This is, I’m 100%, a Christmas tree the likes of which you’ve never seen. This was a page in the L.L. Bean catalog, a clothing company based in Maine. And in case you cannot tell, it’s a tree built by stacking lobster traps!! Way cool and most unusual, no?Now for some December chuckles:
What do you call an elk that can sing & dance? ELFIS!
What do you get when you mix a Christmas tree with an iPad? A PINEAPPLE!
What is the Grinch’s least favorite band? THE WHO!
What goes Ho-Ho-Whoosh, Ho-Ho-Whoosh? SANTA CAUGHT IN A REVOLING DOOR!
What kind of photos do elves take? ELFIES!
Why was the snowman looking through the carrots? HE WAS PICKING HIS NOSE!
What did the reindeer sing to Santa on his birthday? FREEZE A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW!
Knock, knock. Who’s there. Dexter. Dexter who? DEXTER HALLS WITH BOUGHS OF HOLLY.
Yes, these are pretty cheesy but you laughed, didn’t you? Took me a minute to get the iPad one……….
What would December be without a blooming amaryllis? In any of their gorgeous colors, they are the quintessential December flower. Did you know that according to Greek mythology, the first amaryllis grew from the droplets of blood of the nymph Amaryllis, who was smitten with a handsome but aloof shepherd named Alteo. That beautiful flower helped win his heart. Well, now you know!
Here’s a tantilizer for you: How many “people” are you? Daughter – Child – Mother – Parent – Sister – Sibling – Wife – Spouse – Niece – Grandmother – Granddaughter – Aunt – Cousin – Great-grandmother – Mother-in-law – FRIEND …….. can you add something I missed? Could do the same thing for gentlemen.
The New England Historic Genealogical Society announced that they’re offering a Genealogists Handbook for Portuguese Research. There will be some folks delighted with that bit of news. (Click to www.AmericanAncestors.org)
Here’s how to fool people and make a new document look old: Create a sample on plain paper with black or dark brown pencil. Make a dark, strong tea and let it cool. Then put your paper in the tea and leave them there for 3 days. Squeeze and crush the papers daily. Finally, remove the paper from the tea and air dry in a surface where the tea will not stain. Why does this work? Tea contains tannin, a dark chemical that stains paper.
A funny from Chuckleberries, from the Huckleberry Press: A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to “honor thy father and mother,” she asked, “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?” Without missing a beat, one little boy answered: “Thou shalt not kill.”
Want to expand your vocabulary? And impress your family and friends? Google this: “100 Totally Weird Words.” There you’ll learn about words like “argle-bargle” which means “copious but meaningless talk or writing.” Perhaps you would think this post was argle-bargle?
Tacoma Pierce County Genealogical Society Legacy Family Tree SIG Meeting
Tuesday, December 5th at 7:00 PM
Let’s try this one more time, this month we are going to finish the free Legacy Family Tree Webinars video: Sources and Citations Made Simple, Standard, and Powerful.
Remember, if you have any questions, problems, tips or tricks about using Legacy PLEASE share them with the group, your attendance and participation will be greatly appreciated!
Topic: TPCGS Legacy Family Tree Special Interest Group Meeting
Every month on the First Tuesday at 7:00 PM Pacific Time
Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.
What IS the difference between these two “finding grave memorials” websites?
Both Billion Graves and Find-A-Grave do have similarities. Both websites have cemetery data.The biggest and main difference is that Billion Graves included the GPS coordinates which, they say, follows the Genealogical Proof Standard.
Billiongraves.com was begun in 2010 with the stated mission to provide accurate gravestone data with both images and GPS coordinates. To date, the website has millions of headstone images and they’re closing in on nearly two million records.
Find A Grave started in 1995 with the stated mission to post memorials, remembrances and virtual flowers first for celebrities and then for every-day people. They now exceed two million records.
As I see it today, the best thing for you to do to understand the differences is to click to both sites and click around, seeing what they offer and how the data offered. Pick a little cemetery that you know of and see if there are transcribed memorials for that cemetery.
Additionally, you can take your own grave marker photos and upload them to both sites, and you can assist with the indexing of the tombstone information.
Today’s Laugh: Many in the Northwest are elk hunters; I hope they and you get a laugh from this postcard. It reads “The morning after the last day of elk season. Idaho.” These delightful cards are the creation of Paul Stanton and produced by Clay Salzman. He offers a bunch of similar cards; click to www.duckboy.com. (He did give me permission to use this image.) The caption reads: “The morning AFTER the last day of elk season, Idaho.”
Remember getting catalogs from Genealogical Publishing Company (based in Baltmore, Maryland)? I sure do….. sometimes I did order a book but more often I made note of a book pertinent to my research and would look for it next time at a big library. Maybe you did that too? Well, GPC has morphed into My GPC Library and comes offering books to you in a brand new format: digitally. Click to www.genealogical.com to get all the info. But, bottom line, you’ll have access to 800 books for a yearly subscription of $135, or for six months for $75, or for three months for $45. (What a great idea for our long winter days, no?)
Before you read on, here’s a warm fuzzy for you from EWGS member Rosemary Braun. She has a granddaughter born when her parents were in South America, and was named Xochitl……. “so-CHEE.” The name is Mayan and means “beautiful flower.” Rosemary assures us that she loves her name.
Breakdown of the major categories:
Industry leading how to books and manuals – an unsurpassed collection of more than 140 of our best titles that you cannot find anywhere else
More than 375 genealogy books on colonial American families
Over 239 books on New England or Mayflower genealogy
Nearly 200 immigration titles covering Colonial America to about 1865
Native American guides and records
The best collection of titles on Royal and Noble genealogy
More than 90 titles on Irish and Scottish genealogy
Guidebooks for African American genealogy and records of families prior to 1870
Frontier Justice: Exploring the Territorial Court Case files of Eastern Washington Saturday, December 2 Frontier Justice: Exploring the Territorial Court Case files of Eastern Washington (EWGS Meetings) 1:00 pm Shadle Park Library in Person and on ZOOM Our Dec. speakers will be Dr. Larry Cebula and Tim Harrington
The Washington State Archives is in the process of digitizing and putting online the Territorial Court Case files. These records, dating from 1853 to 1889, is a treasure trove of historical documentation of life in the Washington Territory during its frontier period. Horse thieves and prostitutes, poisoners and pests encountered the legal system of the day. The case files are both a Who’s Who of territorial Washington and a window into the lives of individuals who left no other trace in the historical record. Dr. Larry Cebula and Tim Harrington, will describe the status of the digitization effort and highlight some of the more interesting cases.
Start Time Note: Meeting actually starts at 1:00 pm but all, including Zoom, is open at 12:30 PM. The meeting usually ends around 3:00 pm.
Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society DNA Special Interest Group Meeting
Tuesday, November 28 at 7:00 pm via Zoom
We will continue studying Genetic Genealogy in Practice by Blaine Bettinger and Debbie Parker Wayne.
This month we will discuss Chapter 8: Incorporating DNA Evidence in a Written Conclusion, and Chapter 9: Conclusion.
This book is available from The National Genealogical Society (the publishers, Amazon, or perhaps through your local public library or via Inter-Library Loan.
Check WorldCat to see what libraries may have copies.
Meeting Invite:
Every month on the Fourth Tue beginning at 7:00 PM Pacific Time
Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.
You are invited to help Heritage Quest Research Library with their fund raising store-front. This is an online store that is open for the month of November. Shipping is free if over $70. Shipping will start as early as November 10th. Proceeds to HQRL average 25% of the purchase price.
This is one of the best non-fiction books I’ve read lately. It’s the story of “Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.”
College rowing had been a team sport since the early 1800s and began in New York. By 1900, many major colleges had rowing teams and the competition was fierce. I literally couldn’t put the book down as I learned about the history of this sport and the teams at the University of Washington in particular. I do recommend this as a worthwhile winter read for you all.
What I want to share with you today begins on page 122 and I both quote and paraphrase: “In one small corner of the country (Washington state), something large was beginning to stir that terribly hot summer….. early on August 4th (1936) …. folks from Seattle climbed into their automobiles and headed east. People in Spokane filled their picnic hampers and loaded them into their cars and headed west. By late morning, the roads were black with automobiles converging from all directions on one unlikely spot: Ephrata, a forlorn little town of 516 people, out in the desolate scablands, not far from the Columbia River and a 50-mile long canyon called the Grand Coulee.
“By midafternoon, 20,000 people had gathered behind a rope line in Ephrata. When Franklin D. Roosevelt appeared on the platform before them his cigarette holder angled jauntily upward, the crowd roared its welcome. Then Roosevelt began to speak, leaning forward on his podium, clutching it. In measured tones, but with rising emotion, he began laying out a vision of the benefits that the new Grand Coulee Dam would bring to this arid land in exchange for the $175 million public dollars it would cost……….”
Roosevelt then spoke of the many benefits and in closing said: “We are going to see, I believe, without own eyes, electricity and power made so cheap that they will become a standard article of use….for every house within the reach of an electrical transmission line.”
While it was not mentioned in this book, no doubt Roosevelt spoke to the thousands of “arid lane” that could be transformed into productive agricultural land.
I wasn’t there; you weren’t there, but with this author’s words, we can well imagine the day, the crowd and his welcome news.
Topic: “German Advent, Christmas and New Year’s Traditions and Superstitions”
The speaker will share stories about German Advent, Christmas and New Year’s traditions for the period from December 1st to Epiphany, with superstitions thrown in.
Presenter: Ingeborg Carpenter
Ingeborg was born in Frankfurt, Germany, raised in Westphalia, and immigrated to America in 1972. She is very active in genealogy and is currently the President of the Sacramento German Genealogy Society and of the International German Genealogy Partnership.
You are free to copy articles to any non-commercial web site or message board or printed publication you wish. Don’t bother to ask permission, just do it.
