I didn't know until we got to Sumiac that they were having their annual folk festival that day. This was just too good to be true. We went to a building, it may have been a little town hall. There were displays of folk crafts, musicians dressed in the regional dress of Sumiac, music coming from the speakers on the telephone poles, and an air of excitement. My cousin has a firend, Maria, that has lived there all her life and we met up with her. Everyone was talking and Milan translated to me that Maria said that she was going to take me to the place my grandfathers butcher shop had been. I stood there in a state of shock, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. We walked across the town to a dirt road that ran up a hill. There were some of the old wooden houses I had seen pictures of. This place was definitely a mountain village, and at least that day, seemed like a place that time had forgot. It was a bit of a hike up the hill and when we got to the place she explained that there had been two houses side by side there and that the man died in 1930. I said to Milan that it couldn't have been my grandfather than, as he died in 1908. She replied that he was the only Kristofik and the only butcher in the town. I suspect that it may have been passed on to a younger half brother or nephew. But, that was the spot. We continued up the hill to the top where a stream comes out of the mountain. The water is crystal clear and one can drink from the stream. Amazing water, better than bottled. I was told that the priest from the church got his holy water there, and there was a small shrine near by. On the way back down the road I lagged behind taking pictures. Back by the spot of my grandfathers butcher shop I saw two young men across the road bailing hay from a wagon and piling it high with pitch forks, way over their head. It was definitely a scene from the past. Then I looked back up the road, and a young woman in her kroij (regional dress) was walking down the road. She was the only person on the road. This was a beautiful sight if I ever saw one. The music was playing in the background, she was walking toward me, and I thought this could have been my grandmother or great grandmother walking down the road to the village to church. Fortunately I got it on my camcorder. Back at the village we visited the Greek Catholic church and cemetery and found out about the museum of 1,000 bells. Maria took us there and it turned out to be a lot of fun. The owner of the little museum had it in the home of his parents. The central room was as it may have been back then, the one room house with the stove in the corner, the bed up against the wall, and the table and chairs. The two side rooms contained his bell collection. The bells went from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. I guess Milan told him that I was visiting from America, and that's all it took. He pulled us in the museum and proceeded to put on a show. He got out all the regional folk musical instruments and played each one, and talked about each one. Then he and his assistant put on a little concert for me with the bells. He showed us just about every one explaining where they were from, and enjoying every minute of it. It was getting time for the concert to start so we drove up the mountain as far as we were allowed and hiked up the rest of the way. From the top one could see for miles, and looking below, the entire village of Sumiac. It was so beautiful. Eventually the concert started. The sky was putting on a show also. On one side of me the sun was showing through the clouds brightly, and on the other side the sky was dark and threatening with thunder rolling in the distance. But then the music started, the dancers started, and a rainbow came out of the clouds and made it's way across the sky down to the end of the village. I'll never forget that moment. At the risk of sounding a bit "daft" I believe that day, and all it's joy, was a gift from my ancestors for all the time I have put into finding them, putting them in pedigree charts, studying their culture and history, and eventually passing all this information on to my family so they will know their past and heritage and keep it alive through their descendants. Conclusion tomorrow Joyce