What Happened to Summer???????

I mean this morning and last night I was wearing my winter robe and socks!   In July!  This just isn't right!  We have approximately 6-8 months of winter here in northern Ohio, I need a couple paltry months of summer please before we are plunged back into cold and dreary.

My running has been going pretty well though.  I guess this weather is conducive to that anyway.  Ran 11 miles yesterday morning and felt really great.  I am running another half marathon on August 18th so I need to get in some longish runs.  Up until this past week my running has been sub par, feeling really sluggish.  Don't know what causes this.  One day you feel like you cannot put one foot in front of the other and a few days later you can be running like the wind!   Well I never run like the wind, but you get my gist.  Very perplexing as I know most runners experience this phenomena.  I have tried to keep track of my runs and figure out if there is a common thread when I have these terrible runs, but I have not been able to find one, it just seems to happen.  Maybe the stars aren't aligned right or something, who knows?  As long as I  don't stay in a running funk I guess I can handle a few bad runs.

Ran a local 5 K over the 4th of July and did pretty well for me.  Ran it in 36:22 and placed 2nd in my age group.  Not bad and it was fun.  Always fun to place, which never happened when I was younger.  Perseverance pays off I guess.

Completely off topic from my running, I became the proud grandmother of twin girls almost 2 weeks ago now!

They are too cute aren't they???  What a blessing.
These two little angels are grandchildren number 9 and 10!











Ginny

Running into Relatives!

With my genealogy-obsessed coworker I have digging into my past for the past several years.  Recently we discovered that my father's cousin lived less than an hour away!  This was quite a find, since most all of the relatives are in the Scranton, Pa., Philadelphia Pa. area.  So this cousin's father and my grandfather were brothers!  I had the pleasure of meeting Jack last summer and again just last week , with an added bonus!  His sisters were there visiting, so I got to meet more cousins.  We had a wonderful time and I loved hearing stories that I had never heard before.  We figure we may have met up sometime in Philadelphia when we were very small children.  Below is a picture of my grandparent's Emma and Ambrose Murray.

They both died when I was in my teens, but I do remember them of course.  I was born in Philadelphia, so I remember them being babysitters when my mom and dad would go out.  One night I remember that it was snowing and my parent's specifically asking me and telling my grandparents not to let me go out in the snow!  I have no idea why they would have said this, maybe I had a cold or something, I just remember that my grandparents completely ignored these instructions and we went out and played in the snow!  Once we moved to NY, my grandparents would frequently visit and we would visit Philadelphia.  However, I do not remember much about any other relatives.  I have no idea why we were not involved with other aunts and uncles, maybe my parents were and I just don't remember.  It was quite exciting then to meet my grandfather's brother's son!  Below is a picture of  a my grandfather, Ambrose on the right, Emma (grandmother) then Kay and Jerome ( Ambroses' brother) at my grandparents home.

Added bonus, when I met with Jack and his sisters, Peg had brought a picture of Ambrose's mother.  I have never seen a picture of her.  She was born In  Ireland in 1863 to James Fleming and Bridget O'Hara.  Her first husband was a James McCann, he died very young.  It was with her 2nd husband John T Murray that she had 4 sons, Walter, Joseph, Ambrose, Jerome.  You can see them listed here in the 1900 census in Scanton, Penna.  Also listed are 4 other children of which we really cannot figure out the connection.

Below is the picture of my great-grandmother, Mary, with 3 of her grandchildren and a neighbor.  According to my cousins, Kay and Peg, she was quite stern and you learned to mind Grandmother Murray!

Sadly,  I did not connect with Jack Murray until after my father passed away.  My Dad would have been so excited to meet up with one of his relatives, that I am sure he knew when he was young.  They would have had so much fun talking about the past!  My Dad was proud of what I had found out already, but this really would have put him over the top.