Monday Genea-pourri, Week of July 8–14, 2024

I have completed two hundred and twenty-seven (227) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. I went out to an eye appointment (masked), the History Center, the lab for a blood draw (masked), phenology (outdoors), Roseville to see a steam engine (outdoors), and Mill Valley to give a genealogy presentation.

Genealogy

Genealogy Meetings:  
Monday was Kinseekers Military SIG and I shared a WWII Classification list. I met with Jacqueline on Tuesday afternoon via Zoom and we discussed the CGS trip to the FamilySearch Library. During Amigos, Jacqueline and I discussed Family Tree Notebooks. At Roundtable on Wednesday, the group talked about writing. It was a very good discussion. At book club on Sunday, we all shared books we had read during the past few months since the last BYOB (bring your own book).

Genealogy Writing/Research:
I did not do any writing or research this week. I had too many meetings that took up my spare time, especially those meetings where I took minutes.

Blog Post Published:

George Gorrell’s Letter Talks of Trip to Germany by Train (WWII). For 52 Ancestors’ theme of “Trains” I wrote about my father-in-law’s trip with his Army Air Forces unit on board a train from France to Germany. He had written a letter to his sister and I transcribed and shared what he wrote. He also took a photo of the train.

SNGF: Your Favorite Genealogy-Related YouTube Channels. I don’t watch much YouTube but I am subscribed to a few channels which I listed.

Genealogy Volunteer/Work:
AppGen founders met on Monday and we spent the time catching up on what we’d been doing. They gave me some ideas for video tips. I have created two that need a little editing on the front and back ends, which I’ll have our administrative assistant do before I post them to our YouTube channel.

At the History Center, I entered some books that had been donated into the library database and worked on processing one of the parts of the Pleasant Hill Historical Society Collection. I also opened up on Thursday because our ED was sick. I took minutes for the board meeting later that evening.

I presented two talks at the Mill Valley Library, one on beginning genealogy and the other on researching offline. The drive there was hectic and there was so much traffic., it took 45 minutes just to get onto the San Rafael Bridge. Of course, I was late (I’m always extra early to places) but I had phoned ahead to let them know. It was not a great way to begin the program.

On Thursday, I led our writing group in a discussion about two member’s writing submissions. We also discussed different family tree programs, institutes, what I’m teaching at AppGen, and ConferenceKeeper.

Webinars/Courses Viewed: None this week

Other:
Every day this week, I watched tennis (Wimbledon) and on Sunday I watched soccer (England vs. Spain) and the Giants game.

My husband and I drove up to Roseville (north of Sacramento) to see the Union Pacific Railroad’s steam engine 4014, fondly called “Big Boy” as it’s the largest steam locomotive. We got there late but were still able to walk around, which we did only for a short while as it was 115 degrees outside. We wished our schedule had allowed us to go up a day earlier to watch it run on its way to Roseville.

I am reading:

• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Photos for this week. Still no walk this week. Too hot. We have had temperatures over 100 most days. Here are some shots of the steam engine.

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.