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CHANGE TO BEST ANSWER PROCESS:  After much discussion we have come to the conclusion that all answers in the Weekend Chat are of equal importance and weight.  So we are going to discontinue the Best Answer portion as it adds points and then takes them away from posters and is causing some hurt feelings.  So in the interest of everyone is equal and valued we will delete any best answers given which will deduct those points because it has been pointed out that to give everyone best answer is also not a viable option. 

Weekend Chat is for everyone. It's a place to catch up on what people are up to and to share what you've been doing.  New members can say hello, introduce themselves, ask questions, and meet each other.  Our seasoned members can share progress or successes from their projects, give tips and advice, or chime in on hot topics.

Post as many answers and comments as you wish. It doesn't hurt anyone to post a lot and enjoy the multitude of topics.

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Comments

Pip, I only wish, usually, that I was a young and energetic as you are ... eh, well, I had my "days of glory" ...

 "You cannot truly appreciate the intricate mechanism of your  body until you feel its pain, which serves to remind you; nor appreciate the interaction of its muscles and nerves and bones. The smoothness of function is not noticed usually, not until it is lost, however temporarily. It is the interruptions and the kinks and pinches and punctures, scrapes and cuts, and other wounds which happen that will draw our attention. That is when we appreciate the intricate mechanism, when it functions well." 

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Pip!  How can you do all that push mowing after your struggle with those horrible stickers and aches from the church work day?  I think you need to be in a comfy chair reading those books!

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Cindy, my excuse for NOT mowing today is that it is windy and cool. I don't need to be sweating out there. My wife, fortunately, agrees. So, we'll work inside on the house, outside chores be da**ed! 

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The quote: Absolutely right, Susan!

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Pip, with the appropriate breaks you described my mum and me. Mum starts to moan "I need a break", but then sees "this piece that still has to come in a drawer" or "that piece that can go into the dishwasher" or "this" and "that". And afterwards she worked for half an hour more than when she started to sense her need of break.

I am more consequent. When I sense that I need a break, I take it. The stuff waited for me, it will wait 20 more minutes.

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My wife takes appropriate breaks as well. Even if she wasn't working.

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That’s smart, Jelena. I push myself too hard sometimes,  up my wife knows her limits better than I do.

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Hey Scott, my brother has over 10,000 in the house. And he finally getting around to adding them into a database.  And yes, he is taking several boxes to the local used book store and Friends of the Library sales. Most of his boxes are 10 ream paper cases. And that doesn't include his anthropology library.

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Howdy Pip, and sorry to hear about your stabbies :( I think I remember those plants...are they like the "wait-a-minute bush"? No fun!

Friday I went to get worked over by my friend the massage therapist, and boy, did she beat me up (but I asked for it!). She released so many toxins from my body that I was sore and stiff all day yesterday! Didn't help that the Hub and I then went down the road to do a salvage operation at our neighbor's house, which is soon to be demolished. At her invitation, of course. The house is a total loss, so she's replacing it...cleaned out everything she wanted and told us to have at it. We scavenged several pieces of furniture, some pine paneling and a few nice dishes I couldn't stand to see destroyed. But after that adventure, I could barely move and slept most of the afternoon.

Not much to report on the genealogy front...been trying to finish up some sewing and jewelry projects, clean up the sun porch and get organized for my upcoming camping/graveyard stompin' trip to New England. Will be staying in some pretty out of the way places, so I need to print out directions as a backup for those WiFi dead zones. Hoping to find clues to 3x ggrandma Marinda, and discover whether 3x ggrandpa Reuben Randall really has a Civil War veteran's marker. (And eat lobster.) Been neglecting the Yankee side of my family for far too long!

Books. Argh. Coming home from a friend's birthday celebration (we were all vaxxed), I made the mistake of stopping at Barnes & Noble. Think I came away with 8? books, including Nomadland, The Good Lord Bird, Lincoln in the Bardo, and a new biography of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (plus a couple history selections). Now I'm seeing another CW regimental history from Mercer U. Press I want...the 66th GA...think I had a great-uncle by marriage in that one. (Sigh. So many books, so little time!)

Be well. Hope you got all the stickers out.

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Hiya, D! My wife will NOT allow me to stop at a bookstore if I am with her because she knows not only that I'll come away with books that I will take so much time browsing!

Kind of exciting you getting to do some scavenge work at your neighbors house. This would have been right up my alley! We don't even have room for more furniture, but we would have come away with at least a few pieces to add to storage. 

There's few things my wife likes more than a good deep tissue massage. I do too, but feel like I shouldn't be laying around with so much to do. Actually, I probably need a good one after all the physical work I've done lately. 

As soon as the pollen quits, we'll cleaning our deck and patio. We just wait it out so we don't have to do it twice.

Answer 1

Today is....

         

NATIONAL ROAST LEG  OF LAMB DAY

Each year on May 7th, National Roast Leg of Lamb Day makes a menu suggestion worthy of a celebration.  The leg of lamb is a mild and tender cut of meat that, when roasted, is a unique and tasty dish to many.  A typical preparation involves covering the leg of lamb with butter, rosemary sprigs pushed inside incisions cut in the leg, and rosemary leaves sprinkled on top. The lamb is then roasted for two hours at 360 degrees.

Lamb is a lean red meat loaded with nutrition. Of course, it’s going to deliver the protein at 25 grams per 3 ounce serving. But it also provides potassium and vitamin B-12. Another good reason to eat lamb is the iron, magnesium, and omega-3 fatty acids.

HOW TO OBSERVE Roast Leg Of Lamb Day:

Find a recipe and make a Roast Leg of Lamb today

Roasted or grilled vegetables pair well with roast leg of lamb. Consider asparagus, roast cauliflower, or tomatoes. Mix up a spring salad or for a touch of acid, a coleslaw. Rice complements lamb, too, as do mashed or baked potatoes. Add your favorite gravy or herb sauce. Finish the meal with a chocolate souffle or lemon tarts.

Comments

I've never had this (but by your description, Dorothy, I should), but for my stepdad this is one of his favorites... if it's done right. He's pretty picky about his food, and well, he's 93, so maybe I should be, too!

Thanks, Dorothy!!

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I enjoy lamb - my wife does not. Oh well. But there's this wonderful Mediterranean restaurant we like to go to called Sahara. Little Mom & Pop shop that does this excellent Ceylon black tea and great schwarma, plus beef, chicken, and lamb kabobs and lamb/beef gyros.

Might have to make a trip out there this weekend.

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We always have a leg of lamb in the freezer, it is yummy! And Pip very easy to roast on the BBQ.

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One of our favorites!  We had one for Easter, this year.

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Well, Dorothy, we have a 'leg of lamb' story to end all! A number of years ago (say 1972), in a galaxy far away (Cedarburg, Wisconsin), I invited my brother and sister-in-law for dinner. The menu was leg of lamb a la the Galloping Gourmet from Australia (I still have his cookbook). I followed instructions to the letter. after all the time and energy I put in for this feast, the leg of lamb was stringy and non-chewable. It turns out that I was sold leg of mutton, not leg of lamb. That was my last attempt at leg of lamb.

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 Seeing this recipe / menu here, it makes me think it might be worth setting up a trap to nab one of those incontinent buggers that gambol across the field of my vision when I am awaiting the embrace of Morpheus ... 

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I had some wonderful lamb last night.  They had bones but were really tiny, just a few bites each.  Delicious!

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Carol, I could send you my Mutton in Beer Recipe a Medieval recipe from A Proper Newe Book of Cokerye, 1572

It tastes great!

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One of the most wonderful meals I've ever enjoyed was a stewed leg of mutton with couscous.  After an unexpected reunion with a 1965 classmate, from my family's stay in Collioure, P-O, France, a few years back, we were invited to a dinner with family and friends.  My boyhood friend, and his wife had arisen early, cooked the mutton.  They picked us up at our hotel, stopped at their apartment to retrieve the main course, and proceeded to another classmates home, in Port-Vendres, where friends and family welcomed us.  After pastis and hors d'oeuvres, we proceeded to the main course.  The slow cooked, amply flavored, incredibly tender, mutton was a perfect foil for the bland couscous, of course accompanied by ample servings of the cave cooperative's rose.   The meal was capped off with Catalan cake served with Banyuls.

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It turns out that I was sold leg of mutton, not leg of lamb. 

commented by Carol Baldwin

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This happens a lot in the US, because most people can't tell the difference between lamb, hogget, and  mutton.   A good many Americans refuse to eat lamb because their first experience with "lamb" was actually the much stronger tasting mutton.   (I don't eat mutton, have never liked it, but have eaten hogget growing up when lamb was too expensive for my sole-supporting-parent mother.)

What you could have (should have?) done with that stringy leg of mutton was  to turn it into a casserole, or a stew.  Slow cooker would work well to get it to soft and edible, instead of tough and stringy.

Mint sauce with lamb.  And I mean real mint sauce, not what the US calls the abominations I have seen in supermarkets .. and NOT mint "jelly", unless it uses real mint.  Apricots also go well with lamb.   Proper lamb Doner kebabs are sooooooooooo good, I drool when I remember  the last one I had (about 2014) - on thin pita, or lavash, not those thick things US restaurants call pita. And, no, a "gyro" is not a proper Doner kebab.

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As a Brit I'm very fond of roast lamb with garlic and rosemary served with mint sauce , roast potatoes, gravy and veg.(agree with Melanie that its better homemade with fresh mint,  bottled sauce is far too sweet.Mint sauce is very easy to make; recipe here ) . https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/lamb-recipes/best-roast-leg-of-lamb/ I like it pink rather than the grey of my childhood.

Its now an expensive cut of meat and too big for two so we don't have it very often. When we do it's a treat. A first this year was the traditional Easter roast lamb complete with all the trimmings, eaten in the garden (first week of the relaxation of lockdown: so two households allowed to eat together outdoors) 

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There is this small area in western Kentucky that does this incredible barbequed mutton that I just can't get enough of. It doesn't appear that it's featured anywhere else, but every time I or my Dad get down in that area, we bring some back and enjoy it. It comes sliced or chopped, and can be done as a dinner or on sandwiches. I usually grab some bread, fresh sliced onions, pickles, and a healthy amount of bbq and it just reminds me of when we used to visit family there.

Of course, they also have the barbeque mutton soup called burgoo, which when I was young rhymed with poo, and I wasn't even about to try that. But since then, I've given it a shot and it's pretty good. Not as good as the mutton, but it goes nicely with the sandwich.

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In the latter part of the '50s my father taught me how to roast a leg of lamb and potatoes served with gravy, young peas and mint sauce......Mmmmm good especially with all the lamb fat you could get.......and, especially the homemade sauce made from the fresh mint leaves I was instructed to pick, along side the ditch, behind the mailbox. 

Answer 2

Hails and horns!

What's this? I'm actually early this week? SHOCKING! Not like I've been stalking Pip or anything. But, seriously dude. Three chocolate puffs for breakfast? Come on.....

Anyway, on the genealogy front I posted a blog about crime and punishment: https://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2021/05/52-ancestors-week-18-crime-and.html

Most of my ancestors seem to be squeaky clean. Sure some people did get in minor trouble. I don't think adultery is a crime. Grounds for divorce? You betcha. Crime? Nah.

Tonight at 10 pm Eastern, 9 pm central I'll be having a discussion on Italian genealogy on Twitter in the #genchat hashtag. Be sure to follow the hashtag to follow the discussion. I made sure to have five questions that everyone could answer. It was difficult. But, I did my best. Check it out tonight!

The Italians in Haverhill category is growing again and I've even added some Selvaggios to Lucy Selvaggio's Selvaggio one name study. I'm 90% sure those Selvaggios were from San Pietro. But, some may have come from Sicily like hers did. It's not far.

Not much going on on the non genealogy front. I've been trying to find the author of the Italians in Haverhill book but she has no social media presence at all. So weird.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Comments

Chris, there used to be a law on the books in South Carolina called alienation of affection. So, the crime wasn't that a spouse cheated, but that someone else helped cause it. I'm guessing that the law at home would take care of the spouse!

I really enjoyed, as usual, your blog this week.

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There really is a 7-11 by the ye olde hanging tree. The villagers of ye olde Salem never saw that one coming. Or maybe they did. =O

Dunno if there is a similar law up here in New England. But, I'll have to check it out. It is something to look into. Thanks! Glad you liked the blog.

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Chris! You are the early bird this week!

I've been trying to pick up a few comic book worker profiles and after finding such a reasonably straightforward one in Bill Finger, I thought I might try another. Bob Kane is a whole different world. His Jewish heritage and Russian heritage only a few generations back, plus the tendency to stay within their community is making it pretty tough to find a corresponding profile within the existing Tree to connect with. I'm making some progress, but it's disappointing when I add a new LNAB like Zarchy or Zarky and find the profile is now Zarky-1... Oh well, even if I don't find a profile, I've at least done his biography, added all his immediate family I could, and have a number of extended family started. If you want to glance over his bio, his link is here.

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Hey, Scott!

It looks like Bob Kane's profile is pretty solid. You might want to include some conflicts with Bill Finger and his estate over the creation of Batman.

And if you are looking for more comic creators to spotlight, I have a Marvel Bullpen category: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Marvel_Bullpen

I would love to fill that in. Other Marvel greats passed away and would fit in in that category. People like Denny O'Neil, Len Wein and a few others. I just haven't gotten around to filling it in. It could use some TLC.

And yea you're gonna find that many comic writers from the Golden Age and Silver Age have Jewish roots. Puts our favorite spandex wearing heroes into perspective doesn't it?

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I thought about that whole conflict with Bill Finger, and wanted to focus on Bob more - in Bill's profile, I mention more about their conflict. I did imply (in Bob's bio) that they had some falling out and that later in his career his business practice of taking credit for his employees' work (which was considered to be perfectly acceptable at the time) came back to bite him in the rear, but didn't want to make it the primary focus of his bio. I suppose I could add a bit more to make it more obvious.

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Nah. Leaving it subtle is probably best. Wanna avoid the trolls. :) It's a good bio as is.

Answer 3

Hi from southern Ontario;

Chez moi/at home: Some time ago there was a Weekend Chat conversation about wedding anniversaries, I made a comment about my dear Robbie and our anniversaries. Pip asked Anniversaries? And I promised to explain at the appropriate time, now is the right time. 

The important date was 11 May of 3 different years. 

Our first date was 11 May 1970, we dated until the end of high school, we went to different universities and drifted apart, we both married and divorced. 

We met again in 1984 and moved in together on 11 May 1987, we married on 11 May 2000, so next week we have 3 anniversaries, the 51st anniversary of our first date, the 34th anniversary of living together and our 21st wedding anniversary. 

Weather: mostly miserable, lots of drizzle and overcast skies which has been good for the garden as we have had very little rain in the past few weeks. 

Reading: I put books on hold from the local library, I have to make an appointment to pick them up at the curb, but the appointment booking system seems to have some sort of circular error, sign in here, go here to book a pick-up time, what library will you be picking up at, then it reverts to sign in here, go here to book a pick-up time, what library, and we go back again to sign in….

The books are Canadian history by the same author, Peter C. Newman: Hostages to fortune: the United Empire Loyalists and the making of Canada, Empire of the bay: the company of adventurers that seized a continent.  

Family history: what have I been doing? Not a lot really, I have had many horticultural society obligations.

I did some research on various websites about the many obscure family members of my dear Robbie who are buried in the Alton, Ontario cemetery. I asked for help on the Peel County Ontario Memories Facebook page and got one very helpful reply. 

Other: for some years we had watched Homes under the Hammer a British program about buying dilapidated houses at auction and the renovating them. It seemed to disappear some years ago, we recently found new episodes on YouTube, it really shows how dilapidated homes can be rejuvenated plus showing how some older city neighbourhoods look now. It can be very interesting if you have ancestors in industrial England. 

We had our Trans-Atlantic cousins Zoom call last weekend, it's so nice to see some different faces and to catch up with what is happening in other people's lives. 

Comments

Robbie looks like John Denver, M!!! And I swear I've seen you before. Were y'all in some movie together way back when? 

There are several old home renovations shows here in the US. One is in Indianapolis and another that we really like is in Laurel, Mississippi. We wish we could hire some of those folks to renovate an old house for us. Of course, we'd have to find an old house first.

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Congratulations, M, on the upcoming anniversary!

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I've read Newman's two books on the HBC.  Excellent reads.

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HI M, Happy Anniversaries X3! The photo reminds me of 'Hippie Days'...a lovely nostalgic photo. I always enjoy your posts. Have a great week and {{{HUGS}}} x 3!

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Happy Anniversaries!!!

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Hi M., happy anniversaries, I'll be back in Church Stretton on Thursday and I am hoping to meet up with Jo, the Church sect., I'll let you know if we get anything, and the library will  be open so there may be some records available.

Answer 4

Thank you for hosting Pip.  Yes, you beat me out on a New York servicemen. You found the one with lots of information
that lived closest to my area.  The one I picked was supposedly too young to be on the 1940 census, says he was 19, so born in 1941 or 1942.  Could someone reach the very special training level these men had at the age of 19 and reach the level of Spec. 4?  Maybe I will look for other records. He may have been older than the record reported.  This all came to me in the night.  Will follow up when I have more time later.  Our generations need to support this era veterans records.  My oldest brother joined the army and avoided the Viet Nam War service because the end was settled just as he finished basic training.  He became a photographer for the army in Germany and had a much better enlistment time.

Comments

Beulah, I was frustrated for a while there as I was trying to pick from the list those who I thought had unique surnames (or what I thought was unique) and coming up with nothing. And actually, I found my guy's FindAGrave first with his name misspelled on his gravestone! Fortunately, there was his dad, and since mine was a "Jr" it was easy to get started on his family. I'm, hoping to get back to his family today and connect him somehow.

Answer 5

Virtual Vacation!

Charmouth and the Jurassic coast, Dorset England

While visiting England in July 2017 for a family wedding we spent a lot of time on the south coast. Charmouth is a village on the Dorset coast and is at the centre of the Jurassic coast. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site, an ancient coastline of soft rock cliffs that are continually eroding revealing thousands of fossils of animals that lived in what was a tropical seabed millions of years ago. You can pick up however many fossils you want as you walk along the beach. There are fascinating rocks along the beach. 

For those of you who watched Broadchurch, it was filmed at Charmouth and this view should be familiar.  

The Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre includes hundreds of fossils including this ammonite fossil. 

This is Charmouth harbour

This is Charmouth beach

This is the E.T. rock

This is me walking on the beach, the tide was out.

This scene should be familiar to Broadchurch viewers, the sand(?) is very difficult to walk on, its crumbled clay or something similar, with shoes on they fill up with hard bits, with sandals or in bare feet its very uncomfortable, perhaps high hiking boots with socks would be the best choice. 

Comments

Oh, this is such a lovely area (like many of the others you've posted). I love seeing photos of such ancestral areas. That ET rock - yes, it does look like him.

We watched Broadchurch and loved it!

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Ahhhh. So relaxing. And I didn't have to pack. Thanks M. Ross.

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Looks like it was mostly sunny that day, but I see a lot of long-sleeves. I'm guessing there was a slight cool breeze in the air? Maybe in the 60's, or possibly cooler?

It is a nice area though. I'm guessing when the temperatures rise, the beach gets much more crowded.

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Thank you, M, for another wonderful VV!

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M! This virtual vacay is genial! (Spanish for 'brilliant'). I love it. The scenic views are gorgeous, but I especially like the the ammonite fossil with the tags that say "Please Touch!" It's a nice change from the ubiquitous 'Do Not Touch.' Thank you so much for these vacays. It staves off my hunger, a bit, to make travel plants tomorrow and just go. Cannot wait for this pandemic to really recede.

Again, have a great Happy Anniversary week!

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Scott, Looked at other pics for that day, I wore shorts, with a long sleeved T-shirt and a light weight hoodie, Robbie and many other people had long pants and long sleeves. Probable temp in the 60s and breezy.

The beach probably does get busier, when the temps go up, there is very little parking and if the lot is full, the only other place to park is half a kilometre away. The village population is about 1300.

There are many warning signs on the beach due to the continued cliff collapses, I wouldn't take young children there for a day at the beach.

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Carol, the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre is where the ammonite fossil and hundreds more are on display, they have guided fossil hunts and lots of school programs.https://charmouth.org/chcc/ 

The local shops all sell fossils, we seriously thought of buying some, but they were too big and heavy to bring back on the plane. 

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I'm lucky enough to have the Dorset coast within a short drive (Westbay 'Broadchurch' is about 16 miles from  home) I won't go as far as not letting my children play on the beaches, they did and my grand children do but there are sandier beaches further along the coast  better for sandcastle making and rockier ones better for exploring . Fossil hunting  though is always great fun.My son's excitement at cracking into a dull grey pebble  and revealing a small but sparkly ammonite  is one of those good memories from their childhood.

Cliff collapses though still happen, we had the biggest one for 60 years last month.https://news.sky.com/story/dorset-cliff-collapse-warnings-issued-after-300m-stretch-of-jurassic-coast-falls-into-sea-12276658

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That cliff collapse was scary! I have these along my stream bank on a mini scale compared to the one you linked. One would think that the cliffs would not be a safe place for site-seeing, photographing, exercising, picnicking, etc.

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I think you just need to use common sense. I love to walk the paths on the top of the cliffs, there's a long distance coast path which goes as near to the sea as possible  but you don't walk where its been fenced off or too close to the edge. Some idiots nowadays love to stand on the very edge of cliffs to take selfies and sometimes they fall. You don't picnic at the base of the cliff. There were a few people who didn't heed the  warnings and had to be rescued when they got cut off by another small fall nearby a few days later. They weren't hurt but were muddy, this stuff is quite claggy.  More often the risks come from people who don't look at tide times and get caught on a beach as high tide approaches.

The beach at Westbay(Broadchurch) is safe although not the sandiest sand 

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My kids would have loved fossil collecting there, but as you said Helen there are better beaches for sandcastles and rock pool exploring.

Answer 6

Good morning from Everett, Washington!

I am on early today because the PUD is coming to shut off our power in the process of replacing the utility pole at the end of our street.  They replaced one pole on the block yesterday and I didn't know they were going to do it then. They backed the auger truck into my driveway and I rushed out to ask them to move so I could park my car somewhere else. They were very accommodating. They dug the new hole with the auger and at the same time sucked out the dirt with a giant vacuum truck. Today they detach the power line from the old pole and put it on the new one.  Also they have to move the transformer--"more than meets the eye." (sorry, my son watches Transformers a lot) I did take photos for my husband to upload into his computer, when he gets a new one, whenever that is.  His motherboard died on Wednesday and it looks like the Geek Squad at Best Buy will be building him a new computer. His stuff is all saved "up there" so he's not terribly upset about it.

Last night my daughter stepped inside the movie theater for the first time since March 2020.  She goes back to work there next week so they were having a big reunion of co-workers.  She and two other guys really enjoyed watching Mortal Kombat and she was describing it excitedly to her brother.  Also I got to drive my husband's van to pick her up as I didn't want to lose the parking space where my car is for all the PUD activity today.

Speaking of which, I hear their truck in the street, so it's time to power off this computer. If you reply to this post, I won't be able to comment until tomorrow.  Yours etc., Margaret.

Comments

My Dad had a truck hit the power pole in front of his house one day, and while it didn't knock it over, it pushed a bit, so they wanted to get it replaced. I remember he was trapped in his house for about 24 hours while they convinced him that it would be important for him to stay in his house while they whipped the live power lines around from the old pole to new.

Good luck with your maintenance...

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Here's hoping for quick work on the power line, poles,. transformers, etc. I know what a pain that can be. Check in with us tomorrow when you can give us an update!

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Work is all done, power is back on, clocks are reset.  They even gave us a new street light, of a different design, that may be more gentle on my daughter's sleep, as the old one shone right into her bedroom. I thanked them for it.

I took Billy, the Pom-Chi, for a walk down the street and he got to ride in the car on the way home as I moved the car back to our driveway.

I am working on a database of descendants of William Robe https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Robe-52 A spreadsheet of everyone, including the living, is being made on this computer in order to assist in tracking the profiles on WikiTree.

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 Hmm.   ... well there's the song has the lyric "on the street where you live" and that's the only song I can recall comes even close to celebrating what you experienced ... that was an impressive display of machinery and mechanical power expended according to your description of it ... 

Good to know it was all dealt with efficiently and you're back in the groove again 

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Wow, Margaret, they would have set a record around here! Glad you’re back online and all.

Answer 7

Greetings and Salutations, fellow WikiTreers!

It's been a soggy week here in Indianapolis, but at least there's been occasional breaks in the weather to allow us to dry off just a bit before it pours down all over again. The yard will definitely be too wet to mow until maybe late Sunday, so it will be touch and go. Mother's Day is coming on us fast, and I need to get out for a card and flowers for my Mom, but will have to wait until the last minute so that maybe I'll have reasonably fresh flowers to bring. Mom's getting a bit up there and having some physical challenges, so I want to make sure I don't waste time and visit her as often as I can.

On the genealogy side, I'm still working on science fiction related profiles and decided to take on the challenge of Bob Kane. I'd looked into him once before, and there were some serious challenges with his grandparents who were Jews from some Russia country (love how that term seems to apply to about 15 or more different smaller countries today) and even worse, apparently had the same name and general dates of birth as another couple. I'm still not sure I've got them straightened out, but I moved forward with what I was reasonably sure of and left the others behind for now. Maybe one day someone will go back and mash them together again with a good explanation of how and why. But I moved forward with that group to start, branched into several marriages, and have been working my way sideways through a whole series of Des Moines Jewish families with little hope of an immediate connection. I suppose if I get too bored, I'll end up writing a detailed bio or two, or grabbing up another from the Hugo Award list like Leigh Brackett. We'll see how it goes.

Looks like we might get a bit more sunlight today, although it's only in the 40's. I might consider relocating to the downstairs where we have a nice patio door to look through, and work while I watch the birds and squirrels battle it out over the food my wife leaves for them. We usually get small birds, typically wrens, coming in a small flock, along with a flock of blackbirds, grackles, and red-winged blackbirds that swarm the bird feeders. We also get a regular visit from the turtle doves, now a couple of pairs. Being in Indiana, we also see a number of cardinals, and usually there's a visit from the bluejay and his family. We do have a pair of small woodpeckers who are amazing to watch, as they walk down the tree like it's a normal horizontal surface, although they tend to enjoy the suet more than the millet. On a rare day, we'll get a visit from the hawk, who perches just on the edge of the yard and all the animals and birds will scatter. I've never seen him claim a kill, but he seems to make them all nervous.

Oh well - hope everyone has a great weekend ahead. Stay safe!

Comments

Hi Scott! Just want to let you know that I really enjoyed your wildlife observations in your last paragraph. I've been watching for hummingbirds in my meditation garden. Some of their favorite flowers are beginning to bloom (Mexican Firecracker, Red Yucca). Any day now!

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I can't believe I left out Donald and Daisy, who visit at least once a day. Of course the other day it was Donald and maybe Huey and Duey, as all 3 were persistently chasing Daisy around. Guess it's "that" season again. And she was dutifully playing hard to get.

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Scott, your birding sounds just like ours, with the same birds, the same arguments, the same scattering in the presence of a hawk. It IS very entertaining. My daughter saw something on Facebook the other day about old people sitting on their back decks watching the animals, especially the birds. She just had to call and say that she thought immediately of us. We've removed her from the will. 

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LOL Pip... guess that will show her who's sedentary and old...

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We have a bird this year in the tree outside my window, might even be two of them if there's a nest in there somewhere ... but it is bigger than a sparrow or robin (which is also bigger than a sparrow) and it is smaller than ta blue jay or cardinal ... and it isn't a pigeon or sea gull or jay, robin, sparrow, etc ... I don't know what it IS but it is back and forth zooming by and up into the tree ...

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Scott, y’all have names for your critters, too?!?

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A few, but not many. Donald and Daisy are the few with names (obviously ducks). We did have many years a go several squirrels who got sort of named, due to some physical characteristics. The only one that sticks in my head was old "one-hand", who was literally missing a paw. He had a little stump where his paw used to be, and we saw him for many years. He was one of the brave squirrels who would take peanuts out of our fingers. One year, he just stopped showing up, so we can only assume he passed away. But maybe our feeding helped him make it a bit longer and made his life a bit better. We do have a brave one out in the front of our house who will come right up to you and ask for peanuts. I was a bit surprised that he almost ran over my foot in his anxiety to get fed. So he's one of maybe 2 we have currently who will take peanuts from your fingers.

Answer 8

Happy weekend, everyone!  We're in the home stretch here... two weeks left in my semester.  (Five for the rest of the household.)  I'll be spending the weekend writing one last lecture and catching up on grading.  

This week has been full of optimism.  I booked a weekend beach getaway with a friend and bought arena concert tickets (Genesis!) for December.  And we got some good news that will make the end of the year go much more smoothly for my kid.  The diabetic cat has been keeping me on my toes, though... several very late nights in a row.

Not much on the genealogy front so far this week... I found a newspaper marriage announcement for my great grandparents, so I have a firm date for that event now.  And I'm updating my DNAGEDCom match downloads so that I'm ready to work with them over the summer.  And this weekend is Mother's Day... the founder, Anna Jarvis, is my third cousin four times removed.  Maybe I'll work on my Jarvis line to celebrate.  Real celebration on Sunday will involve strawberry banana nutella crepes and maybe a movie.

Comments

Good that concerts and movies are coming back. I miss movies. Have a great weekend, Lis. Did you see what's coming soon from the MCU?

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I know you'll be glad when this semester ends, the one with no break!  It's been a long haul for you. Hang in there! It's almost over.

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Chris, that Phase 4 trailer was awesome!  Looking forward to seeing all of the upcoming stuff.

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Genesis Rules

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Paul, even better, we may also be getting tix for The Musical Box in November.  More than just a tribute band.  It's like going back in time to about 1975.  I think we've seen them more than we've actually seen Genesis at this point.

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I have never seen Genesis live. Genesis is one of those random bands I still like from before I joined the world of heavy metal. I first discovered them on Mtv when I was really young. I also loved Sammy Hagar back then. I cant wait to go to concerts again. Fun fact about me. I got paid to be security for Nazareth around 2004 when they played at the Fillmore County fairgrounds in the middle of nowhere Nebraska. They were awesome. In 2007 my wife and I saw Roger Waters when he did the Dark Side of the Moon tour. Then that same year, I made my wife go see Slayer with me.

Answer 9

Summer today (80 degrees), then back to Spring over the weekend (in the 50's).  One saying in this area is:  If you don't like the weather just wait 10 minutes.

Grand daughter (age 9) has a soccer tournament this weekend up in Sheridan, Wyoming.  Called the Snickers Cup ... not sure why?? ... anyway, teams from all over Wyoming and neighboring states show up.  Lots of different age groups ... think grand daughter is playing in the 11 and under bracket.  There are a few older kids on her team.  They finished second a couple of years ago.

So, that soccer tournament means that we get to dog sit the kid's mini golden doodle ... 8 months old and just full of energy.  Son-in-law just called a bit ago and I'm meeting them half way to pick up the dog ... 40 miles for them and 35 for me.  Should be a fun weekend.

Fixing up old profiles, adding some sources that have showed up and cleaning up silly rookie stuff.  Did get a nice 'Thank You' for a marriage I edited between Mercy (Jewett) Chapman and Daniel Chapman ... thanks Pip!!!  lol

Comments

Have a blast on your trip, Bob, even with the pup. Here's hoping your granddaughter's team comes out on top!

Answer 10

On this day:

1832: The Kingdom of Greece is established

1840: The composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is born

1994: The image The Scream is found again after being stolen

Comments

Hi Jelena! Hope your life is going smoothly this week. Please wish your Mum a Happy Mother's Day from your Wiki-friend in Arizona! {{{HUGS}}} Big Hugs to both of you!

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Love paintings like The Scream. Reminds me of The Persistence of Memory by Dali or Relativity by Escher. All those slightly "off" paintings that let your imagination run wild.

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Well, that date of Greece established 1832 blows off one assumption I had, that Greece was Greece when Rome was Rome, back when there was Udysses and the other pre-history "Marvels" ... 

If it was not Greece before then what was it? 

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According to Wikipedia, Greece was completely conquered by the Ottoman Empire by some time in the 16th Century. It stayed that way until 1821 until the Greeks declared their independence, but I don't think it was until 1832 that they "officially" declared the Kingdom of Greece.

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 Never cottoned to the pix "The Scream" since it reminded and still reminds me of being married, of what being married is like and likely to provoke (in me)   (He moved the skeleton from the front of the house back to where it was in 2019. I cannot figure out why someone, anyone does not steal the damned thing ... ) 

Mind you, I appreciate the many benefits of being married. It is just that to BE married you have to have the Other. That's the downside of marriage that leads to (many) moments when The Scream is heard rattling the walls of my habitat ... 

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So, the Ottermen (damn spelling) Ottoman were not Greek?  They were Turks? Really? Ulysses was a Turk? 

No. The Turks took over in the 1300's and Ulysses and his other herioic ilk were before that ... okay .. moment of angst, there 

Hmm. They were all Greek before the 1300's and still Greeks but called Turks in the 1300's through the 1700's, and then edged toward being Greeks, again and made it in the 1800's

I've had two really horrifying taxi rides in my life, memorable ones, one in NYC where I ended up hiding down on the floor in the back seat area (driver was absolutely insane) ... and the other when going to be late to work and the driver was from Cypriot and a patriot and ... I was not sure not at all that I was going to survive, literally not sure ... 

You really don't know what The Scream is all about until you are trapped in a taxi with a Cypriot Patriot on a rant about the Greek govt, arms waving, curses and spittle flying, voice soaring, speedometer spinning, ...  

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I'm having a hard time picking one this go around. All of them look good to me. I'll probably settle on the Kingdom of Greece. The a little Scream on the side. Professor, my assignment may be a little late!

Answer 11

Hi Folks, and thank you, Pip, for hosting.  It's been cool and damp, here in Bramans Corners.  The sun finally came out, yesterday and continues, this morning.  We have, like Pip, had a few hummingbird visitors, one, this morning.  The trees are finally leafing out, and the fields are deep green, against the lime colored hedgerows, with their wild apple accents.  I need to finally finish pruning the grapes, so we can repair the trellis.  As usual I've put it off, too long.

I've been rereading  Gavin Watt's Rebellion in the Mohawk Valley, his account of the St. Leger campaign and the lead up to it, from a loyalist perspective.  A fascinating read.  I picked it up many years ago, during a visit to Niagara on the Lake.

Not a lot on the genealogy front, a few records for existing profiles.  I did create a profile for the original owner of The American Hotel, in Sharon Springs, in honor of our planned outing, in nine days, for our anniversary dinner with my brother and sister in law.

Thank you all for the connections.

Comments

Watt's Rebellion. That should jog a memory of a history class from long ago. I'll have to read up on that one.

You'll have to tell us all about your anniversary outing next week!

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I have Gavin Watt's Loyalist Refugees-Non Military Refugees in Québec 1776-1784, he's very good.

It includes info on my husband's 5th GGF, he was the one who lived in Cherry Valley, left after the massacre and became a Butler's Ranger and UEL.

Answer 12

Buenos Dias from the Old Pueblo! It's 8am and  74 F (23.3C) with an expected high of 96F (35.6 C) and blue skies. We're beginning our summer heat!

It seems like Mum is doing very well in the Heritage Memory Center. They ask for no visitors for 2 weeks so that they can get to know Mum and she can get to know them. The staff are wonderful and sent two photos to help appease my kid sister's concerns. One shows Mum working on a craft item, the other shows her eating nachos and drinking an 8 oz margarita! Ole! I should sell this place and live there! Visiting begins this Sunday and Bonny is looking forward to it! Visiting is limited to 2 person for 2 hours a day to continue to control the pandemic on their premises. My brother made an awesome choice.

Tomorrow is our monthly historical society DNA SIG. The topic will be 'Search Angels'...helping to find information for adoptees, brick wall searches with DNA, etc. with Susan V. H. Fabian. The second talk will be on the book, The Chester Creek Murders by Nathan Dylan Goodwin. I've had my third Mastering Genealogical Proof class with Cyndi Ingle this week. It was a summary of the documentation that we learned about in the last session. I am really enjoying this group. There are 26 of us, some from the Documentation class. After this group ends, though, I will take a break from classes as I need to finish the Global Health syllabus and all of its demands for university.

We found out this week that the paper our FAAN nurse sleep research group submitted for publication has been accepted by the American Journal of Nursing with some minor revisions. We had a conference call this past Wednesday to go over the reviewer comments and address what changes are needed. The journal allows a four week turn-around, so we will have it ready to submit with revisions in three weeks. The topic is on nurse fatigue relevant to shift work, extended shift hours and interventions to reduce fatigue and support patient safety. 

This weekend, I will be working on follow up profiles that I identified from the Clean-a-Thon that need biographies and sourcing, along with preparing slides o human subjects violations (From Nuremburg to Tuskegee to Stanford  and Current Global Human Subjects Protections), and slides on early to current history of evidence-based research (From Scurvy to Scutari to the NFL) for the syllabus. I cannot wait to get all this stuff done as I want to start planning my travel out of country. I'm thinking Egypt or maybe an African wildlife photo shoot. Something to dream about and plan for.

My sincere best wishes for a Happy Mother's Day to all my WikiTree colleagues from across the globe this Sunday. AND sincere best wishes and kudos to my nurse colleagues across the globe for a Happy Nurses Week which will end on May 12th, the 201st anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth!

Comments

Carol, I know it is a huge relief for you and other members of your family to have made such a good choice in a care facility for your mom. Are you planning a trip up?

I have a question about your paper. Does it address PTSD as a factor in sleep disorders for nurses? My nurse/paramedic daughter has had to deal with this to the point of counseling and medication.

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Hi Pip, our paper doesn't address PTSD per se. We do address burnout and the critical situations (along with long shifts, night shifts, critical care, etc.) that lead to burnout and can lead to PTSD. Working as a paramedic differs a bit from nursing; however, our information in the paper is relevant to all shift workers in critical care areas, including paramedics, fire fighters, law enforcement, etc. on these extended and night shifts that interrupt circadian rhythmicity. We also mention the fallout on nurses from the COVID pandemic, but COVID is not the focus of the paper. When published, I will send a copy to you. There are recommendations to promote sleep.

My son-in-law did four tours of duty in the Middle East when he was in the Air Force. He has diagnosed PTSD and has gone through the VA's cognitive-behavioral training program. His PTSD manifests as insomnia and nightmares (which I call flashbacks in dreams). These are the usual suspects relevant to PTSD and sleep. In addition to cognitive-behavioral approaches, I will these program would include other approaches, including yoga, relaxation training, and energy-based modalities like healing touch and chakra balancing.

Last November, when I taught the sleep course to doctors, nurses and nutritionists enrolled in their diabetes educator program in Mexico, I included a question relevant to experiencing any sleep problems since the onset of the pandemic. Some 80% reported sleep problems, primarily related to insomnia...difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep due to concerns with catching the virus, family concerns, finances, adequate food for the family and so forth. I am including the same question when I teach the sleep course this May 28th. I'm curious to see if the insomnia is abating a bit, or if it will be the same. Keep in mind, though, that for this study, it is specific to sleep complaints and COVID in Mexico. It's descriptive, not a cause and effect study that addresses PTSD.

Meanwhile, specific to PTSD and sleep, here is an article from the Sleep Foundation that might be of help to you and your daughter https://www.sleepfoundation.org/mental-health/ptsd-and-sleep

I wish your daughter well and will send positive healing intention.

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HI, Carol, since we didn't get to meet in person, I'll have to make do with these weekend reports!  Hopefully we will meet soon!

Glad your Mom is settled and your family can start to visit.  I am always impressed by your research work, congratulations on the paper accepted by the Journal of Nursing.

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Now that was a great article. Thanks for the link, Carol!

Answer 13

Good morning from Tucson.

The saga of my horrible year continues.  This time I had a one woman bike accident where I broke my pelvis i 3 places and did some damage to my ribs and shoulder.  Now I can't put weight on my right leg so I have to use a walker (which is painful because of the chest and shoulder) and I can't drive.

All of this reminds me of how much I miss my husband and how he would have taken such good care of me.  My children took turns coming (cost of airfare be damned) to take me home from the hospital and get me set up at home.

Fortunately I can sit without pain so I am trying to work my way through the backlog of WikiTree emails and tasks still here since Phil died.  And I can play bridge and everyone is coming to my house so I don't have to go out.

I am reading some books but they are all on my bed and I don't want to go down there to get their titles.  #endofsobstory

Genealogy-wise we are making some progress on the names of the Mi'kmaqs who married into Acadian families, thanks especially to Rhon White and John Riley.  Working on sorting and cleaning up categories again.  I felt strong enough to take back one of my days to monitor our activity feed.  My co-leaders have picked up a lot of slack for me (bless you Jackie and Gisele).

The other bright spot right now is I am planning the Celebration of Life for my sweet husband.  It's a time to honor him and our life and remember so many of the funny and interesting things about him.  Something to look forward to.

Comments

Oh, Cindy, I am so terribly sorry to hear about your fall and injuries. You really have had a rough year. The silver lining is that your children are doing what they need to to make sure you are making it though this. Hang in there and keep us posted on your recovery. May it be a quick one!

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Cindy, my heart goes out to you.  I am so sorry you are having such a year.  Congratulations to you and Phil for having such a lovely marriage so you can have good memories to celebrate and children who are so caring.

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Hi Cindy, please know that I am holding you and your family in my positive healing intentions. I am so very sorry about your injuries. Grief and grief work is so draining and painful. There just are no words. We can only hold you in our positive thoughts and know that you are not alone.

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Wow, Cindy. I just don't know what to say. I sure hope that things start looking up for you as it does sound like 2021 has not been a good year to you. Glad to hear that you're recovering at least, but that's some really difficult things to go through. I'm also glad to hear you have family and friends who care for you and are making sure that everything is OK. That's so important when life gets challenging. I love that you're planning a celebration of life for your husband. It's easy for those who are departed - they don't have any suffering or worries any longer. But for those who are left behind, we still have all the memories and emotions and miss them dearly. I can imagine with the friends and family who want to share in that celebration with you, that it will be a wonderful time of remembrance and it will help to focus on all those times when things were at their best. I wish you the best.

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Sorry about your fall. Hope that you have a speedy recovery.

Answer 14

 Oh, Pippin, I read your enthusiasms and feel old. 

OKAY, GEN TALK -- Did you notice changes to relationship tracking? - WikiTree G2G 

Eddie King, King of the Research Keyboard, found 6 different DNA studies ... Davenport, Clan Gregor, Spencer, Bryan / Bryant, Acadians & Native Americans, and Morgan 

Comments

Eddie, the Source King, King!!!! I noticed that one of my projects picked up on one of those surnames.

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REF the "Relationship Tracking" --  Did some profile creation of a spouse to a cousin, and her parents (which were orphaned) and frankly do not see any impact on the Changes log for the cousin and later when I added the spouses parents on her Changes logs ... "I'm excited to announce a significant improvement that will make it easier to track relationship changes." and I can't figure out what is exciting about it. Ends by saying  All this is more than most WikiTreers will need to know. As usual, I wanted to explain the details for advanced WikiTreers. We also need your help in watching for unintended consequences and bugs."

That last sentence explains it -- I am NOT an Advanced WikiTreer.  I kept looking and looking and couldn't see anything different happening. It is apparently something quite subtle that occurs.  It is known I have not seen the obvious at times (many times, in fact), so something subtle can escape my notice. 

I'm not sure what I thought I would see, like a duplicated comment in the Changes log for each affected profile? 

 Well, I don't NEED to see "it", either, whatever occurs. 

it occurs to me I spend a significant amount of time trying to figure out what someone else is talking about. But no day is wasted if you discover something new to you ... 

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Another clue about the newest tweak -- RELATIONSHIP CHANGES REPORTING -- Counts will be a little different going forward, but not retroactively. In a few cases we will be only counting one contribution when we used to count two, because now we are identifying the duplicate history item. In one-to-one relationship changes we only want to count one contribution. But if you are changing multiple relationships at once, there could be multiple contributions counted. In my example where there would be 12 history items, six would be counted -- one for each pair.

I strongly suspect this latest tweak is not going to affect the vast majority of the profiles I manage ... 

Granted, I create someone, and either they are created as a child of some couple, or they are created as the spouse of someone, or they are created as the parents of the spouse of someone 

Someone is single, you find a spouse or two or five (which I have found at times) and you create the spouses, making a couple ... I guess this is the sort of Relationship Changes meant? Or you discover from the death records another child of a couple that did not appear elsewhere and so you profile this child ... that would be a Relationship Changes ? 

Maybe this is meant only for the pre-1700s and pre-1500s ?

Eh. Well, if the count of contributions is reduced due to relationship changes, is okay by me, it will not discommode me.  

Answer 15

Hello from the other side of the Pond,

here in Germany the trend of decreasing numbers of Covid-infections went on. In my county, the school kids will come every other day again in school. And probably from next Wednesday or Thursday on shops can offer Click and meet again. Vaccination-wise, now everybody can get a shot with Astra Zeneca. There is no priorization anymore with that vaccine. Pfizer and Moderna are still restricted to certain groups of people. Hmmm, I will have to think about it over the weekend if I give it a shot (in the double sense of the word) with Astra Zeneca.

WikiTree-wise, I had a very special week personally. Last Sunday mum told me that Sophie Scholl's 100. birthday is next Sunday (the day after tomorrow). Since July 2019 I tried to connect her profile to the Big Tree. I already wrote elsewhere it was an on/off project of mine. I created profiles and profiles and the family seemed to live only on a few square kilometers. There was hardly ever a connection to somewhere else. But when I went through my Watchlist in the last few weeks I had found a connection to Kentucky. So knowing of that connection I looked further there and tried to connect that cluster. Aaand... yay, I found that connection to the Big Tree.

Y'all will learn on Sunday why Sophie and her brother Hans are so special for German history.

And when I was on a Connector's roll I also connected Ray Dolby, the innovator of the Dolby-surround-system. His connection is via his paternal line, his maternal line goes via Finland or Sweden. I might bring him into the "connect the profile to the Scandinavian roots"-thread.

Stay safe, keep the distance when you are together with people who aren't completely vaccinated and have a great weekend!

Comments

Jelena: I live in Canada and I received the AstraZeneca vaccine back in March. I was teaching more than 170 different students a week in person and I was traveling on public transit to go to and from my school. Because I was exposed to hundreds of people a week, I decided that the benefits outweighed the risks. 

My friend was vaccinated two days before I was and then two weeks later she and her whole family got COVID. She was very tired and had a headache, but those were her only symptoms during the ten days of her illness. She did not end up in the hospital. I am sure that her reduced symptoms were because of the vaccine. 

Now, the schools are closed in Ontario, Canada, and we are teaching on-line because we reached more than 4,000 new cases a day in our province. We have dropped to about 3,000 new cases a day. For a province with about fourteen and a half million people, that is a lot of new cases. I am happy that I made the decision that I did back in March. I wish you joy and peace in your decision-making. Anne

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Jelena, why would the A-Z be for everyone, but the others still be restricted?

Did you say you worked for TWO YEARS trying to connect that family?!? I’d be tooting a horn for you if I had one handy. Well done!!

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I did. Something like 300 profiles to find only a handful (literally) with connections outside of those few km². Oh well, last night I completed the siblings of Sophie and Hans, and their spouses, so that tomorrow the family is completely presentable to the German folks that might wonder about their connection to the Global Family.

About AZ and restrictions or not: There was a real fuss about AZ here. When they were allowed of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), there were not enough data to allow it for people over 65. Then there were a few cases (but far more than it would have been usually expected) of Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis, especially at relatively young women. When that happened, EMA said first: "Vaccinations with AZ are to be stopped" and a few days later: "AZ is only to give to people over 60."

Then there was another topic with it: "The time between the two vaccines should be 3 weeks." Then there were studies from the UK saying the antibody-reaction is far better when the time is longer, the best it is after 12 weeks. So it was said to have 12 weeks in between the shots. Now, just yesterday it was said: "The time between the shots can be shortened to 4 to 8 weeks.", but on the other side the German Fauci says: "I will get my second shot only after 12 weeks." Huh?

Chaos whereever you look, and all this doesn't really help to be sure that AZ is the best shot for you.

On the other side, there were absolutely no problems regarding Pfizer. Mum also had no problems after her shots, if you don't count the one half day after her first shot.

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Finally committed to my Pfizer next Saturday, so we'll see how that goes. We're still on the 3 week gap schedule, so I guess I'll have 1 in May and the next in early June.

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Fitting to my wondering I saw this morning a thread on twitter where someone recalled his "pre-vaccination-talk" for AZ with a doctor. He made a thread of 15 tweets where many of the "usual" arguments pro and con were mentioned. I tend more and more to getting the vaccine even if it is AZ.

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Next twist and turn with my wondering about the vaccination. I *think* I know why the AZ-vaccines are open to everyone. The EU announced today they wouldn't buy anymore AZ-vaccines, but considerably more of Pfizer and Moderna. I remember what happened on the last weekend of March in Serbia. During the week, the government invited families of Serbian inhabitants from the other West-Balcan-states to come to Serbia and get a vaccination with AZ. They did that because there were so many vaccines left and the "best before-date" was March 31. "Better to vaccinate people from elsewhere than to let it go to waste." I suspect that something similar is now going on here, that there are so many vaccines left that - in case they wouldn't be given to anybody - they would parish.

Hmmm, another aspect to consider...

Answer 16

Greetings from Brightlingsea, Essex, England.

Its a case I need to get to do "Weekly Chat" early on in the weekend. Otherwise I am likely to remember on Sunday evening and that is a bit late.                                                  The only  side effects from my  second "jab"  which I had  last Friday were a sore arm for a day. Looking forward to being able to have more of a life as we release the lockdown.                                                                                Monday was a Bank Holiday and there was the Usual Bank Holiday car boot sale on Brightlingsea Promenade.  Went along not really intending to buy anything but got some lightbulbs which I had been meaning to get.  See friends who are connected with Brightlingsea Lido who were running their fundraising stall. Incidentally the "work parties" are back at the lido with the aim to open for the summer on June 21st. Good to have the Lido open this year.

Thursday was Election Day - elections for County Councillor and  the Police & Fire Commissioner for Essex. Fortunately the Polling Station was at the Community Centre which is quite close to me.

Today - was doing some painting at home - front bay window needs some attention. Seem to be able to find plenty to keep me busy. As regards Wikitree am looking through the watchlist again and following up on profiles.  

Hope everyone has a good weekend....

Comments

Chris, I love it when you check in with us and tell us what’s going on in Brightlingsea. It really sound like a charming place to live.

Answer 17

Thank You for hosting the Chat Pip,I am a little late to the party but we just got back from visiting the youngest great grandson and we are going to pick up dinner soon so I will make it as quick as I can.

I typed this up during the week on a notepad section to copy and paste when I get a chance on the weekend

This week.

Monday, We finished moving the furniture around and did some laundry, The laundromat is not cheap. I did complete a pending merge on Wikitree along with some edits on some profiles but I really did not have much time to spend on genealogy

Tuesday, Last minute shopping for our trip, pick up one grandson from school and do some last minute checks on the car.  I had some free time and managed to find enough information to open up some unlisted profiles, always a good thing. I also open a few profiles that were set to Red privacy level and set them to either Green or totally Open. I only use the Green setting while working on them and try to remember to set them to totally open when I am done.

Wednesday, Gas up the car and finish packing everything except for cold stuff we are taking.

Thursday, Drove about 9 hours to Kannapolis North Carolina. Also there is a Ham radio class that I am helping with but this time I was face to face with one of the students as well as online. The plans are to visit with the oldest granddaughter and her son on Friday, Saturday a cookout with my son in laws parents, Sunday the other granddaughter that lives there will be making stuffed cabbage for mothers day dinner, and Monday drive home  bringing the younger granddaughter up with us for an extended visit with the family that lives near us.
Some might worry but I knew I was close based on seeing a cemetery I recognized along the way.

Comments

On the way back Monday I am going to trust my GPS app and go home a different way. It looks like I would avoid a bunch of problems with road construction.

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You had a busy week again, Dale. I see that the washer is not fixed yet, the one at home.

I haven’t been to Kannapolis in many years, a lot of years! I don’t know if I’d recognize it now. I worked on Concord at a church for two years as a music director, and if we went out to eat later, it was across the interstate for a nice cafeteria.

When driving from Charlotte to Concord to work, I’d take 49 up there. This was back when once you left the UNCC area it was all Country, beautiful farmland and woods. Now, I can see on Google Maos that most of it is developed. Used to be that the only businesses on the way were the Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Phillip Morris factory. Sad to lose all that beauty.

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Pip The house we are staying at is in the city but you would never know it. The drive is located at the end of E 26th street, not a dead end because another street meets it there, but you can not see the house until you turn in the drive. Added to that it is surrounded by woods and down the hill a bit meaning that at this time of the year you can see no neighbors. Beautiful property and beautiful weather. I might take some pictures later but no promises.

Answer 18

Week summary

• Helped connect a new WikiTreer: Patrick Hadow
• Connected Norman Mackworth
• Finally found the necessary images for the Ethnicity Template

Friday:

• 1912, death of James McGowan
• Stumbled on who I think is my closest relation associated with the Titanic: Algernon Henry Wilson Barkworth (Edited for grammatical sense)

Saturday

• 1787, Richard Jeffreys got married
• Grandmother's birthday
• Edit: Connected my first Prime Minister of Jordan to the tree (42 remaining)

Comments

Richard, I have to admire your sticktoitiveness (stick-to-it-tive-ness, I had to type that out for myself). Great work on connecting one of Jordan’s prime ministers. That’s an area I would not be very successful, I think.

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I wouldn't dare to touch those Arab/Chinese/SouthAsian whatever people that are written neither in Latin nor in Cyrillic at all. I can't read those scripts, so before I touch them I let that do someone who can decipher the names.

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I've spent enough time with the Arabic script where I have some familiarity (I have to use a translate tool for large amounts of script though). I am staying away from the Mandarin, Cantonese and Kanji scripts. I'm undecided with the South East Asia area though.

Cyrillic was something I looked at in my early teens simply because I felt like it.

Officially, I'm not a linguist, but my mind certainly functions like one

Answer 19

Good evening from Wales.

Today started off rather damp but brightened up and we got a different walk in this afternoon with other views of the beautiful countryside where we live. Traffic is increasing now so the constant drone is there in the background something that was much less this time last year.

Forecast for tomorrow is not great so I will probably be working on my profiles cleaning or expanding.

I have been participating in the challenge some weeks and want to work on my family which may connect with our Week 20 guest.

Comments

Hilary, I’m glad you are able to get out and about, even if the traffic noise is a distraction. You live is such a lovely place.

Answer 20

Currently, it's 8˚ C and overcast in Fort Erie. It's been raining off and on for a while, so the light of my life and the delight of my eyes is glaring out the window, waiting for it to clear up (and warm up), so she can go outside and get her hands dirty. She has a rhododendron to take out of the pot and put into the ground, and a whole bunch of other things planned. The worktable in the laundry room, a couple of windowsills, a bookshelf, and the dryer are covered with tomato, pepper, pea, and bean plans in various stages of outgrowing their little starter cups, and I still haven't brought home the greenery to make a windbreak on the windward side of the property. (Currently, I'm leaning towards going with cedars, not because they're the smartest choice for our soil conditions, but because they're the cheapest evergreens I can find with the potential to grow tall enough to slow down the wind howling around the house in the winter and save something on our gas bill.)

On the genealogy front, the surnames I'm working on this month are Cutlip and French.

Comments

Cedars ARE a great wind break, Greg. Where I grew up, there were natural cedar windbreaks caused by birds dropping seeds along the barbed wire fence that devided my grandfather’s property up into pastures and garden areas. Some of these were very old and huge!

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Oh, don't get me wrong. I love cedars. But all the advice says to plant them in sandy, well-drained soil. But this whole area is 5-8 centimetres of topsoil over clay, and our lawn (and garage) flood every time it rains. If I were made of money, I'd buy the house and fix it up right, including hiring landscapers to dig up the whole property to about a metre down, laying down about 20 centimetres of gravel, and then a mix of loam, compost, and charcoal, and finally lay some fresh, non-lumpy sod so I'm not in danger of breaking my ankles every time I walk across it. (Well, except for the garden patches, where the light of my life could have her crocus-, daffodil-, lily-, and tulipalooza. And whatever else she wants: strawberries, loganberries, roses....) 

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Greg, another common issue with cedars, they tend to be mosquito magnets, especially if planted close together. The air stays damp and cooler inside the trees and it can be bug heaven.

But OTOH Ontario white cedars seem quite happy growing in poorly drained soil. Just north of here, the ground is quite boggy and covered in cedars.

Or plant a cedar every 6- 8ft and use Welded Wire mesh panels (farmers use it for fencing) in between them, then you could grow cucumbers, squash, beans etc up the mesh panels.

You would need some type of post for attaching the mesh panels. Home hardware has metal T-rails for $10.49 or I have a free source for old ones.