Follow Friday: Little Bytes of Life

In her “Getting to Know Me” post on Little Bytes of Life, Elizabeth O’Neal asks the question: “Is this a Mommy blog? Or a genealogy blog? Or…what???” and answers it “Both,” going on to observe that in her blog she hopes to combine the study of her ancestors with the study of her descendants.

And that’s part of the enjoyment of reading Little Bytes of Life: the vicarious charge we get out of reading about raising a child in an environment where involvement in genealogy is a natural part of family life. Elizabeth is actively involved in the DAR and now, with her daughter, in the C.A.R. as well, so we get an inside look at the activities of these organizations (as well as various Central California Coast organizations). And those of us who are trying in vain to get our children involved in genealogy experience envy as well. If there weren’t already enough reasons for me to envy Elizabeth, here are a few more: she is a talented writer and photographer and obviously a computer-savvy and well-organized researcher.

The following are three fabulous Mommy posts (the last one is also genealogy-related): “Worth More than 1,000 Words,” “One Perfect Day,” and “Our Trip to the N.S.C.A.R National Convention.” There. I’ve just made your day. You’ll thank me.

This Week

Continuing the theme of getting children involved in genealogy, Caroline Pointer at Family Stories showcases a 7th grade history assignment with a genealogical connection in “Movie Wednesday: A Prussian Immigrant.”

You simply must read about Becky Wiseman’s experience with Angels Landing at kinnexions. I’m not going to give anything away by saying anything else.
Angels Landing: The Prelude
Angels Landing: The Overture
Angels Landing: The Finale

Speaking of fantastic travel accounts, Craig Manson at GeneaBlogie is taking a virtual “grand genealogy journey”; the latest leg is “Aboard the California Zephyr.” As a former Californian, I am getting a big kick out of reading these posts (for example, the part about dissing Sacramento – love it!).

At Finding Josephine, Dionne Ford tells of an amazing family story about her great-grandfather Sam Jones in “Sentimental Sunday – How My Great-Grandfather escaped the Ku Klux Klan.”

At Everything’s Relative, Cindy finally has some wonderful results to show from her efforts to obtain her great-uncle’s war medals in “One War….”

Lynn Palermo at The Armchair Genealogist outlines ways to cut the costs of publishing family history books (which turn out to be quite expensive) in “Five Steps to Funding a Family History Book.”

At What’s Past Is Prologue, Donna Pointkouski witnesses to the power of laughter in “Even God Laughed.” C’mon, ‘fess up, I’ll best most of you have experienced something like this (for my family, it is “church giggles”).

Happy First Blogoversary to Karen Packard Rhodes at Karen About Genealogy!

Wishing good health to Kiril at Musings of a Mad Macedonian.

And finally ... something must be in the air this week. There have been many posts about reassessing goals, reorienting the focus of blogs (or merging blogs or starting new ones), and slowing down or redoubling efforts. This reminds me of last June/July, when we were all wondering if blogging, Facebook, Twitter, and Genealogy Wise were taking up too much of our research and family time.


This week I started following these blogs:

South Carolina Roots

Family History Writing

In Honor of My Ancestors

JLog

Meanderings and Wanderings

Our Scottish Heritage

Vermont Genealogy

www.yourancestorsfree.com

Cummings/McIntyre

Note added later: Gack! I misspelled Donna Pointkouski's last name but have now corrected it. This from someone whose first and last names (both of them) have so often been misspelled!