Touched by An Angel, Hugged by A King

As the seasons change for us, once again I find myself in that transition stage. I'm thinking less about the beach and more about my genealogy. My photography goes year 'round but even with that I'm less inspired to take pictures when it's cold and gray outside. This summer was wonderful. I'm sorry for all the folks who had severe weather. For us it was a hot, dry summer... perfect for beach-going and I did plenty of that.

The last couple weeks aided my transition into fall. I got several good beach days in, took lots of beach, boating, and sunset pictures, and toured the tall ships that came into port. The tall ships remind me of history and with that my genealogy comes to mind (not that I had any ancestors on the Nina or the Pinta ;-) . A special treat for me was having The King and his Angel visit for a couple days. They toured the tall ships with me making the event all the more fun.

I'm always envious of the genealogy bloggers who are able to attend the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree in June. It would be so fun to meet all the folks I follow online. But that's not likely to happen for me in the foreseeable future. California is a long way from Michigan. That's why it was such a treat to meet The King, Randy Seaver, and his lovely wife Angel Linda. I was thrilled that they would come up and see me and allow me to show them a little bit of Pure Michigan.

Those of you who have met Randy know what a kind soul he is. Gentleman, scholar, friend... Oh and genealogy expert and blogger extraordinaire too. He's quick to smile, has a twinkle in his eye, and is patient and caring. What a lucky lady Linda is to have him for her husband. Of course Randy is fortunate too. Linda is an angel. She's funny, very intelligent, outgoing, and very compassionate. She's a strong, independent woman who manages to find the good in everyone and everything. She is my role model. Now that I've met her I feel I've been touched by an angel.

One can't spend time with Randy without talking at least a bit about genealogy. We did that and I truly enjoyed it. It's so nice to spend time with a kindred soul. It got me thinking about my family history and how nice it will be to get back into my research and writing. Mother Nature's autumn color show will be here in just a few weeks and I'll be out there photographing all the lovely colors as much as I can. And then it will be time to focus on my genealogy and family history as the leaves fall from the trees once again.

OK summer, I guess I'm ready to let you go for this year. I'm looking forward to next year's beach weather already! But in the mean time, I'll be dusting off the genealogy books and getting back to writing. I've been inspired by The King and his Angel.