About Me

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Lake Mathews (Perris), CA, United States
Born in Illinois, I grew up in Wilmette, a northern suburb of Chicago. I have one sibling, an older brother. I am married, for the 2nd time now, to Butch & got 4 children in the deal. They have gone on to make me grandmother 25 times over & great-grandmother to over 20!. After many years working in industry, I got my bachelors and masters degrees in speech communication, & was a professor in that field for 13 years. I retired in 2001 & returned to school & got my doctorate in folklore. Now I meld my two interests - folklore & genealogy - & add my teaching background, resulting in my current profession: speaker/author/entertainer of genealogically-related topics. I play many folk instruments, but my preference is guitar, which I have been playing since 1963. I write the "Aunty Jeff" column for the Informer, newsletter of the Jefferson County NY Gen. Soc. I work in partnership with Gena Philibert-Ortega & Sara Cochran as Genealogy Journeys® where we focus on educating folks about Social History. More about that: genaandjean.blogspot.com. More on our podcasts: genjourneys.podbean.com. More about my own projects: Circlemending.org.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Treasure Chest Thursday - Iron dogs


Do you have one of these doorstops? I know that no self-respecting door would ever dare to close with one of these standing in the way. How did I end up with two? Well, they may have been separated at birth, but they were reunited out here in California about 15 years ago.

The first one (the one closest to the camera) is the one I grew up with - he stood in the cottage where my mother's family stayed in the summer. It was on the shore of Beaver Lake and I have fond memories of "playing" with this pup (good thing the floor was very solid). He used to have a leather collar but soon after I inherited him, it just rotted off (maybe it couldn't handle the change of climate from the humid midwest to the arid state of California).

Soon after moving to California I found myself spending most holidays with my first cousin, once removed (my dad's cousin) and her family in Riverside. There, at her fireplace hearth, stood an iron dog. I remarked about how similar it was to the one I had inherited from my mother's side of the family and when my cousin moved to Oklahoma, she called me aside and gave me the dog.

So now I have 2 iron dogs (neither one is relegated to door stop duty - they both stand guard on my hearth), one from each side of the family. Two more things to dust. Two more things to remind me of loved ones who have gone on to the next life. Two cherished pups.

1 comment:

  1. They're pretty amazing pups. Almost as good as the real thing. We inherited an iron pointer from my grandfather who did such a good job of holding doors open as the winds blew threw the house that I hunted down a few more. Now most of our doors stay where they're put. And it's windy enough, that I don't dust much.

    Thanks for sharing yours. Made me smile.

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