Family ties

I've been thinking a lot about family lately. Probably because of Obama's visit yesterday to his dying grandmother and the neighborhood where he grew up in Hawaii. His grandmother is just about my father's age - she will be turning 86 tomorrow; my Dad would have been 86 on Nov. 13. 

For the last few days I've been working on my autumn garden, which is also a bittersweet activity. The sun is low in the sky, the trees are putting out their last fiery show, and the vegetable plants in the garden are dried and blackened by the frost. I've spent two days turning the compost in my three bins, freeing one up for the remains of this years tomato squash plants, and later the fallen leaves. I love to turn compost, actually. It's so cool to see how the weeds and dead leaves turn into rich, brown, crumbly compost - just waiting to nurture the  roots of the new plants I'll be setting out next spring. 

When I was done, I took one last ceremonial swing on the hammock before putting it away for the winter, admiring the deep green grass and the bright yellow marigolds still bravely blooming on their withered stems. I thought about my grandparents who never got to see my little plot of land, so much like their own little yard in Stratford, where my grandfather raised his own vegetable garden at the back end  of the yard behind my grandmother's flower beds. 

My brother follows in the farming tradition, but living in the Midwest, he does me one better. His last note included a photo of his proud new possession: a Ford 801 tractor that he bought at a farm auction. He's quite confident he can get it running again .... 

On the estate front, I had a little kerfluffle with some a house ownership issue yesterday. But it looks like it will be saved by 1) a nicely responsive town assessor in Stratford who is helping me sort it out, and 2) my father's tendency to save every piece of paper that crossed his hands that might have any significance whatsoever.

I was working on my own house insurance issues, and happened to check my town's online assessment of my house. So that made me wonder if my Dad's house was also listed online. It was, and much to my surprise, I found that its ownership was recently changed to my mother's name. Since my mother died in 1996, this was not good - it needs to be in the name of the estate.

My first thought was that my father had never registered my mother's death with the land records office in Stratford (which is one of the probate steps you have to do). So perhaps the house was in both their names still, and when he died, he was taken off, leaving my mother as the sole owner.

A half hour of furious searching through my Dad's files led me to a file labeled "Helen's Probate", and right in the front of that file was the appropriate document, complete with the receipt that showed that he had in fact properly filed it with the land records court. It had the seal and all. I should not have doubted him. 

So it appears the mistake was at their end, and I'm hoping that with the help of the town assessor, who was very quick to respond to my e-mail inquiry, this can be quickly straightened out. I'm only glad I found this early, since it could have been an impediment to selling (if we ever get that far). 

So Dad, thanks for being organized! You set me a standard to aspire to.