I, personally, have a heritage of primarily German and little English... My husband, Dave also has a strong presence of German in his heritage, along with some Irish and maybe a little Polish, we been told over the years.
It used to be quite entertaining to listen to the conversations about percentages of nationality among the family. And now you can pay for the results with DNA testing with a simple swipe of a swab in your mouth! With guaranteed accuracy... but with caution because the results may shock and rock your world.
And much to my surprise, when I did a quick search for Irish Bells I discovered...
"Surprise, surprise. Bells of Ireland are not native to Ireland. They are native to Syria, Turkey and the Caucuses. Bells of Ireland plants are a lucky symbols, perhaps linking their name to the luck of the Irish."
Dave has often shared stories of his Grandpa Nolan (Clarence) and how he loved to watch Notre Dame football with great excitement and speaking, maybe swearing (?) in Gaelic.
Some of the other family members favorite memories include watching the Cubs games together and how he made doll furniture from aluminum cans (with elaborate scrolls offering a fancy look to it). He had a twinkle in his eye and a grin on his face and an unforgettable laugh, that some describe as a guffaw. And one of his children stated that he was the king of making things up... anything to make the family laugh!
Dave and I have long talked about making a trip to Europe (Germany primarily), but some of the surrounding countries would probably be included. We have it on an imaginary bucket list... but apparently international travel is not very high on our bucket list, because we have been married for nearly 34 years and we haven't made it yet! None the less, I do think that a visit to Ireland would be worth it. We don't even have passports! We should do something about this... but honestly, there is so much more right here in the US that we want to travel to see. International travel may have to wait a little longer...
Last year in the color challenge I shared about my draw to more muted greens, probably because I grew up in an often drought stricken, arid Southern Colorado where green, wasn't emerald green... in contract to the green of the humid mid-west of Chicagoland. And I have been told that the green of Ireland is even more brilliant than the mid-west green! I can believe it, but cannot really fathom it...
This year's block goes to both extremes... the bright emerald green and the muted light green... with some sweet purple flowers that bring to mind some wild violets.
Do you have a "bucket list" for places to visit?
What is your favorite place to visit?
Leave a comment to let me know... I may add it to ours!
Quilt Happy!
Melva
Melva Loves Scraps - Home of the Quilters Through The Generations series
Linking with:
January Link Up at Patterns By Jen
BOMs Away! at What a Hoot Quilts
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Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication
BOMs Away! at What a Hoot Quilts
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication
I absolutely have a bucket list! Favorite places I've visited so far are South Korea, Perth, Australia, and rural England. I want to visit New Zealand...and about a zillion other places!! I love traveling to different places. It is amazing how similar and how different our cultures truly are. The things we take for granted here are highly unusual elsewhere. Definitely eye-opening. Because America is so vast, we do have minor differences across the country of "norms", but there is something about experiencing different cultures and norms that really opens your eyes.
ReplyDeleteVery pretty fabrics, and I love your story behind their choice!
ReplyDeleteEven here in little UK there is such a variety of scenery and so many historical sites to visit that going out of the country is not high on our bucket list. I did recently renew my passport in order to visit our son who is studying in Germany for a year. I can recommend Heidelberg if you ever do travel to Germany :-)
ReplyDeleteLove the green you used in your block. My bucket list place is definitely Ireland, but also England, Wales, France and Italy. I doubt I'll ever get to any of these places though, but it's fun to dream!
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