| THE REUNION Hot and muggy... it was the only way to describe that July 1st day. Most people didn't seem to mind the weather, though. The surrounding forest provided enough shade to keep everyone relatively cool. Horses, buggies and buckboards were off'ed to one side. It was a "raising" and everyone in the community enjoyed the comaraderie while assisting the newest family in erecting a magnificent log cabin. Tonight the family would sleep in their new home. The couple's children joined other young ones at play while the women-folk talked and laid out a sumptuous pot luck meal. The arduous task of clearing trees and removing stumps had been completed only two days ago. All the men had left to do was to put up the dwelling. The lake just across the yard would provide not only that necessity of life but an unbridled vista of beauty and recreational enjoyment. Life was exciting in this new state! Life was good! Where once stood a log cabin now appeared a three-bedroom, clapboard home. Most people didn't know that, though. The forest was reduced to a small grouping of trees on the east side of the house and it was there that the day was unfolding. The gathering centered around a tiny, gray-haired woman and her stooped-over, equally gray-haired husband. Eighty-five years old now, she was the one who remembered those early days, and the only one still living. Viewing the lake brought back such memories for her! She saw the home, but in her eyes saw instead the cabin and those younger years, forgetting how really hard they were. Her body may have aged with time, however, vivid memories flooded her mind with the moment. Her parents and siblings came back to life with those long-ago visions, and she realized how much she missed them. The old woman's reverie was interrupted when a child came up and slid a frail hand into her withered, aged one... a 6-year old girl it was ~ with the very likeness of herself in her youth. The old woman saw in that second how the circle of life had come back around to her through her great-granddaughter. The girl's older sister came up to retrieve her younger sibling and the old woman saw again, another piece of herself. "Sit down here with me and let me tell you a story..." she said to the girls. The afternoon became one of memories for both generations, and another hot and muggy July 1st reunion ambled by. The house is gone now, but most people don't even realize one was ever there. Cars fill the cement parking lot as people amble to and from the pavillion over near the lake. It's a family reunion! July 1st the perfect day... a hot one to be sure, and muggy... Trees would be nice to sit under if there were any. But, it's a perfect day, otherwise. Everyone is excited to see siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins they haven't seen in years!... and some they've never met! Family elders say that this used to be an annual event... that the family meets here because it has ancestral significance. Only two people really know... two elderly women who took the time to spend an afternoon with an old woman and her memories during their brief encounter. This day, at least of them will pass her stories along, too. Will you or your child be the one who receives them at the next reunion, listening in awe to a life of what once was? After all it's family... and it's what we're all about. I really enjoyed this time with you. It was so nice. I hope you all have a fantastic upcoming week. I wish you all a week filled with health, fun, productivity, and above all, filled with love. ) ( ) _.-~~-. (@\'--'/. Colleen ('``.__.'`) `..____.'