More tombstones. This one marks the grave of Thomas Swallow, my great great grandfather. There's an interesting family legend that says that Thomas' real name was Cheeseman. He served in the Royal Navy in the early 1800s and got himself into some trouble. To avoid a court marshall, he jumped ship in Halifax. When an official asked his name, he looked skyward to the little birds flitting in and out of the dockside buildings and answered "Swallow, Sir". Thomas was the father of my great grandmother, Matilda - one of 11 children.
This morning I met my new great nephew, Alexander - the little flirt! He is so cute, I could have absconded with him so easily. Hopefully, we will have a chance to get together again before we leave - I promised Dani a tour of the "Homelands".
It rained again today and the humidity is almost palpable in the air. Nellie was covered in heavy condensation this morning which - with the rain - helped remove a lot of the bugs and road grime.
Tomorrow, I'm off to Wentworth - home of the Swallows - where, I understand a descendent is still farming Thomas' farm. More graveyards! What fun!
My Cape Breton neighbours left this morning for PEI and I will miss them. They were so much fun and always had a funny story to tell over coffee.
I was going to head over to Newfoundland next week, but there was a fire on one of the ferries and so there is only one running - and the lineups are miles long. Guess that'll have to wait for my next trip.
To be continued.....
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