I spent the first day of this MD weekend at Greenfield Village watching reenactments of Civil War life. It is fascinating to observe history the way it really was... as opposed to Hollywood's version. I took lots of pictures and I'm really pleased with them. But it reminds me of taking photos of a quaint European village, the Grand Canyon, or Niagara Falls. It's almost too easy to take terrific photographs. There's a "Kodak Moment" at every turn.
I would love to have spent some of this weekend accessing Ancestry.com Library Edition but our public library is closed all weekend. Instead I'll put some time into working on the West-Side Cemeteries page that I'll be adding to the PolishAncestry.com site in June... which is just a few days away now. It will be hard to make myself stay indoors to work on a web site with this beautiful weather we're having but I'll try to make some time anyway. Maybe in the evening...
I really should get caught up on my correspondence with my family members in Poland. That's always a bittersweet thing for me. I have several letters from my family in Poland but they are written in Polish, which means I have to try to track down someone to translate them for me. Getting the letters = exciting! Finding a translator = a real drag. Then I have to compose a letter back to them = fun! And then once again I have to find a translator = a real drag. My cousin Piotrek in Poland used to do this for me quickly and efficiently. But that was back in the days when he had the time and was happy to have the practice (it improved his English grade in school!). Now he has graduated from school and is a busy teenager. He's moving to Ireland next week and doesn't know when/if he'll have internet access in the small town he'll be living in. I'm grateful for all the help he's given me over the past few years but it's time for me to find someone else to help me out. It would be easy if I was willing to pay top dollar for translating services. Unfortunately I get/answer too many letters/emails to make this feasible for me. I need to find someone who can help me out of the goodness of their hearts. And that won't be easy. Why didn't my parents teach me Polish when I was young? Oh how I wish they had!!!
Civil War Reenactment at Greenfield Village
Soldier life, cooking dinner
Marching Drills on the Village Green
Civil War Era Food
Civil War artillery
