Monday Genea-pourri, Week of May 27–June 2, 2024

I have completed two hundred and twenty-one (221) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. We traveled this week by train to New York City and arrived on Monday. More on that below.

Genealogy

Genealogy Meetings:  
At our Monday meeting with Jacqueline, I showed her the timeline I created of N.H.O. Polly’s life and that I plan to use it to help write his life story.

Genealogy Writing/Research:
I continued my writing project on the life of NHO Polly. By writing on the train across the country to Chicago, I was able to get a lot written. I have a portable table that I set up on the train. Since there is no internet service, I just write and make notes of any source citations that need updating in red text. I got seven pages written!

Blog Post Published:

Four Years at Creative Play Cooperative Preschool. For 52 Ancestors’ theme of “Creativity,” I wrote about our time attending a cooperative preschool whose focus was on play as a way to learn.

SNGF: Your Most Frustrating Research Challenge. I wrote about my problems in County Cork and how a missing church book has increased my frustration.

Genealogy Volunteer/Work:
At the History Center on Tuesday, I took care of all the tasks I needed to do before leaving for a three-week vacation. The acquisition desk is clear for new donations. The added books are in the library database and on the bookshelf.

Webinars/Courses Viewed:
From the NGS Conference: 

• The Impact of Bounty Land on Migration by Craig Scott

Other:
We did the last of the weed-pulling in the backyard on Monday, and on Wednesday, we got the sprinkling system put in for the vegetable garden. We were all ready for our trip.

On Wednesday, I hiked with the Wednesday Walkers and because I was alone at one point, I turned the wrong way on a trail junction and hiked an extra 4 miles. Because I was “lost,” the rest of the group sent out a search party to find me. Of course, I figured out how to get back to the cars with the help of a map another hiker gave me. So, we had to then wait for the four who went out to find me to return before we could leave. It was a long day! We will have to enforce some rules in the future. I was pretty sore, felt bad about making everyone wait, and at home discovered after a day that I got some poison oak on my leg. My first time getting it.

We left Thursday morning on the California Zephyr Amtrak train to Chicago. By lunchtime, it was obvious that the dining car had malfunctioned and there would be no meals for the rest of the trip from there. Our meals are included with sleeping car accommodations, so lunch was from the snack car in the lounge. Dinner was provided by a pizza restaurant in Winnemucca, Nevada. Breakfast on Friday was continental from their supplies. Lunch was a sandwich from Jersey Mikes at Grand Junction, Colorado, and dinner was extremely late. It seemed that the food that was supposed to be put on at Denver but the restaurant flaked out. We got pizza later from Fort Morgan, Colorado. We missed breakfast on Saturday because we got up too late and our last meal was provided by Kentucky Fried Chicken received Galesburg, Illinois. When we got to Chicago, we looked forward to eating some vegetables at an Italian restaurant called The Village. Other than the food issues, the ride was wonderful. We were on time most of the way and our car attendant, Carl, was very friendly.

After spending the day in Chicago on Sunday, we left on the Lakeshore Limited for New York in the evening.

I am reading:

• Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie

Photos for this week. Views from the train in California, Utah, and Colorado (in reverse order)

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

Copyright © 2024 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.