"Welcome to the Weekend Chat!" All Members Invited!! May 22nd - 24th, 2020 [closed]

+28 votes
2.4k views

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New Members Saying Hello (our favorite!)

Puzzles and Tips 

"Today Is" 

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Members Checking in via "All About the Weekend Chat"

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Click here if Interested in Hosting the Weekend Chat and earning a Guest Host Sticker? 

CHANGE TO BEST ANSWER PROCESS:  After much discussion we have come to the conclusion that all answers in the Weekend Chat are of equal importance and weight.  So we are going to discontinue the Best Answer portion as it adds points and then takes them away from posters and is causing some hurt feelings.  So in the interest of everyone is equal and valued we will delete any best answers given which will deduct those points because it has been pointed out that to give everyone best answer is also not a viable option. 

Weekend Chat is for everyone. It's a place to catch up on what people are up to and to share what you've been doing.  New members can say hello, introduce themselves, ask questions, and meet each other.  Our seasoned members can share progress or successes from their projects, give tips and advice, or chime in on hot topics.

Post as many answers and comments as you wish. It doesn't hurt anyone to post a lot and enjoy the multitude of topics.

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Enjoy yourselves and spread the love!

WikiTree profile: Pip Sheppard
closed with the note: Wonderful to hear from EVERYONE!
in The Tree House by Pip Sheppard G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
closed by Pip Sheppard
Laurie, we're still wearing masks when we go out! Not taking a chance with out underlying health issues.
Thank you for hosting Pip. I am reading "Everybody Was So Young" by Amanda Vaill. It tells the true story of Gerald and Sara Murphy who at the center of the literary scene in Paris in the 1920s. They were famous for their fabulous parties that included Dorothy Parker, Cole Porter, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Pablo Picasso.
Pip,

"Traveling a few counties over to look at a few properties"  sounds a bit like going to look at a litter of puppies...... you always bring at least one home.

Hope things dry out for  you.
You know Pip, I think I am a trend setter. My next door neighbors bought The Old Timey Sheppard Human Powered Mower.
@Paul: Whuuuut?!? For real?
For real man. Their teenager saw my kids mowing. Their mower was smoking pretty bad. So they asked me how much my mower cost and where I got it from. Next day, they got one.
A real man mower for sure. Thanks for being an ad for my environmentally friendly mower products, Paul!
In the few weeks since I bought it, I am noticing that I am getting in better shape. I do the hard parts and let the kids do the easy parts.
Thanks for hosting, Pip! I'm happy you and yours are well. Are you hoping to purchase any of those properties?
Of the three, one looks particularly good. We’re going to have an agent take us to the three, and we’ll decide if one of them is worth pursuing.

50 Answers

+19 votes
Hi all,

the weather here in Germany was sunny this week, just a few minutes ago it started to shower a bit and tomorrow's forecast is rainy. We had a craftsman here this week who caulked the frame of the window from inside and outside, so now we have to check if the rain stays outside. We surely hope it does.

Beside that, the week was quite calm again. My social mum has to get a small surgery on Monday and for preparation they did a Corona-test today. She was told to stay isolated at home after the test not to risk anything. We'll stay in phone contact though.

Genealogically, I try to decrease the number of open tabs in my browser windows, more or less systematically. Well, as systematically as a chaotic person like I is able to do that... All that leads to the system of 2 days adding profiles, one day orphaning profiles before I start adding again. At least I see the total number of tabs go down. At least something...

Stay safe and stay at home as much as possible
by Jelena Eckstädt G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)
Hope your Mom's surgery goes well and glad you're getting to spend some time on genealogy.

We've been staying at home.... mostly.
It's not my mum, it's my social mum ;). But we all also hope too it goes well. It's not a big surgery, but still...
Big surgery or small.... everyone needs to be pampered.    Take Care Jelena.
Mom's getting her shoulder worked on? I thought that was delayed until later this year.

Hope that window is fixed. You don't another flood in your home.
No, not mum. My social mum (the wife of my social daddy who died 1 1/2 years ago on cancer) has a surgery. Mum's shoulder is delayed.
"Social mum" and "social daddy" are beautiful terms. I have to admit that I have never heard these terms before. I can guess what they might mean, but I would like to know. What do they mean for you?
"Social (parent)" is in Germany used to describe a parent-like relationship to someone who is not your biological parent. You can also use "father figure" or something similar.

The family lived in our house when we moved in (25-flats house). From day one (literally) we had contact to them and went together through thick and thin. When my father had his accident that brought him into UCI it was the dad of that family (my social daddy) who drove mum to the hospital. I slept that night at them. Then my father died after a few days and the family was there. They had to move out because of daddy's job, but we always held contact. After about 10 years or so, they moved back into my town, only 10 minutes away walking. And especially in the later years after they moved back I realized that he had become my daddy. As he is not my biological daddy, he is my social daddy. One of the 3 daughters was also my classmate and all of them are now married and have children. On Christmas 2018 one of the grandsons of my daddy (aka my social nephew) painted a picture still with his granddad (he had died short before) and my mum and I were also in there. "They belong there."
Thank you for explaining. They sound like they are amazing people.
I need to get some social parents
+18 votes
My last living sibling of my parents turned 91 yesterday.   She is so "with it".   I give her thanks every time I talk to her about her love for genealogy.  She started the research on our "Lee" family back when you sat at a library for hours looking through old documents.   She taught me a lot about research, vs. what "Grandma told us".   We laugh a lot about spending hours trying to find out who "uncle so and so" was and how he fit into the family, only to find out he wasn't even related....just lived next door.   She has an album of old tin types.   Based on the age of her grandmother, my great grandmother in her photo, we figure they were done in about 1880.   It appears to be all the family members that lived near each other in Plymouth, Indiana.
by Robin Lee G2G6 Pilot (852k points)
It's great you have a family member to mull over the tin types with.    I'm still sad about how much information our family has lost because pictures weren't labeled and there's no one living to make identifications.   

We believe our tin types are from the 1880s too.
Tin-types? Might be older than you think, Robin. The only tin-type in my family went to an unknown relative. I wish I had gotten it.

Boy oh boy, do I remember all those hours in the library and the courthouse. Actually, I like doing that, just because one can often find something that hasn't been digitized yet.
+18 votes

Thanks for hosting again Pip.

Weather Stuff: We too have an abundance of rain here in Catoosa County.  We haven't found our rain gauge since we moved but we bought a new one that has numbers the size of the BIG E on the vision chart.   It's pretty easy to see we got 3 inches last night,  without even going outside.  All outdoor projects are on hold but there's no need to water anything.

Projects:   Since Pip has 20 unfinished projects,  he'll be envious to hear we whittled down our list of 12 unfinished project to only 4 unfinished projects!!!    This is almost unsettling.

Genealogy:   Have been working on a friend's family line.  He died a year ago and his widow is now showing an interest in posting his biography on WikiTree.     He grew up in Kansas but his parents were from Wisconsin/Michigan.    I've been able to find records for all his family lines and I was surprised that they all lead to Germany..... mostly moving to America between 1850 and 1880.  

Looking forward to hearing your stories.

by Peggy McReynolds G2G6 Pilot (470k points)
Three inches is a lot! I was just thinking today that we need a new rain gauge. We have the one with the big numbers but they have worn off so you need to walk close to it to read the level. Sort of defeats the purpose.

Peggy, we got three inches, too, and today probably another one or so. It was pouring around town this afternoon.

And... if you finish up those last four projects, just contact me. You know I have lots I'll be more than glad to share!  I'm a sharing kinda guy! Sharing in being nice! laugh

+17 votes

*Thinks to self* Okay, so it's Saturday, post something. Oh but just remember that what the post category, hot topic definition and the acceptable use policy limit what you can say... Hmm

Err, so hello there. So, holes were dug, existing branches woven together (Dr Richard Weil connected). Found my first enlisted relative who perished in the Blitz.

Certainly saw the result of last week's comment (why else do you think I said what I said when posting about the passing of Ravi Zacharias?)

by Richard Shelley G2G6 Pilot (245k points)
edited by Richard Shelley
Safe, as far as I can tell.

I'm sure I have lots of cousins who died in the Blitz, but they are so far out, like more than a couple hundred years out, the result of my ancestors 17th and 18th century immigration to the States.

I always enjoy hearing what you're working on, Richard.

Glad you've been able to connect family branches.   I personally have stalled out on my own family tree,  but have been working on trees for friends that are easy to extend.  smiley

To increase the likelihood of finding existing profiles who are descendants of a common ancestor, I think from memory I have to go 6 generations back to have a chance. When David did the wonderful wikitreer shout-out, this was I was doing, tracked a descendant from the starting profile I had selected added the required links and then worked on the spouse (creating profiles to unite the gaps in that person's ancestry)

Maybe I just got a little carried away? Paul Bryan, Patrick Ashley Cooper, Sir Patrick Duncan and Patrick Baker Duncan just got attached to the tree

Excellent, Richard!

It looks like my final act for the week (and month) will see the connection of Edwin Livingston, and the link to the Romanian Ghica noble family

I’d never heard of the Ghica family until you mentioned it here.
Honestly? Neither did I!. Didn't realise Edwin's family was as notable as it is (already in the 'Tree) but one of his descendants marries to the woman who married into that noble family and also one of my cousins
+17 votes
Kia Ora from Top of the South, New Zealand. Thanks for hosting the chat, Pip. What an exciting week! I went to the doctor, my husband had a tooth pulled, we had our first coffee out in 9 weeks and did a 50km trip to Nelson on Thursday. We bought a couple of things from small businesses, a new wifi printer and even had a beer on the way home. Things are slowly and cautiously opening up here, and I think there has been only one Covid case this week. I excelled myself by successfully getting the printer to work on three devices yesterday - my husband was sent out on his bike so he didn’t offer “helpful” advice, or hear the sighs of frustration!

On the genealogy front, I’m trying to sort out my gggrandparents’ torturous relationship to update my gggrandmother’s profile. My gggrandfather was a politician at the time and I’ve looked at thousands of advertisements, shipping reports and news articles. He did a considerable amount for the West Coast, and I think I might create a free space page at some point to outline some of his achievements, and the causes he espoused. Even from 1878, some of his ideas are surprisingly modern.
by Fiona McMichael G2G6 Pilot (208k points)
Fiona, a free-space page would be great for that. I often come across too much information to put into a bio. A free-space page solves that! If you get it done, let us know.

Glad to hear you and the hubby were able to get out and about... finally.
Fiona,

My husband and are slowly  "testing the waters" away from home too.   However,  no where near "normal" activities..... will do take-out  but going into restaurants is still outside our comfort zone.

I stay away from printers and expect my IT Department (I.E. The Husband)  to handle the frustration of printers..... however,  I will do  paper jams.
Peggy, I’m the IT Department! I’m very patient and methodical, but it wasn’t going well with the printer at one point Because things are going reasonably well in NZ in terms of Covid, we’re quite comfortable. We’ve only been allowed out of town for just over a week and haven’t put petrol in the car for over 2 months, and I can’t tell you when I was last in the supermarket - it was about 21 March. Only one of us is allowed, and hubby can get to the front of the queue. On Monday afternoon I’ve got a haircut arranged, booked nearly two weeks ago - such anticipation. Strange times, when simple things mean so much. Stay safe, Peggy.
The province of Ontario, Canada has had at least 400 new cases a day for the past week. They have mostly been in the greater Toronto and Hamilton area (and it has close to seven million people). That is where I live. As a result, it will be a while before the hair salons and barbers open. Please enjoy your trip to the hairdressers and tell us what it was like in next week's chat. If I cannot go, I will enjoy living vicariously through your experience.
I will, Anne. I could see what was coming and had a haircut a week before lockdown, so it’s been about 10 weeks. A couple of weeks ago I had to let my husband cut my fringe with the sewing scissors - I was terrified he’d cut it too short, but because I had a hair appointment date, I knew it would grow out a bit more if he did so and I’m still wearing a hat when walking. (The autumn weather has been amazing and has only got cooler in the last week. We had our first frost on Thursday, too.) He did a good job - used to trim horses’ tails in his youth. Ohh, the things that stress us. Keep safe in Ontario, Anne. If everyone follows the rules, we can get on top of the virus.

Fiona, the difference in a good hair cut and a bad one is......

...two weeks. laugh

However, I once had one so bad that three weeks wasn’t enough.

That’s exactly the maxim I was working on, Pip.

Fiona,

Haircuts are certainly an interesting topic these days.    I've cut my husband's hair since 1978.    It wasn't just the cost of a haircut,  but he wanted the convenience of at "at home barber".   I was a bit shocked he would trust me to cut his hair,  but today I'm pretty good with HIS hair.... but wouldn't really want to try it on anyone else. 

Also in 1978, he cut MY hair..... it was nearly waist length and it really didn't take any skill.   Later I had shorter hair and he was fired surprise...   I totally understand your concern for letting your husband cut your hair.

I cut my husband’s hair, but there isn’t that much to cut!
+17 votes
My weekend is going to be pretty much low key, as usual in these pandemic times. Speaking of music, usually one of my bands is playing some where around town. But with all the social distancing requirements, all my gigs/band practices have been cancelled in the foreseeable future. I've been keeping my chops up by making YouTube videos of myself playing some of my favorite songs.  

Weather wise ... I'm in for rain this weekend, here in the Pacific Northwest. Means I have to spend my Friday night mowing the lawn before the rain kicks in.

Projects: Too many to mention, thus very little progress will be made. A cemetery project I'm working on is taking up most of my time these days.  

Genealogy wise: Lots of people most have a lot of same time these days, as I'm getting far more messages about potential family connections/DNA matches/ etc than ever before. I can barely keep up! That's good problem to have. Better than the opposite.   

Have a great weekend everyone. Happy Memorial day to my American friends/cousins/fellow WikiTreers!
by Alex Stronach G2G6 Pilot (363k points)
Later,  you'll probably appreciate having made the you tube videos.

Hope the lawn was mowed in time.
Alex, too many projects to mention sounds like the bane of many a WikiTreer, including me. It'd help if I'd finish something before beginning another (my wife's complaint). What cemetery project are you working on?

My plans on mowing today fell through. The rain came earlier than predicted.

Hey Pip, the cemetery project I'm working on finding sources for Valley View Cemetery. My goal was to create profiles, add photos, source, and move on. It's just taking me much longer than expected. It's a big project! 

I never did get to the lawn before the rain came. 

+18 votes
I lived outside the US for over twenty years, so I missed a lot of Memorial Days,but I was able to celebrate other Holidays that we don't celebrate in the US.
by David Hughey G2G Astronaut (1.7m points)
David, did you give up those other holidays upon return? (I’d have saved them just to have more excuses not to work!)

Memorial Day has always meant a lot to my family.   My grandmothers' generation would make sure EVERYONE's grave was decorated,  which took a lot of flower arrangements and trips to about 4 cemeteries.    They primarily used mums which were in abundance in their yards, because money wasn't easy to come by and there were always incredible blossoms at Memorial Day   Then there was the plastic flower phase. sad  But now I have my own mums and am back to fresh flowers...... but live 300 miles away.  Oh well.  

Hope you enjoy being back in the US.  

+18 votes
Here Friday night instead of Sunday afternoon. In New Jersey, everyone is wearing masks in public. We don't have the red, yellow green that some other states have. Many things are still closed. We are reopening very slowly.

Weather was rainy this afternoon. I bought a decorative rain gauge yesterday. Have to check it and empty it in the morning. I was looking for one to replace a worn out one. I like to browse and had forgotten about it during the worst of the lockdown. I found it at a garden center yesterday while buying a flat of marigolds. I got to plant 6 of them before the rains came down today. I think this is the first unplanned purchase for me in the last 2 months.

Geneology- I joined the connectors project last week. I got one right away. The second one had taken many hours to find out that he is not connected to the suggestions that come up. Still trying to find a connections. Cox-27694. I created his profile, thinking he was related to me and found out through further research that he is not. He had a sister named Lelia Cox, which is my sister, aunt and great aunt's name. In researching her, I found another Lelia Cox that I am also not related to. The name "Lelia" was much more common in the 18th century.

Still working on GEDCOM from a book I have.

Where do you go to see how many contributions you have made this month?
by Nancy Wilson G2G6 Pilot (145k points)

Select the “My WikiTree” menu, then select the menu item “Badges:  someNumber”. Look for the box on the right side that has writing that starts as follows:  With someNumber contributions this month, ....

Funny how that works, Nancy. One person will be connected with just a few other people added. Some will take a hundred people added.

Considering Connectors project, I'm always fascinated when I see some people posting "I got [add random Notable] connected to the big tree." Last year there were several "Can you help connect...?"-threads and I really enjoyed them, but I never got someone connected by myself. I always added some profiles and then someone else jumped in and made the final connection. I actually still remember very vividly the saga around the connection of Abe Ribicoff. There we (a group of 3 or 4) made literally more than 100 profiles to finally get him connected. The problem was that he and his family was very much connected within the Russian/Jewish/American community and it was hard to find someone outside of it to get the connection to the Big Tree. Here is the thread after my answer that I started creating some profiles. 

So glad you were able to buy plants.   Yard work and gardening have certainly made my  "lock down"  more tolerable. I've always planted marigold seeds round the perimeter of my vegetable garden....and with the tomatoes.

Since I live in NW Georgia and have many secluded trails available,  I won't compare my circumstance to those in New Jersey!!    But the real distraction is WikiTree!   How fortunate to have the internet.
Thanks for the explanation. I only have a little over 500 contributions. I thought it was more than that. I spent a lot of time figuring out who was not connected to my connection project, but that is not recorded. I could inflate the numbers by working more ont he GEDCOM. But i find the connection project more interesting at the moment.
Jelena, you gave me an idea. I could try to reach out to other profile managers with ancestors with the same last name and area and see if they can help.
+18 votes
Aloha from the land of The Cornhuskers.

Work: A few job sites have been hit with the covid. So I avoid the crap out of those. Other than that, still working steadily.

Weather: Wikitree does not allow me to use the vocabulary that I find appropriate to discuss my opinion on that topic.

Genealogy: I finally started to add to my Wikitree. I have added around 45 people in the last few days.

Family: All is well. Trying to figure out how to give my oldest daughter a graduation celebration.

Also, I have been using my time between job sites to learn random, historical things. Mostly from YouTube videos. Last week, as I said I learned about John "Jack"Renton. The White Headhunter. This week I learned about Project 100,000. All I can say is that it was not something great that our government and military participated in.
by Paul Kreutz G2G6 Pilot (129k points)
I'm reminded of your weather comment two weeks ago "Ummm Errr...." Sounds like weather is that way again. ;)

You will find a way to celebrate the graduation of your daughter, I'm sure about that.
Perfect time to learn something is all those hours on the road, Paul. I have a friend who loads books and listens, usually biographies. I’d have a more eclectic approach, kinda like yours.
+17 votes

Greetings from Brightlingsea, Essex, England

Its been sunny this week with some warm days and this has enabled work to continue on the garden. In addition it is now possible to go to our beach hut on the Brightlingsea promenade. Well not so much to sit outside to enjoy the good weather, but to carry out some  painting and the odd repair. Also a chance to do some tidying up inside, it needed a good sweep out. This will be keeping busy over the next few weeks in order I can hopefully enjoy my summer at the hut. Particularly as Brightlingsea Lido is closed for the season.

Have been busy on Wikitree, been going through my watchlist looking to see what I can add to profiles. Then I need to concentrate some time on my "Jefferies" connections. I found a reference to a member of the Jefferies family living in Canada.....

by Chris Burrow G2G6 Pilot (220k points)
Chris, I’m glad to see that you can get out and about, even if it is still somewhat restricted.

Could you please send some of your sunshine our way?
+18 votes

Today is....

    

NATIONAL TAFFY DAY

May 23rd celebrates a mouth-watering confection on National Taffy Day. Taffy candy has been made and sold for many years and has become a favorite souvenir of many vacationers.

Salt water taffy in was invented 1883 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

This confection is made with boiled sugar and butter that is stretched and pulled until it is a chewy consistency that can be rolled and cut. The flavors range from buttery to tart to sweet. There is a flavor for everyone, and it seems like they introduce a new one each year, too. Taffy’s colorful displays tantalize children and adults alike. And they have been doing so for generations. At one time, candy shops and pharmacies sold penny candy and taffy was one of the many tempting options we could choose from. However, those days are now long gone.

With summer just around the corner, seasonal candy shops are stocking up their latest selections. With so many flavors to choose from, it’s often hard to decide which ones to pick. That’s why they often offer flavors swirled together to help us narrow it down. But we’re still enticed by the variety and the colors.

HOW TO OBSERVE National Taffy Day:

What’s your favorite flavor of taffy? Be sure to enjoy a piece or two. While you’re at it share a favorite memory or send a box to someone you know will enjoy some taffy. Give a shout out to your favorite candy shop, too! 

by Dorothy Barry G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
Happy belated birthday Dorothy :)
Golly, you’re up early today, Dorothy! I remember big glass  jars of taffy at our old drug store in Mount Holly when I was growing up. Mom would allow me to get just one.

My favorites are rum/butter and chocolate. The best is to be able to pick flavors in bulk to fill your bag. We will visit a retail store during the winter when the resort strip is deserted. My preference is to visit the factory, but they have moved. Once things open up will have to see if they still do factory tours. https://www.forbescandies.com/our-story

We have a favorite taffy shop in Estes Park, CO. It was started when my mother-in-law was a toddler and she grew up going there on outings. They now have competition but none of them are as good. They make everything in the shop.
+17 votes

On this day:

1568: With the Battle of Heiligerlee starts the Eighty-Years-War between Spain and the Netherlands

1707: Carl Linnaeus, who laid the foundation to the modern nomenclature in Biology, is born

1949: The Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany comes in effect.

by Jelena Eckstädt G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)
That last one led me down several other links. Always learning something new. For example, that The Four Powers had to sign off on the new constitution in 1990.

Yeah, we actually only won total sovereignty when the 2+4 Treaty was signed. (Using the common German name for it.) And actually the Basic Law is still in effect. In the 1990s there were some thoughts about creating a constitution, but more or less the agreement was then: "Why change something that works well?"

+18 votes

Hi everyone, and thanks Pip for hosting!

No Memorial Weekend here, as our version of Memorial Day is (was) on 8 May, but this is still a sort of holiday week-end, as Ascension Day is a holiday in France and the occasion for a 4-day weekend as it's always on Thurdays. Still hard to make it feel like a holiday, with many people grumbling because it's not allowed to go further than 100 km from home. I'm fortunate as my immediate family all live closer than that.

Weather has been exceptionnally fine until yesterday, when we got rain but it was not unpleasant. It was becoming too hot (too hot, at least, for the season). This week I finally "really went out", first, on Monday, for a two and a half hour walk in "my" forest. Predictably, it was unusually crowded; I will have to get up earlier and get there in the morning next time. On Wednesday I visited my parents - first time I saw them in 3 months! They are in good shape, at least physically; but this confined life is too lonely for Mum and she's nervously on the edge. Dad has been gardening a lot (I hadn't seen the garden so well done in years, I don't think it had ever been so good since they had their accident in 2007) and there were lots of delicious strawberries! Also on Thursday I went to my brother's, which was very nice  too. So good to spend time with family!

WikiTree-wise, I connected a French notable using my sister-in-law's extended family, making it a Champagne week. Sil is a descendant of the famous Veuve Clicquot's sister and has Delbeck and Ruinart ancestors, not counting the collaterals. This time I dabbled in Heidsieck cousins, including Charles "Champagne Charlie" Heidsieck (not a worthy notable profile, but I didn't know he was notable: to me, he just looked like another champagne merchant, until I found his Wikipedia page).

This week-end's objective will be to improve a group of Leuchtenberg profiles I imprudently adopted a while ago and make them at least reasonably decent. I've done 3 profiles in the group, and still have 4 more to go  - here is one of the "done" ones, Nicholas of Leuchtenberg.

by Isabelle Martin G2G6 Pilot (561k points)
edited by Isabelle Martin

Isabelle, how wonderful hat you got to spend some time with family.... finally! Like your dad, our outside areas look more beautiful than ever. Not having the ability to go out and about focused our attention on the yard.

Since we mention of so many holidays for other countries, I think I’ll start using them as excuses here. So, Ascension Day weekend is now officially a non-work weekend for me! And as soon as I tell my wife this, I’ll get that look. surprise

+16 votes

Greetings from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Work: As an elementary school teacher, I have learned a lot about distance learning since March. I had taken several online university courses in the past, but now I know much more about the google classroom, google hangouts, google meets, offering suggestions on students' google docs, google slides (and other GSuite tools), screencastify, Epic, Knowledgehook, and Prodigy. I have sent parents advice concerning how to download OverDrive Media (or Libby by OverDrive) so they can access ebooks from the Public Library and how to access books from the Board of Education's virtual library. I hosted four google meetings with my students this week (three classes with one each about Math, Science, and Social Studies, and one extra-help Math tutorial). I attended five different google staff meetings this week. As well as posting assignments and offering feedback on assignments, I emailed parents with a list of feedback on their students' assignments and I called all of the families (on the telephone). I think that I should mention that I graduated from high school in the late 1970s and I did not own a computer until the 1990s.

Weather: Today should reach a high of 25 degrees Celsius or 77 degrees Fahrenheit. I bought some new plants to put in the garden, so I have a lot of gardening to do this weekend.

WikTree: I should reach my 1000 contributions tomorrow or Monday and I reached 100,000 G2G points yesterday. I have two friends whose families are from Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada. This city was first settled in around 1672 and today has between 9000 and 10000 residents. After a year of searching, I had a breakthrough last weekend and I was finally able to link my two friends through the Doncaster family.

Family: Things are going well. Last month, an 88 year-old family member past away. I organized a small graveside funeral. My minister kindly agreed to officiate.

Friends: I am hosting a google hangout with friends this evening. Of course, I have wine and snacks ready to go.

by A. Creighton G2G6 Pilot (918k points)
edited by A. Creighton
Anne, I graduated from high school in the mid 70s and didn’t own a computer until ‘96! But, you’re way ahead of me on some of those meeting apps. A lockdown like this will force you to learn, right?

Congrats on achieving 100K G2G points!

Please accept my sympathy for the loss of your family member.
Anne, I graduated in 1969 and got my first computer around 1982 when I was studying computer programming. I have used Google hangouts for two meetings but the radio club I belong to uses Zoom and I have done 3 meetings on that so I am much more at ease with that and difference is like night and day. I will use hangouts if needed but much prefer Zoom.

I also started doing genealogy on a computer in the mid 80's, that is an addiction I have not been able to break to this day.
I use Zoom for volunteer work meeting and for church meetings. Back in March, our Board of Education was dealing with Zoom-bombing (people who crash and disrupt online Zoom classes) so google meets and google hangouts were mandated. At least with google, I can refuse to allow people into the meeting if I do not know them. Also, the students cannot enter until the teacher has entered. As well, the teacher can remove a student if the behavior is not appropriate.

Dale, if you have been doing genealogy since the 1980s, you must have very impressive research and work. I have only been doing genealogy for a few years, so I still feel that I am very new at it.
Anne, I have a very large collection of documents my grandmother gave me when I got my second computer, A Tandy 1000 model. It has taken me years to transcribe the data contained in those files and it now resides on a removable hard drive with a lot of it on WikiTree as well. I use Legacy software for my desktop system and in addition to WikiTree I have an account on Familysearch.org.

That being said I am learning new things every day and there are new sources to be found so I am still learning and working on it.

As for Zoom, our meetings are by invitation only and there is a moderator who can kick anyone off if need be. The problems is with the open meetings and no moderator. My Son's wife is in the education field and she uses Hangouts, I just found that to be much harder to use on my end.
Dale, thank you for the tip. I attend Zoom meetings with adults so I have not had to learn out how to remove people from the meetings because of bad behavior.

Your family is so lucky that you have spent so much time transcribing the large amount of data that your grandmother gave you.
+16 votes

It is a beautiful day here in Northeast Ohio. Only partly cloudy an in the low 70's. My plan is to do very little. Possibly look for a deal on a small desk and hook up another antenna to my Ham radio but those are not set things to do. I might just sit here with my computer on WikiTree and watch some TV. I just feel lazy today.cheeky

by Dale Byers G2G Astronaut (1.7m points)
We’ve got the same weather, Dale. I’m hoping that if he sun comes out and dries out the lawn, I’ll be able to get the mowing done. It’s getting jungle-ish here.
Well, I gave up on buying a desk, I am going to build one soon. I also never got around to working on my radio, hey I said I felt lazy. Well tomorrow is another day.

Well, well. We’re looking for a desk, too, Dale.

Sunny day and didn’t get the mowing done. Instead, pulled/dug weeds for two hours prepping a bed for a load of irises we got from dad. Sweat pouring, but it’s done!

+17 votes

We saw our FIRST lightning buds last night!! In a few weeks there’ll be so many it’ll look like all those camera flashes in a stadium.  

Partial sun this morning. Yesterday, we dug up a whole load of irises at my dad’s. Those have got to get in the ground today. Now, where to plant them.....

by Pip Sheppard G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
+14 votes
How many twists and turns are there possible with middle and small nobilities? She is a daughter of this one (wait, I had already contact to that name, did I already create a profile? Yes I did.) and married that one. (He is from a known dynasty, maybe there is already a profile... Hmmm, yeah, here it is, but he is not yet married to his wife.) Alright let's connect them... This rabbit labyrinth is a huge one..........
by Jelena Eckstädt G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)

Perfect for you, Jelena! I know how much you love rabbit holes! laugh

+17 votes
I adopted a profile about a year ago. Someone wanted to know if Priscilla could be detached as mother (there was no evidence at all). Did some checking and the only place I saw Priscilla connected with this family was on Ancestry. The first tree listed with over 1100 other trees showed that Peter was born and died in Connecticut but married in England. Then I noticed the name of the tree was "Just Ignore Me" So I did.
by Pat Credit G2G6 Pilot (183k points)

Now that’s funny, Pat! 

Glad someone else thinks this is funny.
It was the last sentence that got me!
Me too
+14 votes

laughlaugh I'm so happy at what I figured out how to do, I could just DO a Snoopy Happy Dance!! 

I went to my Watch List and selected WRIGHT as the next surname  to revised edit and whatever from 2019 to 2020 specs ... I wanted to know how MANY Wright (LNAB) l had on my list ... 

I started counting, got interrupted by Sig O, lost the count; started counting again, interrupted by a cat, lost the count, and this sort of interruption occurred a few more times and then I remembered "the definition of insanity" is "to do the same thing repeatedly, expecting a different result" ... laugh

Gave up for a 1/2 hour ate some food plotted my course for world dominion (which was summed up in "Nope, not gonna happen.") and then I got an inspiration 

 enlightenedI have that control-F for "Find" -- called up my WRIGHT and used the control-F and ... dang, I have 90 LNAB Wright and Using the same method to find out how many had a last edit in 2020, I found out I still have 35 more to revise ... 

I am beginning to wonder if I'm going to bring up to specs all of the 2,000+ before we are in 2021? 

by Susan Smith G2G6 Pilot (652k points)
lol .. ain't science wonderful? ...
Glad you figured out the Wright way to do it
+13 votes
Wow Pip,

This is an incredibly active week for the "Week End Chat".  I really enjoy reading everyone's post and hopefully have time to respond.

But happy Memorial Day Weekend to all you WikiKin.
by Peggy McReynolds G2G6 Pilot (470k points)
This is a great one. We're over 40 answers and about 200 comments!
It rarely happens that I post the Sunday's OTD on page 3 of the Chat.

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