I am only one
But still I am one
I cannot do everything
But still I can do something
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do

Edward Everett Hale

Langhans Ancestry: Carl Josef Graf

Ancestry of Mildred Pauline Meta Graf


Generation One: Karl Joseph Graf:1835 - ?

Karl Joseph Graf was born 31 March 1835. There is supposedly a picture of him in military uniform and he is said to have been in the Prussian Army. I have doubts about this, however, because the picture is of a middle-aged man with a white beard and Karl Joseph emigrated to the U.S. when he was about 24 years old.

There exists a page of family records, in Old German. Copies of the original and the translation are in the notebook. The extracted information is as follows:

Hausvatter (unreadable) Karl Joseph Graf Geboren 1835, 31 Merz

List of My Children

Emil Johan Graf geb. 13 November 1860
Wilhelm Graf geb. 14 December 1867
Peter Graf geb. 16 November 1876
Karl Joseph Graf geb. 28 August 1878
Sebastian Graf geb. 16 November 1883

My second wife is born 28 August 1855, married 18 December 1875.

Oddly enough Karl Joseph Graf appears to have had two wives named Philipina although he names neither his first nor his second wife in the information extracted above. The search for this family occupied me at various times from my very earliest genealogical explorations in 1992 until the 29th of November 2006, when I finally found relevant census records that had eluded me for all of those years.

Karl Graf says that he married his second wife in December of 1875. A 1900 census record found for the couple says they have been married for 24 years which is consistent with a date late in 1875. “Carl” is reported to be a tailor, which is consistent with family knowledge that he made uniforms for police and firemen in Jersey City (and perhaps other cities in New Jersey). Philipina reports being born in August of 1844, however, not August of 1855 as is recorded in the notes made by Karl Joseph. Her age in 1910 is consistent with the 1855 birth date.

I have also found census records for Karl in 1860, 1870 and 1880, as well as his name on a ship passenger list in 1859, the year he reports have immigrated, and in all of these documents his wife is named Philipina. It is useful to compare these records:

1859 Ship List
Carl Graf 24
Philippine Graf 26

1860 Census
Charles Graf 25
Phillipina Graf 27
Charles Graf 01

1870 Census
Charles Graff 35
Philipina Graff 37
Emil Graff 09
William Graff 02

1880 Census
Charles Gray 45
Phillipiene Gray 34
Emil Gray 19
William Gray 12
Peter Gray 03
William Gray 02
Charles Gray 3 months

1900 Census
Carl Graff 65
Philippina Graff 55
Peter Graff 23
Charles Graff 21
Sebastian Graff 17

1910 Census
Christian Graef 27
Whilemina Josef 64

Looking at these records we can finally see that the Philipina of 1870 is about 13 years older than the Philipina of 1880 and thereafter. Thus I conclude that the first Philipina died after 1870 when she appears in the census and before 1875 when Karl married his second wife. There is a nine year gap between the William born in December 1867 and Peter born in November of 1876.
Analysis of the children is also interesting. Karl Graf records the birthdates for five sons; Emil, Wilhelm, Peter Charles and Sebastian. We know by census, however, that he had others. This leads me to believe that he made the list late in life when the possibility of having additional children had passed.

1860 Census
Charles 01 (not in list, disappeared by 1870)

1870 Census
Emil 09 b. 13 Nov 1860
William 02 b. 14 Dec 1867

1880 Census
Emil 19 b. 13 Nov 1860
William 12 b. 14 Dec 1867
Peter 03 b. 15 Nov 1876
William 02 (not in list, disappeared by 1900)
Charles 3 months

1900 Census
Peter 23
Charles 21 not listed in family record
Sebastian 17 b. 16 Nov 1883

1910 Census
Peter 33 In Irvington with family
Christian (Sebastian) 28 Ramapo Ave., Jersey City with family

There remains an inconsistency in the children, however, because Karl Joseph lists five sons (Emil and Wilhelm from his first marriage, and Peter, Charles and Sebastian from his second marriage), and Philipina, in two census returns, reports that she has four living children. But who was her fourth living child? The best possibility is the second William (note that in 1880 the family had two sons named William, one from the first marriage and one from the second) who could easily have been living separately from the family by 1900. But why isn’t he in Karl Joseph’s list? One explanation is simply that the list is flawed, perhaps having been made by Karl when his memory is failing. We know that he neglected to name either wife and reported his second wife’s birthday inaccurately by ten years. In addition, we know that he was off on the birthday of the second Charles by a full year and he was off on the birthday of Christian Sebastian by two years. So it is possible that he simply neglected to list the second William. That the list was made by someone else is less of a possibility because it refers to “meine kinder” and “meine zweite frau”.

Second Generation: Peter Graf: 1876 – 1943
Peter Graf was born in New York City on 16 November 1876 and died in Newark on Tuesday 9 March 1943. His cause of death was noted as nephrosis and ulcerative colitis. He was the first son of Karl Joseph Graf and his second wife, Philipina. Philipina’s maiden name is not yet known but a death record from the State of New Jersey has been requested. The understanding of Peter’s children is that the family moved from New York City to Jersey City, shortly after Peter was born and we know that they were in New Jersey by the time of the 1880 census. Peter Graf married Anna Henkel in _____ and had four children:

Florence Graf b. 23 May 1905
George Graf b. 3 March 1907 d. 4 July 1994
Mildred Graf b. 18 April 1910
Walter Graf b. 24 Sept. 1916 d. 6 May 2001

All of the Graf children married but Mildred is the only one to have had children. Therefore there are no Graf descendants of Peter Graf.

Generation Two: Peter’s Siblings
Emil Graf: Emil Graf was a manufacturer of some kind—I cannot read the words on the census record. His wife was Elizabeth and they had at least Emma, Bernard, Madeline, Edith and George. He died before 1910 when she appears as a widow in the census for that year.
Wilhelm (William) Graf: William was a tailor and lived in Jersey City. Despite the fact that he is listed in the Jersey City Directories, first as a “cutter” and later as a tailor, I have been unable to find him in any census records.
Karl (Charles) Joseph Graf : Charles was a grocer and lived in Jersey City. His wife was Charlotte and they had two children, Charles and Doris. He was still alive in 1930.
Christian (Chris or Christ) Sebastian Graf: This man was a painter. His mother was living with him and his family in 1910. He married Johanna/Hannah and had at least William, Gertrude and Madeline. He was still alive in 1930.

Generation Three: Mildred Graf: 1910
Mildred Graf was born in Irvington, New Jersey and lived with her mother until she married Meier Langhans on 10 June 1944.

Draft 11/30/2006

Just like it is easier to write to someone every couple of days than twice a year, I think it would be easier to blog if I did it more often. Then I could just keep track of the daily little details and not feel like anything had to be significant. But this quilt does feel significant so I wanted to get it fixed in the blogosphere. I started several weeks ago making pieces for a quilt called "Four Patch Plaid". It had a lot of white in it. I made 233 four patch pieces (that's a lot!) and many other pieces besides and finally started sewing it together. When I finished about six rows I hung it up and saw that I really hated it. It was boring in the extreme. So I pulled it all apart and began fooling with only the colored pieces. This is what happened and I really love it. So much for all my talk about sewing something monochromatic. It is ready to take to my quilting friend Joan Herrick to be finished on a long arm machine.

When Margaret was in her cooking frenzy after she came home from Denison in May she made a Giada dish that Rick remembered with great fondness. She told me where to get the recipe and tonight I am making it again and Rick will come for dinner. The dish is ziti with asparagus and smoked mozarella and her rendition was memorable. I hope mine compares favorably. Rick and John plan to watch the Red Sox game tonight. I have a talk to give to the genealogy group on Wednesday so I should come up here and work on it.

What were they thinking?

I often read about people who have blundered into difficulties in the wild and wonder why they were so dense. Now I have had a lesson that teaches me humility and suggests that I might be less scornful when others go astray! This is our story. Eliza drove up from Boston on Saturday afternoon. We suggested a hike up on MDI. I was thinking Pemetic and Bubble Pond-- something that would work well with the dog. Having heard about Precipice for years and because it is frequently closed by reason of Peregrine Falcons, Eliza thought she would like to do Precipice if it were open. We knew that it had been closed this year, not because of the birds, but because of an earthquake. I thought, however, that if it were open I could do the early part together with John and Eliza, then take the dog on the East Face Trail to do an end around the worst part of the cliffs and ladders. I would then meet them at the summit of Champlain. We stopped at the information booth just outside the park and learned that Precipice was open. Lovely day and all of us in good form-- we started up and away. That trail is tough right from the beginning-- we did it just last year-- how could I forget so fast. Almost immediately we had to carry the dog, pass him up ladders and begin to wonder why in heck we were out there. I was comforted to think that I would soon find the trail junction and easier going. On and on we went, however, getting through one nerve wracking pitch only to find another around the bend. Finally the trail junction and a "closed" sign! Almost possible to return the way we had come so with great trepidation about what was ahead, we decided that we had no choice but to forge on. The map indicated that the distance remaining was less than what we had traveled and how much worse could it be??? Much worse, as it turns out-- my heart was threatening to leap from my chest and I kept picturing varieties of disaster-- not worried for myself in the slightest but terrified that Darby would go over the edge or Eliza would slip while she was carrying him. At one point I voiced my fears aloud-- if anything happened people would be absolutely right to think we were the dumbest bunnies in the State of Maine. On the other hand no individual decision had been all the foolish-- and in the end we triumphed over our stupidity and reached the top. Eventually, in desperation, Eliza emptied her backpack and we put Darby into it. We threaded one of the pack straps through his collar and zipped both sides up as far as posssible, still leaving his head sticking out. He has doubled in size but still weighs only ten pounds so was not a burden-- miraculously he seemed to accept the ride as just another perfectly acceptable variation on being carried-- he rode quietly making no struggle to get out. Ladder after ladder we continued up-- John following closely behind Eliza so that he could help if she got into trouble and me trying to stay far enough behind that I didn't have to watch closely. Egads, what a hike! Too stressed out to take any pictures until we reached safety but you see the one that I did take.

Otherwise life is satisfyingly humdrum. This morning, 16 months after I began putting items at the top of the basement stairs to take down (and never actually taking any of them) and putting items at the bottom of the basement stairs to take up (and never actually taking any of them either) I couldn't stand it any more and cleared the whole thing up. Never did a clean and bare set of steps look so lovely! The project to rehab the gravel walk is underway and we plan to work on it again tomorrow, I have two knitting projects going nicely, the weather looks wonderful for the Common Ground Fair this weekend and all is well.

Day of the Bald Eagle: John and I watched a bald eagle on the shore today and it seemed like something I should remember. We were told he was there by our neighbor, Chris Muldoon. The bird spent at least two hours tearing away at something he considered edible. We watched for some time as gulls bombarded him and the incoming tide threatened. When we finally turned away he was still there, not more than a football field's length way and as unperturbed by us as he was by the gulls.

I see that I have not posted for an entire month-- did August really happen? We had guests (among many) through the UU Church B and B program-- the man brought a lap top and spent a great deal of time logging every minute of his day. It made me wonder about why anyone would do it... I cannot imagine being interested in his blog-- and I cannot imagine anyone being interested in mine. So my reason really is too get into some permanent form the fact that I have done things. Today, for example, I finally got to the place where I couldn't stand my messy pantry for another second. Ninety minutes later I had a show pantry. Very satisfying. The major thing about August was getting the dog!!! A big change in our lives and despite the litter of dog toys and paraphenalia it seems like a joy on both sides.

UU Book Club this evening. We discussed "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell. I didn't want to read it but forced myself and was glad I did. Fitzies come tomorrow.

Lovely rain in the dark tonight-- we had been "promised" rain all weekend but it never did happen and I was sorry for that. We have suffered through a five day spell of heat and humidity greater than that usually felt in Maine although our house has remained comfortable throughout. It is gloomy inside in the summer time but it does stay cool. Horrified to see that I have written nothing for more than two weeks. I guess when the Fitizies are here I am just too distracted and too tired by the time I go to bed. We have done a lot of things-- I took a long bike ride with Liz on the first day she was here-- Perkins, Lower Congress and etc. over to Crocker Road, then Marsh, and over to their house. I rode back alone and it was very pleasant. The hills that used to bother me seem quite manageable now. On another day we finally convinced Liz that she didn't need to work every single day and we all went up to Acadia. Because I had enjoyed the Jordan Cliff/Penobscot Hike so much we decided to redo it. We had another perfect day and added some mileage to the hike by going over to the summit of Sergeant Mountain. It was really lovely. Nearly all above treeline and my favorite kind of hiking. On the 21st John and I went down to Rockland and participated in the "Lobster Ride and Roll". He did 50 miles and I did 30. The 30 really didn't stress me and I am sure I could have done the 50 although I would have been exhausted. That evening we went to the contra dance where we danced almost to the point of dropping. Crissy Fowler had sent out a plea for housing for some of the band "Wild Asparagus" and we hosted David Canteni, his wife Ann Percival and their young son Gus. They were splendid guests and I know they were very happy to be here. Their accomodations the previous night had been uncomfortable. On Sunday we had thought of going on the farm tour and also thought of going to an event at Waterfall Arts but in the end we simply went to the common and listened to the Celtic band. The view out over the harbor was idyllic. On Monday I cut fabric for Dianne Hire and did the same again on Wednesday. She is making kits for students on a cruise and had to cut 50 6 inch squares for each of 40 people and she wanted to give them some options. Because she is going up to Bangor everyday for radiation treatments, the quilt groupers are giving her a hand. Margaret arrived home safely on Wednesday evening and we all three trooped off to the doctor on Thursday. She seems only slightly chagrined by the fact that both parents attend the visits and I think she is pleased "underneath". Our last visit was so dreadful that I was really dreading this one and all the way over I was preparing my angry speeches but they turned out to be unnecessary. Dr. Amidon said that she could start to taper the prednisone (by five milligrams per week) and that she should start taking the 6-MP. She seemed surprised that the taper would take eight weeks but Sybil says that he is right to go very slowly. The 6-MP is supposed to have little or no side effects. On Friday I went to Augusta for the quilt show. Rode with Joan and Ruth Herrick and had an inspiring (and exhausting) day. It is harder to walk around a convention hall looking at things than it is to do physical labor in a garden. There were many quilts that I liked and many more that I did not. I definitely gravitate to the simple classic patches. I bought a book and a fair amount of fabric but didn't find as much red as I had hoped to. On Saturday John went to the boat building challenge (and got his picture in the paper) and M. and I went up to Fort Knox and the Bridge Observatory. Fort Knox was much enhanced by a Civil War encampment going on and we had a good long talk with the army surgeon. He showed us his several medical tools that had been used in the war as well as the replicas that he has collected. On Sunday we had a leisurely morning, then went up to the Full Circle Fair. It was very hot but one was comfortable sitting in the grandstand. The downside of the heat was that the hippie dancing I found so fascinating last year never really got going. Helene Malone was not there and everyone else was cowering in whatever shade they could find. There was a contra dance to end the fair but I was completely uninterested so we came on home. Margaret left this morning-- we went in two cars to the library so that she could get a couple of books on disk for the drive and parted at the circulation desk. She was going to make another stop at Ocean State Job Lots and a few minutes after she had gone I had my usual panic that I would never see her again and thought wildly of dashing up to OSJL. I conquered my foolishness and she arrived safely in Marlborough in good time.

Time has sped by with lots of complications. The first being that at midnight on Thursday-- actually Friday, I woke up realizing that I had started a UTI. I immediately took the pyridium but had a very restless and unhappy few hours waiting for it to kick in. Felt very jiggy and nervous and as if I weren't sleeping even though I knew I did sleep a bit. Our plan had been to take advantage of a glorious day and go up to Mount Desert Island. Instead we got quite blue and frustrated. I called the doc and got an appointment for 10:30 and then getting a call from the Fitzies saying that they would come very very late, we decided to continue with our original plan. We left Belfast at about 11:30 and had an unenventful drive up to Acadia. We planned to do Pemetic from the Bubble Pond parking lot but it was full so we went on to Jordan Pond. We took the Jordan Cliff Trail up to the summit of Penobscot and returned via the Penobscot Trail and I must say that it was one of the most perfect hikes I have ever done. The trail is exciting and challenging but never tedious-- the terrain is very reminiscent of Bald Face without the long hauls in and out that you get with Bald Face. We were above tree line for ages with beautiful views of the ocean, Jordan Pond, Cadillac Mountain and other nearby mountains and the whole thing with lots of leisurely viewing took less than four hours. My only regret was that we thought we had forgotten the camera-- as it turns out it was in the car the whole time. I feel I need to do the hike again, however, because we didn't get pictures. The Fitzies did come very late-- it was 10:30 by the time we finished eating and I just dropped into bed and slept fabulously as I usually do after a bad night. On Saturday Liz and I did the Waldo County General Hospital Garden Walk-- enjoyable but some of the gardens quite ho hum. I guess I am getting jaded with all of the lovely gardens that I see, including my own! It is always fun walking around other people's houses and yards, however. In the evening we went to a come one and all birthday party hosted by a UU. They live on Kaler Road and, with some trepidation, took Rick and Liz along with us to meet their someday neighbors. We all had a very good time, came home and I dropped like a log again. I wake up so early these days with the sun-- have a hard time staying awake at night. Manage to read about three paragraphs before my eyes start to close. Liz brought me a "memory foam" pillow that Rick gave her as a gift but she didn't like it. I adore it, except that it makes me long for a whole memory foam mattress. Sue Baker has one that she doesn't like and wants to get rid of but it is king size and John is adamant that we don't have room for it. Considering that I don't usually sleep in the master bedroom I guess that makes sense! This morning we were sitting around contemplating possible bad weather and our exercise options when the electricity failed. Turns out that a young woman from out of state fell asleep just where Birchcrest intersects with Route 1. She hit the phone pole and completely wrecked her car. The car looked unsurvivable but we were told that the driver got herself out and was sitting by the side of the road when help arrived. I took some pictures. Liz and I rode up to Kaler Road via a circuitous route: Route 1 to Perkins, Lower Congress, Congress, Miller, Route 52, Edgewood, Route 3, Crocker, Marsh, Route 7, Doak Road, a road I don't know, Head of the Tide Road and on to Kaler. I love all the possible twists and turns. Liz stayed there and I rode home alone. 36.6 kilometers in total. A good ride and I felt fine upon finishing. Am not really worried about riding 30 miles next weekend in Rockland. There will be lots of other people to motivate me, new terrain, rest stops, and all the time in the world to do the ride. David Cylkowski came in the afternoon, having retrieved his daughter from summer camp in Harrison, Maine. Left after dinner as he had to get back to Massachusetts for a commitment in the morning.

Our tussles with technology continue to plague us. Miraculously, however, my iPod fixed itself. It sat for many hours frozen in one place, then suddenly went dark. I didn't dare touch it but waited until morning, then plucked up my courage and connected it to the computer. All was well, it synched and charged. In the meantime, however, I really really really screwed up my printer; I can't stop myself from reusing paper and I seem to get in trouble when I do that. This was the worst paper jam ever so eventually I disconnected the whole thing and took it downstairs and John took it apart enough so that we found a little turn wheel and eventually got the paper out. When everything was back together we found a small broken piece on the table and when I tried to print the machine continued to be unhappy so again I waited a day, changed the cartridge and all was well. Then yesterday the telephone died but just needed a new battery and my downstairs sewing room clock died also and batteries don't seem to fix it. The satellite was out most of yesterday and I couldn't get on at all in the evening but today it has been sprightly. Yesterday was one of my "perfect" days. A perfect day is one where I do something for someone else (in this case civic beautification), exercise, and so something for myself. The exercise was fabulous. I biked up to Perkins, then took Lower Congress, Congress, Miller, Route 52, Edgewood, Tufts, Jesse Robbins, Back Belmont, a small piece of 52 again, Woods Road, Rocky Road, Cross Road, Bayshore Road and home. This was just a bit over 30 kilometers. I can't figure out how to change my bike computer back to miles! I have decided that I really do need a bike shirt. I was hot and sweaty and need something that wicks better. When I got home I worked on my potholders. My new scheme this year is just diagonal strips but I am really loving the results. When I have some done I will put up a picture. The new sewing machine is stupendous. I finally figured out how to use the automatic scissor and the knee lift and together I can cut and remove each piece instantly. Saves hugely on thread and on time and means that I no longer need to chain sew. Friendship Quilters had planned a picnic for today but it was canceled by threat of rain that never materialized. It was, in fact, a gorgeous day although a trifle hot for my taste. Most people don't complain about 80 degrees! So I decided that I would "improve" my new found time by cleaning my really slovenly room and the bathroom as well. Then we decided to go up to MDI tomorrow so I also made a nice lasagne for tomorrow's dinner. The Fitzies are due back at the end of the day and I can just throw the lasagne into the oven. I used Giada's recipe for vegetarian lasagne. It was easy to make with lots and lots of veggies. We'll see how it tastes tomorrow.

Technology has me by the (figurative) balls today. The satellite is sluggish in the extreme so earlier today I just gave up and moved to knitting and sewing. Far worse, however, is that fact that my beloved iPod has frozen and will do absolutely nothing. Connecting it to iTunes gets me nowhere-- the computer can't find the device. So I am stuck. And just today I had subscribed to "This American Life" and downloaded some past episodes. I can still listen to them on the computer, of course. I am going to try to figure it out tomorrow. In the meantime, on the plus, side, I started my new pair of socks. This time I am starting with the toe and the first one seems to be going well. I did a provisional cast on using "waste" yarn and it worked nicely. Also made my first pot holder of the season and have several others in the works. Still cool and rainy-- in fact John put the heat on this morning which horrified me. Heat on 9 July? Pretty amazing. I had planned to go to the drop-in yoga class but got muddled on the time and didn't figure it out until too late. Went instead to the Y and walked their track. Sold one book yesterday and two more today. We had thought about going up to MDI but the weather doesn't look encouraging. Wrote to Liz today and told her about the mini-crisis regarding Margaret's blood test and I will repeat the details here just to get them down. We went up to Waterville on the 28th and had a dreadful visit with the doc-- so bad that I can't even think about it. The next morning, having recovered slightly, we went up to Waldo County to have blood drawn. This is for a special enzyme test that turns out can only be done at Prometheus Labs in California or at Mayo. Amidon stipulated Prometheus. Then on Thursday we got a call from Prometheus saying that the blood had been "improperly handled" and that they had cancelled the test. I called the hospital where I talked to probably the first person who has been sullen since I moved to Maine-- very unhelpful. A flurry of calls ensued between the hospital, the doctor's office and Prometheus and by late in the day it was decided that there was no problem after all and they could retrieve the blood and do the test. Turns out that when they say they "discard" blood, they don't actually do so. A very good thing-- in part because it is such an ordeal for Margaret to have her blood drawn and also because the test is time consuming and our next visit is coming up and finally because she left on Sunday and we had only a narrow window of opportunity if the blood was to be drawn again. Let's hope that the results get back to Amidon in a timely manner-- she is going to have go get up at 4 am in order to be in Waterville by 10 and it would be useless if they blood test isn't completed. I will call them, of course.

Long day at the computer. I was working on the M.M. genealogical project and made great progress. One more push and I should be finished. It was raining this morning and lovely to sit cozy inside and later when it became glorious outside I was in the groove and didn't want to stop. I did take my pills this morning but I think I will go down and get another one of John's naprosyn before I go to sleep. Margaret left at noon with only a hint of tears (on my part, of course) and arrived safely in Marlborough before 5:30. As she pointed out, it won't be so long before she is up here for her doctor's appointment. Watched the "short" recap of the first stage of the Tour de France tonight with John. Only two hours instead of the 3.5 regular coverage! Thank heaven for TiVo. Great editorial in the New York Times today. They have finally come out against the war. "It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit". This will help to mobilize the politicians still teetering on the fence. The other thing I actually did today was to print out the basic info and the first clue for the Mystery Stole. Not only that-- I actually went online and ordered beads and yarn. I did the whole thing for under $30 including shipping, I think. Melanie (the designer) says that the project is not for people entirely new to lace knitting but I think that my previous (unsuccessful) attempts will still count as experience. With that and the hints that are being posted by the hundreds of others in this "knitalong" I think it it worth a shot.

Sunday morning early-- I have just created this blog. Not because I want anyone to read it-- I won't even mention it to anyone. The idea of having my things in webspace rather than on my own computer is appealing-- it is the natural extension of getting my photographs "out there" so that I won't lose them in a crash (as I memorably did last summer!). I have been sporadically keeping a journal in a word document and periodically printingit out into a notebook but I like this idea much better. I hope sometime to do the same thing for my genealogy. In fact, earlier this spring Dick Eastman wrote about a web-based program called PedigreeSoft. I signed up for the free trial version but a few days later PS was sold to another company and seemed to disappear. I assume it is only a temporary disappearance and that the new version will turn up one of these days. One of my main motivations for journaling is simply to document that I get anything at all accomplished. When I think back about my days I have trouble remembering what I am so busy with...or should I say "with what I am so busy"? I did get up early and bound off the baby blanket that I have made for Mark and Laura Langhans. Now I am dithering about whether to start Melanie's "Mystery Stole", start a new pair of socks or do both. In the meantime Margaret leaves for Massachusetts this morning. There are so many issues connected with her that I don't dare think much about it. The one day at a time philosophy needs to be adhered to strictly. So for this day it is just her departure-- always very hard for me. I am glad that she drove herself down to York Beach last week-- it was like a trial run for Marlborough-- which will be the longest and most difficult drive she has done. She is calm, confident and competent, however and has earned every bit of the independence she has. My resolutions for today? Download some podcasts from "This American Life" to my iPod, work on the M.M. genealogical project and do some knitting.