Monday Genea-pourri

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing started this meme and I loved the idea. Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives but not so great documenting our own. I’ll write about what I’ve been doing the past week.

Sunday, November 12, 2017.  Most of the day was spent at the computer. I worked hard with my KDP, writing the story of the first generation and working on the introduction. I also wrote and published my homework for the DearMyrtle Mastering Genealogical Documentation Hangout on Wednesday.

Monday, November 13, 2017.  The second Monday of the month is our Monday Morning Meeting at Susan’s house where fellow genealogists meet to discuss their genealogy finds or to ask questions. Several members had great things to share that they had found. Peggy had the best stuff—her great-uncle had  been a fireman in Santa Cruz. I shared some photos of me at the National archives.

Shooting Civil War pension files

Completed a client’s report before going off to German class. Enjoyed the grammar session we had today. It was a nice review of the subjunctive case. There were lots of examples in our reading.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017. Amtrak ride to Sacramento and then the 30 bus down J Street, in order to be part of the planning meeting for the 2018 International German Genealogy Conference being held at the Sacramento Turn Verein. We had people from several California genealogy societies in attendance: San Diego, Burbank, and Sacramento. It was a good meeting with several teams getting started already. Too bad we don’t have a venue or date yet—but hopefully before the end of the year. Dinner was at the La Trattoria Bohemia was wonderful. We had a choice of three dishes: most ordered the Schnitzel or Goulash.

Worked on some homework on the way up

Wednesday, November 15, 2017.  The DearMyrtle hangout on the Mastering Genealogical Documentation went well. Everyone had great examples of off-line records. I showed a sheet from William C. Gleeson’s homestead papers I got from the National Archives last month.

Inside this box was the file for William C. Gleeson's Homestead

I hadn’t been to Pickleball in a while and it was great seeing people and playing a few games. I’m a bit rusty but have been busy on M-W-F. Hopefully I can go again next week.

I’m a member of the APG (Association of Professional Genealogists) Writers SIG.  Out monthly meeting was tonight and I’m secretary, so I keep the minutes. Our speaker was Janice Lovelace and she spoke about writing for the commercial market. She had some great ideas on how to get started. Might have to buy a new Writers Guide.

Thursday, November 16, 2017. It rained all night—our first good rain storm. It sounded really nice. Most of the day was in rain and I didn’t go to the meadow to do phenology. I spent most of the day working on researching and writing for one of my clients. It was a good day to be inside, keeping warm, and working. I only took one break to go to guitar class—still working on three Christmas songs, which are getting along better. Maybe I’ll have them down by Christmas this year.

I also got an email from Australian blogger, Jill Ball, saying I was the winner of her RootsTech 2018 give-a-way contest. The announcement is here. I am very excited to be going to my first RootsTech. I hadn’t thought of going before because this conference is so BIG! I’m not a fan of big crowds. However, my fellow panelist from DearMyrtle handouts, Hillary Gadsby, will be coming to RootsTech and I’ll get to meet her in person! I will also get to meet Jill as well.

Friday, November 17, 2017. Up early this morning for a BART ride into Oakland and a day of Desk Duty at the California Genealogical Society’s library. I had more customers come in today and a few who called by phone. One was interested in going on the Salt Lake City Trip.

The Library before researchers started coming in

Saturday, November 18, 2017. A good stay-at-home day, just like when I used to work. Got some laundry done and clothes put away. But mostly worked at the computer and reading genealogy journals. A very relaxing day. I did do Randy Seaver's "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun" and you can see it here.

Copyright © 2017 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.