Virginia and Maryland: Good family
Thursday I made it up to Flint Hill, VA to the Alexander homestead. Cousin Karen and Steve were home, as Cory was spending a relaxing summer with them (ha! she and Steve had spent the day working on one of their properties). The shock for me was the new workshop/studio out back (see photo). It looks like all the angles on it are 90 degrees (for those of you who haven’t seen their house, there are very few right angles in it).
Cory, Karen and I stayed up till midnight, but poor Steve who doesn’t have the Amoss “gab” gene had to retire earlier. We had a great time catching up, and sharing teaching stories (Karen teaches in the local-rural-high school supporting special ed kids and Cory is a grad student in writing who teaches some undergrad courses and writing rooms). They all seemed to being doing well, and it was great visiting.
I used to be quite the camera person, but now I’m forgetting to take photos all the time. On my way out, I did get a photo of Cory and Steve in front of the new shop/studio building (Karen had already run off to sign some paychecks for a non-profit she helps with).
Friday I drove up to Asbury retirement center to visit my aunt Ginny. We had a nice visit, gabbing about teaching, family, etc. etc. Ginny’s hanging in there, not letting her kids catch up with her in age. An interesting family history tidbit I learned was that Ginny spent only one year of her life living without her mother (Boiney, for those you who don’t know her). Ginny (and my mom and Aunt Getrude) stayed at home until they were married. For Ginny, this was age 26. One year later my grandfather (A. Lee) passed, and Boiney was left with little “retirement” income, so she moved in with Ginny and Dan. Dan, being a good Italian, knew that you take care of your family, so he had no problem with his mother in law moving in with them. Ginny says Dan and Boiney got along great.
