railroad station in Kane, PA
chicory plants in Indiana
scenic Route 6 near Roulette, PAall photos by Elaine A. Russell
You can't pick your family. But if I would have been able to, there are members of my family I would have chosen -- for sure. Yesterday I got up and took my mom over to Bradford PA... about an hour's drive away ... to get her hair cut.
When my mother was a young girl, some of her family moved from Philadelpia PA to the very very small inlet of Mina PA. Population around 20. Seriously. My mom was the youngest girl out of 10 children, and had severe asthma. Her mother brought my mom, and a couple other siblings up "to the country" for her health, and stayed on the farm of a cousin. It was fortuitous, as that is how my mother ended up meeting my father. I can't imagine what it would have been like to move from a bustling city-- to the middle of nowhere. And my grandmother, who was willing to drop everything she knew and loved, including my grandfather, to save her child. My grandmother was an interesting lady.. very bold and independant for her time.
One of my cousins lives in Bradford, and cuts my mother's hair for free. Her mother (my aunt) passed away 9 yrs ago, and she has sorta adopted my mother as her own. Kim (my cousin) is sweet. My mother, being one of 10 children, has tons of family... and as such... I have tons of cousins. In fact, alot of them I haven't even met. But Kim, I remembered from fourth of July picnics with cousins over the years.
We then went to visit another of my mother's siblings... my Aunt Adeline. She is my favorite aunt....and her hubby is definately my fav uncle. My aunt looks like Queen Elizabeth. I am not even joking. When she traveled years ago to England to visit her one son who was stationed there in the military, she got stopped multiple times for autographs and salutations. .. thinking she was the Queen and had gone "slumming" amongst the commonfolk.
My Uncle, is a veteran of WWII. He saw alot of combat in Europe, and was priveledged to have liberated a concentration camp. He was also a photographer, and has images in his attack that he won't show anyone from his war years. At one point, he got trapped behind enemy lines and hid in the cellar of a farmhouse, surviving on potatoes and shear will. He is now 88.. and is still a vibrant, energetic man. He makes cabinetry, and still rides snowmobile and ATV with local clubs. I adore these people. It was sad to hear that they are going thru some rough spots with health and such. But I know that they are of hardy stock... that they will overcome.
We then went to visit another Uncle. He was married to another sister of my mother's. She passed away years ago, and he has since remarried (at age 86 ! ).. and I got to meet his new wife. He is a retired architect, who now has a thriving profession as a painter. He loves to paint scenics and what people consider 'americana.' He is also sort of a character. He reminds me of the Rat Pack of the 60's... having his cocktails on the patio before supper....gazing off into the woods and working on his latest painting. I remember years ago after he retired, he worked for the shriners. He went to clown school down in Florida, and happily made balloon animals and drove those funny little cars you see in small town parades. He has a crazy laugh.. sort of like Muttly from the Whacky Racers cartoons.
They are a colorful bunch... and ones I am proud to be related to. Not that they are perfect. No. But they have overcome the things they've been dealt, and have managed to still enjoy themselves and have loved well. They have a driving passion; be it.. playing music on the church organ, painting, carpentry... whatever.
What more can you ask.....