Sorry I've been away

It has been nearly a year and a half since I last posted here.  A lot has happened, family- and research-wise.  But I am hopeful that now I will get back to a sort-of-routine of posting bits of family history.
For now, the explanation (or excuse) for being gone so long.  I was doing a lot of research for my friends.  Their 8 grandparents came from at least 6 locations in Europe.  Two grands married in the old country and one I believe came from a town near her American-wed husband's birthplace.  I did a lot of research in US records and also in online indexes and microfilms.  I ordered records from England, films of Polish records, worked with a researcher in Buffalo, learned a lot about Jewish research and entered data into the database.  With the native towns identified (2 cities in England, one now in Belarus, 2 in Poland and one in Ukraine), my friends are now about to hire overseas researchers to trace the lines back further.
In the meantime, there were changes in my own family.  My Mom, who had moved to Texas in 2009 to be near my sister, passed away in May 2011, a month after her 90th birthday.  She was ready to go, and fully expected to join my Dad, my sister and brother, so I can't be sad for her.  Just for me.  I still miss her - especially about 9:30 at night when she used to call just as I was getting ready for bed.  We had a lovely service in Holland in June with all the grandkids and great-grandkids (including the week-old great-grandson!),  my 2 aunts, cousins, second cousins, and a lot of Mom and Dad's friends of old.  We stayed at a fabulous beach house and had a great family reunion.  Then, a lot of paperwork to deal with after.
Now, with my friends pretty much set (I have reached the end of my capabilities in that case), it is time to get back to my own research.  To give me a kick-start -- last week at work, a visitor came to the Library asking about descendants of New Netherland settlers (That's old New York.)  My coworker suggested he talk to me.  So we had quite a chat (me doing most of the talking as usual).  Turns out, he works at the Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie in The Hague, a major source for Dutch genealogical research.  So I was inspired to get myself moving and start back on this blog!

So.  That's the long and the short of the explanations.  Next time, real info!  I did have one great research trip in that time, so new things to write about.