(no subject)

My parents took out out for lunch for my birthday, and mentioned that they'd recently got into researching my mother's grandfather with the prompting of her cousin. She'd never really known her grandfather (he'd been about twenty years older than her grandmother), and all she'd heard was that he was musically inclined (and not so good at farming). There was also a family legend that he'd originally been destined for the church. Apparently this turned out to have been true, except -- well, we're not sure what went wrong along the way, but apparently he ended up being convicted of "burglary and sacrilege," served time, and afterwards emigrated, changing the spelling of his name in the process. I think his downfall came after he'd been doing missionary work in the slums of London, and Dad speculated he'd snapped under the pressure (the research had also turned up some cases of mental illness in other branches of the family).

Somehow, they only part of this that surprises me is the church connection. I'd thought all the religion was on my Dad's side of the family.

Afterwards, I bought some yarn (Mom wants a bulky garter-stitch cowl for Christmas), a mini-cupcake pan and liners (for seasonal baking), and, from the thrift store, a red blouse and a green blouse/poncho thing which may in fact be an Xmas-tree skirt.