Free Genealogy Presentations Right in My Own Backyard!

Your Ancestors in Volhynia and Poland, 1700-1900:
How They Got There and How They Lived
Monday, July 13th, 7:00pm
Join us on Monday, July 13th, for a discussion on Polish ancestry presented by William Remus: Volhynian descendant, graduate of the SJHS Class of 1962, and University of Hawaii Professor Emeritus. Maud Preston Palenske Memorial Library, St. Joseph, MI (Thanks Apple!)

Berrien County Genealogical Society:
July 15, 2009 ~ Wednesday ~ “How to Organize Your Family Data”
Time: 7:00 p.m. at the Berrien Springs Community Library 215 W. Union St.

I was going to return to Detroit this weekend but since these interesting sessions will be offered here next week I just may have to stay another week!

Abrams Genealogy Seminar at the Library of Michigan

The Library of Michigan is pleased to announce that the 2009 Abrams Genealogy Seminar will take place on Friday and Saturday, July 17-18 at the Michigan Library & Historical Center in Lansing.

This fourth annual Library of Michigan signature event represents a unique opportunity for researchers to spend two full days at the Library utilizing our vast array of genealogy resources and learning about specific topics of interest including cemetery research, Michigan death records, online research for the British Isles, New England area research and much more.

A highlight of the seminar will be a keynote address, co-sponsored by the Eaton County Genealogical Society, featuring Stephen Morse, famous for his outstanding One-Step Webpages at stephenmorse.org. These online tools are an invaluable resource for genealogists for topics as diverse as Ellis Island ship lists, U.S., Canadian, and British census records, and even calendar conversions and language translation.

As in previous years, the Abrams Seminar will include a library and archives research track, in which facilities with extensive genealogical and historical holdings will outline their collections. Participating libraries and archives include the Library of Michigan, the Archives of Michigan, the Burton Historical Collection at Detroit Public Library, the Capital Area District Library in Lansing and the Allen County (Ind.) Public Library.

The schedule for the seminar is as follows:

Friday, July 17

12:30 - 1 p.m.

A. Archives of Michigan Tour

1:15 - 1:45 p.m.

B. Library of Michigan Tour

2 - 3 p.m.

D. Researching Your Female Ancestors

- Edwina Morgan, Library of Michigan

E. Michigan Biographical Index

- James N. Jackson, Professional Researcher

F. Genealogical Research at the Library of Michigan

- Randy Riley, Library of Michigan

3:15 - 4:15 p.m.

F. Cemetery Records: Dying to Get in There!

- Karen Krugman, Professional Researcher

G. The Ultimate Michigan Civil War Resource

- Mark Harvey, Archives of Michigan

H. Resources from the Forest Parke Library & Archives Collection

- David Votta, Capital Area District Library, Lansing

Saturday, July 18

9:30 - 11:30 a.m.

I. Welcome & keynote address: One-Step Webpages: A Potpourri of Genealogical Search Tools

- Stephen Morse

11:30 a.m. - noon

J. Presentation of the Carole Callard Genealogy Appreciation Award

Noon - 1 p.m.

Lunch

1 - 2 p.m.

K. One-Step Webpages: A Hodgepodge of Lesser-Known Gems

- Stephen Morse

2:15 - 3:15 p.m.

L. Casting the "Net" Over Your British Isles Ancestors

- Richard M. Doherty, Professional Researcher

M. Genealogy 2.0: Social Networking and Family History

- Gloriane Peck, Library of Michigan

N. Treasures for Researchers at the Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne

- Curt Witcher, Allen County Public Library

3:30 - 4:30 p.m.

O. Researching Your New England Ancestors

- Charles Hagler, Library of Michigan

P. Seeking Michigan Death Records? A New Digitization Project

- Kris Rzepczynski, Library of Michigan

Q. Research at the Burton Historical Collection at the Detroit Public Library

- Mark Bowden, Detroit Public Library

Additional information and the registration form are online. Questions? Please contact the Library at (517) 373-1300 or librarian@michigan.gov.

New Hours at the Library of Michigan

New Public Hours at the Library of Michigan

The Library of Michigan's has new hours of operation starting Tuesday, July 7. The change of hours provides a more consistent schedule of hours of operation than the library was previously open. The changes will also help the facility to control overall costs.

Library hours will be:

• Main Library 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday
• Law Library: 1 p.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Friday
• Rare Book Room: 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday (other hours by appointment)
• Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

If you have questions, e-mail the Library of Michigan at librarian@michigan.gov or call (517) 373-1300.

Carnival of Genealogy, 75th Edition

The 75th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is posted! Colleen has done a terrific job hosting this holiday edition of the COG. I can't think of a better way to start off your Fourth of July holiday celebrations than by taking some time to read about our forefathers and mothers and how they contributed to and celebrated our nation's independence. So before you light up your sparklers or roast marshmallows for your smores, be sure and check out the COG!

Now it's time for a Call for Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is: How I spent my summer vacation... a favorite summer memory from your youth. Tell us what summers were like when you were a wee tad pole. Did you vacation with family? Go to a youth camp? Hang out at the local park? Watch fireworks? Catch fireflies? Share those lazy, hazy, crazy, days of summers past with us! Deadline for submissions is July 15, 2009.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using the carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blogcarnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Sending a big THANK YOU to Colleen for hosting the COG! Much appreciated!!! Didn't she do a great job?!

And thanks for the poster, fM!

Twittering

I've been playing around with Twitter for a while now. (I'm also back on Facebook but that's another story.) I can sort of see why people like Twitter although I'm not a big fan of it the way some people are. For me it's a way to keep up with my GeneaBlogger buddies who now do as much or more posting on Twitter and Facebook as on their blogs. All the off-topic stuff that used to get posted on the Geneablogs now gets posted to Twitter and Facebook instead. I'm talking about reviews/referrals to other interesting sites, "what I've been up to" updates, photos, reminders, etc. I must say that I preferred when all that stuff could be found on the blogs themselves so that I could read about it all in one place... my feed reader. But I guess I'm a dinosaur in that way of thinking. I really hoped that Facebook and Twitter use among my Geneablogging friends were just fads that would run their course like memes and awards do. It's pretty evident now that that's not going to happen. So I've finally given in and am going with the flow, "if you can't be 'em, join 'em".

Twitter presents a couple challenges for me. 1.) I'm not a concise writer. Never have been, never will be. It's a struggle for me to confine myself to a 140 character post... sort of takes all the flavor out of a message and just leaves you with a skeleton. I've never been a fan of skeltons. 2.) Posts are so frequent they pose a distraction for me. If I read them on my phone (my preference) my phone is forever dinging with incoming messages. If I leave them to read once or twice a day like I read my feeds it becomes essentially just another feed reader but for short messages.

Challenge 1 will probably work itself out with time. If "practice makes perfect" I'll get better at concise writing as I do it more.

Challenge 2 I'm getting help from a nifty little Windows Mobile phone app I found called Twikini. It's a neat little program that shows me my friend's tweets and allows me to reply, post pics, shorten URLs, share my location, and more all from my phone. It was easy to download and install and it hasn't crashed Windows Mobile even once! :-) It's light-years better than Twitter's own mobile site. And in the couple of weeks I've been using it I've come to depend on it to let me view tweets numerous times a day when I'm on the go. That allows me to focus on my work when I'm at the computer and treat myself to tweet reading when I walk away for a break. :-D

So now I'm a Twitterer, username: imjasia. But be forewarned if you are looking to follow me, I don't tweet much about genealogy. Mostly I tweet about my life apart from genealogy. Same is pretty much true for my postings on Facebook.

A Genealogy Conference of a Different Sort

Hello to all my dear fellow Genea-bloggers and future friends attending the SCGJ! I wish I could be with you this weekend. I know you'll be having a wonderful time and learning a great deal. However, my weekend plans will take me to another coast (Lake Michigan) where I will be attending a meet-up and genealogy conference of my own!

If you remember back a few months, I told you that I bought a condo in St. Joseph, Michigan, a town I discovered as a direct result of a fellow Genea-blogger (Cheryl) writing about it on her blog. Since that time, Cheryl and I have been emailing back and forth quite regularly and have struck up a very nice friendship. But a variety of factors have prevented us from meeting face-to-face until now. This weekend we will finally be spending some time together and Cheryl has promised to take me on a tour of the town and show me first hand all the locations that she has written about on her blog... I will be immersed in her family history! How's that for meeting up with a fellow Genea-blogger and conferring on the topic of genealogy?! Ha!

I'm very excited to finally be meeting Cheryl in person, but wait! It gets even better!!! Cheryl and I are about to become neighbors, and I don't just mean living in the same town. Cheryl is selling her house and moving into the same condo complex as me, on the very same street, and close enough that... let's just call it literally a stone's throw away! (OK, well maybe I couldn't actually hit her home because I throw like the girl I am, but my son could do it!)

Cheryl and I both have Polish heritage so we'll no doubt be chatting about research methodology for Polish researchers. But even if we didn't, we'd still have a lot to share with each other about general research in the U.S. and about writing genealogy blogs. I look forward to having a fellow Genea-blogger on my block. Can you imagine a better neighbor than a fellow genealogy and blogging addict? *Grin*

To those of you who are new to the world of genealogy blogs, let me share a little bit of what I'm about here on the Creative Gene blog.

• Creative Gene is the home of the Carnival of Genealogy (COG), an online magazine of genealogy articles written on a specific topic and published twice a month. We have some of the very best genealogy writers and researchers contributing to the COG on a regular basis and you are sure to find interesting and informative reading here. The COG is on the recommending reading list of at least one university history department so we strive to maintain a high standard of excellence. Topics vary widely and I encourage and invite you to submit an article. A list of future topics and a link for submitting articles can be found in the left column of this blog.
• Creative Gene features a good bit of information on Polish genealogy research. Since all of my ancestors are from Poland, it's all I know! My ancestors came to the U.S. at the turn of the century (that would be circa 1900 ;-) and lived all of their lives in the Detroit, Michigan metropolitan area. So I have a good bit to share about researching in Michigan and Detroit as well.
• I have written on many topics on Creative Gene, including series on The Declining Membership in Genealogical Societies (and what to do about it!), Polish Wedding Traditions, Using City Directories, and What is your genealogy worth? I also participate regularly in the I Smile for the Camera carnival and I write a monthly column called "Captured Moments" for the Shades of the Departed blog, authored by my BFF in Seattle, footnoteMaven. I have also worked with my very good Genea-buddy in Chi-town, Thomas MacEntee, on a wonderful carnival that was published in December 2007 called, Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories.
• In addition to the Creative Gene blog, I also author the Creative Genealogy blog (digital scrapbooking for genealogists and family historians), the Haplogroup H blog (mt-dna research - genetic genealogy), and the Discover St. Joseph blog (non-genealogy but lots of fun anyway ;-) when time allows.
• I was a Board member and one time webmaster for the Polish Genealogical Society of Michigan, a member of the Polish Genealogical Society of America, and am currently a member of the West Side Detroit Polish American Historical Society.

I hope everyone at SCGJ has a great time together. I'll be looking for your blog posts, tweets, FB posts, and chats this weekend!

Lest We Forget 2009, St Joseph, Michigan

Patriotism. For most of us, it runs high when our county or countrymen are harmed or threatened but it fades into the background of our lives the rest of the time. Some of us will attend a parade on Memorial Day and perhaps a fireworks display on Independence Day. Others will stand and sing the National Anthem at baseball games and graduation ceremonies. But for the vast majority of us, patriotism is merely moments of time here and there when we reflect on the greatness of our country, our democratic way of life, and the brave men and women who have fought to make the United States of America the land of the free and the home of the brave.

But there's another group of folks out there who have taken patriotism to a whole new level. These folks live and breathe patriotism. With the same passion that some of us have for researching our family history, these folks put on uniforms and re-enact our nation's history. They are dedicated to showing us live, in real time, what an amphibious landing in the Pacific theater was like during World War 2. They put on the 1940s era United States Army uniforms, grab their rifles, and re-enact the D-Day landing on the beach at Normandy. They storm a local airport by parachute so that we can see with our own eyes the sights and sounds of World War 2 without the terror and horror of actually having been there. These are the men and women of Lest We Forget.

It's hard to put into words what it was like to witness an amphibious landing of hundreds of uniformed soldiers on a Lake Michigan beach with St. Joseph's lighthouses in the background. As my eyes scanned the scene I was able to take in a crowd of thousands who had come to see the re-enactment, the military battle itself with gunfire erupting all around me, and a nearby beach crowded with sunbathers, beach volley ball games, and children building sand castles. Very surreal.

You could feel the anticipation and excitement in the crowd as the first amphibious vehicles approached the shore.
As the troop carriers touched the shore the soldiers jumped into the water and ran for the beach.
In a matter of moments they were hunkered down in the hot sand and firing away at the German troops embedded in the knee-high grass that grows abundantly along Lake Michigan's sandy shores.
The sounds of rapid fire filled the air much as the haze of gun smoke did.
The crowd was mesmerized by what they were seeing in front of them. Those with press passes caught the action on cameras with foot long lenses from the best vantage points while the rest of the crowd caught what action they could between the heads of people standing in front of them behind the caution tape using point-and-shoot and home video cameras.
It wasn't long, just a matter of moments, until the battlefield was strewn with dead soldiers, reminding us that the fate our our loved ones was often determined by the bullet fired from the gun of soldier positioned just a few feet further up the sand dune. Just another guy who was as scared and just as determined that he was fighting for what was right.
And then it was over. This simulated battle had ended. No one was really hurt. The soldiers all got up and walked away. So unlike the fate of many of our loved ones. The German officers sat at a picnic table and had a bite of lunch in the shadow of a Japanese flag that had been planted earlier in the day when a similar battle re-enactment from the Pacific theater had been performed.
The soldiers too took a welcomed break from the action.
It was a day for remembering. A day for patriotism. It was brought to us by, Lest We Forget, an organization dedicated to promoting patriotism. It was a day I won't soon forget. My heartfelt thanks go out to the organizers and participants who fought in the lake shore and airport battles in St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, Michigan on June 20, 2009. You put on a helluva show!

My thoughts, of course, went to my uncle, Edward Lasky, who fought in the D-Day battle at Normandy. I couldn't help but wonder what he would have thought of this re-enactment. Would he have snickered at these actor's portrayal of that horrific day? Or would he have smiled at the crowd of thousands who were feeling the patriotism? Would he have felt pride in remembering what he had fought for? Or would he have been haunted by his army buddies that died on the beach at Normandy on June 6, 1944?

I leave you with one last image. This one is from the Healing Field of Flags, 1000 American flags on display at the entrance to the Southwest Michigan Regional Airport in Benton Harbor. These flags are displayed to honor departed, former and current veterans. This is the price we have paid for our independence.

Carnival of Genealogy, 74th Edition

Welcome to the June 18, 2009 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The theme for this edition is: swimsuits! Summer is finally here and that means beach attire is the fashion of the day. But what about fashions from yesteryear? We have a great collection of vintage beach fashions for you to see. Just about every article here has pictures that will make you smile. I recommend you pour yourself a tall cold glass of hard lemonade, or better yet, a fancy foo-foo cocktail with one of those cute little umbrellas in it, to fully appreciate these hot summer fashions! Enjoy!

M. Diane Rogers presents Swimsuit Edition - 74th Carnival of Genealogy - Bathing Beauties - Newdale? Manitoba Canada posted at CanadaGenealogy, or, 'Jane's Your Aunt', saying, "I couldn't resist posting these two fun photographs. Both are in my 'unidentified' box but I believe they were taken near Newdale, Manitoba, Canada."

Cheri L. Hopkins presents Swimsuit Beauties? Maybe Not, But Family We Are! posted at THOSE OLD MEMORIES, saying, "My swimsuit edition entry may not win the prize for "Bathing Beauties" but they are beauties none the less! My Mom and Dad in some fun shots with stories to accompany! Enjoy..."

Evelyn Yvonne Theriault presents Carnival of Genealogy (74th Ed.) Swimsuit Issue posted at A Canadian Family, saying, "Swimming Canadian Style!"

Randy Seaver presents Genea-Musings: Family Photographs -- Post 12: Swimming Suits posted at Genea-Musings, saying, "To be a kid in the 1920s and have to wear this woolen swimsuit...and the girls were all covered up too! Bummer. One of the problems of growing up without cousins close by is that I have no embarrassing pictures of my female cousins at the beach. But they don't have any of me either, so I guess we're even!"

Richard O. Cheek presents A Rare Beauty: CoG posted at The Cheek That Doth Not Fade, saying, "The only known photograph of my mother in a swimsuit."

Jean Duncan presents Carnival of Genealogy: Swimsuit Edition posted at Stories from Aroostook County, Maine and Beyond, saying, "1911 "Bathing" at Madawaska Lake, Maine"

Kay Bauman presents Beach costumes posted at Kay B's Place.

Midge Frazel presents Bonnet Bathing Beauty posted at Granite in My Blood, saying, "Summertime in Rhode Island is a unique experience. The sights, sounds and smells of the beach makes it seem like yesterday. Bring your beach chair and bathing suit and visit with me the "Bonnet Bathing Beauty"."

Judith Richards Shubert presents A Leaky Boat Riding the Waves! posted at Genealogy Traces, saying, "My mother trusted my daddy to safely take her to shore in this leaky rowboat in the middle of a Texas lake in the 1940s. Bathing beauties? I'm sure they didn't think so."

Brett Payne presents 74th Carnival of Genealogy - Swimsuit Edition posted at Photo-Sleuth, saying, "This very late example of a tintype probably could only have come from an itinerant photographer plying his trade on the beach. The bathing suit and card mount designs place it very firmly in the mid-1930s."

Whitney Claire McKim presents Carnival of Genealogy, 74th Edition: Annual Swimsuit Edition posted at My New Chimerical Kit, saying, "I just found this photo while on a trip down to visit family in Arkansas. Unfortunately, my grandmother’s memory is failing badly and she was unable to relate the story behind it (and I’m sure it was a good one)!!! Though, I believe this photo was taken some time after my grandparents married, which would put it circa 1948/1949 or maybe a bit later. Regardless of being story-less, isn’t my grandmother a looker?!"

Thomas MacEntee presents Destination: Austin Family: Summers in "The Country" posted at Destination: Austin Family, saying, "I trace the history of the male swimsuit from my grandfather back to my great-grandfather and find out that in the cool country air of New York's Catskill Mountains you usually needed more than just swimming trunks."

Sue Edminster presents Sand Between Our Toes posted at Echo Hill Ancestors Weblog. Sue remembers the squishy sand between her toes when playing on the beach. Check out her daddy's swimsuit pic!

Linda Hughes Hiser presents Carnival of Genealogy 74th Edition--Annual Swimsuit Edition posted at Flipside, saying, "My "flapper" grand aunt on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City."

John Newmark presents Carnival of Genealogy - Swimsuit Edition - Miami - 1947 posted at Transylvanian Dutch, saying, "In 1947 both sets of my paternal great grandparents, along with children and grandchildren, went on a joint vacation in Miami."

Sheri Fenley presents 74th COG - Bathing Beauty posted at The Educated Genealogist. Sheri is such a doll! Check her out!

Jennifer Trahan presents COG: Swimsuit Edition posted at Jennifer's Genealogy Blog, saying, "Pictures of myself at swimming lessons c. 1987-1990."

Amy Coffin presents Carnival of Genealogy 74: Swimsuit Edition posted at We Tree, saying, "How many folks can say they have a picture of their great-grandmother in a bathing suit? I can! Come meet Getrude: a bathing beauty in 1930's Los Angeles."

Donna presents No Beach? No Problem! posted at What's Past is Prologue, saying, "Donna Pointkouski presents "No Beach? No Problem!" to showcase a photograph of her mother and friend as bathing beauties from 1950."

Karen Packard Rhodes presents Carnival of Genealogy 74 - Swimsuit Issue posted at Karen About Genealogy.

CindyC presents 74th Ed. of the Carnival of Genealogy... Swimsuit Edition! posted at Everything's Relative - Researching Your Family History.

Caroline Pointer presents Family Stories: Swimsuit Edition posted at Family Stories, saying, "This is a family story of a "side-trip" on the Guadalupe River in the Hill Country in Texas." Guaranteed to make you giggle!

Denise Olson presents Beauty Queens posted at Moultrie Creek, saying, "Swim suits were a summer fact of life in Florida before the days of air-conditioning. We spent more time in bathing suits than anything else."

Jasia presents A Gallery of Swimsuit Pictures posted at Creative Gene. Well, I tried. I made a great effort to share a whole gallery of swimsuit pictures with you but it didn't come out quite the way I envisioned. I've got one good one to share with you though!

Valerie C. presents Monday Memories - At the Beach posted at Begin with 'Craft', saying, "My Mom provides a story to go along with photos of a family beach trip."

Janet Iles presents Janet the researcher: 2009 swimsuit edition of the Carnival of Genealogy posted at Janet the researcher, saying, "Five year old Janet is seen at the beach, wondering whether she should go in the water to fill up her watering can."

Geniaus presents Carnival of Genealogy, 74th Edition Annual Swimsuit Edition posted at Geniaus, saying, "Memories of summer holidays in Ettalong, NSW."

Greta Koehl presents 74th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy: Annual Swimsuit Edition posted at Greta's Genealogy Bog, saying, "I was only able to come up with a single beach picture (or at least, only one that I am allowed to post), and it does not even involve swim suits. But I love this picture of two sweet and proper Southern ladies at the beach."

Becky Wiseman presents kinexxions: Sorry, no bathing beauties here! posted at kinexxions, saying, "Just having fun in the summertime... enjoying the simple pleasures of life as a kid."

Vickie Everhart presents COG Swimsuit Edition :: At the beach . . . posted at .: BeNotForgot :: begotten & ne'er forgotten :., saying, "It is doubtful that the Texas-born cowboy named Robert Henry had ever seen the ocean before joining the Navy in Dallas, TX in 1927. But here you will see him enjoying the beach on the New England coastline with his wife and baby son. These photos of my maternal grandparents et al are from a collection of images from the 1920s and 1930s. They are presumed to have been taken at Lynn Beach in Essex County, Massachusetts."

footnoteMaven presents Under The Boardwalk, Down By The Sea posted at footnoteMaven, saying, "The bathing suits in which you dress. Are nothing much and mostly less. And as you saunter to and fro, a lot of family traits they show."

Diane presents Bathing beauty???? posted at Attic Treasures. Great period photo here and I'll bet it will make you smile!

That concludes this edition of the COG. Wasn't it a fun and funny carnival?! The swimsuit edition is one of my favorites. I've been looking forward to it for months now and it didn't disappoint. I hope you're all psyched for a summer of beach fun now! (Camera in hand of course ;-)

Time for a change of pace. Call for Submissions! The COG topic for July 1 is “Justice and Independence ”. Since our beginnings as a nation, the United States of America has seen changes with every year, every decade, and every century. Each generation adds growth to our lives, our communities, and our nation. One thing that has never changed, however, is our desire for Justice for those who wrong us and Independence from those who try to oppress us. This month’s COG asks you to relate to these concepts of Justice and Independence in one or all of three ways: 1). Tell a story of an ancestor(s) who fought for freedom. 2). Tell a story about how Independence Day was celebrated by your ancestors. Did any of their celebratory traditions get passed down for your own family to continue? Or 3). Post the lyrics of a song that exemplifies how Justice and Independence have worked in the lives of your ancestors and/or family. Include photos! This edition of the COG will be hosted by Colleen at OMcHodoy (thanks Colleen!). Deadline for submissions is July 1.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using the carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blogcarnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

I love the COG poster, thanks fM!

Technorati tags:
carnival of genealogy, blog carnival.

Smile for the Camera is posted!

The most recent edition of the carnival, Smile for the Camera has been posted. The theme this time around is "Wedding Belles". Check it out and you'll see some of the most lovely wedding photos!

And for the next edition of Smile...

The word prompt for the 15th Edition of Smile For The Camera is "they WORKED hard for the family." The professions of our ancestors are almost as interesting as the people themselves. Some of our ancestors worked very hard; they took in laundry, worked the land, raised many children, or went to school and became professionals. Photographs of them working are called occupational photographs and are rather hard to find. If you do have a photograph in your collection or family photographs, bring them to the Carnival. If not, post a photograph of one of your relatives or ancestors and tell us what they did for a living. Use your imagination, this one is tricky. Admission is free with every photograph!

Your submission may include as many or as few words as you feel are necessary to describe your treasured photograph. Those words may be in the form of an expressive comment, a quote, a journal entry, a poem (your own or a favorite), a scrapbook page, or a heartfelt article. The choice is yours!

Deadline for submission is midnight (PT)
10 July 2009
Posted - 16 June 2009

HOW TO SUBMIT:

There are two options:

1. Send an email to the host, footnoteMaven. Include the title and permalink URL of the post you are submitting, your name, and the name of your blog. Put 'Smile For The Camera' clearly in the title of your email!

2. Use the handy submission form provided by Blog Carnival, or select the Bumper Sticker in the upper right hand corner.

See you at the Carnival!

A Gallery of Swimsuit Pictures

You know how some things sound better in theory than they are in reality? Sure you do. It's something that's happened to all of us at one time or another. Well, I'm having my turn at this phenomena.

I had what I thought was a great idea for the current edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, you know, the swimsuit edition. My idea was to create a gallery of family swimsuit photos and photograph them as my submission to the COG. The best part is that I'd not only end up with a unique submission to the COG but I'd have a wonderful art display on the wall in my beach town condo. :-D

I started off by going through zillions of family photos looking for swimsuit pics. That took forever but eventually I selected 14 photos to start my gallery with. I uploaded them to Costco.com and had some printed as 5x7s and some as 8x10s (all were done as black and whites).

Then I set about shopping for frames, some 8x10s and come 11x14s, and mats to go with them. I didn't want all the frames be the same because that would look way to repetitious and formal, so I had to find a variety of frames without spending a fortune. I had a few frames at home that I wasn't using so I incorporated those too.

Then I spent oodles of time deciding which photos to put in which frames with which mats and actually framing them.

I knew I wanted to hang the pictures on the stairway from the living room to the upstairs hallway but deciding on the order of the pictures took another little chunk of time.

And then came the actual hanging of the pictures. Thankfully, my dear husband was there to help me out with that part. It's not easy to hang 14 framed pictures, all level, with their sides touching, at the right angle, LOL!

The result was a very fun gallery of pictures! :-) I really like the way it came out and so does my husband (he's always a fan of girls pictured in bikinis!). All that was left to do was to photograph the gallery for the COG... and that's where the problems came in.

You see, in my mind the photo showed all the pictures clearly, none distorted, no reflections-on-glass issues, no color mutations, just a nice photo of a gallery of pictures. But in reality, I couldn't get even one decent photo of my gallery, LOL!!! After all that time and money invested in this COG post I don't have a single good photo to share. Every picture I took had at least one glaring problem... couldn't get all the pictures in from an angle where you could see them, too much glare from the skylight at the top of the stairs, hilarious distortion because of the angle I had to try to shoot from, bad, bad, bad color... the list goes on and on.

If I'd had more time or better equipment (my tripod and flood lights were at home and we finished hanging the pics just before we had to leave Sunday evening) I could have gotten better results but instead I have an embarrassingly poor photo to show for my efforts. And this is the best of the bunch!
Pretty sad, huh? I couldn't get all the pictures in, the angle looks unnatural, you can't see the details of most of the photos, the colors are a mess, what's with all those shadows? Yeesh!

So as not to have a totally worthless COG submission, I've decided to pull one photo from my gallery and share it here. This is a picture of my father in law with his two small sons, circa 1963, at a beach somewhere in Ohio.
What's that you say? You wanted to see the girls in bikinis? Well, you'll just have to stop by for a visit to see those photos! ;-)

Songfest on a Rainy Day

It's a rainy day, the kind of rainy day that inspires creativity. So I'm going to share some song lyrics with you and I hope you'll sing along. These lyrics are easy if you speak Polish. If you don't, you'll have yourself a good laugh anyway. The tune we're going to sing along to is, "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands". Ready? Here we go...

She's got the Pole world, on her tree.
She's got the Pole world, on her tree.
She's got the Pole world, on her tree,
She's got the Pole world on her tree!

She has Mizeras and Bobers, as her kin,
She has Lisowskis and Adamskis, as her kin,
She has Furmans and Lipas, as her kin,
She has the Pole world on her tree!

She has Laskas and Kolasczs, as her kin,
She has Rzegockis and Halenskas, as her kin,
She has Partykas and Fierons, as her kin,
She has the Pole world on her tree!

She has Lanuchas and Kitryses, as her kin,
She has Wegrzyns and Galases, as her kin,
She has Kubons and Liszkas, as her kin,
She has the Pole world on her tree!

She has Gasaskis and Tureks, as her kin,
She has Barans and Moleckis, as her kin,
She has Opielas and Palkas, as her kin,
She has the Pole world on her tree!

She's got the Pole world, on her tree.
She's got the Pole world, on her tree.
She's got the Pole world, on her tree,
She's got the Pole world on her tree!

Today's songfest was inspired by Bill West who has created The First Great Genea-Bloggers' Just Make Up Some Lyrics Challenge! If you'd like to participate, and I hope you will, here are the rules:

1. Set the names of your ancestors to the music of any song. It can be any number of names, any song. Just remember to mention what song you are using so we can all sing along as we read!

2. Publish your efforts on your blog and send Bill the link (Email:BillWest48@gmail.com). If you don't have a blog then leave them as a comment for Bill on his blog.

2. Dead line is June 30th. He'll publish the final list on his blog on the 4th of July!