Reflections on an Autumn Day

Autumn has come to my own little corner of the universe. Turning leaves, the neighboring soybean crop harvested and the sun setting in a different part of the evening horizon all signal the definitive end of summer.

 

I like autumn - cool evenings that call for the comforter to be pulled tight around you, the reds and yellows topping tree-lined streets in town. Sweatshirts pulled hastily over your head, as you run to the end of the driveway to check for the daily mail. I swear it was just spring. What happened to summer?

A stray flower on my Pontentilla bush, which blooms in May and June, tells me that I am not the only one left wondering where summer has gone.

  Until Next Time!

© 13 October 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Attention Fellow Bloggers - Blog Action Day October 15

Blog Action Day is a nonprofit event with the goal of encouraging bloggers, podcasters and videocasters to unite on one day, and talk about a single subject. This year’s subject is poverty. The goal is to “raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.” If you write a blog, this is your chance to make your voice heard and join the discussion on poverty. 

You can register here. As of this writing, 7673 participants have committed to tackling the subject. Participating bloggers are encouraged to write about poverty from the perspective of their individual blogs. In my case, I will be writing on poverty with a genealogical slant. To read more about this year’s blog action day go to Blog Action Day 2008.

 
Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

© 12 October 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Sandusky County Kin Hunters This Sunday

Sandusky County Kin Hunters 

Just a reminder, the October meeting of Sandusky County Kin Hunters will be held this Sunday, October 12 at 2:00 PM. Stephen Charter, Head Archivist of the Center for Archival Collections at Bowling Green State University will be the featured speaker. If you’ve ever had questions about this wonderful research facility, then maker sure you attend at the Sandusky Township Hall, Route 19 North in Fremont on Sunday. The meeting is free and open to anyone with an interest in Family History. There is ample parking and the building is handicapped accessible. 

For further information, contact Dave at 419-502-7620. 

Carnival of Genealogy 

The Carnival of Genealogy has posted its 57th edition. The topic was I Read It in the News. If I counted correctly (not always a sure thing) there are 47 genealogists participating this time. Thanks Jasia, for being such a good hostess! The next edition of the Carnival has the topic “Halloween Hauntings– Fact or Fiction” For more details, be sure to visit this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy at Creative Gene.

©8 October 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Fly Killer

I’ve created a killer, a fly killer, that is. A few weeks ago, in the natural course of an energetic four-year running in and out, a quick thinking fly managed to breach our inner sanctum. Quick thinking yes, but maybe not so quick moving. After my own thwarted attempts at swatting the little pest, the grandson begged me to let him try. 

So I handed over the white fly swatter. And what do ya know? Deadeye managed to do in a few well-aimed swats, what Grandma had not. He killed that darn fly. 

 “I’m really quick, right Maw?” 

 “Yes, you are.” 

 “You couldn’t get him, could you Maw?”

 “Nope, I could not.” 

 “We don’t like flies, do we Maw?”

 “No, we do not.” 

 “Hey, are you goin’ to tell PaPa Al, that I’m quick?” 

 “Yes, I am.” 

 A few weeks later, when one of the deceased fly’s buddies made it in through the opened screen door, the grandson was not pleased when I managed to shoo the fly back outside. 

 “But, I wanted to kill him,” grumped the peanut gallery. 

 My explanation of a win-win philosophy was lost on a four-year old who thought I was just mucking up his chance at another fly victory. Later, as we played outside, the little guy got his chance when a hapless fly landed on one of our outside toys. Deadeye, took aim, and swatted the fly with his BARE hands, and put another notch in his fly killing belt. After a brief discussion about why it was good policy to wash one’s hands after such a heroic act, I made one of my usual breezy pronouncements. 

 “Hey, I’m going to have to start calling you Fly Killer. Yep, I’m going to call you, Fly Killer Snyder.” 

 Silence, as the two of us walked the length of the stone driveway.

 Then, “Its okay, Maw. You can call me Fly Killer if you want.” 

 A few more steps, a quick kick of the stones, and then my buddy looked straight up at me and said, 

“I kinda like that name.” 

 Glad to oblige, kiddo. Glad to oblige.

© 6 October 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

I Read it in the News - Evidence of Collateral Damage

When people get divorced, whatever wonderful quality they first saw in each other, has long since vanished. What doesn’t vanish is their mutual offspring, something often overlooked by warring parties.

When my grandparents divorced, it was not pretty. 

My grandmother, a petite, spunky woman, and her ex Mother-in-law formed two separate camps. There were no prisoner exchanges, no mingling of combatants and both camps remained armed and on alert. The fact that the two women had never gotten along, guaranteed no one would be suing for peace. 

My grandfather, whom I have written about previously, died suddenly at the age of 39 from a burst appendix. My grandfather had been living in Toledo with his second wife, and four children. My grandmother, my dad and his sisters lived in Clyde. Nettie, the mother-in-law lived in Florida.

Nettie sent a notice to the Clyde newspaper giving the details of her adopted son’s death. The story goes that this was how my grandmother and her children heard about the death. I’m prepared to give Nettie a pass on that one, because I don’t know whether she had tried to contact grandma. Perhaps she had or perhaps Nettie figured letting the paper know was a good way to tell her former daughter-in-law and her grandchildren of the loss. 

However, what she did next seems particularly spiteful. The list of survivors given to the newspaper included the four children by the second marriage, but not one word was mentioned about the three older children who were living in Clyde. A week later, the following short notice appeared in the paper:

“Mrs. Anna X asks that we make a correction in the obituary notice of the late Walter X sent us last week by Mrs. Nettie X from Florida. Mrs. Anna X, says he is survived by three children by a first marriage, and 4 children by a second marriage.”

I can almost see my grandmother pulling herself up straight, and making the simple, direct correction. Nettie had landed a well-aimed blow at my grandmother. Maybe it was deserved, maybe not. I wonder, however, did she think about the collateral damage? Was the chance to stick the knife into my grandmother so irresistible that all other considerations were secondary? Fair or not, that one act defined, for me, Nettie’s character. And I found that character wanting.

Written for 57th Carnival of Genealogy - I Read it in the News

© 2 October 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Geneablogger Gnome makes a visit to the Desktop Genealogist

The little fellow below came for a visit to the Desktop Genealogist blog via email for my participation in Terry Thornton’s “Getting to Know You Challenge. " I wanted to take him around and show him the sights of Northwest Ohio, but I’ve been chained to my desk for the past couple of weeks.

 

So far, all the poor little guy has gotten to see is a fog-enshrouded sunrise out my backdoor.

 

Maybe, if he sticks around long enough, I can take him to this weekend’s Civil War Encampment at Spiegel Grove. What do you think? Would that be a good place for a Gnome to visit?

In the meantime, you can checkout Hill Country of Monroe County’s overwhelming response to the Getting to Know You Challenge. Forty different participants with 42 blogs are represented. You can read about the brightest, the breeziest and the most beautiful from some very talented geneabloggers here, here and here.

Our host, Terry Thornton, in his usual Southern charming fashion, did a thorough job putting this project together. If I were pressed to describe Terry with only one word, I think that word would be gracious. He certainly handled this Herculean task in just such a manner. Thanks, Terry for a wonderful idea.

PS Just to put this in perspective - Terry had to read 42 posts, and another 126 posts that we geneabloggers submitted for our brightest, breeziest and most beautiful. Then Terry had to write a summary about each blog. When that was all done , he had to LINK 168 POSTS to his own blog. By comparison, my post had a mere six links .Just the thought of posting this to my archive blog, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, makes me darn cranky - and I only am talking a paltry six links. So Terry really is THE MAN!.

© 1 October 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Getting to Know Me, Getting to Know Desktop Genealogist

Something was missing. Like the midnight snacker standing before an open refrigerator, I had a taste for “something,” but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what that something was.

 When the News-Messenger advertised for bloggers for their online edition, suddenly it all clicked. Overcoming my usual shyness, I submitted a proposal to the city editor, who requested a meeting and some writing samples. From that meeting the Desktop Genealogist was born. 

 Initially I had hoped to help other family historians better navigate the waters of Internet research. However, once I started posting, I realized the posts I enjoyed writing the most had to do with telling a simple story.

 Whether it was about a grandmother, an old church, or why my toes are deformed, the constant knot in my stomach dissolved and that missing “something” was suddenly found. 

 My friend Mississippi Terry, of Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi, decided with the growing number of geneabloggers finding their way to the Internet, it might be nice if each of us posted an article about our blogs, including an example of the brightest, breeziest and most beautiful of our posts. Below are my own nominations for my best of the best: 

  Brightest – Stories My Grandmother Told Me This was written for an edition of Smile for the Camera. It gave me a chance to experiment with my tools for telling a story. 

  Breeziest – One SuperPower to Go – Please! My answer to the question, “Why are you twitching your nose?” 

  Most Beautiful – The Art of Painting Pictures Note my breeziest and brightest posts links take you to my original Desktop Genealogist Blog on the News-Messenger.

© 27 September 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder