We're Not in Debrett's, Either - Being 60 (week 9 - by Margaret Ullrich)

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip are in Winnipeg today.  No, they're not going for another water taxi ride.  That trip they took in 2002 was enough.  In case you weren't here, that boat broke down mid-river and had to be towed by another boat which was carrying her security detail.  

Paul and I, along with a few hundred people, were waiting for her on the St. Boniface shore.  Some of the youngsters were in their Folklorama costumes.  We were witnesses to History, more or less.  Since there wasn't any real danger, we just watched and, truth be known, giggled a bit about how the best laid plans often go awry. 

She was a good sport about it.  All she said was "That was interesting," as she was helped from one boat into the other to reach shore.

I've always admired Queen Elizabeth.  She's like the Energizer bunny - she just keeps going.  Nothing gets her down.  

Long Live the Queen!!!  

I've been reading Philippa Gregory's books about the Tudors and their extended family.  I've also borrowed a few other books about the Royals from the library, just to get the names and facts straight.  What a bunch!! 

I wonder what it's like to go to a library and see your whole family's history, warts and all, filling the shelves.  No need to bother with Ancestry.com for that family.

A few years ago my Pop got interested in our family tree.  He had received a letter telling him that, for a mere $35, he could receive a hard-cover book which was just jam-packed with all the exciting things his family, the Sultanas, had done after they'd arrived in the good old U. S. of A.  

The publishers promised the book would be something we'd treasure and spend many happy hours reading.

Yeah, right.

The thing is, our family hasn't been in America all that long.  Pop's brothers had come over about 10 years before we did.  They hadn't done anything famous or notorious.  After a few glasses of wines, all their tales were told, twice.

I don't know what Pop expected to find in that book. 

What he got was a phone book listing of all the Sultanas in America.  No mention if any were our third cousins or shared any of our great, great, great-grandparents.     

After reading about everything the Plantagenets and the Tudors had done to each other according to the Gregory books and the History books, I came to a conclusion.

Maybe it's best not to know.