"Welcome to the Weekend Chat!" All Members Invited!! November 19th -21st, 2021 [closed]

+26 votes
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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: See y’all Thanksgiving weekend!
in The Tree House by Pip Sheppard G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
closed by Pip Sheppard

You were already on our daily prayer list, Pip, but now we'll be praying for Mrs. Pip, too.

Pip prayers for healing and strength for you. And your whole family.  Life is full of things that blindside us.  But that is why Gid brings us the caring. People into our lives.   We are here for you.  you are not alone.   

It is an epidemic of the young generations not valuing furniture.  China silver and crystal from older generations.  All you can do is offer it. Then find someone who appreciates the craftsmanship

Hugs.  you can call me 24/7.  I care.  I know how these diagnoses can shoot you down.  Try to stay positive and watch comedies. There is healing in laughter
Oh, Pip. Sending you strength, and holding you and your family in the Light.
Pip - I'll just echo what all the others have said. Your step-father and wife will be on my prayer list for the foreseeable future. My father is slowly entering this last phase of his life, but depending on what the doctors say in the next few weeks, they might come up with a plan that will help him greatly. We'll see. But I can definitely relate that these situations create a lot of tension. I find that I'm leaning more heavily on the Lord these days than usual, and I suppose that's a good thing.
Scot prayers for you and your family too.  It is hard to see our parents decline.    I lost both of mine in 2015.   My Dad was Atotal joy to the very end. My Mom alienated everyone who tried to help her. She was angry at her state of physical being tied to her own life choices.  It was quit difficult.  Now we are the oldest generation and that is kind of scarey
Thanks for hosting Pip! Sending love & healing vibes your way. Be sure to take time for yourself to enjoy something beautiful, even if it's only for a few seconds. Please don't let the depression start because it's so hard to get out of it! {{Pip}} hugs!
Pip, I am so distressed to hear about health concerns for your wife.  I join others in prayer for her heath, an accurate diagnosis of something not life-threatening, and a good treatment plan.  I also pray for your peace of mind, Pip, to keep giving this to God and trust him to work on it.  I'm sure you do but sometimes it's not easy.
All I can say is that I hope all goes well.
I made a mistake and put my answer here. So I removed it.

Pip you and your family are in my prayers heart

38 Answers

+23 votes

Good morning Pip and the weekend chatters!

Weather

  • It's been cool and sunny all week. Currently, it's 48ºF.

Genealogy

  • not too much done this week
  • edited a few WikiTree Challenge profiles

Remembrance

  • Tomorrow marks my mother's birth date. She passed away 16 years ago. If she were still living, she would be celebrating her 91st birthday.
by Tommy Buch G2G Astronaut (1.9m points)
Hi Tommy thanks for sharing!!
Currently 24°F here, Tommy. Expecting sunshine but not a lot of warmth. It's a tad early for weather this cold around here.
Hi Tommy - you make me want to go to my Mom's house and give her a hug. She's nearly 80 years old now (birthday will be in April) and in somewhat fragile health, but hanging in there. I can't imagine what it's like to lose a parent, although my wife has lost both of hers and I've gone through that with her. I think it's wonderful that your Mom is not forgotten, and just hope that you spend more time in remembrance of the good things than to dwell too much on your loss.
+22 votes

smiley Good morning.....last Sunday evening I made 'light' of the rain referring to it as only a 'dream'.....by Tuesday morning I awoke to the reality of the situation.....a challenge!

by John Thompson G2G6 Pilot (346k points)
@John, thought you and Washington State and Oregon State and upper  northern California had washed away in the rains

Apparently not, Susan, we didn't wash away, yet.........             ..................over yonder, to the left, they've started to spend a billion dollars to recover and upriver, to the right......oh, well I can't count that high.........

John, so sorry to hear about the terrible flooding around you. Hope you and Kathy are staying safe.
@John, weather in your part of the country and on down the pacific coast has definitely been nasty for several years
Thankyou, Alexis.....we are definitely going to be busy finding access routes, supplies and prepping for more weather.....challenging times!
Been thinking of you, John, what with all the weather reports. I used to look as just our weather, but since getting to know so many WikiTreers I'm usually saying things my wife doesn't understand. "Oh my goodness, John lives in that area. I hope he's OK." Stuff like that.

Thankyou, Pip, for thinking of us.....Kathy wants you to know we are thinking of you, your step-dad and your wife.....hoping you all do well.  smiley

+21 votes

Buenos días a todos It is 8am in the Old Pueblo and 56F (13.3C) with an expected high of 82F (27.8C) and sunny skies! I was awakened with a telephone call from what I thought would be my new primary care provider. My old one is a physician’s assistant who is leaving the practice. I was told to make a new appointment (today) to maintain care at this practice. Wrong! I had to reschedule for December 28 for 1/2 hour (not 15 minutes). If I get a call at 7am on the 28th telling me he is not taking new patients that will put me over the edge with these complex medical conditions! Continuity of care is probably the biggest issue as I age, along with the medical conditions.

 

When I volunteered at the Celtic Festival two weeks ago, I discovered that a farmer’s market was held every Sunday morning. I went last Sunday and had a wonderful time. These are all local vendors who make homemade food and items for sale. I have ordered a home-baked pumpkin pie for this Sunday, which I will take to my friends’ home this Thursday. They kindly asked me for Thanksgiving and I am thankful. It will be just the three of us. Their youngest, who is in his 40’s is staying put in Colorado to complete a master’s degree. Their other son and his family live in California and are committed elsewhere. Last year, during the pandemic, they brought Thanksgiving dinner to me (we were all donned in masks). Things are looking up somewhat from the pandemic, but we still have a way to go. Other vendors sell green corn tamales and empanadas, home-brewed kombucha, spaetzli bread, fruits and vegetables from the garden and handcrafted goods. The only thing missing is a Tarot reader!

 

I mentioned a while back that my nurse sleep researcher colleagues and I are working on a paper regarding nurses being more tired than ever and what to do about it. We are referring to nurses who work nights and long shifts. The paper, published in the American Journal of Nursing (AJN), was released yesterday. We had queries about the article over a week ago from Mexico to Latvia! The AJN has even made this a Continuing Education article and added a video clip of two of our writing group to enhance promotion. The editor has also told us that we can get copyright permission to publish the article in Spanish once translation completed. We are all very excited about this and it is flying off the open access PubMed link. We are already working on our next publication, which will cover night/long shift work and negative health outcomes.

 

Shout out: Pip, I already sent you the link for this paper, as promised months ago, for your EMT daughter.

 

This past week, I worked on the Morse family profiles. There were perhaps 15 to 20 that had no sources and most without biographies. As you might guess, they were GEDCOM uploads from Ancestry. Several dated back to 2011. These GEDCOMS are becoming the bane of my existence. I started with one, then moved to the next, and the next, then discovered that there were extant profiles; however, not connected, some without birth or death dates. If I can find information on RootsSearch, anyone can! I was all set to continue work on my son-in-law, Curtis’ Barnum line when I came across a Morse profile and my OCD kicked in. One biography turned into many. I promised myself (and my son-in-law) that I would be completing his maternal line before Christmas. Now I need to focus.  

 

It is hard to believe we are moving into the shank of November 2021. The years are flying by. I want to wish all of you (even the ones who are not in the U.S.) a Happy Thanksgiving week. And let’s be sure to thank thoughtfully or in person, our indigenous families here in the states for their ancestors’ generosity in keeping immigrants to the ‘New World’ (our ancestors) from starving. I wish all of you a very happy, healthy and productive week.

by Carol Baldwin G2G Astronaut (1.1m points)
edited by Carol Baldwin
Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving as well Carol. Hang in there, thanks for sharing your struggles and your progress on Wikitree with us!

Howdy, Carol. WE have a farmers' market here, small, every Saturday. Even if we don't buy anything (but we usually do) we just love hanging out and listening to the music. They always have a band of some type, mostly bluegrass. We most often buy our honey there. For some reason, it's better than any store brand.

Thanks SO MUCH for the link. I read your article and immediately [passed it on to my daughter. She thanks you, too!

November has flown by! So much going on. I'm guessing the dust will settle around early January.

Hi Pipster, and back at you with the thank yous for managing the chat, your generosity of spirit and so much more both on and off WikiTree. I just completed our Saturday AM Healing Touch zoom meeting and placed you, your wife and your step dad in the healing circle. So glad you enjoyed the article and hope your daughter finds it useful. Our Healing Touch team, many of whom are nurses received the article and sent it around to others. Pip, don't hesitate to reach out. We (and I) are here for you. Wishing you and your loved ones the best of Thanksgivings. Please also remember our indigenous families on this day for without their ancestors, many of our descendants would likely not exist.
{{{Carol}}} big hugs! You must have gotten your Trane fixed which is great with the chillier weather forecasted for us. Sierra Vista also has a farmer's market every Thursday, but I've only gone there once so far. I usually don't go into the city on that day. LOL

Hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving with friends! I'm joining my best friend and her hubby. I thought I'd make dinner and take it there. Instead, her hubby is cooking and asked her to invite me there. Going to fix my sweet potato casserole to take there. She finished radiation treatments, but is now on oxygen.  Her doc said it could take her six months to completely heal. She is a lovely person who has been through a lot of medical problems since I moved here and became acquainted with her.

Best wishes to you, coz! {{{Carol}}}
+22 votes

Hello, everyone! I asked a question on Reddit about one of my ancestors, and came across a theory I hadn't considered - My ancestor Abraham York's mother might not have been Catherine, as she would have been about 16 at the time of Abraham's birth, and then no children were born between Abraham and his sibling Benjamin - an 8 year gap.

To research this theory, I plan to send out a request to the County Clerk in Owego, NY, to get Abraham's death record. It might have his mother's name on it. But it also might not.

In other news, my plans to participate in NaNoWriMo were sidelined, unfortunately. I guess there's always next year...

by G. Borrero G2G6 Pilot (124k points)
@G.B. that is a very very nicely done profile !! Several of the children listed are in red" -- is that deliberate on your part?
Let us know what you find out, G, about Abraham and his mother!!
As well as the county clerk you might be able to get information from the town historian. I was able to get copies of local small town paper obituaries for my grandparents. Also try fultonhistory.com for newspapers.
@Susan - The children are red because I didn't make profiles for them, but wanted to indicate profiles should be made for them.

@Pip - if I find out anything, I'll let everyone know!

@Kay - I did find some information on Fulton History, but not nearly enough. Just his obituary.
@all, many eras, as soon as the female child hit puberty she was eligible to be married off and I've found cases of girls age 12 to 15 being married

One case iin the 1800s in LA whee the bride was 13 and the groom was 56. He died a week after the marriage; and she lived a long long life and never again married
+21 votes

Today is.....

   

NATIONAL VICHYSSOISE DAY:

Today we want to recognizes a cold soup that is loved by many. Made thick with pureed leeks, onions, potatoes, cream and chicken stock, Vichyssoise is traditionally served cold though sometimes is eaten hot.

Culinary historians debate the origin of Vichyssoise. However, the man most credited with the reinvention of the soup is French chef Louis Diat. Back in 1950, New Yorker Magazine interviewed Diat, who was the chef at the Ritz Carlton in New York City; he told them: 

“In the summer of 1917, when I had been at the Ritz seven years, I reflected upon the potato and leek soup of my childhood which my mother and grandmother used to make. I recalled how during the summer my older brother and I used to cool it off by pouring in cold milk and how delicious it was. I resolved to make something of the sort for the patrons of the Ritz.”

Recipes have been found for soup very similar to Vichyssoise but served hot dating back as far as 1869.

Enjoy this Vichyssoise recipe.

by Dorothy Barry G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
edited by Dorothy Barry
@Dorothy I was SO DISAPPOINTED with finding out that vichyswa soup was only cold otato soup - mostly because it cost $5 a bowl (not a big bowl either) at a fancy french restaurant ... total bummer

THEREAFTER I made my own cold potato soup at home and served it HOT
That's a lot (5 dollars) for a cold bowl of soup. Too bad they wouldn't or couldn't warm it up for you.

 Heh, Dorothy.  Walked away with two (at least) "Memo To Self"
1. Don't tell your fiance who is for whatever reason trying to impress you with his avoire faire (etc) "damn, this is just cold potato soup !" (etc) 
2. Don't say it when the waiter is near enough to hear it 

I think, I don't recall, that may be the last time he dragged me to a fancy french restaurant ...

I will say I thought the salty caviar  was delicious and ate four servings of it ($10 a pop, as it turned out) 

This is another of my wife's favorite and she makes a GOOD ONE! Thanks, Dorothy!
+20 votes
Thank You for hosting the Chat Pip,

Weather, Monday Cold and snow. We actually got 3.5 inches of wet snow over the weekend.

Tuesday, Warmed up a bit and the snow was melting, almost all gone.

Wednesday, Above normal temps and dry.

Thursday, The weather is getting colder and they are saying that we will get 4 to 6 inches of snow over the next couple of days.

Friday, The ground is covered with that white stuff.

On the Home Front,

Monday, We had no plans but that changed when we were asked to babysit for the great granddaughter. The little one had a doctors visit prior to arriving at our house and got 5 shots so she was sore and grumpy but she is walking now and getting better with that with each step.

Tuesday, The youngest granddaughter was admitted to Rainbow Babies and Children's hospital. They are not sure what is wrong but she can not keep any food down. She is even throwing up water and pills. Add to that My aunt that was admitted to another hospital for COVID and they discovered she has an irregular heartbeat so they have to fix that as well as treat her for the virus before she can be released.

Wednesday, Between helping keep family members informed on the status of the granddaughter in the hospital and fixing a problem with Diane's phone the day was shot.

Thursday,The granddaughter had 2 "surgical" procedures. The good news is they found nothing wrong and released her. The bad news is they found nothing wrong and released her. This is an ongoing medical problem so we are still in the dark about the actual problem. Update, they now believe that the problem was caused by the medication one doctor prescribed to "fix" the problem. So it is back to square one.

Today, Most schools in our area are closed due to weather so I don't anticipate doing much outside me home today. We are watching the great granddaughter later this evening but until then I have no set plans, yet.

Genealogy, Still continuing to add sources to some sources to some unsourced profiles I manage and make them fit the guidelines a bit better but not much else.
by Dale Byers G2G Astronaut (1.7m points)
@Dale a very full and satisfavtory week
Thanks for sharing Dale. Hope none of your grandchildren got the dreaded Covid virus.
Dale, so sorry to hear about the illnesses in your family, especially on-going ones. Anything new on the re-rearranging the home again?
Pip, I hope your wife gets some good news. The office is mostly done but we may move the grandsons computers and desk in soon. for my part the only things I have to do are sorting out what I want to keep and general clean up.
Dale, if you’re helping to move stuff, you be careful. No more injuries! My new office, when I get into it, will be about three times bigger than the present one (which is a guest bedroom). I can sure use the space.
Pip the only things I plan to move for quite some time are very small and light, no heavy lifting this time. My office actually got smaller but I eliminated some stuff and put my radios, file cabinet, and printer in a different room so that helps.
+19 votes

Thanks for hosting, Pip.  New England saw an abnormally warm day yesterday, with highs of about 68 F/20 C where I live.  I decided to spend some time enjoying the weather by taking a walk along the Clipper City Rail Trail & Harborwalk in Newburyport, Massachusetts.  I don't have any exotic ice cream flavors to report back on this week, but I did stop at a place called the Angry Donut, where I enjoyed a Dark Chocolate Sea Salt donut along with my coffee.  Sadly, the days of taking long walks outside are beginning to dwindle as we get closer to winter.

Genealogically, I'm trying to take it easy after spending a couple weeks working on the WikiTree Challenge.  It's impressive that some members have been able to work on those challenges for many consecutive weeks throughout the year.

by Greg Lavoie G2G6 Pilot (368k points)
Hi Greg, We are expecting cold weather here this weekend, but usually we get very little snow during the winter months. However. I like it when it first snows but a day or two later it becomes a muddy mess around here!.
How can it be that warm up there and it's 20F here this morning?!?

A Dark Chocolate Sea Salt donut? Sounds mouthwatering. (Anything sweet with sea salt is a magnet to me)
+16 votes

HOME FRONT -- foggy foggy and some occasional sunshine in the PM before dark arrives to gobbble up the light

Cats come in damp-ish and meow at me so they get petted and patted and offered food - Hard for animal or human to say much with a mouth filled 

Nice man came and fixed the faucet drip in the shower/tub without having to remove the tub etc nor tear down the bathroom ... we considered it a minor miracle and told him so !! $125 on the Home Fixit Insurance) we have rather than the $600 quoted by an "outside" plumber ... - we were having pre-lim nightmares about Port-a Potties and latrine ditches and cold weather excursions to same and have a wall and tub removed and all sorts of other horror ... di not happen ... 

THURSDAY (yesterday) we went and got the Modena Booster and the flu shot ... vaccine fo covid di not hurt but the flu shot damn near put me on the floor from pain and the man (Pharmacist) nearly cried ... 

Not the first time a flu shot has poleaxed me while being injected ... 

GENEALOGY -- same as usual - Scoreboard is another 175 contributions I'll have Club 1000; I'm just shy of 80,500 total Contributions 

Worried about our cousin Pip, he is having a rough time now 

by Susan Smith G2G6 Pilot (652k points)
HOME FRONT UPDATE --  we get food delivery on Fridays.  Barring difficulties with delivery truck, driver's life and etc .... so on Friday we get meals (5each) for the coming week ... THIS Friday, today, we took deliver for both the week of Mon Nov 22nd and Mon Nov 27 --p- sort of thing will happen again in December due to xmas

Does give Sig O a Challeng to master stuffing 20 milks 20 TV dinners 4 loaves of bread .... etc into THAT freezer ...
Glad your plumbing issues were quickly and relatively inexpensively fixed! I do understand the anxieties you had pre-repair.

Re your injections, I am surprised they gave you both at the same time. They are telling folks here there needs to be a minimum of two weeks between them. But, good for you that they are over and I hope both will protect you from both illnesses. I have a reminder in my phone on when I can get my COVID booster. I had to wait at least 14 days after I finished up my antibiotics.

Nice Pharmacist had no qualms about dosing us with both vaccines. 

 Kaiser will do the ame thing, DPT & flu & shingles, for instances. 

This is California, which MAY have something to do with this "one stop shot shop" laugh

Yes I too am worried about Pip! He and his wife are in my thoughts and prayers. Wow, I can relate to trying to sneeze dinners in the freezer. Sometimes I think freezers should be larger then they make them but it probary would cost more to keep the food frozen.
Dorothy, I have not yet found a fridge and freezer set up yet that admits to enough freeze space nor shelves in the fridge etc etc

Port-a-potties and latrine ditches... laughlaughlaugh Don't give us nightmares, Susan. We have a leak in the guest bathtub, also a one=piece like yours.

I can just see Sig O handling, sorting, rearranging food to make it all fit. This is a skill my wife has, but I'm usually baffled by it. She won't let me in the freezer except to retrieve something, and then only if I put stuff back exactly as she had it.

@pip, your wife has learned the ecret, long ago learned it, of the efficient use of space
+22 votes

Hails and horns, Wikipeeps!

Well, I have some interesting genealogy news to share as I am in Virginia for Thanksgiving. I have a new blog out about birthdays. Check it out here: https://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2021/11/52-ancestors-week-46-birthdays.html

In between leaving NH and coming here, I got an email from the commune office. I will have to update the Tedesco fam again as Antonio’s got the wrong parents. On the plus side, I got his and Domenica Gullo’s marriage. This means I can better ask who her parents are and smash that wall like the Hulk.

I know the Tedesco fam may be wrong again. I will fix it when I get home. It’s hard to Wikitree on an iPad. What’s weird is that I have a substantial amount of Tedesco cousins. Figuring that out could be a problem. I suspect a npe somewhere. I hope I figure it out!

Non genealogy front but somehow related, I am gonna be doing open mic night on Twitter tonight for genchat. Some ppl have been not friendly to some young genealogists. Time to put the hammer down. 

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

by Chris Ferraiolo G2G6 Pilot (756k points)
Thanks for sharing about your blog Chris. Hope your chat gets people changing their approach to new genealoogists.
Chris, you always make such cool finds, And, even if you discover mistakes, it makes for interesting blog topics! Great job on your blog this week. I always enjoy reading them.

Enjoy your time is the Blessed Realm (the South).

Thanks! And if anyone wants to see why I was fired up last night, check this thread. https://twitter.com/cferra1227/status/1460357856486699019?s=21

And here https://twitter.com/danielgenealogy/status/1460594843781111808?s=21

I can see why you’d be fired up!
Yeah. I tend to get defensive when a friend has a problem. :)
+19 votes
I am sorry to hear about your family.  We are all praying for health and happiness to return quickly.

Colorado weather is dry.  This is the latest it has ever been without measurable snow in the Denver metro area. The ski resorts are open. It just on this side that we are getting nothing wet.

I started getting the longer term items for thanksgiving prepared.  I have some homemade sausage and jerky that I am working on as appetizers.  Of course next week we will really get going for the big event.  

My cemetery study is moving along.  I am getting close to 20% complete now on Cedar Hill Cemetery in Castle Rock, Colorado.  That's 638 profiles complete and connected out of roughly 3300 in the cemetery.
by Gurney Thompson G2G6 Pilot (443k points)
Wow that is alot of tombstones to look at and convert info to WikiTree profiles. Thank you for all you do on Wikitree!!
Kudos to you, Gurney, for tackling such a large cemetery. I have much less accomplished on the small one I am working on.

Homemade sausage and jerky? Sounds wonderful!
Greetings from Lakewood, CO! The sausage and jerky sounds terrific! One of the best things I ever had years ago was elk summer sausage.

I don't like it this dry either, but I'm still not looking forward to snow either.

That's also a huge cemetery to tackle.
+19 votes
Good afternoon, Eveyone!

Weather here in north-central Texas has been a mixed bag this week. It was cold, then rather warm - in the 80's - and now freezing at night and nice in the daytime - 60's. There is a saying in Texas, if you don't like the weather just wait a few hours.

Genealogically speaking I have been buried in Smiths this past week. Another WikiTree member and fellow Germanna descendant contacted me about some mistakes in a Smith line and it turned out to have more than a few mistakes so I set out to find and connect all the children to the correct families. Several had to be changed from one family to another but I think most are now safely in the arms of the correct parents. It is puzzling why siblings who are living in the same county would name children almost the same names - makes for many puzzles for us to solve!

I hope everyone has a great weekend and a wonderful Thanksgiving (for those in the USA who celebrate next Thursday). Safe travels for those who plan to visit families in other locales!
by Virginia Fields G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
Happy thanksgiving to you and your family Virginia. As far as the surname Smiths, I can see where you would get buried in them. Too common of a surname, like the Jones lol!!!
I have to hand it to you, Ginny, for tackling ANY Smith line., I have one that I really need to finish up. Starts in the mid-1800s and continues with many descendants, a collateral line of mine.
+19 votes
Dear Pip and all,

Here in Everett, Washington, when it's not pouring down rain this past week it's been clear and cold. I appreciate my walks with the dog early in the morning for getting up and looking at the world and giving thanks to God, even if it's only for ten minutes. We have done zero work on the yard and clutter. All has been inside.

Major headache with the huge sewing machine. I went back to the shop and got some advice. Then, I tried to wind a bobbin and it flew off the spindle, hit the wall and now I can't find it. One of these years I will. In the meantime I've returned to the Arkansas Crossroads project. I turned in six quilts to Project Linus last weekend. I am hand quilting now and have calluses on my fingertips, which are happy for the work.

The Coast Guard fixed the problem with the bulb in the lighthouse and now it's working again. They still plan to install a LED bulb in the Fresnel lens.

Thanksgiving is a difficult time for me because my mother died suddenly in 1984 on Thanksgiving. My daughter responded to pleas to work that day, with time and a half, so we had our turkey thigh soup last night. I think I will be getting another turkey thigh for next Thursday so we can have a late dinner. She and I like turkey, cranberries and pumpkin pie. Husband and son prefer ham.

Today's national (something edible) day is one I can support on a Friday--vichysoisse (minus the chicken broth). Love potato soup. Sorry, Chris, but I do eat at the Olive Garden and I like the potato soup there. Don't know where I could get vichysoisse around here that's not canned.

The merges I proposed yesterday have already been done. Yay! Plus, I get requests from local historians for articles I wrote years ago. I am less depressed since I resolved to take things one at a time. I could waste a lot of time looking for that lost bobbin but I have other bobbins, and in the meantime Oh Lord let me be content to break off the search and prepare dinner, which will help me and everyone else feel better.
by Margaret Summitt G2G6 Pilot (315k points)
Hi Margaret, thanks for sharing.

PS: I never tried making vichysoisse soup myself. Too bad the restrauant couldn't just warm it up for Susan as noted above on my post.

Margaret, you had some real rain over there lately. Sounds like our area (usually), but it's been a light year for rain for us.

So glad to hear the lighthouse bulb has been replaced. I wondered who was going to take care of that.

We are ham eaters for Thanksgiving, too. Our nephew sends us Kentucky ham and my wife also orders some from the same place in Kentucky, for Thanksgiving and for Christmas. She says there's nothing like Kentucky ham. 

+17 votes

On this day:

1493: Christopher Columbus lands on Puerto Rico

1885: The Battle of Slivnitsa ends

1962: The Academy Award winner Jodie Foster is born. Happy Birthday!

by Jelena Eckstädt G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)
Thank you for sharing "On this day" each weekend. We appreciate the info and some surprises too in our History.
Slivnita was an interesting read, Professor. Thanks for a good one!
+18 votes
Greetings From Brightlingsea, Essex, England

Its been quite a busy week. Maybe not done as much on wikitree this week. Sunday was Remembrance Day and the parade and wreath laying at the War Memorial is in the afternoon. For the first time I took part in the parade along with fellow Royal Naval Association members. (I am an associate member). Good to do the parade. My late  Dad was in the parade in the past. After the event was at the Royal British Legion Club with neighbours who invited me to join them and spent several enjoyable hours.

Tuesday - It was "Winter Safety Day" event at the Parish Hall, a number of organisation present, Age Concern, Police, Fire Brigade etc. Got a "goody bag" of useful items hat, scarf, gloves, socks hot water bottle along with a load of leaflets to read.  Chat to a few people and the lady in the Town Council office who I knew.   In the afternoon was at  the Dance Group in Colchester, ballroom and sequence dancing,

Wednesday - Coffee morning at the Community Centre, meet up with friends for a chat over coffee. In the evening was at an Annual Meeting for the Friends of All Saints Church, our church on the outskirts of Brightlingsea - dates back to the Thirteenth Century. Work is required to the tower and there are grant applications being assessed. In addition there are plans to enable the building to be used for other events , like concerts etc,  They are running the Christmas Tree Festival in December.

Thursday - Busy day. - had my COVID booster jab at Clacton Hospital, I had a friend offer to take me down there as there is no direct bus service.  Got my jab and apart from a bit of a sore arm am feeling well.  Having been "jabbed" - went shopping at the Marks & Spencer outlet at Clacton Shopping Village - found a few bargains.  Then went for lunch before heading for home.

As for Friday has been a quiet day.......

Have a good weekend everyone
by Chris Burrow G2G6 Pilot (220k points)
Thanks for sharing Chris. Rembrance and Veterans day are busy ones for me as well. We appreicate our veterans and all who served their country. Glad you didn't have bad reactions to your shot and you were able to do your shopping and get some bargains!!
You've had a busy week, Chris! I'm proud of you for taking part in Remembrance Day.
+19 votes
No words that can help, Pip, but I will be lifting you up.
by Frances Piercy-Reins G2G6 Mach 8 (87.3k points)
Agreeing with you Frances. I too will keep Pip in my prayers.
Thank you so much, Frances! More than appreciated.
+18 votes
Good evening from Germany,

the Covid numbers explode nearly literally. The highest number of infections within a day was more than 65k. Take that of a country with about 83m people, so you know what's going on. In a speech the boss of our institute for infectuous diseases gave, he said we are at a case mortality rate of 0.8% Which means that rather sooner than later, of these 65k infections more than 500 persons will die.

Now finally yesterday the Prime Ministers of the regions and Merkel met. (She's still in charge, the parties that want to form the new government are still negotiating the contract what they want to achieve in the next 4 years and how they want to do that.) So now there is in all of Germany the so called 2G-rule working (geimpft/vaccinated) or (genesen/survivor). People who are not vaccinated actually are only able to go to work (there they have to show a negative pcr not older than 24 hours), into the grocery store, the post office, the bank, the optician or the acoustician. The workshops for cars or bicycles are also still working, because cars are often necessary that people can go to work.

Personally, the situation being as it is, we hardly went out. Actually today at the farmer's market in our town I felt like in "I am a star, get me out of here." I was soooo happy when I was able to get out of the center again and go home.

We are anxiously expecting the opening of our new grocery store. Mum really wants to go there already on day 1, which is Thursday. I mean, I will too, but only with the ffp2-mask. I'm no idiot going there only with a medicine mask when there will be hundreds of people in the shop.

WikiTree-wise it was an interesting week. The accuracy topic for the week is "Birthday" and I chose to expand one of my unconnected Eckstädt-branches, since there is someone whose birthday is this week. Creating profile after profile I suddenly found that a guy married someone with a surname I know because her sister had married an Eckstädt. So I connected those two branches. There might be even a lead to get this big branch connected to the Big Tree. I still have to work on that. But I am. Today I again expanded that branch and found... I could connect it to a third unconnected branch. Oh my... when this branch finally will be connected to the Big Tree, there will be a jump in the percentage of connected people.

Stay safe, keep the distance outside of your immediate family and have a great weekend.
by Jelena Eckstädt G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)
Congratulations on your find...in the Eckstadt surname. It is always a thrill to find and connect a branch to our already established tree. You have a great weekend yourself Jelena!
Jelena, I saw that Austria is going on nationwide lockdown and also read that this is a possibility for Germany. My daughter left for Paris yesterday, the day the news hit. She and her husband were planning on going to Austria, but had to reschedule everything that was to happen after Paris. Now booked for Switzerland instead.
+16 votes
Hi all, still at the Swedish ancestors.  That big hole in my tree is nicely filling up.  In the past ~ 3 weeks I've discovered 17 new ancestors:

4x 4th great-grandparents
8x 5th great-grandparents
4x 6th great-grandparents
1   7th great-grandfather

In addition to finding a lot of interesting info about these people, their lives, tragedies & deaths, marriages, migrations, and so on.  I've just been completely immersed in my family tree for the first time in years.  Having a lot of fun.

Hope you all are well, looking forward to reading your replies.
by SJ Baty G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
Awesone news SJ;17 new ancestors is a lot in three weeks!  Glad you were able to find intersting stories and facts for these new additions!!!
Your fan-chart is filling up SJ, it's just great how the projects can help to kick off a search and what you can find when you are able to decipher the important parts of the documents.
I am SOOOOO jealous, SJ, but am also thrilled with your finds! How cool is that?!

Funny that you mentioned that Jelena, just yesterday I was comparing my 2020 fan chart to my new (this week) fan chart.  What a difference!

From this:

to this:

Still have a lot to find but I'm having no trouble finding most of what I'm looking for now.  

+14 votes
Happy Weekend!

Pip and I live in the same general area of the southeastern United States. It may be only cool to him, but to me it is cold. I consider anything in the 30s Fahrenheit cold--only a couple of degrees above freezing.

I mentioned last week I had resumed my "health program." Yes, I'll be losing weight, but I will be gaining health which is more important, really. Anyway, I did my first weigh-in since one week after resuming the program and had a good drop in weight. The proof of any "health program" is not what happens the first week, however, but what happens over the long haul. So far, so good, though.

My GI health issues are fairly well resolved after this round of antibiotics.

My husband had his yearly check-up with his urologist. He was diagnosed with and had surgery for bladder cancer eight years ago, after which he had several rounds of a treatment called BCG. After about two years of all that, he has been in remission. The urologist saw no issues during this exam and we are hoping the cytological results are clear, as well.

I had a decent week on WikiTree. There was one profile which affected me deeply. It was for a cousin who spent over 55 years institutionalized in a state mental hospital. I know little else about her beyond the basic BMD information.

A cousin I recently "met" when she contacted me on Ancestry has joined WikiTree and begun adding some other family members from her branch. I've encouraged her to participate her on G2G.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! To those who are celebrating this coming week, Happy Thanksgiving!
by Nelda Spires G2G6 Pilot (554k points)

Great news Nelda, glad to have another member from Ancestry who is active and adding to our huge family tree here on WikiTree. .Glad also to hear that the antibiotics has helped you and that your husband is doing well also, and stays in remission. Have a great weekend yourself!

Nelda, I had to laugh as my wife feels like you do in cooler weather. You should have heard the complaints this morning as we woke up to 20F!

When I found an uncle who died at Broughton Hospital here in North Carolina, I just had to work up a good biography for him. I wish I knew someone who knew him, but he died in the 40s I think. Very sad.

Great news for you and your husband with that medical report!
+17 votes

Hi from southern Ontario,

Chez moi/at home: what's happening here? Mostly exhaustion, I have spent close to 30 hours since last Thursday trying to upload all the annual reports for the horticultural society to the new and improved Ontario ministry of agriculture website.  The password didn't work, then of course multiple other problems that had to be overcome in order to create a new password. I finally got it done last night. 

I have mostly stayed away from the computer and all technology today and done other useful things like moving the stove, so I could wash the floor under it, the sides of the stove and the wall behind it. 

According to the weather forecast it has been snowing all day here, strange when I looked out the window it was mostly sunny with windy gusts.

The other topic that has occupied my mind is the incredible floods in British Columbia, the only north south highway has been washed out. Other roads are impassable due to landslides. The railway is washed out in some places and nothing is moving. I can't get in touch with friends and relatives. For a look at what is happening https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-flooding-2021-livestock-deaths-abbotsford-1.6252774 

Alton Cemetery project and other genealogy: almost nothing got done, 3 people got edited and added to the cemetery. 

Reading: I'm rereading Left for Dead by Beck Weathers, about the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, when eight climbers died in a blizzard trying to return from the summit. 

Covid: vaccination for children has been approved, and will start probably on Thursday. My younger brother who was 52 on Monday is in Bucharest for work, Romania has only about 35% of people vaccinated. 

by M Ross G2G6 Pilot (709k points)
Thanks "M" for sharing the weather in your area and in British Columbia.  Always neat to compare with our weather here in the states. Glad you got your project situation resolved and you were able to take a break from the computer. Hope you have a good week coming up!!
Passwords: the bane of my computer work, M. I really oughta write them down as sometimes my password saver doesn't come through for me.

I think all that snow was south of you.
Today we are going to the Alton Mill Christmas Open House, yes the same Alton as my cemetery project. And held at one of the 2 mills that were owned by Robbie's DH family. It is now an arts centre with galleries, boutiques and a Christmas market.

We should have time to visit the cemetery, the archeological dig that was started in the summer is I believe now finished.

The main street has been repaved, and a retaining wall has been replaced as the cemetery is about 15-20 feet higher than the road, the wall installation was the reason for the dig, as no one was sure if there were unmarked graves in that area of the cemetery.
Oh, cool!! We’re any unmarked graves found?
I don't know yet, they were hoping to find grave markers that had sunk into the soil since 1832 when the first burials took place.
Hi M, Always great to read your Chat! Passwords are the bane of my existence! And for the university, two factor authentication! It seems like our children in the USA are smarter than some adults...stepping up to the plate to be vaccinated and posting their little masked faces proudly announcing their vaccine status on social media. Have a great week!
Pip, about the cemetery, the dig is finished, new sod laid over the area that was excavated. The area of the dig is about 12 feet wide and about 60 feet long, a very small part of the cemetery.

From the location flags it looks like they found that some bodies/coffins were about 6 feet away from the headstones, off to the side not in front or behind them. Why, who knows, did the stones move, were moved, or were not accurately located at the time of burial or the coffins moved downslope, the area is on a slope.

Now the new retaining wall can be built.
+16 votes
Happy weekend, everyone!  From warm yesterday to blustery cold today... winter is nearly here.  Counting down to the end of the semester.  Just a few more weeks to go.  A lot of my students seem like they've already checked out, unfortunately.  It's been a rough semester.

Holiday planning is underway.  We're going to brave the grocery store tomorrow for turkey and fixins.  Also planning to get my booster shot tomorrow.  Then house cleaning.  The diabetic cat appears to be on another mission to get his insulin dose reduced.  We'll see if it's for real this time or if he's just toying with us, but at the moment we're dealing with a lot of late nights monitoring his glucose.  

Genealogy:  A bit of puttering around with my Flanagans; I finally sorted out how a couple of DNA cousins are connected there.  No help with my brick walls, unfortunately.  Then back to my Spanish Florida family.  Catalina Femanias is a brick wall so far, but there are several other Femaniases in New Smyrna/St. Augustine, and I'm guessing they're siblings or cousins.  I'm making profiles for them and their families now and hoping to connect the dots.
by Lisa Hazard G2G6 Pilot (263k points)
Hope you have a great thanksgiving Lisa. I have been doing some cleaning as well for next week, Haven't done the grocery shopping yet thou. Waiting on next week so I have enough until the beginning of December.
Lisa, I know you'll be glad when the semester is over. Students checking out? Well, they know they'll be cramming near the end of the semester when finals start rolling around. Are you already prepping for next semester?
Pip, I'm teaching one of my current classes again next semester, so I've been doing a bit of prep as I go (mostly notes along the lines of "fix this next time!").  Because I've got overload this semester I only have that one class next semester, so I should have more time to focus on research and stuff.  Looking forward to it.

More Florida profiles last night... haven't connected any dots but I'm just a few edits away from my Tortoise Club quota.

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