When I saw my parents for Thanksgiving, I looked through a bunch of old photos my mom collected out of my grandfather’s house before they sold it. Some of them were really amazing. I especially liked this one of Aunt Hattie. Actually, she’s not my aunt at all. She may have been my mom’s aunt, or great aunt. I can never keep these things straight.

I’m fairly certain that her last name is Derosier, but I could be wrong. From what I understand, Derosier is a corruption from the french “des Rosiers” which means “of the rose bush” or rose tree. From what I’ve read, this is another one of those names that refers to the land where a family comes from, meaning there were lots of roses there. Which is interesting, because on my dad’s side, we have another major name which goes back to a type of plant/region-where-plants-grow. That name is Trembley, and would be my last name, had there not been an adoption into the Boucher family several generations back. Trembley is from the French tremblaie, which I’ve read as meaning “aspen” or “aspen grove”.

PS. I asked my mother but she doesn’t know who the boy standing next to Hattie in this photo is.