Well, all of you managed to overwhelm me again with your mountain of positive responses to my "cry for help" regarding my trying to juggle my writing efforts with genealogy, etc. Yesterday you overwhelmed me and got my shorts tied up in a knot. Today you overwhelmed me and knocked my socks off with your marvelous responses. I hope this trend regarding my underwear doesn't now turn suddenly ugly!! :-D How can I possibly summarize all the great suggestions you have sent me. Who knows but first on my list was the "perfect" suggestion--"Clone yourself!" And then, wow, it really hit home when Teri made the comment that "The historical facts are there, someone can find them and research them. Your stories aren't." Teri, trust me, I thought about that all day and I knew that you were dead right. I had two responses that suggested that maybe if I would tape-record my thoughts and have someone else type the words up, made me smile--only in that when these stories bubble up inside me, I'm either in the middle of eating dinner, down on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor, drifting off to sleep or some such odd "activity!" And, oh yes! I particularly noted Ed Gottshall's suggestions for title's to my possible weekly newspaper column. How about something along the lines of "Vee's Memories--Out of Her Mind!!!" (Take it any way you wanta!) ALL of you who replied indicated you want me to continue writing and sharing it with the list and I certainly intend to based on your encouragement. Also based on your encouragement, there is no doubt but what I will eventually gather up all the stories in some sort of fashion and put them together in some sort of book or series of booklets--whether for sale or, well, just to give away to whoever really would like to read the stories. To give you a bit of an update to the other "boring" parts of my day, in this morning's paper there was the article that Don Glynn headlined in his column--"Missing Trophy Takes the Long Way Home." It was the story I had sent him via email and the one that I was talking about last night regarding his phone call to me yesterday. Of note, he ended his article with "'All of this happened because of a little boy whose heart was in the right place and some museum folks who knew the value of the trophy and were determined to find its proper home,' said Ms. Housman, a Creek Road resident and author with a deep appreciation for local history." You have no idea how that blew my mind this morning--the Gazette, INCLUDING Don Glynn is at NO ONE's beck and call! BTW, if you would like me to send to you what I actually wrote, just let me know. Meanwhile, up at the museum this afternoon I had an intense session with our "Computer Guru" who came back up here from Florida to deliver the computer system for the museum that he decided to donate personally to us and, trust me, it was a grueling session regarding setting up a database program for our artifacts and historical information. When I checked my email this evening, I found a query from someone looking for his Washburn/Wooster family connections here in the Town of Porter. And, wow, did I have a bunch of super stuff to send to Father Stephen--at least I THINK he's a Roman Catholic priest! And now that I've covered all the events of my day that deal with my "usual" everyday concentrations--museum computer's database and local genealogical research, there's only one left. Story writing! And I have been bursting to get this story out of my overloaded brain! You see, it has to do with My Mockingbird! And here's what I'm going to do. I will first post my original story about my mockingbird that I posted back in early July for those of you who hadn't subscribed to the list back then or for those who would appreciate their memories refreshed as to what I'm talking about. The second posting will be entitled "Mockingbird, Pt.II." Of course, I haven't written it yet, but I will--and you'll be the first to read it--after I do! Sincerely, you've overwhelmed me again with your loving words. Luvyuz, vee ==== PENNA-DUTCH Mailing List ==== New? Looking for a quick connection? Visit the surnames list associated with this mail list at http://members.aol.com/PennaDutch/pdlsurnames.html