Saturday, we visited my family in Central NY. We were up at 4:20AM, out the door by 5:00AM, and rolling into Fabius around 10AM. My great aunt's service was a intended to be a celebration of life--complete with a bubble maker, jazz music, and fancy red hats attributed to the society of the same name. At the grave-site, we continued the red theme by releasing red balloons. The balloons were whisked away in the breeze and struggled to rise above the treetops before being snagged and entangled in a malicious pine. In between visiting with relatives, I did a little putzing around with my detector--both...

I don't usually write about my personal life, but I needed to share these words... Someone very special to me died today. You know how people say, "She got her smarts from her uncle." or "She got her artistic ability from her grandmother." or "She got her beautiful singing voice from her second cousin." Well, I got my passion for history from my Aunt Pat. Sure, I have plenty of relatives who love history--but Aunt Pat preferred to hold history and touch history. Her love for the past went beyond reading books--though she did love reading books. You see, Aunt Pat accumulated history--in...