Well, good morning, cuzzins! Looks like we may finally be back in business with the list. It has been a long time, and I am glad to have it back up and running (knock on wood). So much has happened over the past couple years. I said I was going to try to come back to a periodic news post, but then the list went down again, and that plan along with it. Daughter Maya (as those of you who follow me on Facebook know) has been getting a lot if ink and accolades in the Portland OR area for her cooking. She keeps getting a lot of recognition and winning awards. Susan and I jokingly told her last week that, should she get a James Beard nomination and go to New York to cook, we're coming to the party whether she wants us to or not. She replied with a laugh, and informed us that, in case we didn't know, tickets for the event are in the range of $400 each. Shoot, we'll go into debt for that! Older daughter Sara, still living with us, is "that close" to finishing her Masters degree in clinical psychology. She's currently interning at an opioid clinic in downtown Charleston and working for them part-time. She is happy with her second choice of career, and is looking forward to graduation in a couple months. I'm looking forward to her landing a job that will allow her to get her own place and give us our downstairs back!!! ;-) Susan continues her less-than-fulfilling job with SC Sea Grant. But it does fulfill the pocket-book requirements, especially with me only bringing in a pittance compared to my research jobs of the past. But hey, I'm keeping myself busy with client work for my genealogy business. I currently have four projects in progress, and three more clients in the queue that I need to contact again to see if they want to hire me after the new year begins. It'll take me that long to finish up these other projects. I have to tell you, being a professional genealogist is great fun! I am learning a lot about South Carolina and its early history. The only real problem I have is the problem of burned counties. See, when Gen. Sherman left Atlanta after burning it to the ground, he let it be known he was headed to Charleston to do the same to that fair city. Well, all the SC counties between Atlanta and Charleston were shaking in their boots, worried that Sherman would burn everything in his path on the way to Charleston. So they all loaded up all their records (court papers, probate stuff, land records, etc.) and shipped them off to Columbia. Now Charleston was the center of colonial government in SC until the 1760s, so there was such a quantity of records that Charleston County placed their records on a railroad car and shipped them up to Columbia. Well, ol' Sherman fooled them all. Declaring that Charleston was already a burnt-out shell of a city, and saying that taking Charleston would be a hollow victory at best, he turned his sights and his Army to Columbia instead. And yes, he ended up burning Columbia, along with the records of the counties that had shipped their books up there for safe-keeping. So many of the counties I'm working in have no pre-Civil War records. That makes it kinda hard, ya know? And what about the early colonial records from Charleston? Somebody actually outwitted ol' Tecumseh Sherman. The railroad car holding the Charleston records was continually moved during the siege of Columbia, and the records actually survived. Imagine that! OK, enough. I have to get to work now. Part of my bargain with Susan on becoming a work-from-home earner of pittance amounts was that, instead of having a cleaning service come in and clean the house every two weeks, that job would fall to me. My housecleaning days are Thursday and Friday every other week, and this is the week. So now it's time to go downstairs and detail the kitchen, living room, and the utility room, along with some of the ancillary downstairs rooms. Got my work cut out for me, for sure. We make messes in the kitchen because we love to cook. It takes a while to make the whole thing spiffy and shiny again! Y'all have a great day. And a great weekend! Peace, Part of the Tree, Greg