SIMONE AND PAT PURCELL, DIANE COMOLLO

It's small quarters to have visitors in a motor home, but Pat, Diane and Simone came and crowded in for a few minutes before moving into Wendy and Jim Jaillet's spacious house here in Ivoryton.

Jaime's middle name is Simone and she is named for her first cousin, twice removed. Its always a pitfall to figure out cousin positions for the purpose of defining how they are related and I'm hoping I have that right from my forays into genealogy. Not that it matters. What really matters is that occasionally everyone makes it a point to get together.

 Over lunch, we talked about that quite a bit, that we've become the oldest generation, and the family history often resides in our memories. Its important to share those things that you think about once in awhile. "Wasn't she the daughter of...?  Where did Aunt Irene get married?  Maybe the same church we did. No, it was the depression, they had a small ceremony.  I have a picture you might like a copy of."  And so it goes.

It always seems a surprise that the younger generation grows up so much from the last time you saw them, though we all know it happens.  (Jaime, Jocelyn and Eric Jaillet.)

 Young couples engaged in raising their families, with work, school, and extra circular activities-it practically takes an act of congress to get the whole family together at the same time. I remember those days. Eric, for instance, had a meeting to attend before guests arrived. He came back with a prize from a drawing, dirt bike tires.

 Jocelyn helped make the dessert she is dishing up, a fresh peach crumble with raspberries. She babysits and tutors young school kids. Age fifteen, she is an excellent student and loves poetry.

The dessert was delicious, but also signals the end of lunch, and soon everyone was on their way, promising to get in touch again soon.

Jaime, Jim and I each won a game of Quiddler. She also won a game of checkers on-line (with Jim's help.) Jaime said she had never slept in a motor home. Our first overnight guest.
For a few more pictures click:
http://picasaweb.google.com/1579penn/8910SimoneDianePatVisit#

THE COMOLLO FAMILY WITH FUR CHILDREN

Diane Comollo is another cousin of my partner, Jim Jaillet. This East Coast trip is all about family reunion and everything that interests us on the way. We're all of French Canadian descent and it was fun to watch Diane talk "with her hands" as my family was wont to do. We got teased about it as kids.
We sat and visited all day in her cool kitchen as the local temperature rose to 99*, a record for this time of year around Hebron, Connecticut.

 Its important to have the family photo to record the time and changes between visits. Diane has a terrific memory and recounted many childhood encounters, family moves and stories that trigger the fun of times past. Bob barbecued steaks for dinner, (chicken for us) making sure we wouldn't be left unfed. The French like the Italians exhort you to eat, eat, you must eat. Diane buys everything she can organically grown so we found we had much in common.

 A strong thunderstorm during the night left everything sweet and clean. Bob walks the fur children every day. Rescue dogs, he named Oliver after Oliver Twist because this dog had a rough start, hungry, begging, neglected. While Montgomery wants to be alpha dog, and acts like a little general. So, Montgomery it was. I got a kick out of his naming process. Pets add so much joy to their lives.

 On the walk we saw this lunch box hanging in a tree. I've seen shoes, jar lids, birdhouses, sculptures, cans, just about anything you can think of hanging in trees. This was a my first lunch box.