Baby, one more time

We have been packing for a move for weeks. We must cross over the Continental Divide once again to get to our ‘old homeland’ that is Ohio. It is as if there is a comfy nest awaiting, and yet anyone who has ever moved before knows that it isn’t easy packing up and starting over.

I often ponder what my fifth great grandfather, Henry George, must have thought when he decided to leave Talgarth, Wales for a destination unknown in the Northwest Territory of the new America? He and greatest grandmother, Mary Bevan, must have had to do much planning and undertake much risk. They had their family and community to support them. They also had several young children to care for. Before their travels were finished, they would move twice through Pennsylvania before becoming early pioneers in Ohio.

Henry and Mary literally had to start from scratch.

That is not the case with Maureen and me. We now have possessions in large volume. Things that were purchased are not so valuable as things that were handmade.  That is, the couch that Maureen and Mary designed and had built by a craftsman in Hermosa Beach, California is a fine sculpture. The Stickley mission library table and bookshelf are an antique from her family. There are other items that have received the artist’s treatment too.

Mostly, we have nearly 100 boxes that are marked as framed art. While much is Maureen’s, some are mine, and many others are my daughter’s and other artist friends. The collection may be historic someday. My Grandsons will inherit it.

For now, ‘The George Collection’ is ready and waiting for a trek through the rain, sleet, and snow back to Ohio, over the rivers and through the woods.

So long.

Departing tomorrow.