Family - read on, friends, you'll be bored with the genealogy aspect!
So the craziest thing happened on our first week at Tybee Island. We would leave at 7:15 each morning to drive the 40 min (rush hour in Savannah)to drop Brad off at work. We laughed because the GPS would tell me one route to "go to" work and another to "go back" to Tybee Island. The "going back" route took me through some of the side streets of Savannah which I preferred anyway. I happened to glance over one morning to see a really neat looking place that had tons of green plants, flowers and ferns all over their outdoor area and hanging from the trees out in front. I looked their name up on my GPS and got the phone number and called Polk's Fresh Market. A gal named Diane answered and I told her I had a weird question for her - did she happen to carry any (live) moss. She said she didn't, but as a matter of fact, she had a great resource for some and had been wanting to order some as well - said she would go home and get the brochure and meet me there at 4:00. (I was looking for moss to display some of my baubles things on at the show I did last week) Longgggg story, but Diane and I met up twice before we left town that first week - but the crazy part of the story is that she asked where we were from - she was from Iowa. I told her that Brad was from west side of Iowa and my dad's side is from the east side of Iowa. She stopped in her tracks when I told her dad's family was in Fort Madison area, because she was from...... West Point. Where we attend the Sweet Corn Festival almost every August, and go back to for family reunions. We both got chills on our arms! What are the odds of me finding the ONE person in Savannah, GA (I'm pretty sure) from West Point, Iowa. Crazy! Diane and her husband (family business) have a fantastic market with not only plants and flowers, but they serve hot lunch everyday - get bus loads of Paula Deen tours (Paula buys her produce from THEM!) they carry locally grown produce and vegetables, jars of relishes, jams and just all sorts of great local things that you wouldn't find in your regular market. Someone there bakes these little personal size pecan tart pies that I seemed to have had to buy each I was there. Just a really neat place. One of the gentleman there was packing fresh shrimp (Mack was enjoying watching that)
Meanwhile - back to the Iowa connection. I asked her her maiden name which she told me was Judy. In talking to Dad later he said he thought we were related to the Judy's somehow (distant/by marriage) so after talking with cousin Bobby Hawbaker, Bobby came up with the following explanation. I need Boots to check all of this for me !
Grandpa Schroeder and his brother, Steve, married sisters ( Grandma Schroeder and Great Aunt Dora).. Aunt Dora and Uncle Steve had children and one of them was Billie. Billie married Delmar Judy and they had two boys for sure (George and Matt) and perhaps a girl. Delmar had a brother, Clem, (which Diane corrected us, they were cousins). Clem married Celia Fullenkamp and had a son (Jim) and a daughter, Joyce (Bug-something is her married name). Jim married Janis - and these are Diane's parents. Diane told me her grandmother (Celia) and Ann Hawbaker were really tight friends, in fact she wasn't sure that they weren't cousins, but didn't recall Hawbakers on her family tree. Whew. So I don't even know WHAT in the world you would call that relation - but, its something. Again, the odds of me calling her up out of the blue? And her going out of her way to help me, just too weird. So we get to talking about my Baubles business and on the second trip to Savannah, I picked up my moss (and another pecan tart of course) and dropped her off some Baubles to carry in Polk's Fresh Market. Brad had been wanting me to send Paula Deen some jewelry, and I thought that was hopeless, but by golly, maybe "cousin Diane" can get me to Paula Deen after all !!!!!!!! I look forward to sitting down and enjoying a few cocktails with Diane. Here are a few pics of their market. I didn't get some from the other street which really show you what a cool place this is, but you get the idea! You can find them online at www.polksfreshmarket.com
