Melinda the Intrepid

               A little about my feisty forebearers and a crazy true story about my parents and a fruitcake.                    My world did NOT begin with me.  It all started with all those old farts before me.  I am like all of them, a little bit of each and that's important. Soon you will see why.  Like I have told people before,  I didn't get crazy all by myself. My favorite photo of me and my dad in the 70s . Yeah, I am a bottle blonde! My mom Evelyn and Dad, the "Col".                            My Dad's side was descended from nobility, kings and queens, dukes and duchesses of Europe: England, France, Germany, Bavaria, all over the place, and we can prove it.   We are even descended from Charlemagne the Emperor of the West.  Big deal.  But insanity tends to run in those kind of families.  I blame them.  The ancestor I revere most is one many can claim: Governor William Bradford, the first governor of "Plimoth Colony" in Ma

                Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday.  Here are the true stories of two unforgettable Thanksgivings in our family.   One, in Scotland is funny, the other, well...in North Carolina, USA , would be funny for adults but not animal lovers .  This is not for children.  Or those with weak stomachs... My ancestors were there at the First Thanksgiving!              My great-great-great (back 10 generations) grandfather, Governor William Bradford, started this holiday, unofficially.  The Mayflower pilgrims decided to have a feast at the end of their second fall in America, and the Indians were invited, too.   Thanks to them, the starving pilgrims had made it through a very hard winter.    Their first Day of Thanks was nothing like the ones we celebrate here in the US.              They had five deer, according to journals,  and turkeys for sure.   There may have also been lobsters, swans, pheasants and even a seal.    Plus nobody got a “little bit of every