The Oldest Photograph in Our Family

Isabella Walmsley

I ran across this old picture the other day and decided to put it on the blog. This is Isabella Walmsley, an immigrant from Staleybridge England, a village on the outskirts of Manchester. She came to the United States about 1848 when she was eighteem years old. She is a direct ancestor on the Flanders side of the family and, of course, the source of the unusual "Walmsley" name that appears several times in our family.

• Isabella married Charles Flanders


• - Charles Clark Flanders


• - - Charles Lorenzo Flanders


• - - - Charles Walmsley Flanders


• - - - - Ida Narcissus Flanders

There are a lot of "greats" in her relationship to those who call me Grandpa. She looks to be in her fifty's in this photograph so it was probably taken in the 1880s'

Is it Real?

Greg sent this to me the other day and I thought I'd share it. There is a little controversy about it though. Greg thinks it's real but after watching it a couple times, I'm pretty sure it's fake. What do you think?? Click Here

Notices Ready - Will Mail in About a Month

A White Squirrel at the Pond

I looked out the window last weekend and saw this little creature eating away on something in the back yard by the pond. I'd never heard of a white squirrel and I even consulted an expert on white squirrels that I found on the internet. He says that this little guy is certainly unusual.

(My rule for photographing wild life is first get "a" picture and then try to get a good picture. He wasn't around long enough for the good picture.)

A Busy Morning at the Birdfeeder

A lot was happening at the birdfeeder when we had our mid-morning coffee today. Continual action and eleven species of birds. We had Chipping Sparrows, White-Throated Sparrows, a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, Nuthatches, Titmouses, Carolina Chickadees, Cardinals, Pine Warblers, Summer Tanagers, House Wrens, and the official bird of Wildernest Estate - a Carolina Wren!





The House Finch






The Red-Bellied Woodpecker



We will also have added one bird to the property bird list when we identify this guy:

A new restaurant in Winnsboro

When we move to Q, we'll miss all of the places to eat out (although we'll be eating out a lot less frequently) so it was good to find this place in Winnsboro on Saturday evening. It's like a real restaurant and has good food!

There's a new mailbox on CR4940

It's not really new - just moved from the place by the house where it's stood for several years now. And the move isn't really complete. It's just sitting there attached to the mounting template which I'll remove the next time we go down after the concrete has set. (And of course it needs paint.) Glynda's task is to get the post office to give it a number.

On a related note - the condo's been hosting potential buyers very regularly for the last several days - three on Thursday, one on Friday, three on Saturday and two on Sunday. One or two still considering it but nothing hot to talk about. The unit itself is getting high marks but it's just not meeting the needs of the people that have seen it so far. Like I told Glynda, we only need one person to buy it and we'd really rather they came along in another two weeks or so. I don't want to have to move out while we're still working. A commute from Quitman would not be fun and an extended stay motel doesn't sound that great either.