Family Reunion!

This is one of the few photos I took at the family reunion I went to in early August. There were more than fifty people there, and I only really knew three of them - my aunt, uncle and cousin who we always see at Christmas. I was told I had met some of the others previously, at a wedding, but I was eight at the time and all I remember about it is hiding under a table to avoid my picture being taken, and what they remembered about me was probably mostly related to how much wedding cake frosting I had smeared on my face at the time. This time however I got to meet them properly, and they were all a lot of fun, though quirky as families are required to be. (This side of the family has a particular affinity for crazy nicknames. For example, I have a lovely cousin named Elizabeth but always called Buff, a second cousin called "Scrip," and another cousin told me my dad's nickname till he was about five was "Chimmie." His given name was Alexander!)

So I took this image during the bus tour that we all took through Pittsburgh, PA which is the city that the family is historically from, and also where I was born. My Great-Aunt Libby is the woman standing at the front of the bus, she narrated the tour of significant family locations with stories from her childhood which were really priceless. Standing next to her is her son, and they are both wearing their Garland-McLain Reunion teeshirts, which have the clan tartans on them. Mine is in the laundry right now, but I feel so Scottish when I wear it. Och, aye!


This is kind of a weird shot, mostly because of the inside of the greyhound bus we were riding on. I don't know who is in charge of choosing upholstery for these vehicles, but they definitely have questionable taste.