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Monday Genea-pourri, Week of July 7–13, 2025

My outside activities this week included phenology, a train club meeting, and a visit to the History Center. I almost had jury duty, but the midday call excused me. However, I missed our weekly hike.

Genealogy

Genealogy Volunteer/Work:
For the historical society, I worked most of the day on Tuesday at the History Center and covered for LeighAnn when she went home sick. I entered the accessions in PastPerfect and gave a tour to a genealogist working on an assignment. Later in the week, the strategic planning Committee #1 met on Zoom to discuss facilities. For BCG, I sent out the last of the press releases for this week’s webinar. Lastly, I took minutes for the Sonoma County Genealogical Society’s board meeting.

Genealogy Meetings: I met with Jacqueline this week, as she is back from her vacation. I showed her the Shutterfly book I created of my vacation. I attended the new Kinseekers Employment & Labor Records SIG, and we were shown a great resource at the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Stewart and I met at Amigos and planned the trip to Jacqueline’s in September. After checking both Amtrak fares and where charging stations are located along the way, we chose to drive instead of riding the train. It gives Stewart a car to use to visit a friend in Eugene.

Genealogy Writing/Research:
I worked on my land presentation for the upcoming Sacramento German Genealogy Society. I need to put together the handout, as they will be asking for it soon. I also worked on processing more of the images I made during my Indiana and Kentucky research.

Blog Posts Published:

Summer Vacation for School Teachers
For the theme of “vacation,” I wrote about my 2x-great aunts’ summer activities. This was highlighted in Linda Stufflebean’s “Friday’s Family History Finds” on Empty Branches on the Family Tree.

SNGF -- Your (or Your Ancestor's) Personal History Timeline.
I filled in an “every five years” timeline of my own life. 

Webinars/Courses Viewed: Below is the list of webinars I viewed this week. Not listed are the 12 recordings of the NGS Family History Conference that I viewed through the Whoova app that are expiring from view on July 15.

  • The Largest Census of American Women You've Never Heard About by Amber Oldenburg (Kinseekers)
  • The ‘Forgotten’ Turbulence of 1919 – 1921: Viewing Events Through the Lens of Family History by KB Barcomb (Kinseekers)

Other:
I have to admit that I watched a lot of tennis this week, tuning in to Wimbledon every morning. In the evening, I watched the Giants play. It wasn’t all watching, as I did some work on the computer while I watched.

I am reading: 

  • Ghosts of Black Diamond by Dan Hanel—FINISHED!
  • Asterix der Gallier by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
  • Beneath the Tangled Vines by Dan Hanel
  • Miss Merkel: Mord in der Uckermark by David Safier (for German class—up to Chap 35-We’re on hiatus for summer)

Photos for this week. I played with a ChatGPT prompt to create a painting in the style of Dreamflow Impasto that was created by Steve Little and posted on Facebook. I uploaded a black and white photo of a house that my mother lived in when a freshman in high school. I thought it turned out pretty cool.


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 © 2011-2025 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.

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