BARB'S GENEALOGY TIDBITS- USE PHOTOS TO MAKE THE STORY SOCIAL

Writing the family history stories come alive with photos wherever possible. Maps and memorabilia fill some interesting corners.
Pure genealogy writing with dates are needed. Citing those sources are invaluable.
But long narratives can become too cumbersome to read.
An historical essay sometimes needs that long text.
Thinking about the audience. Who will read your stuff?
Photos break up the narrative with interesting pauses.
So what was I doing today but scanning and scanning some more of many photos to use in the current ancestors. Like my parents, grandparents and me.
My grandchildren will like to see what people looked like. What car they drove? What clothes they wore.
For more distant ancestors it is difficult but using historical references may help that process.
So my stories are coming along.
#photoshelpgenealogy#usingmemorabilia#writethestories#longnarrativesarecumbersome#writeandwritesomemore#reflectivethoughtsbybarbara#barbaradimambro

A COOL MORNING WALK

After a couple of scorching summer days in the GTA, I decided to renew my morning walk at 630 am. Lovely to be out with so few people and cars around. The birds. The breeze, The quiet.
Loved it. Walking can be reflective therapy. Good and easy exercise.
How about you? Do you like to walk?
#morningwalk#coolmorningwalk#timebymyself#listeningtothebirdssing#reflectivethoughtsbybarbara#barbaradimambro

RETIREMENT AFTER ONE YEAR

Not the most exciting experience but not the worst.Still making the transition to this new life.
Joined some activities. On a town committee which uses my skill level.
Not interested in so many volunteer experiences. What to make coffee! Or bring samples to the lab!
I have 43 years of work experiences and knowledge etc.
So have finished some writing projects. Looking at craft projects. Looking at ways to make some extra money.
Pensions are okay but new money is always better.
Time with family and friends has been good.
Yes over a year since my husband's last discharge from hospital so that has been a good joy in our lives. Not to spend time at a bedside is always a good experience.
So I am still standing. But people do drop you from their lives. Even with keeping in touch almost is not enough.
I have some new people in my life which is a good thing.
Reading, writing, family, looking for new opportunities, joining community groups, garden,genealogy, photography, and whatever else comes my way.
#oneyearafterretirement#reflectivethoughtsbybarbara#barbaradimambro#crafts#photography#writing#reading#stillfindingmywayinthisretirementthing

BARB'S GENEAOLOGY TIDBITS- KEEP WRITING THOSE STORIES

 I have finished the meat of the Ball Point book. Unpublished. On the shelf. Some the personal stories are in process. Uploading pictures and maps and memorabilia. Even some letters to come.
However, there is the boredom of writing.
My solution. Write some. Research some. Upload some. Have many stories on the go.
Easy with saving in word or whatever program you use.
I find ideas continue to come to me. So to the file. Add it in.
The stories stay in flux until I feel I had done enough on it and finish. Print it. Upload to this blog.
Now I am also uploading the same stories to the facebook groups. Thus one piece of information is out there on many locations.
I still need to do a family tree. To be private or public. My dilemma.
Yes watch those webinars. Always a new little helpful hint even for this 35 year and counting family history.
#genealogy#barb'sgenealogytidbits#reflectivethoughtsbybarbara#barbaradimambro#keepwritingthosestories#uploadlotsofpictures#keepatitalittleatime#continuetowrite

HOW ARE YOU SIMPLIFYING SUMMER MEALS?

Summer and the warmer weather brings a change of pace. Being outside for fun, for work in the garden, for exercise, for road trips, for day trips- impacts food preparation. Spending long hours in the kitchen cooking and clean up is well time for other seasons. Besides the boredom of food preparation and cleanup wears on us.
So I try to make the meals simple. A large potato salad good for a couple of days. Steaks, burgers, hot dogs. Corn unhusked on the BBQ and other grilled vegetables. Quick sauces for our pasta. Cold pasta salad too good for a couple of days.
My daughter has written a good post of using some dips and veggies for nutritional and easy to make meals for summer.
It can be found on her blog.
House of Kerrs
I like the post but mostly I just like seeing my little grandchildren in action.
So what are you doing to make the summer easier for meals? Summer is a time to get away from the normal tasks of the school year and work year. So what is stopping you from less food preparation.
#houseofkerrs#summerfreshdipswithveggies#makesummercookingeasyonyourself#reflectivethoughtsbybarbara#barbaradimambro#summersalads#burgers#hotdogs#steaks#cornonthecobunhuskedontheBBQ

SUMMER TIME AND THE LIVING IS EASY

I love the summer. Even when it is hot. Time to lay back. Read. Enjoy.
My garden is a jungle so some work must be accomplished- slowly and methodically! God Bless weed whackers!!
So where are you going? Europe? South? To the cottage? Camping? A trip to a major city for sightseeing?
Eating ice cream. Barbecues.
For me the Jazz in the Plaza at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Arts starts Tuesdays and runs for 8 weeks. A freebie and well close to home.
There will time with the grandchildren and hopefully some short day trips.
I have no travel plans. Just some markets and shows and festive events- again close to home.
How about you? What are your plans?
#summertimeandthelivingiseasy#eventsclosetohome#JazzinthePlaza#doingfunthings#findingwaystokeepbusy#findingmeaningfulthingstodo#reflectivethoughtsbybarbara#barbaradimambro

BARB'S GENEOLOGY TIDBITS- CANADA DAY 2019 AND FAMILY HISTORY SUGGESTIONS

For Family Historians, all significant holidays can be helpful. Getting together today to celebrate Canada Day can bring conversations about family. Photos. Food. Fun.
Also remembering those that came before us brings more to the celebration.

For those in Newfoundland Beaumont-Hamel, a battle in World War One that decimated communities in that province. So a happy day for some and a sad day to remember for others.

This Canada Day brings closure to a long standing project of mine. As has been seen by my entries under Genealogy Tidbits, I have been writing about Ball Point including some family lines.
Well the project is finished. Really an unpublished finished book form. A really great draft. In time I will review the essays, clean up the resources and if some finances kick in may even try to publish as a book. Meanwhile it is done.

Taking advice from all those webinars I watch to put information in several places. Your children will not want your stuff. They will just throw it all in a disposal bin to go to the dump.

So yeah to Facebook groups. OGS branches. And well posting here on my blog.

My research on a great great great grandmother line is coming along- Butterfield from Quebec. Maiden name Jaspar.

I am methodically going through those family binders. Still a slow process to digital. Hard to part with decades of research. If I were famous all those notes would be put in a library.

The many books and cemetery records that are irrelevant to my family are slowly making their way to libraries. I am lucky that my local library has a Canadiana Room and welcomes resources. Again my children will just throw them all in the garbage. So yeah a new home.

I have been hesitant about putting a family tree in the Internet world but it is coming. Uploading data is like being a data entry clerk. Research is fun. Typing notes and dates is well boring but necessary.

Writing up those stories for my grandchildren is going well too!!
Starting with us. Then my parents. Then my grandparents. Takes them back several generations. The writing is much easier as it is mostly off the top of my head. Of course collecting the necessary resources for citation is so much easier. So several stories on the go simultaneously keeps it interesting. I am finding another idea or picture or event to add to them.

So uploading significant pictures and putting them in stories is another way to preserve them.

So Happy Canada Day. Celebrate and do genealogy!
#canadaday#dogenealogy#reflectivethoughtsbybarbara#barbaradimambro#researchisfun#putyourinformationinmanysitesyourchildrendonotwantit#preservingforthefuture#familyhistoryresearch#writingupthestoriesforthegrandchildren