Book of my written by you: Halloween

2012 Halloween Costume.  Yes, a witch.

I have written several times on different Halloween topics in this blog, and seeing as it is in a few days it only makes sense that the next prompt in this series is on this subject as well.  This is one of my favorite times of year.  The colors, the crisp air, the smells, the food, I could go on and on.  I have so many wonderful memories from when I was a child and also taking my children out that it was very difficult to pick just one.  So, I didn’t.  Instead I want to share with you some of my favorite memories, and maybe give you a laugh along the way.  Hope you enjoy!

The Swamp Thing From Arvin Pond

I always had homemade costumes.  Only one time can I remember my parents splurging on a costume and that was because as a 4/5 year old I had succumbed to TV marketing and had to have this weird blow up head thingy that EVERYONE was going to wear (do you remember kooky spooks? I had the black cat).  Anyway, like I was saying, usually they were homemade whatever you could find lying around the house costumes.  When I was in 2^nd grade I was the “Swamp Thing From Arvin Pond.” 

My dad put this one together.  I wore a snorkeling mask, had the breathing tube thingy for snorkeling, and then was wrapped in a white sheet.  Yep, that was it.  Since we lived out in the country trick-or-treating consisted of going to my local great aunts and uncles houses.  I got caramel apples, homemade peanut brittle, toffee, but best of all was a piece of my great aunt Jean’s fresh out of the oven lemon meringue pie. 

It was so good; the lemon smell, still warm, creamy and tangy with the light fluff on top.  Yumm!  I can still remember her bringing it out of the oven and putting a piece in front of the swamp thing so it would leave the family alone that night.  Oh yeah, she really played it up.

Mom’s Mini-Me

At ten I was the almost same height as my mother.  I also had the same shoe size, which did not please her at all.  There was a six month time frame where I ruined almost every pair of shoes she had because I wanted to wear them, and they fit, so I did.  Anyway, this was a good thing when once again it was Halloween and I needed a costume.  Never being one to plan things out way in advance I was asked at school to go trick-or-treating with a friend in her neighborhood.  I had 2 hours, what was I going to wear.

Mom was home that night, amazingly enough.  She was in her 3^rd year of medical school and it was a rare that I saw her.  So, when she found me desperately searching through my closet for something to wear she stopped me, brought me into her room, and handed me her uniform.  With the assistance of my mom she dressed me up in her BDUs, put her combat boots on my feet, painted my face, and gave me a rucksack to carry my candy in.  It was AWESOME!

Even better, was when I was trick-or-treating and one of the houses we went to was the home of her classmate.  At first she confused me from my mom until she realized that under that get-up was her daughter.

Pumpkins or Turnips

We always, ALWAYS, carve pumpkins.  Sometimes we toast the seeds, sometimes not, but the pumpkins must be carved!  In college I took a folklore class as one of my electives and I read a story about carving turnips instead.  Well I had this brilliant idea that instead of pumpkins that year we would have carved turnips.

Now turnips are small, really small, but hat was not going to stop me!  I carved 8 turnips until I had blisters on my hands and my fingers ached.  They were really cool though, and we did get quite a few comments from the parents of trick-or-treaters. 

The next time I had this brilliant idea…I went for the rutabaga instead.  They are just a really large turnips, right?

Presentation on Genetics and Genealogy This Monday!

This coming Monday I will present the following lecture in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  I hope you will be able to come! If you do, please introduce yourself, I would love to meet anyone who has followed my blog.

The presentation will be an overview on how genealogists can use DNA as a tool for their research.  You don't need to know anything about DNA testing, or genealogy, to attend. So, feel free to bring a friend or just come and listen.

Looking forward to seeing you there.  Below is the press release:

The Friends of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library will host Shannon Bennett, a biologist and genealogist, at their Annual Meeting on Monday, October 28, at 7:00 pm. Ms. Bennett will reveal how DNA research is changing the world of genealogy. Genetic genealogy has taken off in the last decade as DNA sequencing and access to testing has become easier and more affordable. Although the DNA results currently used by genealogists will not give a definitive answer to your heritage, it can help validate possibilities. DNA test results have led to more than one person validating a hunch and proving a connection that was only theoretical.

The meeting is open to the public and will be held at the Headquarters library, 1201 Caroline Street, Fredericksburg. Refreshments will be served.

Book of me written by you: Grandparents

My grandmothers in Washington D.C. May 1988

Thoughts on my grandparents are mixed and wonderful.  I learned a lot about my grandfathers from stories my family told, particularly those from my grandmothers.  My maternal grandfather died two years before I was born right after my mother graduated from high school.  While I have a few memories of my paternal grandfather they are shadowy and vague.  More like impressions than real memories.  He died shortly after I turned two years old.

My grandmothers were my rocks at times.  We lived with one or the other until I was 8.  Then every summer until I was 13 I was sent home to visit.   They taught me all sort of things and took me all sorts of places.  Each was very different and even as a young girl I can remember thinking that they couldn’t be less a like. 

Grandmother Arvin was an officer’s wife.  She had pictures and stories from all over the world. I played dress up in her old 1950-60s taffeta dresses and costume jewelry.  However, under it all she was still, at times, the rural farm girl.  She canned, gardened, make dinner for sick friends, participated in civic events, and was very down to earth.  A brilliant woman, she gave up her dreams of college to be a wife and mother.  She told me once she wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Maxine Armstong Arvin
High School Picture

Her one bad habit (besides loving hard candies and being diabetic) was chain smoking.  Prescribed to her as a stress reliever during WWII, she could never quite kick the habit.  I have vivid memories of her sitting at her kitchen table for hours with a small glass of orange juice, hard core bodice ripper novel in one hand, and a cigarette in the other.  She came to live with us while I was in high school and we cared for her until her death during my junior year.

Grandmother Combs was a retired school teacher and very, very stubborn.  She seemed to fight tooth and nail her whole life for everything and wasn’t afraid to let you know her opinion.  Grandma lived in the same town her entire life and wasn’t going to be told she couldn’t do anything.  She traveled, severed in many organizations for teachers and professional women, and earned a master’s degree.  I know at times she was a handful, but her spunk and go get ‘em attitude always made me admire her. 

Ruth Brennan Combs
First Communion Picture

We were always on the move at her house visiting people, seeing things, or even doing crafts.  As a former kindergarten teacher she always had an overflowing stash of construction paper and crafty objects.  You could never keep her down, which is why when I think she didn’t feel she could be “normal” again after her surgeries for colon cancer, grandma literally gave up.  She died when I was a junior in college, the week before Christmas.

It makes me sad that my kids will not have the honor of meeting these amazing people.  There are times that I look back on that time of my life and wish that I had spent more time with them, thanked them more, and told them I loved them more.  As a teenager you sometimes do not realize what types of gifts are in front of you until you lose them.

Reading and Digesting Complex Terms: Making a flow chart for MGP

When Tom Jones’s book Mastering Genealogical Proof came out earlier this year I snagged a copy early.  I even took it to FGS in August to get it signed by him and the one time I ran into him I had left it in the hotel room.  C’est la vie.  However, it has been one mighty tough book to get through.  Yes, I have found myself at times reading and re-reading the same passage multiple times trying to get what in the world he was trying to teach me. 

I stopped trying, and started writing it in my words.  That was the only way I was going to be able to digest the information and have it make sense to me in the end.  Read, interrupt, diagram, write, and repeat it all again.  Then I thought, you know, if I am having a bit of trouble others may be too.  So, here are some tricks for you to try on your own if you are having trouble getting through the book.  Oh and there will be another post on this.  I am only through chapter 5.  Chapters 6, 7, and 8 are in the works.

If you are a visual person like I am then I highly recommend creating a visual cheat sheet.  I broke out my colored pens and began making a flow chart of relationships with definitions for each section and term.  The new vocabulary was what I was tripped up on.  While I intuitively knew answers to the questions in the books (they just “felt” right in my gut) I had a hard time using the correct terms to explain and justify my answers.  Making those intuitive leaps that connect the dots so to speak just seemed to come naturally to me.  Trying to explain I knew it because of independent sources with primary information from a derivative work made my head hurt.

The first cheat I made was the bullet points for the GPS, or genealogical proof standard.  On the back of that card I placed the research and reasoning cycles.  My next card consisted of a summary on how to create a well worded research question.  Having these on one index card front and back was fine, until I needed to add to it.  Soon I found myself with an 11x14 piece of paper, folded in half, with many different colors and arrows on it.  Keeping it to this size will be a challenge, but you don’t want too much on a cheat sheet.

Below is the flow chart I created when my chicken scratch became too hard to read.  It has helped me use the correct terms when evaluating sources and information.  I hope you find it useful, or you can modify it to your needs.

 **Note: Yes, there are a few typos but this is my personal sheet and is a work in progress.  Sometimes I forget that Publisher does not have automatic spell check all the time...

The flow chart I created to help with the basics terms and ideas

Book of Me Written by You: Journaling

I tried on and off for many years to keep a journal, I was just never very successful.  My first was given to me when I was 6 by my maternal grandmother.  I can remember it very clearly.  It was huge in my little hands, with a Holly Hobbie motif and glided edges.  Not really knowing what to do with it, and being in first grade, my entries talked about all sorts of things.  Entries were erratic and covered topics from what happened at school to how unfair my parents were.  The diary was lost long ago, but I have to say I wish I could see it now.  It probably would cause me to giggle.

My next diary was given to me by my paternal grandmother when I was 10.  It quickly became less about what was actually happening in my life and what I wish my life was like. Then and in the future.  At 10, or 5^th grade, I had a lot of turmoil in my life.  To be honest I really don’t know why.  My family life was fine but I was making poor choices with friends, getting into trouble, and being rebellious in many ways to put it mildly.  My journaling was the way I escaped from reality.  It was pure fantasy, written like it was really happening.  I wrote on and off in it until I was 12 and then I lost it during a move.  Then, quite by chance, I found it in the bottom of a trunk when I was 16.  Appalled by what I read, and scared people might think that was really what went on in my life then, I burned it.

In college my recording of events, thoughts, and emotions came from my calendars.  I kept very in-depth calendars of my class and work schedules.  In the margins I made comments about what was going on when, hearts around important dates, and other little symbols to remind me of people and groups.  In fact, my calendar only recently went from handwritten to digital, and that was at the prompting of my husband.  For the last year I have used my calendar on the computer for my appointments, and you could say this site for my thoughts.  Well, at least my genealogy thoughts.

There is also a partial journal from when I was pregnant with my oldest child.  At the time I thought it would be a wonderful heirloom; a written record of the appointments, thoughts, and happenings surrounding the birth of our first child.  It abruptly stops at 25 weeks, the time my oldest was born via emergency C-section, and the start of the rollercoaster ride that comes with being a NICU parent.  I kept daily accounts of that time and put them into a scrap book for my son.  It was my  therapy to say the least.

Several years ago I began a private livejournal account.  I loved my livejournal.  Yes, I said loved.  To be honest since I started writing here more and writing other places more frequently, writing for me fell to the wayside.  I keep telling myself I will go back, it just hasn’t happened yet.  What I love is that I was able to make a book out of all the journal entries I created.  Now, even if I lose my account, I won’t lose my memories. 

One day I will learn life balance and will be able to write what I want, when I want, how I want, and

hopefully that means I will pick up journal writing again.  Not, just recording dates, names, and places.  Cause we all know that is boring! 

Book of Me, Written by You: Childhood home

Memories Revisited

I honestly don’t think I have what most people would call a “childhood home.”  Of course, I also realized as an adult that I do not fall into any set category for what most people think of as a normal childhood.  However, that is a different post.

To let you understand why I feel this way, here is a timeline of places I lived before I turned 18:

·         For the first few months we lived with my mother’s mother then we moved in with my father’s parents

·         We lived with my father’s parents until I was halfway through kindergarten.

·         For 5 months we lived with my mother (who had lived 100 miles away in another town as a teacher) in the town she taught. 

·         My mother went back to school and we moved back in with her mother while I was in 1^st and 2^nd grade.  Then, my mom joined the army and went to medical school.

·         We lived in one town (an apartment and then bought a townhouse) for 5 years.

·         She was stationed on a closed post for a year, where I went to the base school.

·         For the next 4 years we lived in the house my parents bought while she went through residency.

·         I then went to college and started a new string of places I lived with my now husband.

Whew!  That was a lot wasn’t it?  So which do I consider my child hood home?  I went to see my grandmothers every summer from the time I was 9 to 13. Back to the homes I had briefly lived in, so maybe those were my childhood homes?  Or, could it be the house my parents bought when I was in high school, rented out while they were gone, and now live in again.  That is the house my boys think of as “my family” home.  Honestly I just don’t know, and I can’t pick one. 

So…how about I tell you some of the things I liked or remember about the ones from Indiana? 

My dad’s parents lived in a split level home cut into the side of a hill.  The basement is where everyone did everything.  The family card games during the holidays (Euchre anyone?) and the TV was there too.  It was damp, and for several years flooded.  It was always weird to go down there and find mushrooms growing out of the carpet. 

From The Hikers Notebook

The land around the house was amazing as they lived in the country about 10 minutes from town.  There was a big front yard that my dad later planted grapes in and my grandmother made homemade wine from.  Grandma always had white and purple flags in the yard (Irises for the rest of the world) and I would sit for hours under a huge oak tree in the front yard making flower chains out of wild clover flowers.  The backyard was a steep hill that was wooded.  I never went up there because one time I saw a HUGE black snake come out of my favorite playing place and it scared the dickens out of me.  There was an apple tree that accidentally grew there from a half-eaten apple my grandmother threw out of her back yard.  Also, right off the back porch, my grandmother a large mint patch.  She would sit there and pick mint leaves to put in her tea every morning.

My mother’s mother lived in 2 different houses.  The first one was the one that my grandfather built on his portion of the family land after he retired from the army. It was four levels and massive.  Partially built into the top of a hill it was a home for entertaining.  Hardwood floors, balconies, a large formal living room, and spacious halls.  It was on many acres, I don’t know how many exactly, but I think 20.  There was a horse pasture and barn that I spent a lot of time in.  I loved playing in the hay loft even though I was told not to because it was too dangerous.  At the bottom of the hill was a man made pond that we swam and fished in.  It was had the pump house which pumped and filtered the water because living in the country we did not have water run to the house and drank the pond water.  There was a pussy willow tree that I loved so much too.  They are so soft, and the tree was small enough that I could climb and sit in it even when I was 4.

When we moved out so my mom could go to medical school grandma decided she should really downsize, and sold the house.  She moved into another of her family homes on an adjacent property.  Her sister had lived there, and after Bea died she rented it out to several people.  It was smaller, much smaller, but it had the most amazing patch of blackberries and gooseberries.  My dad also planted wild grapes that he found in the wood in her yard too.  I would spend days picking stuff in the summer for grandma to can (in addition to my 2 uncles gardens where I picked veggies continually).  There was a creepy basement that I never went in, unless forced, and a hot attic.  I can still hear the squeaky creaking the ladder made when you would pull it down from the ceiling and the smell of cedar, dust, and heat that would come from the door when it was opened. 

victoriana.com

My mom lived in a studio apartment when she was teaching.  Dad and I visited, but the time I remember best was when we lived there for the spring semester my kindergarten year.  I slept in an impromptu bed (cushions and sleeping bag) in a bay window of the main room.  Across the room my parents slept in what I can only think was a built in seating area that was supposed to be a couch.  The best part, and most fascinating for a 5 year old, was the antique claw foot bathtub.  It was amazing.

I think the other homes will have to be another post.

The Book of Me, Written by You: Favorite Season

Photo By: Mark Shaw 2010

Each season has its good spots and its bad spots.  Things you can do during it that you really can’t do any other time of year.  That is why picking a favorite is very, very hard.  However, since I am supposed to tell you my favorite season, I guess I should pick one.  For me it is fall.

I look forward to fall every year.  Seeing the bursts of colors on the trees in yellows, reds, and oranges hanging above your head, falling around your knees and carpeting the ground is glorious.  Some of my favorite memories are walking to my various classes on the Indiana University Campus during a fall rain shower. (See this page for what I am talking about)  The smell of the leaves, the crispness of the air, with the trunks of the trees black from rain, and the leaves glittering in their fall colors made me late for class on more than one occasion. 

Clothes are the next reason I love this season the most.  There will be Indian Summer days that require shorts and T-shirts, but the fall colors really start to appear in fashion choices by the first of October.  The warm colors, and earth tones which are my favorite colors anyway, warm up those chilly days.  The fabrics and textures just add to the feeling of warmth and coziness.  You are reminded that winter is just around the corner but right now you relish the thought that you don’t have to wear a jacket, gloves, and hat.

Of course, how could you forget that this is the official start of boot season?  There is knee high, ankle high and everywhere in between high.  Yes, I know you can wear boots in other times of the year, but there is something about that first brisk fall day, breaking out the boots and wearing them with jeans or skirts.

Then there is the food.  Pumpkin pies, apple everything, yams with marshmallows, soups, baking; oh my I could go on and on.  Going to a pumpkin patch with my kids, or a fall festival, and being able to sip hot apple cider with a toasty snack is heaven on earth.  It is also the number one reason I put on 10 pounds this time of year I am sure.

Finally, school starts back up.  Yes, I am a bad mom; I count down the days my kids go back to school.  The start of fall signals that mommy time is back.  Fall cleaning begins (aka recovering the house from 2 boys home for 3 months), I get to catch up on all the things that I can’t concentrate on with my kids around, oh and quiet.  Getting to sit with the doors and windows open, catching a fall breeze, no music or TV on, and just being one with my thoughts for several hours a day.

My memories of the harvest season also make this one of my favorite times.  I am not sure why, but watching the crops grow all spring and summer and then seeing the combines in the fields always gave me good feelings.  It could be because I know there was a successful harvest and friends and family will now have money.  It could be because it is the sign that yes, fall has arrived and winter is just around the corner.  Maybe even because I have awesome memories from when I was a kid going on a night time harvest with my aunt and uncle.  I really don’t know.

What I do know is that I have broken out my sweaters, boots, and fall clothes.  I have been lucky enough to wear them already, the leaves are turning and falling, and I can’t wait to get some fall foods in my tummy.

Re-post from the IDG: Social Media and Genealogy

Okay, I know what you are thinking, “jeesh another post about social media, whoopee!”  Well, before you pass this by, ask yourself: do I really know what “Social Media” is?  Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Have an answer?  Good.  Social media is hard to define, or even describe to most people, as it is ever changing and almost fluid in the way it evolves over time.  The most important thing to remember is that this concept refers to a community based, online communication forum that relies heavily on sharing of content and collaboration.  To me, that sounds a lot like what genealogists due online and off line. Wouldn’t you agree?

If you asked 10 people what they thought social media was, and to define it, I bet not one of them would give you the same answer.  Of course it all depends on who you asked.  In my opinion there is not a common answer because we each use the platforms that best fit our needs, thoughts, ideas, and patterns.  Some love twitter while others detest it.  Some are pintrest obsessed while others avoid it.  That is the great thing about this ever evolving world of collaboration and sharing: you can make it what you want it to be.  It is like putty that you can shape and mold to fit into your way of doing things. What works for you might not work for someone else, but there is something out there for everyone.

Where do you think you fall on the social media usage scale?  Take a look at this infographic from Media Bistro.  It shows the 12 user personalities on social media, and you can read the full article here.  Do you think you see where you fall?  Maybe you have several personalities depending on what you like to use.  You might be a lurker, an ultra, or even an informer I hope you will be willing to try something new and possibly shift personalities by the end of this post.

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Click here to read the rest of the post over at the In-Depth Genealogist Blog page.

Are you still there??

I am here, I am alive, and I am still chugging along.  Just wanted to stop by and say “Don’t leave me, I will be back!”

 

In my queue of blog posts that are in progress, and some that just need editing, are quite the variety of posts.  There will be more “Book of Me” posts, thoughts on school, tombstone goodies, family trips, and things like that.  I just have to get through the weekend, and then I promise to schedule a ton of goodies for you all to read.

The Boston University program, and preparing 3 lectures for the month of October, has stolen my free time away.  One of those lectures is for Family Tree on Virginia Records.  I would love to know if you will be attending my first webinar with them.  Friendly faces in the “crowd” would be a welcome thought.  You can check out more on the presentation at their website.

Last week I added up the hours I worked on the class during the first month. For the program I am averaging 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, or 25 hours in classwork, homework, and reading a week.  Only 5 days since I need to have a couple days scheduled off for family time and other scheduled activities.  Weekends are last resort work times I decided when I started the program.  Even though it is only three months I cannot cut out my family, moms just aren't really allowed to.  Particularly the ones that work from home.  I am pleased with my overall performance in the class, but I will admit getting back into the swing of things more than a decade after leaving college took a bit.  The perfectionist in me tends to make things a bit more difficult, and on occasion I over think things too leading to interesting commentary.  I am determined to pull an A in the class.

  

Just a few short months and then I will be back to where I should be, and not with my head stuck in a book or staring at a computer screen for hours and hours. No, wait, that’s not right.  I think I was doing that already anyway.  Oh well, so much for change.