We returned home yesterday afternoon and all is well with our house. Our kids and extended family are fine. We are some of the lucky ones. The sky is blue with a few clouds this morning but you can still smell smoke in the air. The winds are picking up a bit. Hope for the fires to be over soon and for happy holidays.
Featured image of ‘Inside the cozy cottage’ by Jamiecat* on Flickr
Evacuated again yesterday evening. We had this experience several years ago, so this time we left when we were given the voluntary evacuation notice. We knew that the mandatory evacuation order could be coming soon and did not want to spend the night with one eye open waiting for it. Made quick calls to local family, packed a few essentials, grabbed some photo albums, drove away toward West Los Angeles. Happy that our kids and little grandson are evacuated and safe. Feels like the fire took off fast this time.
Chris Erskine is waxing lyrical in the Saturday edition of the LA Times this morning about LaLa Land and I am reaching out to cousins in Ireland. The Irish stories I have found while doing genealogical research have affected me. It can be hard to find solid connections within the records. Looking for the children of a great-great aunt I find people with the same names. Do I choose the girl who was shipped to Australia as an orphan to be put to work as a servant. The boy who ran away from the workhouse. The young man who was sent to prison for steeling 2 cows. Or the people of the same name who prospered and had children.
Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt today was to open a book and pick a word, phrase, or sentence and write about it. I have been going through databases which are like big books and finding words and sentences describing people’s lives.
I did find some living cousins in Ireland and will be sending a letter and have sent an email from their long lost cousin in America.
Featured image of Nenagh Castle (tower) in Tipperary.
A father a son, Jesse and David Fryburg, M.D., started an organization called ‘Envision Kindness’ to capture images of kindness that can have a positive effect on us all. It seems like we could all use some positive news and images to counteract all the very negative news we have been exposed to. People who worked with this program found that creating photos about kindness did inspire them to carry on doing good for others. You can read about it here.
Viewing images of kindness may help us all heal.
We Are The World blog #WATWB, is a monthly blog hop to share positive news. This month’s hosts are: Eric Lahti, Inderpreet Uppal, Shilpa Garg, Mary Gieseand Roshan Radhakrishnan
The idea is to spread #positivity and #light to counterbalance the #negativity and #darkness in #socialmedia
Posthumous is when something happens after you have died, like receive a medal or some type of acclaim. This happens to war heroes and artists and many people throughout history. With the genealogical research I have been doing I am shining a small light on those who lived before me and whose genes I carry. So far, it is bits and pieces and imagining of what their lives were like. I have found many ancestors and felt that they wanted to be found, wanted someone to know they had lived. Maybe I will learn more about them in the future. That way I will honor their lives posthumously.
The Stream of Consciousness Saturday blog is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for today is “post.” Use it as a word, or find a word that uses it as a prefix. Have fun!
Featured image of ‘Forget Me Not’ flowers by Athanasios Benisis via Wikipedia.org
I go round and round looking for clues to the connections between people who lived in the 1800s to the 1900s. Turns out that records were sparce in the 1800s because they just didn’t keep records or the records were destroyed. There was an ancestor named Rachel who must have had a powerful influence because so many women descendants were named Rachel. That is one way I can make connections, by following the names.
A little bunny rabbit has been making the rounds in my yard, nibbling on the greenery. My ground cover has just come around to full bloom and here comes a rabbit. I eye him suspiciously.
Spring Peter Cottontail Rabbit Bunny Trail by ForestWander.com
The Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for today is ’round.’ Image of bunny by ForestWander http://www.ForestWander.com via Wikimedia.org
Tee hee and tutti frutti. Does anyone really laugh like that, “Tee hee?” I will have to monitor my giggles and see if I ever hear a tee. And, whatever happened to tutti frutti ice cream? It’s kind of like spumoni, ice cream with dried fruit and nuts. Been watching tons of British detective mystery shows. So happy Endeavour ( It’s spelled the British way, did you notice?) is back. It makes me sad that it may end soon and then will there be another series? I get so attached to the characters. I would miss DCI Fred Thursday like I miss Inspector Japp and Inspector Lestrade. The trouble with having streaming video from Amazon is that I can watch several episodes of the older British mysteries series in a short period of time. And they end before I am ready for them to end. Then I have to look for new ones. Some are better than others. What does this have to do with tutti frutti ice cream you say. Well nothing, but I have noticed that the detectives are always having a cup of tea. Every time they go into someone’s house the homeowner offers them a cup of tea. Or the detectives are drinking ale at a pub after work or during lunch. Or they have a to-go cup of something when they start work, probably tea again. Wonder if they ever have tutti frutti in England?
This is Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for today is ‘T, tea, tee.’ Featured image ‘Spumoni’ by Didebertin on Wikimedia.org
Quick search for word ‘lung’ showed word origin came from words for light as in not heavy because lungs of animals would float in water. (Thesaurus.com)
Can you believe that symptoms of tuberculosis used to be thought of as glamorous in the late 18th and early 19th century? I read that recently in an article from Hyperallergic. Maybe it’s not hard to believe because people with anorexic appearance are sometimes admired nowadays. I thought I was reaching an end in my genealogical research but I am still learning a few things. Some sad things I have read are that people in those early days, 1800s to early 1900s, died of drowning, appendicitis, and tuberculosis sometimes called phthisis. Death certificates cited lack of medical care. People even died in workhouses. Many children died young. I thought some of my ancestors would have given up after losing a spouse or their children. Especially during the hard years before and during WWII in Europe. I later discovered that some remarried and had more children. To me this illustrates their courage and optimism.
Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. Today’s prompt was ‘organ’, to pick an organ and write about it. Featured image of a painting by Edvard Munch of his sister Sophie who died of tuberculosis when he was 14.
Out of clues or leads to information about my ancestors and their descendants. I have been on an engrossing journey finding out about relatives I had never known I had. This includes finding out that my grandmother’s maiden name was different from what most of her family had thought. One of my aunt’s had written me about her maiden name over 30 years ago and I thought she was confused. I recently found a marriage record and my aunt was right. I was having trouble finding a record of my grandmother’s birth in Ireland and with the change in her maiden name, I found her. Now if I could only find out if any relatives are still living in Ireland.
I have been corresponding with a nice lady at a Irish Genealogy Center and she has been very helpful, too.
Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. Prompt today is to start and end post with a three-letter word.
Even though the sound of it is something quite percocious….It sounds a little gushy but I am excited to find I have cousins in California that I did not know I had. Through the genealogy research I have been doing so intently I found some new relatives. I am very happy about it because I had a small family and now many of them are deceased. My research has led me to ancestors in Ireland, England, Canada, and Scotland. I am feeling more connected to and a part of this family history. I still have a lot to find out but it wonderful to find more family in my own backyard. Amazing and super.
Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for today is ‘sup.’ Featured image of ‘Ornamental knot’ by AnonMoos on Wikimedia.org
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