Even Though It's Only Just Barely Friday...

Because, once I start doing stuff like this it turns out to be pretty much impossible for me to stop, it's this week's Friday Five:

1. What is your lineage? Where are your ancestors from? Northern Europe and the British Isles, generally. I know I have ancestors from England, Germany, and Ireland, specifically. ("Ragan" is definitely an Irish name.) There are probably others that I don't know about. My dad's been researching our family genealogy a bit, which is cool, but I don't think he's actually turned up a whole lot so far. The German and English are from my mother's side.

2. Of those countries, which would you most like to visit? I already visited Ireland in 1999, and I am absolutely determined to visit England some day. But I think that has less to do with the call of my anscestral homeland tugging on my heartstrings and more to do with the fact that I grew up watching British television.

3. Which would you least like to visit? Why? I dunno... Well, everyone I've ever known who's been to Germany has told me what a great place it is and what a beautiful country, and so on, but I never have been able to work up any real desire to see it for myself. I guess it'd have to win by default, anyway.

4. Do you do anything during the year to celebrate or recognize your heritage? Not specifically, no. I don't really think of myself as having an "ethnic heritage," to tell you the truth. My European ancestors are distant enough from me that I don't even have any idea who they were. I think of myself as a generic American, really. So maybe Indepenence Day counts?

5. Who were the first ancestors to move to your present country (parents, grandparents, etc)? Again, I have no idea. All my ancestors that I actually know about by name (up to three generations back) were born in the US. (Why do I now suddenly feel the urge to start whistling "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy"?)