Daughter 1 and I took the Edinburgh grandchildren to the Gallery of Modern Art the other day (can you see Grandson on the Landform above?) where there were various activities laid on for children.
They had fun.
And on Friday I took them to the Botanics. We haven't been there as a threesome for ages, and they really enjoyed it. As did I. They were a delight to be with. I thought they might find it boring now that they're older, but they found lots to do.
We were there for ages and they needed a little rest towards the end. (It lasted about two minutes.)
It seems no time since I was going there with this little chap. Where did he go??
I was contacted the other day by a distant American cousin on my mum's side. We haven't been in touch for a few years but our families visited to and fro a bit in the past (1970 in my case). The great-niece of the cousin I was vaguely in touch with is coming to visit with her father. This prompted me to look up our exact connection, and in fact our common direct ancestors were born about 1800! Her great-great-great-great-grandparents are my great-great-great-grandparents. So not exactly a close relationship, then. It's strange that we're still in touch, however infrequently. My granny used to visit her mother's cousin Tina, who lived in Edinburgh (though had lived in America for some years) and the girl who's coming is descended from Tina's sister.
I'm sure I have hundreds of much closer relations whom I never see! I have no first cousins but my father had something like 25, only two of whom we're in touch with (or at least, they're dead but we're in touch with their children). They're in America too. I'm sure I also have lots of Scottish-resident second cousins, but where they are I have no idea. Dad's mother was the second-youngest of 11, so a lot of Dad's cousins were much older than he was, almost of a different generation, and only one of them lived in Edinburgh.
Maybe I ought to make an effort to search for some of them...
Hello, by the way, DL. How nice that you're going to Arran. I wonder who you are??
I have some American family members too but I know nothing about them now. My Father's sister (for whom I was named) left Wales when she was 19 years old - I know when she left and from which port - and I know that she married and had children and then in 1965 she came back for a short visit when I actually met her and then, shortly afterward she died. So I missed my chance to find out more about her life. At least I actually met and hugged her.
ReplyDeleteYou make me want to check how many of my grandparents' cousins/siblings stayed in Great Britain. I know there were many Grieves in Langholm, but I wonder how many are still there. My grandfather, John Grieve, came to the US as a teenager and I think all his siblings did also. His 1st cousin Chris(the infamous Hugh MacDiarmid)stayed in Scotland with his branch. I'll have to poke around in my genealogy before my visit! Love all the activities you do with your grandchildren. They grow up fast!
ReplyDeleteOh my -- seeing that pic of the toddler N was such a surprise! It seems like just yesterday -- and now he is 8. I think I would recognize him if I passed him on the street, but maybe not little L -- she's growing up too! I love that you have very distant cousins coming to visit -- I really love that they had a way to get in touch with you. I sometimes think about how cousins can be so close, yet, let a generation or two pass and their children don't even know each other. We have a family story about a great aunt of mine who went to Scotland and knocked on the door of what would have been her 2nd or 3rd cousin (so, to me, much like your relationship -- the common ancestor from the early to mid 1800's) and when the woman answered the door, they told her who they were and she slammed the door in their face LOL! Would sure love to know what the story was there!
ReplyDeleteMy husband used to tease me by asking if we should put bricks on their heads to keep them little....They do need to grow up and that's what they do.
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderful to have lots of cousins!
The hoodie little N is wearing in the picture is now little A's!
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