So yesterday morning we went to church, where I was again annoyed by the dullness of the music. I know I complain about it every year, but every year it annoys me--frankly, every year it annoys me more and more!

I am going to write a letter to the music director this year, that way all of my complaining will at least be heard by the person who can do something about it, and if he doesn't do anything about it, I can complain even more bitterly!

Should I say that if I have to sing "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" exclusively one more time I will slit my through and the blood will flow up the aisle and stain the altar forever, or is that too much?

After church we saw Peter Pan at the Academy.

It hasn't gotten the best reviews on earth, I saw Leonard Maltin give it a nay the day before, but I adored it. Jason Isaacs was perfect as Hook and Mr. Darling, I wish I was Olivia Williams, and I loved the various children, all of them were terrific. It was very funny to see all of the ship and sword fighting stuff right after seeing Master and Commander--though the sword fight in Master gave me a hell of an erection, and I did not have the same reaction in this movie.

Also, the message of the movie is one that I am a real sucker for, that feelings can bring you down so low that you might think that you'd be better off without them, but they can also raise you up higher than you thought possible, and you are missing so much if you don't have adult feelings and grow up.

Then when we went home, we did some more going through of stuff from the closet, in main a folder of papers from my grandfather that was put in the closet when he died in 1971 and never looked at again.

And it's amazing stuff! Irreplaceable family documents that I never knew we had. I started taking notes as we went through them, there are all of these names and dates and places--both my grandmother's and grandfather's families were from the Bronx, so I can find out a great deal if any of those churches still exist.

My great-grandparents were Maxfried Wilhelm and Pauline Zuckert (originally Zuchert), my grandfather, William Frederick Sr., was born on 23 June 1886. I know he had siblings, but I don't have that information. The baptismal certificate is in German, he was baptized at a German-Dutch church in the Bronx, and he apparently was baptized under the name Maxfried Wilhelm rather than William Frederick. I don't know what's up with that, but the birthdate is my grandfather's birthdate.

My other great-grandparents were Francis and Ellen Clare Hughes, they seemingly had five daughters, two of whom died, since there was a bit of paper that said Elizabeth twice, Ellen twice and Sarah with different dates next to each name, the second Ellen having my grandmother's birthdate, 26 February 1877.

Ellen married John Connolly on 5 May 1899. I don't know if he died or they divorced, but they had two daughters, Anna and Helen (Nell). My grandparents, William Sr. (Pop) and Ellen married on 20 July 1912, though for some peculiar reason, she's listed as Cecelia Hughes on the marriage certificate, a name that appears no-where else. She is always Ellen, and there was never a middle name anywhere. But it's three years before my father was born, so it has to be Ellen.

So there are weird mysteries, the list of girls names, who is Cecelia, was Pop's name changed from Maxfried to something more American? And I'm all fired up to do a family tree. It's very handy that everyone is from this small area of the Bronx, because when we get to Germany and Ireland it will start getting more complicated.

A few years ago, I heard from a cousin of mine--we figured out that we were related through Maxfried and Pauline, and he said that his sister was very much into genealogy, so I'll bet I can find out something from her. Nell's daughter, my cousin Mary Ellen, I know has papers of her mother's, but she has moved to Florida. I wish I had been interested in genealogy before she and Joe retired down there!

So I'm fascinated. And this doesn't even get into my mother's side of the family, which brings me to Belgium and Texas. Any Zuckerts who read this, drop me an email! It'll be harder to badger my way through the Hugheses (Maxfried Zuckert is easy, Francis Hughes is impossible), but if any of these names are familiar to anyone reading, I'd love to hear from you!

Today's horoscope:
A painful or confusing situation ends in compromise. No matter what the cost, it's a relief to have this whole mess behind you. Keep your balance despite your strong urge to collapse.

One year ago today:
The one person that I didn't see was the person that I was marrying! All my friends were there and my mother, but I woke up before I saw the groom.

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Last Updated Wed 31 December 18:50:09 2003