As you can tell, I was definitely down in the dumps last night.

I did need a change of perspective, and the Exton Mall wasn't cutting it.Riviera, anybody?

A friend's email seemed so full of the voice of my much loved grandmother that I went back to Aunt Jennie's family history to find the chapter she had written about her life.

As I've written in previous posts, Grandma was an amazing human being. She helped equip ships for Spanish Loyalists, chaired a Citizen's Committee for the National Maritime Union, obtained affadavits for refugees from Austria and Germany before World War II and, at the same time, just loved life. It's odd to look back and realize how much this practical but idealistic woman did to take a stance against the world's Darth Vaders. The only thing that surprises me is how many committtes she chaired or did administrative work for, for Grandma never seemed like the secretarial type. Her Mrs Malapropisms were bywords in our household.

But what sent me back to the autobiography this morning was the shipwreck of the SS Mohawk...(tbc).