Chocoholic and I once took our family to the UK for two weeks of sight-seeing. My mother and my maternal aunt by marriage went with us. I planned the trip, including transportation. We flew to London and then travelled by train, tube, ferry and bus.
My mother grew up and lived in my little hometown in Central Texas much of her life. She lived and worked in Houston, in various military bases in Texas and Maryland during World War II. After she returned to our home town, she finished her degree at South Texas State Teacher’s College and taught school in our little hometown and in Austin. I saw her graduate from college, bursting with pride.
My aunt grew up in a little town near Temple, Texas, and after marrying my mother’s older brother, they lived in the same little hometown as my mother for the rest of their lives. My uncle spent his World War II years in the South Pacific. My aunt worked for a dry goods store for many years in clerical, sales and managerial positions. My mother and my aunt probably knew 98% of the population of the little town and surrounding county.
We spent a week in London and then moved on to Brighton. After a couple of days there, we went further west to Bath. We took the sleeper to Scotland and enjoyed a couple of days each on the Isle of Skye, in Edinburgh and in Pitlochry, attending the summer Shakespearean Festival at night. My fellow travelers never seemed to lose faith in my travel arrangements, but I suspect it was a near miss when we debarked from the ferry on the Isle of Skye, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by water. We waited patiently on the little bench set on the shore. I think we were all relieved when a little tour bus finally chugged up and delivered us to our beautiful hotel.
We saw many wonderful historical sights. It was a trip I have remembered all my life. Everyone enjoyed it. While my family and I focused on the sights, my mother and aunt stuck to their favorite pastime… the family connections of various friends and neighbors back home in small-town Texas. They sorted and discussed parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, spouses and children.
Over the years, I took my mother and my aunt on various driving trips in the U.S. Their conversation was rarely about the new sights they were seeing… rather it was usually the family ties of various friends and acquaintances in our home town. I laughingly referred to it as The Game of Lineage.
I want to tell you a little bit about one the key characters in the first book of the series, known simply as PIG PARTS. Jessie, our heroine Bess’s little sister, is a good child and a real nature lover.