My Trails into the Past

This is my second year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow . I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past . I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. This is the last post for 2019 and it is supposed to be about ourselves. What would future generations would like to know about me. I have been the keeper of the family history.  I’m sure other members of my family know family stories, but I am the one who has been researching since the late 1980s. I find researching very interesting and it challenges me in ways that few other things do. When I was in college, I loved to do the research but didn’t like writing the paper. The act of finding the information was fun. Getting it down into logical and meaningful order was hard. I still find it hard to get what I have learned into a coherent story. I am a technical writer, one who can write the facts but ha...

The Book of Me, Written by You is a blogging theme where one can write about their own life using blog themes posted each week.  More information can be found at Anglers Rest  here . This week's prompt is - Hairstyles Go on share your hairstyles over the years! Do you have regular hairdresser habits? Colour? Do you dye it? (your secret is safe with us!) I’ve never been a big fan of hair and hairstyles. I can count the number of times I have been to a real beauty shop on one hand: (1) for my 8th grade graduation, (2) trying out a styled cut by a stylist, and (3) to get a permanent (which I would never do again!).  In-between I have been to hair cutting shops to have my hair cut. As a young child my mother curled my hair. I even remember a horrible time when my grandmother gave me a permanent. Sitting still all that time was so hard when you were young but you didn’t sass Mam-ma. I was pretty scared of her then! Top: 1st grade, 2nd grade, 4th grade Bot...

The Book of Me, Written by You is a blogging theme where one can write about their own life using blog themes posted each week.  More information can be found at Anglers Rest here . This week's prompt is - What's in your bag/pocket? Do you routinely carry a bag? What do you carry? Why do you carry it? What do you carry it in? Do you carry differently things on specific days or to specific places? I have never been a big fan of the “purse.” I have owned a few but usually only use them when I’m wearing nice clothes such as slacks, dress, or skirt.  My preferred bag is a backpack/knapsack. You know, the kind that carries books to school. I sling it over my left shoulder mostly, though sometimes over both shoulders if it’s heavy with too many books or the laptop. That way my hands are free. Right now I own two backpacks made by JanSport. One is navy blue and the other is brown and tan plaid. If I had my druthers, I would have lots backpacks in a vari...

The Book of Me, Written by You is a blogging theme where one can write about their own life using blog themes posted each week.  More information can be found at Anglers Rest here . This week's prompt is - Cars and Transport Did you have a car in your family whilst you were growing up? What methods of transport were there? And what did you & your family typically use? Your Driving Test Where Did you learn? - Can you drive? Your first car? Your Favourite Car? I remember a few of the cars our family owned. We had an American Motors Rambler Ambassador which was a station wagon that could fit four kids. Here’s a shot of the car with my two brothers and one of my sisters standing in front. Our Rambler Later, my mother got her own car, a Pontiac Grand Prix, which I drove for my driver’s test. It had a big hood and a tight turning radius. I had to re-do the three-point-turn because I made a U-turn instead. I also remember being pulled over once in the car and o...

The Book of Me, Written by Me is a blogging theme where one can write about their own life using blog themes posted each week. More information can be found at Anglers Rest here . This week's prompt is - Favourite Colour Do you have a favourite colour? and if so why? Do you like vibrant colours or darker colours? Do you associate anyone with a particular colour? If so who and why ? Does your favourite colour reflect your personality? My favorite color has always been blue. I like other colors, but when given a choice, I always chose blue.    I love all sorts of blues but baby blue is my favorite. My first two-wheeler bike was blue and my first 10-speed was baby blue.  I had a blue car once: light blue 4-door Toyota Corona. My current car, a Nissan Leaf, is blue, as is my husband’s beloved Pinto wagon. My work uniform was a light blue shirt and navy pants when working as a train operator at BART.  I sort of got tired of blue for a while af...

The Book of Me, Written by Me is a blogging theme where one can write about their own life using blog themes posted each week. More information can be found at Anglers Rest here . This week's prompt is - Hobbies. Childhood hobbies & collections Did you share a "passion" with a family member or friend? Tell us about it - How, why, where Do you still have any old hobbies - the ones that have been with you since childhood? Do you still have those childhood collections? I have had many hobbies over my lifetime: collecting stamps, postcards, and lapel pins, model railroading, writing, bird watching, and genealogy. Some I did as a child and some I took up in adulthood. Collecting . My first true hobby was stamp collecting. I was introduced to stamp collecting by George Ann Olander in the 4th or 5th grade. She gave me a little bag of cancelled stamps and my parents bought a small world stamp collecting book. Some of the stamps I remember were the old Wo...

The Book of Me, Written by Me is a blogging theme where one can write about their own life using blog themes posted each week. More information can be found at Anglers Rest here . This week's prompt is - Easter Memories What does Easter Mean to you? A religious event? The first main break (in the UK) since Christmas and New Year A more general Spring/Autumn event Easter Bunnies Eggs Chocolate Traditions Easter has always been a fun holiday for me. Family got together and the weather was nice enough for all the children to play outside, even if we were all dressed in our best Sunday church clothes. Easter meant a new dress for Easter Sunday Mass. My birthday is also in the spring and often my new birthday dress doubled for a new Easter dress, too.  Easter 1957, Dad, me, brother Steve, Mom Some fun memories include dyeing hard-boiled eggs using the little cardboard kits with the colored dye tablets.  My mother always used coffee cups to fill with the diff...

The Book of Me, Written by Me is a blogging theme where one can write about their own life using blog themes posted each week. More information can be found at Anglers Rest here . Home means different things to different people, so this week we are going to explore what it means to us: What does it feel like? How do you recognize it? What makes it home - people, place, time? Home first of all is in Contra Costa County, California. This county is located in Northern California and is part of the greater San Francisco Bay Area. We have a temperate weather—not to cold and not too warm overall. In winter, though, it can be pretty frosty in the morning. Sometimes the Tule fog can linger for many hours after sunrise or appear just at dusk and that keeps it pretty cool. In summer, if the coastal fog remains off shore, our high temperature can reach over 100 degrees Fahrenheit until the hot central valley heat finally draws the fog from over the ocean into the Bay Area and c...

The Book of Me, Written by Me is a blogging theme where one can write about their own life using blog themes posted each week. More information can be found at Anglers Rest here . This week’s prompt is “Who Do You Miss?” People who live elsewhere and that we will not see over the festive seasons People that have passed away. Who do you miss? Why do you miss them? People who have passed away that I miss: My mother . I miss being able to pick up the phone and ask for her advice. I miss playing games with her such as Scrabble, Gin Rummy, and Categories. I miss her big pot of vegetable (actually she called it ‘refrigerator’) soup that she would cook all day on the back of the stove. It was so good on a good winter day. My grandmother, Nana . I miss her reading stories to us, singing to us as we washed dishes, and the candy jar on her desk. I miss the new pajamas every Christmas that we opened on Christmas Eve. I miss lighting votive candles in church with her...

The Book of Me, Written by You is a blogging theme where one can write about their own life using blog themes posted each week. More information can be found at Anglers Rest here . This week’s prompt is – Toys & Games Can you remember your first toy, or game? Do you still have it? Who did you play with? Did you play board games? Have you inherited any of your family games & toys? Share some pictures if you would like to! I don’t remember my very first toy. According to my baby book, my first toy was a stuffed giraffe. Some toys I remember from younger days—mostly from photos: cowgirl set with a hat and guns in a holster, Lincoln logs, blocks, puzzles, and many dolls which I hated.  I never was much for dolls. I liked the cars, trains, and guns that my brothers got for Christmas better. I did have a Barbie, given to me in the 4th grade. I also got this cool Barbie house made of cardboard and my next door neighbor, Maryanne also got the house. My mothe...

This week’s prompt is – Snow! Do you live in area where you routinely have snow? How old were you when you first saw snow? Did you make snowmen? Throw Snowballs Have Sledge Rides What is the image that first came to mind when you read snow? What does snow feel like, smell like & how do you see snow? I grew of in sunny California, so snow was not a part of our winters. The closest we got to snow was in our readers at school! I was always envious of the places in our readers that had definite 4 seasons: Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring. One day, though, my father got us out of school early and drove us up to the top of Mt. Diablo, a mountain near us that peaks at 3,864 feet (1,178 m). It had been raining all day at home but at the top of Mt. Diablo, it was snowing! I have no photo of us but I remember the joy in trying to make a very small snowman. The snow was so slushy, that we got very wet in the ill-equipped clothing we were wearing. The next time I ex...

The Book of Me, Written by You is a blogging theme where one can write about their own life using blog themes posted each week. More information can be found at Anglers Rest here . If you had to hold a dinner party and could invite a maximum of 12 special people who would you invite? You can NOT include family in this – the special people could be famous or historical people. What made you select the people that you chose? What questions would you like to ask them? What meals would you serve and why? Perhaps include the recipe or a photo if you decided to actually cook the items! I had a very hard time deciding which special 12 people to invite. Do I select anyone I’d like to speak to or should I think about whether the guests will enjoy speaking to each other? There doesn’t appear to be any rules about whether the special people are alive now or whether they are real (ie: I’m thinking about characters from a book, movie, or T.V. show). Historical women I’d like ...

The Book of Me, Written by You is a blogging theme where one can write about their own life using blog themes posted each week. More information can be found at Anglers Rest here . This week’s prompt is - The year you were born · What happened · Historical · Films · Music · Books · Television · Or use any other historical (well known or otherwise) event I was born in 1954 nearly one year after the marriage of my parents. Of course I don’t have a clue what happened that year but Wikipedia gives a great list.  Here are some highlights: January:   --Marilyn Monroe married Joe DiMaggio. --The first nuclear-powered submarine USS Nautilus was launched. February: --Mass vaccination against polio began in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. --Gamal Abdel Nasser became premier of Egypt. March: --The French began the battle against the Viet Minh in Dien Bien Phu. --I was born on March 26. --The first subway op...