Vanchella Vagabonds

These are John's parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. (I wish we had photos for them all!) Because of differences in records availability, research questions, and a myriad of other factors, I've accomplished more in some branches than others. I have more than a lifetime's worth of work, because as we know, the number of ancestors grows exponentially with each generation.  I've shared this graphic before, but it's worth a share again for this project. Can you imagine uncovering 4.096 10th great-grandparents?! I have identified two of John's 10th great-grandparents (who also happen to be his 7th great-grandparents in a different branch). Only 4,094 to go! 😄 So, several months ago, I had the idea to try and balance up the tree a bit by attempting to get every branch to the level of 5th great-grandparent (in other words, 4 generations back from the 8 people in the top row of the cover graphic above). Was I successful? Read on for my discoveries. Giuseppe ...

  Back in 2022 I posted a photo essay on the doors, windows, and street art of Palermo from our month stay. Has it really already been almost two years since then? Egad, I'm so, so far behind in my blog goals! There is much to share and never enough time to prepare. (I really, really don't understand people who complain about or have worries about being bored in retirement!) So, better late than never, here's a post about our 2020+ adventures in Palermo. Palermo is right up there with all of the other famous cities of Italy, especially if you love history and architecture. It's a great place to visit! While we were based in Palermo, we were working on exploring nearby towns as potential retirement places. As well, we made time to make a very special  trip to Alcamo to meet John's Impellizzeri cousins and to explore this ancestral home town of three of John's grandparents. However, we did have a good amount of time to explore many of the jewels of Palermo duri...