FHM -- Autumn -- Healdsburg

Usually at some point I achieve the goal that I used to have during vacations i.e. to lose awareness of what day it actually is . . . and it happens more frequently than not. The weekly cycle, when one is retired is outlined by certain events like "garbage pick-up day" or "lawn day" and a few others -- but even with those identifiers sometimes the actual day of the week is unclear -- UNTIL now:

I recently became the owner of a newly treasured clock -- one that only shows the important facts, the
day of the week. And so I needed to glance at this clock this morning.  As I took Dino out, I was pretty sure it was Saturday but was pleasantly surprised to verify that it was indeed Sunday -- thanks Gail . . .

Election 2012

We got our first close-up look at the two running for our Presidency. I was of course interested in viewing the debate this year because it seems that the rhetoric this election is really intense and it is hard
to keep the facts straight -- and it appears that it is hard for the participants to do so also.

I did not take a "debate" course in school and now maybe I wish I had done that. But I have had debates informally over my career, mostly in the context of a "sales" environment. Based on the results of this first debate it will be very enlightening to see how the players react coming into the second performance.

I have to wonder about the election periods that our ancestors went through -- there may have been debates in many of the battles -- but the audience was mostly limited to physical presence with the remaining people given "accounts" of the actions.  We, today have a front row seat to these events.

Dino's Week

Through all the hoopla Dino and the flowers around the yard took everything in stride. The first two days of the week we did have triple digit days -- a blast for the final days of the summer season.  It is hard to believe that in some parts of our country there was actually a little snow . . . it was strange to view pictures of plants poking through newly fallen snow -- as if we forget each year that it is going to happen.

Above are a couple of Dino's usual poses at some point during the day -- he loves curling up and catching a few moments of deep sleep -- but he immediately gets up whenever one of us gets up. The other pose is when he is waiting for us to do something of interest with him. In the meantime the flowers are still blooming in various places around the yard, thank goodness.

It's Autumn

Though it feels a lot like summer still, it does mean that the growing season is all but over in our garden. Gail took it upon herself to remove some of the tomato, and pepper plants while it was not so hot yet during the day. We will probably change the amount of certain plants next year and now that we have another tree near the garden we may change the location of some as well to take advantage of the available sun.

The above points out the beginning of the end for our tomato patch -- a surprise though under the leaves were two of the largest peppers of the season and the final two as well. Gail left a couple of plants and they will be going soon. Dino watched from the confines of the family room and he was attentive to all the action. I of course was called to "finish" some other work . . .

This is Jeopardy Family History Month

You might not have been aware of that fact -- but it is the trying-to-be-official month of recognizing genealogy and the pursuit of family history. I am not sure how to celebrate this occasion as I pretty much believe that EVERY month is Family History Month . . .

A Peek at Two Second Cousins

That's one way to celebrate. The first second cousin is Bruce Hiles. Bruce and I share a Great Grandfather -- in this case John Hiles -- and our individual Grandfathers were brothers, Otto for Bruce and Lloyd for me.

The top part of the collage shows Lilly (May Bryan) Hiles, Gale T Hiles (Bruce's father) Merwyn Hiles (Bruce's Aunt) and Otto Hiles, Bruce's Grandfather.

The middle section shows how we are related from our Great Grandparents, John & Emily.

The bottom picture shows Lil & Otto in 1957, cropped from a photo I just received from Bruce this week -- he found three and thinks he may even find a few more -- we love photos!

The second cousin celebrating FHM is also a second cousin of mine, Carroll Francis "Mickey" Gillett.
Though somewhere along the line Mickey added an "e" on the end of his name -- like the "razor family" of Gillettes . . .

What prompted me to "look into" the history more of Mickey was the fact that the current book we are reading "Then Again" by Diane Hall Keaton, mentions Mickey Gillette's band. The reference has to do with Diane's Mother as the book is mostly about -- but not all -- the events in her Mother's life.

I learned a lot about the Hall's lives and Diane's as she lived in Santa Ana and other Orange County cities as I did and I recognize a lot of her remarks as to things pertaining to that area.

Back to Mickey:

Mickey was born in Eureka, California and eventually found his way to the San Francisco Bay Area and he was a well known classical saxophonist. In the above are pictures of he and his wife. Also there is a copy of a 1946 advertisement for a mouthpiece for the sax.

To the right, the chart shows how I am (and thus maybe you all are) related to Mickey. Click to enlarge the chart. Mickey's father, Millard Fillmore Gillett was the brother of James Norris Gillett -- the Cousin of ours who was the California Governor 100 years ago.

And Lastly

It was difficult, but we managed to NOT drive to San Francisco this weekend. With all the events going on in the City it was all that we could do to keep from hopping on "101" and drive across the Golden Gate Bridge to join into some of the activities . . .

We opted to stay home and watch -- on TV -- the events that we were most interested in, e.g. The Niners versus the Bills -- fortunately the Niners won big time. Unfortunately the other SF team we were interested in did not fare as well on Saturday night -- i.e. the Giants, who lost the first playoff game at AT&T Park to the Reds . . .

Besides the NFL and the MLB, there were college football, Blue Angels -- Fleet Week, America's Cup, street fairs, two big-name singer's concerts, and a Blue Grass festival among other things -- it's so nice to be here in our quiet town . . . maybe next year.

That was a bit of our week -- we had the traditional burgers last night, it is going to be ham and sweet corn tonight . . . and watch SNF as well.

See you in a few . . .