Ep 14 - "The DNA in me recognizes the DNA in you." - Laura Ireland

SPECIAL GUEST:  Lisa Goodwin, a Nicolai family member and we have dubbed her the special correspondent.  
Discussing Laura's concept of "The DNA in me recognizes the DNA in you".  We want to share with you how important traveling to visit your family can be.  Check it out - Family traditions that don't change - which is a good thing.

Familysearch.org   - check out this website for a some family history research - it's free!!

Transcript

Kim: 0:03

Hello everyone and welcome back to Chasing Hazel's Tales, a family history podcast. Hazel was our grandmother, and if you haven't heard Hazel's story, I invite you to check it out, in our entire episode list. It's growing and we love the stories. I'm Kim McLaughlin. And I'm Laura Ireland. and Laura and I earlier were discussing our preparation strategies, and we're not sure if this is genetic, but we tend to each, go right down to the recording deadline, right down to the wire to create this podcast, And I mentioned maybe

Laura: 0:36

it's a lack of

Kim: 0:36

preparation strategies. That's right. But what's funny is that is exactly how I graduated college and I graduated Magna Cumlaude. And it's like, how did I do that when I don't know. So I think what I, what I tend to do is I, I percolate and I wander around the house and I percolate all my thoughts and then write up to the deadline and then boom, I just spit out a paper or test and it's done. And so I don't know why that worked, but it did. Laura said she was the similar fashion, but of course she was Summa cu Laude, so it even worked better for her. And

Laura: 1:07

in my head, my thoughts are like, on a plinko board. Yeah, like the price is right. The things bounce around and then they fall into place and then boom, I'm off.

Kim: 1:18

That's what happens to me, like the night before we're recording, I go to bed, it's like, ding, dinging, all these things. Just start going, okay, this is how it's gonna go. And then, It's done, but it's just an observation and I just thought maybe I should be more organized, but I'm really not so at this age. I'm really not gonna change, probably. No, I don't think I am. And I think it's genetic. I don't think we have a choice. I think it just happens.

Laura: 1:40

I mean, 29,

Kim: 1:41

you know. Yeah. Yeah. 29 No way. You're changing now. Yeah. Woo. No, I'm too old. But anyway, right now we are deep into the Nikolai story, so we're gonna get right to it. And I wanted to let you, I hope everybody had a great Valentine's Day cuz I envisioned. at some point that Salvador and Ruth would fall right into Valentine's Day right where it belongs. Cuz I think it's almost like an ultimate love story. It it started with love and is just kind of generated from there. But that was kind of what I thought. Yeah, it's

Laura: 2:13

a good thought. And this week we wanna welcome back our very special guest, Lisa, who's been able to help us out with so much of the Nikolai story, being a member of the family.

Lisa: 2:25

Well, it's great to be back and I'm gonna miss it when you get done talking about the Nikola

Kim: 2:31

Well, I don't

Laura: 2:31

Special, special correspondent,

Kim: 2:33

right, And I don't think that this is gonna end, cuz I think 2023 is gonna be a big year for the Nikolai family, so I'll just leave it at that. But 2023 is big and we may have more things to say. I don't.

Laura: 2:46

and we might need to go on location to do some of this. Just saying Okay. So to recap what we've been over We'll call it the Nikolai Recap. So two of Salvador and Ruth Nikolai's children, Ruth and Sylvia, also called Sibby and a granddaughter. Deedee went to Italy to explore the Italian roots that Sibby had researched. So they had received the invitations from the family via the letters that were exchanged. And last week we used Ruth's journal to share the highlights of the trip. and I think her diary was a big hit that was really nice to hear about it in her own words. And as it's been said in previous episodes, it's easy to type or transcribe the words of a touching letter or journal, but it's another to read it out loud and. It can really hit you right, right in the feels And, you know, you can appreciate the joy and the happiness and it was so apparent in everything that Ruth wrote down, no question. You know? So if anyone hasn't listened to it, it's certainly worth it and we invite you to check it out. But so now that we've explored Salvador Nikolai who came to America in 1912, and we've learned a little bit about the family who remained in Italy, and we heard about the incredible reunions and introductions with them. And now we wanna turn our attention to Consalvo, the other bird of passage who went to Argentina.

Kim: 4:10

All right. We're just gonna talk right about Consalvo. So he was the youngest, Salvador was the oldest. And Consalvo was born in 1905 on March 24th, and he shares a birthday with a McLaughlin. One of his, one of his cousins with Carol also is on March 24th, and about 80% of every McLaughlin was born in March. So you're bound to hit one. So again, he was 10 years younger than Salvador. He went to Argentina when he was 16, and he enjoyed the Argentinian gaucho lifestyle during his adult years. He married Maria Antonio Ranieri on February 16th, 1929. They had two sons, Domingo and Amadeo. And he carved out a good life for his family in Argentina, but he was able to travel back to Italy to visit his brothers and sisters. And when he went, he went by ship Consalvo visited Italy. around the same time that Ruth and Sibi were there, but they, but they didn't cross paths. I don't, I think they were just a short time between them, but it never did work out. So Ruth and Sibi never got to meet Uncle Consalvo. So like I said, he had two sons. He had six grandchildren. And Domingo, one of his sons contributed 12 great-grandchildren for Consalvo. And I don't have a whole lot of information about Amadeo. They had children and grandchildren as well. But just so we could say that, the Nikolas are well represented in Argentina. And Andy and I went to Argentina to visit with Domingo and his family in 2017. His daughter Maria, had extended an invitation for us to go visit the family. And of course we, we love anything but to hop on a plane and go, we were so excited. So Domingo had married Marta Perez. They had four children, and we got to know all of them. And we were very well received, very much like Ruth and Sibby were in Italy. There was love, there was hugs, visits, and long late suppers and with some really great Malbec wine. That's really good wine. And it's interesting to note that when we gathered for a meal in Argentina, Domingo insisted that Andrew sit right beside him. He insisted, and I, and I say insist because it was there was not a choice. You, he insisted we did it He insisted that we were guests. We would not lift a finger to help. And it was, it was just a nice warm feeling. Domingo wanted to be close to us. It kept us at the front of the table with him. So he was just the sweetest man and he loved his family, and all the children would be swirling around him and I would call it somewhat like controlled chaos. There would be little ones running everywhere. And he would just sit and smile and watch'em run and twirl and upside down on the couch. And then just, just the way things that kids do. He just enjoyed watching them. But the big, the biggest thing was that how moved Domingo was because no other family members had ever made the trip to Argentina to visit. Before Andrew and I went and so that really moved him a lot. the Nikolai are well represented in Argentina. They're lovely people with lots of interesting stories. But one of the things that you can kind of relate with Domingo and with Consalvo and the family was a gaucho lifestyle. And I kind of got a sense of it when I was there because they had the full regalia, like the ponchos and some hats and things like that. But I'm no expert. But what it, what it means is, in Argentina, Gaucho's played an important role in 1810 War of Independence. So their intimate knowledge of the terrain of the Argentinian plains worked to their advantage and made the gaucho the perfect freedom fighter in the war. their self-sacrifice and the war is something the country will never forget. Making them national symbols of honor, bravery, and freedom, and the gaucho culture has resulted in styles and forms of expression in music, literature, and theater. Some of its main components are related to the importance of rural life, of plane, horse, guitar, mata, and beef, as well as the values of solidarity, loyalty, hospitality, and courage. A gaucho is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. So I just wanted to clear that up. That's kind of like the essence of his life, of Consalvo's life and kind of Argentina as well. So that's, that. Those are themes that you will see throughout Argentina when you go. And it was, it was really truly lovely. We, we we enjoyed it very much.

Lisa: 8:37

So. I would like to just talk about Maria just for a minute. Maria from Argentina, Domingo's daughter. She's the one that came to the United States as a young woman, and she was going to do some nanny work cuz she wanted to learn English better, but she ended up being with people that spoke Spanish, so that didn't help out so much. So she went back but before she went back, she got a hold of Sibby. and that's how we made the connection with them, is we went with, I took my mother down to Portland to Aunt Sib's house and we met Maria there. So that's where that connection came in for us is Maria was actually the one that took that first step, right. And

Laura: 9:23

about when was that?

Lisa: 9:24

Oh, I'm gonna say it was the early two thousands. Oh, nice.

Kim: 9:29

Yeah. Really nice.

Lisa: 9:31

So last week Kim mentioned finding similarities between my mother's trip to Italy and the trip that me and my siblings and Kim took 48 years later. The trip was incredible. And you don't have time on your podcast for me to just keep talking about it all day. So I'm gonna try very, I'm gonna try to be concise because I could, I literally could talk about this for hours and hours and hours. It was the trip of a lifetime for me. some of those similarities was the overwhelming welcome from our cousins. You know, we traveled to the same areas that mom went to the Orvieta, Viterbo and Bon Regio. All of those different places that mom described in her journal that I read last week, we went to the same places. So as I was reading that journal, you know, I, I. just picture all of these places cuz you know, I had done that great big long walk up to SGIO, the same as she did. and the food. Lots of food that's, we seem to eat all the time and I never gained an ounce. When I was over there, I came back and I think I might have actually lost a pound, but we ate all the time, lots of food. The meals were over like a three. Hour period. And I'm not kidding, they would pick us up at eight o'clock at night and that's when we'd have dinner and I thinking, I'm never gonna sleep tonight with all this food. But you did and everything was great. And the wine they had lemon cello. Oh, a lemon cello. Yes. That was help, helps with

Kim: 11:07

the digestion. Exactly. That's why I slept good was cuz of lemon cello,

Lisa: 11:11

Yeah. You'd get done everything that you had over the three hour period and then you'd get a shot of lemon cell. and, and it's not the same as the stuff you buy in the United States. It is much better, it's homemade, it was really good. And their wine, there was a never ending supply of the best wine I've ever had. I mean, some of it was homemade and some of it was store bought, but all of it was good. And in the United States, I can't drink red wine, but over there I could drink it all day long cuz it never gave me a headache. Very good. So, and the family was intent on making sure we had everything we needed and that we were entertained. I mean, they planned out every single day for us, you know, one day we just wanted to explore. So we said, Hey, why don't you guys just, you know, stay home today and we'll take care of ourselves. So we did have one day when we were with him that we just went and explored on our own. We too had to make room in our luggage for the olive oil. They came back with these great big jugs of olive oil for us to take home. They, they gave mom wine. We got olive oil. I'm not sure about that.

Kim: 12:20

I liked it. We, we had it for a long time. It was great. Oh my god. It

Lisa: 12:23

was, it was so good. And they make their own olive oil, so it was amazing. And I may have paid$50 extra to get my bags home. I'm just saying I'm sure it was worth it. It was every penny. Yeah. But they were so gracious and generous. Our cousin, Maria, Maria from Italy, not Maria, from Argentina, she worked at a hotel there and we were given a very nice discount. Each of us just paid a few hundred dollars for the entire week. I mean, it was nothing Oh, wow. To stay there. So it was, it was just amazing.

Kim: 12:56

And the view.

Lisa: 12:58

Oh yes. We had views, we had balconies. We were on the top floor and we had views of everything in the city and around, you know, down over through to the lake. It was just gorgeous there. there was a continental breakfast there and you know, we could eat that. But Maria had a plate of homemade pastries from this bakery that. Fabulous. But they were just for us. They weren't for everybody else who stayed at the hotel, they were just for us. So they made just certain little things just to make our trip more memorable and it was just fantastic. Hmm. I'm like, unlike mom, when she talked about going out into the field to work, we weren't allowed to do that. We couldn't lift a finger. Just like when Kim went to Argentina, we weren't allowed to do anything. Yeah. I mean, we did have a lesson one day in making pasta, but that was it. That's the only thing that we did when they prepared the meals. We didn't even see them prepare the meals. You know, and over in America, you, you see. You know, you're in the kitchen with the people making the meals. You, it's not like that there. I mean, we had one night where they shut the kitchen right off to us. Wouldn't even let us get in there. So that was kinda interesting.

Kim: 14:08

I'll take my plate back. No you won't.

Lisa: 14:11

Yes. Yeah. Yo, you couldn't even pick your plate up off the table. They wouldn't allow you to do that. Yes. It's kind of like being royalty, I guess. That's right. Mom described it that way. Yep. And the excitement was evident. when we met them, especially with Massimo. And Roberto, if you remember, Massimo and Roberto were there to pick my mother up at the airport. So they were young kids when mom was there. So now they're grown. And Massimo actually just retired. Mm-hmm. So it was neat meeting those relatives that mom met. There was Massimo, Roberto, Alvero, Simonetta, Iole and Maria. Iole and Maria were very young, and I actually had this tiny little doll that belonged to one of them. And I meant to take it with me to Italy to find out which one it had belonged to, but they had given it to me, which is kinda interesting. We were not allowed to pay for anything when we went out. We only spent our money on souvenirs, and I'm serious. They would not let us pay for a thing and. And let's not forget Massimo coming to Kim's rescue and getting her free healthcare when she banged her knee

Kim: 15:23

Yeah. That wasn't pretty but he did. We didn't need to translate anything He just, he just looked at my knee and said, come on. Didn't

Laura: 15:34

you do that in Argentina

Kim: 15:36

too? Yes, I did.

Lisa: 15:39

she's testing out the healthcare

Laura: 15:42

That's a tough way to, you know, figure out how their healthcare works.

Kim: 15:45

But in Argentina, I didn't need to go to a clinic cuz I had Marta. Marta had Everything I needed. She put bandages on my knees and she. She had the cream, the silver cream, and she was, she was a peach, so I had her for my healthcare. But yeah, I ended up in a clinic in Italy. But you know,

16:06

so

Lisa: 16:06

you remember last week, mom was talking about the men in Italy and how good looking they were. Oh, she was. Absolutely correct. Yes, she was. And our not so secret words to let the other girls know that a handsome man was about was Looky, Looky

Kim: 16:25

which cannot be translated into anything. So who are these crazy women? Hollering Lookie Lookie.

Lisa: 16:34

Yeah. So that, that was our. Hey, take a look over. There's one there, We said it all the time. We also visited Rome, but we did not do it while we were in Montefiascone. We did it ahead of time. So we went to Rome first, and then we headed to Montefiascone and we all will agreed that St. Peter's Basilica was extraordinary. Unlike mom, we lost our sister in the Vatican for about three hours, but that's another story. we don't have time to get into

Kim: 17:08

that. Hold on to your siblings

Lisa: 17:12

and make sure that they have your cell phone number and

Kim: 17:15

that they have a cell phone. That they actually bring a cell phone.

Lisa: 17:21

Yeah, but we did find her, so all is good. Yeah. we brought her home with us too. We were fortunate to have Michela, our cousin Michela to translate for us. So she speaks some English. Oh, actually she does a really good job. And and so she could translate things back and forth. I know it really hired her out doing that, but she was wonderful. And Andrew, my brother Andrew, was a rockstar with his limited Italian. He practiced before we went. I'm pretty sure my d n a prevents me from rolling my tongue to pronounce words correctly, because I know Andy laughed at me every time I tried to say something.

Kim: 17:54

Couldn't do it.

Lisa: 17:58

I think each of us had special memories from the trip. Every meal was memorable. Saturday's, three hour lunch with the dinky cherry wine was Incredible. The dinky cherry wine was made by Pierro, my cousin Pierro, who passed away just before we went there just a few months before, and he was really looking forward to seeing us. So that was at Massimo's house and that's Massimo's father, and he had made that dinky wine. We call it the dinky cherry wine I think it had a

Kim: 18:27

different name, but it had a different name. But we couldn't, we couldn't figure it out,

Lisa: 18:31

And by the time we drank it, it was just the dinky cherry wine So after we had this wine the next day we were going to the beach. They were taking us to the Mediterranean. So none of us had brought a bathing. So, so Massimo loads us into his vehicle. And away we go and to the Chinese store. And Massimo kept saying, my friends, my friends, the, the Chinese were his friends, so he was gonna take us there to get us a bath suit. And you know, I, I remember him holding up a bikini and looking at me and shaking his head saying no, and putting it back on the rack.

Kim: 19:08

he was really

Lisa: 19:09

a funny guy. So, you know, after we thought we had met everybody and you know, all the families that we were going to meet, because really when we went there, we thought we were just gonna see them maybe for a day or two, and then we'd have the rest of the week to ourselves to just go explore and see things we didn't really understand. what that family was gonna do. They embraced us and they planned out every single day. So there was no downtime for us. They made sure that our trip was memorable. So when we thought we had met everybody, it was by the way, Tonight you're going to Sanita and Roberto's families to have dinner. We're like, what? What Who are

Kim: 19:56

these people? Get my tree out. Who are these people? What branch are they on? It didn't take long to figure out.

Lisa: 20:02

No, it didn't. And re, Roberto was so excited to see me when I got there. I mean, he instantly started hitting me in the arm and talking. Quickly in Italian and I couldn't understand a word he was saying. My Google couldn't keep up and, but he wanted to tell me that he was one of the ones that had gone to Rome to pick up my mother, and he had driven her back to Montefiascone. So he was very excited to tell me that. So I mean, They were, they were very excited and they had their children are there. My cousin Mirco was Roberto's son, and they were sitting on the opposite side of the table of us. And you could see these young kids, you know, the early twenties, and they were just kind of giggling and looking at each other. They, they, I don't know what was going through their mind, like, who are these crazy Americans? So we all had, you know, just great memories of all of that.

Kim: 20:57

I wished I had written a journal. Now

Lisa: 20:59

I do too. Cindy did. So it'd be interesting to see what Cindy has in her journal.

Kim: 21:05

Did any

Laura: 21:06

of you have a favorite dish that they

Kim: 21:08

served? Oh God. What was that thing I had at that restaurant? Remember you guys had seafood. I had oh yeah. It, oh, I'll, I'll get back to you. What was that? Truffle sauce. Something with truffle. Yeah, but that was really

Lisa: 21:22

good. I really liked, that was really good. Their roasted wild

Kim: 21:26

boar.

Lisa: 21:27

That was really good too. That was really good. And the, their pasta.

Kim: 21:32

It was fabulous.

Lisa: 21:34

I really can't say that there was anything

Kim: 21:37

that you didn't like. Yeah. Vinky Cherry wine. Yes. The Vinky Cherry

Lisa: 21:41

wine was right at the top, you know, and they would take us out. They picked us up one night at eight o'clock and we went off to Vi Turbo and we were eating ice cream at midnight. So their time is so different than ours. You know, there was. They didn't start doing things till eight o'clock at night when we're ready to go to bed. Yeah, And it was fun getting the Italians in the Mediterranean when we went to the beach because they didn't go in the water, so they didn't swim. Nope. So we coaxed them in and they did come in with us. We got a picture of all of us in there. So that was fun. And we went to the winery, Est Est Est and we watched the grapes being delivered by our Maria's husband, Augustino. So he came in with his tractor and his big trailer, and we watched him dump all the grapes in and go through the auger. So

Kim: 22:34

that was, that was random too. We just happened. It was very

Lisa: 22:36

random. Yep. Yeah. And at the same time that this was all happening, this other guy comes walking up and Mikayla says, oh, this is your cousin. So it was another Nikolai from a different family. I can't even remember what his name is now, So that was kind of, kind of interesting too. So I think we had cousins all over the place that we just didn't

Kim: 22:59

even know. Yep.

Lisa: 23:02

And when we went to shopping one day, this is the day that Kim, you were back in Montefiascone, falling down, busting up your knee. Yeah, crawling down. But we went, we went shopping and, and Anna Rita, who is Massimo's wife, she took us to meet her parents and her sister. and they had cake ready for us. So everybody was just, they were just so excited to see us. Wow. And to keep us. They just, they, everybody treated us like family. And when it was time for us to go to Leave Montefiascone to come home, they didn't think that the train tickets that we had were the best way to get back. So they took us to another station. they drove, drove us in different vehicles, get up early in the morning and took us and went and they bought us our tickets. We didn't pay for them. They bought us tickets to go on a different train to take us back. So, you know, they, they paid for everything. They just wouldn't allow us to do. It was incredible the way we were treated. What struck me was that our cousins did not, They just didn't have that pull to find out about their ancestors. You know, we're into genealogy and we wanna know where we came from. They already knew, I mean, Massimo somehow just said, oh, it's on, you know, the family tree's on a wall in a restaurant. This is the last night we were there. Like, we're like, what? Where? Too late?

Kim: 24:31

It's, it's just, here we are. He, you know, they have no interest. They, it's, they never left. Yeah.

Laura: 24:37

They're living right where their ancestors lived. Yep. Yep.

Lisa: 24:41

Yeah. And I remember the puzzled looks on their face when we said we wanted to go to the cemetery I was like, what? Why do you wanna go there? And you could even tell when we were there, they were like, I don't know if they were a little bit uncomfortable doing it. Cause they don't,

Kim: 24:57

they don't go there.

Lisa: 24:59

they indulged us and let us go to the cemetery. And then we went to the municipal building to try to look at birth records him. Remember how good looking that

Kim: 25:10

guy was? Looky, Looky? No, and and you know what's exciting is he liked cemeteries. He had the cemetery map up on the wall. And I'm thinking this is the mothership right here. This is where everybody needs to be. I was just happy looking at him. Yeah. what cemetery?

Lisa: 25:32

Why are we here? And then we got to go into the room where the actual birth records were. They were in books. They were sitting on a shelf. And I am a municipal clerk, so, and I take care of all of the vital records for my community, and I see all these books just on open shelves. the windows are open and there's no screens on'em. Caused me a little bit of stress, to see the books like that, but they safeguarded them. They would let us look at'em. So but it was odd. It was, it was odd to see them just sitting on a shelf. Mm-hmm. and they were so very old, you know, 18 hundreds. They should have been kept better than that, but I guess they're still there and they didn't look like they were in bad shape. So, yep. Something's good. But of everything that happened, the moment that meant the most to me was when I stepped out of the car in front of the hotel and saw my cousins Maria Iole I had the most indescribable feeling of being home, and it brought me to tears. I, the tears just popped right outta my eyes. I finally had a connection that I didn't even know I was missing growing up without ever knowing my grandparents. I didn't have that family extension that so many take for granted. Maybe my d n a or my cellular memory recognized that we were home. It was pure joy. It

Kim: 26:55

was. I just wanna make a quick note that as a genealogist, those records that were on the shelf, of course, surprised me too. Like, oh my God, they're just right here. I could just pull one out and look real quick. But I got the, Thought from what the clerk had said, that They're already out there. Something like that. She said something like that. And it is true, the family search.org, which is the Mormon church, had already been there and, and made copies of everything. So it is available to look at through the family search.org, but it's view only and you have to go to a site an approved site. to look at them so you can find out what's available. You could, like, I could do it right on my computer here. They'll say, oh yeah, all Montefiascone's records, but they're all locked and you have to go to an approved site to see them. So there's only two sites in Maine, one's in Cape Elizabeth and one's in Bangor, and they're weird hours. And I just don't always get there when I want to. And then it's only view only, so you have to transcribe everything. So, my cure would be just to go to Salt Lake City and go to the big, go, to the big library and just the mothership. Yeah. the, I call that the mothership. And and then just get all the information all at once. Someday I'll do that. But just so you know, they, they had already had those records copied and, and had pictures taken of'em, so it's, they are available anyway, that's my little genealogy two cents. Yeah. And I think

Laura: 28:25

that Kim and I can probably both identify with what you described, Lisa, as the, of knowing of something that you didn't even know you were missing, you know? And finding that. And from the Hazel and Humphrey perspective, we had a four year journey of discovering. the reality of our genetic line and meeting the family we didn't know we had. And I don't think we knew what was missing either. Like finding them and getting to meet them has been has just brought something very special to us. And there's a, a comfort and an ease with these people that I don't think, I mean, I think d n A is the explanation. You just, you kind of look at them and you see the similarities and it just, Adds to that feeling of connection. And as Kim likes to say, DNA N doesn't lie. so, and I, I keep getting this stupid phrase going around in my head that, you know, I'll just let it out. The DNA n in me recognizes the d n a in you

Kim: 29:25

So, so I

Laura: 29:26

feel, I feel like when, when we met them and you're seeing those similarities and all that, it just, It just gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling, and I can certainly appreciate that. That's probably what you felt. Or similar to what you might have felt, you know, when you met all those wonderful people in Italy, right? I think you

Lisa: 29:44

hit, you hit it right on the nose. The dna n My dna n a, did recognize their dna. N that's perfect. I love it. I'm getting stickers made the inner nerd I want one

Kim: 29:54

one thing I wanna ask the, the panel here is I have a very pressing question. So when Andy and I travel abroad, or an anytime we've gone somewhere, it always feels like the alcohol always tastes better wherever you are. So we've been to Ireland and Italy and Argentina, but so like Guinness Beer, new Castle Ale, Smithwicks Malbec Wine est, est est, dinky cherry wine, lemon Cello. Why? is it true that it always tastes better abroad? Like where it's made, what do you think? I, is it the atmosphere? Is it the company or is it really better because I think it's really better. That's just all I'm gonna say. Hmm. It's better because you get guinness here. It doesn't taste the same

Laura: 30:36

and, but maybe the atmosphere only adds to it.

Kim: 30:39

Also, I did wanna mention that there were family members that immigrated from Italy to Australia when we found some of those family members, but we don't have a whole lot of details and more research needs to be done, but you never know. Maybe there'd be an Australian road trip, Australian wine, Australian beer. Would love to experience, but I have a thing about spiders. I don't wanna see any Australian spiders, so I'm, I'm a little nervous about all that. I don't know why that comes to mind, but it does. And Lisa, Has nine siblings, one of them being my husband, and I'm sure they have their own memories and Italian heritage knowledge. But getting 10 siblings on one chat I thought might blow zoom right up. I'm not sure how that would work, But we're attempting. To get some other family voices to the story because it's really quite a great story and there's other experiences. And we may have some pleasant surprises for you. So be watching for details. Until then, we would recommend checking out family search.org. Even if you can't find something on a quick search, you can search an area and see what's available about your ancestral hometown. There are tons of records from Montefiascone Italy. I just need to go to, go to the mothership, I guess, and read'em all. That sounds like a good weekend to me. So for

Laura: 31:51

this week, please feel free to comment at chasing Hazel tales@gmail.com. Let us know if you have any questions or stories you want to share. And please rate, review or subscribe to the podcast if you like to listen and let us know what you think. Tell all

Kim: 32:07

your friends. And we'll see you next week and hope you have a great Valentine's Day. We'll give another Italian farewell, so we'll, I'll say Ciao Ciao Ciao