Thursday, July 29, 2010

Adopt a grave

I tended my in-laws grave in Walnut Hill Cemetary and while there I snapped pictures of random, interesting headstones.









(What can I tell you, I'm weird that way). Anyway, as a lark I Googled a name - Larrabee Harris from one of the headstones & got a hit - I decided, on the same lark, to continue the tracing and found this:

Birth: Sep. 1, 1781, Yarmouth, Cumberland County, Maine, USA
Death: unknown

Larrabee was the son of Stephen Larrabee and Lydia (Tuttle) Harris.

On Oct. 27, 1808 in Gray, Cumberland County, Maine he was United In Marriage to Judith Delano.

He was the father of ten children, Lydia 1809, Amaziah 1810, Stephen 1812, Almira 1814, Asenath 1816, Jane 1818, Ezekiel 1820, Joseph Russell 1822, Olive 1825 and Eliza 1827.

He was the brother of Hannah 1776, Rachel 1778 and Stephen 1780.

The Harris family were English and the first members of this family arrived in the United States of America on the May Flower.

Family links:
Parents:
Stephen Larrabee Harris
Lydia Tuttle Harris

Children:
Amiaziah Delano Harris (1810 - 1889)*
Stephen Larrabee Harris (1812 - 1888)*
Joseph Russell Harris (1822 - 1902)*

Spouse:
Judith Delano Harris (1792 - 1834)

Burial:
Unknown

A family memeber by the name of Linda, posted this information on the website "Find a Grave" - she posted a request to share information about this family - I sent her an e-mail, along with a copy of the pics I took, giving her the date of her ancestor's death. Who knows if she'll answer - hope she will.

I find this stuff so fascinating.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Watching Hummingbirds from the porch

For years, when I was visiting Maine, my mother-in-law Marie & I, would while away the afternoon sitting on the porch swing, sharing a cup of tea, quietly talking and watching the Hummingbirds.

Each Mother's Day, we would give her a plant for her garden. Every year it would be something different - Lilacs, Azaleas or Bleeding Hearts; whatever it was, she was always thrilled and she planted each one in a special spot.

One year I picked out a pink Phlox, which she planted directly in front of the porch. Perhaps it was beacause the ground was rich, or because it got the hot afternnon sun, it grew and grew. It grew so tall, that we were able to see it from the swing.

One visit, we were surprised by a visit from a tiny Hummingbird. We sat fasinated by it, and it returned everyday for days and kept us entertained for hours. Every visit thereafter, we sat and rocked and waited for the Hummingbird, and it never disappointed us.

This trip, while not able to sit on the swing, I still kept an eye out for a visitor and today was the day! Yup - a sweet little Hummingbird showed up to take a nectar break! I'm sure Marie is smiling from above!



Saturday, July 17, 2010

We spied an Osprey newst today

They usually perch atop of platforms or other flat, high surfaces. Very cool.


Monday, July 12, 2010

At least we are protected from aliens!

Since we don't have cable in Maine (i.e. we don't subscribe to cable)and with the switch to digital signal, we had to be very creative to get any kind of stations while here.

We have the "converter" box - which is like tits on a bullfrog (sorry - but true)it does nothing really. So we purchased an antenna from Wal-Mart and still no reception. This is when I tell Guy to get me the aluminum foil - the look on his face made me realize that he truly had no idea what I was going to do.

This soon to be 15 year old, who never had anything but cable TV, with a choice of 300+ channels, never had to make an antenna from tin foil or a wire coat hanger. How many times did I hook up my old 16" black and white TV I had in my room to long speaker wires wrapped in foil? Or to bend a metal coat hanger and attach it to my portable radio to get better reception? Too many to count!

Anyway, I went to work and began to build a Rube Goldberg television antenna, while Guy looked on in hesitation, thinking his mother really flipped her lid. This is what we wound up with




We started with one channel & now have eight - woo hoo!!!!