"Roots"

The past has been much on my mind recently.  Paul and I have taken a few groups on historic tours of Barre lately, and today we went on a industrial history walk with our neighbor in Montpelier.  He had photos from the 1850's and later, so that as we walked and looked, we could imagine what an area looked like before.  Some of my recent walks in the forest have included people not from the area, so I've talked a bit more about the granite industry and how the landscape evolved, from industrial wasteland to beautiful forest with views made out of rock piles that now have plants and trees growing on them.  

And then there's family history.  My Dutch sister has posted some family photos on Facebook that I've copied and saved.  Here's one of our father and his siblings, c. 1923 - he's the cutie on the left.  I was thinking I should make up a family tree for my son, but now I'm also gathering some photos to put into a book.  I've had good luck with Shutterfly in the past.  Every once in a while, I make a photobook out of my quilt pictures which is a nice way to remember those I've given away.  The other day, I started putting it together, but now I need to go back and write captions identifying the people.  All of these people have gone, and the two boys in sailor suits fought in and passed away during World War II, so I never knew them.

This winter I hope to print out some family trees for my son to go with the photobook.  I know he won't care much now, but he will when he's my age, or perhaps when he has kids.