A Simple Woman's Daybook~November 15, 2013

Our lives pass swiftly by! I want to do something to remember

the everyday moments and my thoughts about them.  

That is what this Daybook is all about.

Focusing on the little things that become my life.

One entry at a time.

Just for today~Friday, November 15, 2013

 

Outside my window...it is dark outside now.  About 6:30 pm.  It feels much later as I am still not use to being back on Standard Time.  It is chilly outside and I am thankful for my little space heater under my desk that keeps my toes from freezing.
  

Have you ever been back east where at this time of year people put those single taper candles (battery operated) in all their windows? Well, I love that.  This year I bought some and slowly but surely I am putting one in each window.  They are on a timer so every night at precisely 5:30 they come on for five hours.  I have such sweet memories of driving through the woods of New England and seeing them shimmering and flicking in the windows of the houses with so much space between them and no fences. That is just iconic for the feeling of Christmas in New England and being there with our sweet kids.

I am already feeling that little twinge of wishing we were going this year.  But we just cannot go anywhere else this year.  Jim just returned from a week in Rhode Island helping the kids put a new kitchen in their house.  That means that since May one or both of us has been either to Utah or Rhode Island every single month.  We are beginning to feel like transcontinental commuters. So are staying put for the holidays and beyond now until spring or summer.  But I still miss all of them during this season.  I guess that is something a mom and dad never get past.  Christmas is family, friends and our Savior.
 

I am thankful for....the fact that our Savior is always right beside us when we miss our family and special friends.  Once we recognize that and feel it and know it in our hearts, we never have to feel alone.  I have been missing my sweet mom today.  It was just ten years ago tonight that she left this world for her greater reward.  She is always near to my heart, always close. And yet it seem like an eternity since I could touch her.  Ten years might as well be 50.  But I know I will hug her again one happy day.  If it were not so, what would be the point to any of this?

From the learning room....I will never be too old to learn new things about life, people, the Gospel or myself.  I like that don't you?  I never thought there would be big revelatory surprises at this age.  I was wrong.  Things happen all the time that teach me otherwise.  I have met some of the best friends of my life in the past few years.  The heart's capacity to love is endless, deep and surprising.  I think that part of us lives on forever.  At least I hope so because it is a wonderful thing to love.

I am reading...nothing that is just for enrichment and leisure time.  I must fix that.  Reading is so therapeutic and broadening.  To be honest I find I get restless reading these days.  The electronic version of things really helps though.  I like having the light behind the page, it helps me see a lot better.  But mostly I just have other things I need to do pulling on me all the time.
 
From the kitchen... I need to go shopping tomorrow.  I don't care to go on Saturdays but it has to be this week.  So, I will. We are spending Thanksgiving with Jim's cousins again this year.  It has been way too long since I have cooked a turkey with all the trimmings.  I might do one on Friday or Saturday of that weekend.

Some spiritual thoughts I have been having...I have been thinking about how spectacular the Gospel Plan of Jesus Christ really is.  How wonderful that we have so many ancestors and so many people coming after us in a long line of posterity.  Families are so amazing.  As I have been working on our Family Tree I have come to know the stories of our ancestors, their hardships and challenges and sacrifices for their posterity and I am in awe of their journeys.

If you want to have complete contentment and happiness in your life, you might want to do your family history.  As you learn to love them you learn to be more grateful for your blessings.   I can promise you we have nothing to complain about.  We are so blessed.  That doesn't mean we don't have trials like they did because we surely do.   But we have so many new ways of coping with the age old problems that they never imagined in their wildest dreams.  This work brings an abundance of gratitude.  I always have thought you cannot be grateful and unhappy.  I recommend you look back in time.

I am hearing...Eva Cassidy an artist I just recently discovered.  She is singing Autumn Leaves right now and it is simply beautiful.  She is kind of a folksy, melancholy, sultry singer with a great style and a voice like an angel.  She died at age 33 of melanoma back in 2007 but her music lives on.  Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Danny Boy and Tennessee Waltz are some of the best of her work.  She is very relaxing and inspirational.  Perfect music for writing.

One of my guilty pleasures...shopping and lunch with friends.  We had a serendipity experience today.  A couple of us decided to go to Room With A Past and then another friend joined us at the last minute.   Then we went over to Clayton to a favorite shop and decided to have lunch at La Viranda.  Perfect morning, so relaxing and it was so beautiful out.  And we all felt we had gone on a mini-vacation.  We already decided to do something equally as fun next month and take our friend out to lunch for her birthday.  She couldn't come today and I could not reach her by phone.  She has a lot of health issues right now and I hope she is OK.

Pet Peeves...all seems right with my little world today.  But I sure wish it was that way for each and every one of us more often.  The beginning of the week was difficult.  My youngest brother had a stroke on Monday.  God blessed him, it was a slight one but nonetheless very scary.  He is home and doing a lot better but now the threat of that happening again is always in one's mind. Meds should be a great preventative.  He has a heart defect that was discovered and then we learned our other brother already knew he has the same thing.  Then our little Hazie has been having some problems with her eyes and had a CT scan yesterday.   All turned out well there but the problems still exists so what it is is a mystery?  Also one of our very best friends is recovering from a major surgery so that is good news too. My world is all right compared to the beginning of the week.

I am quoting...Pinterest

If I could change one thing it would be...that the disaster in the Philippines had never happened this past week.  Terrible destruction and so much suffering is going on there.  The good news our friends' son was working there and he is OK.  We watched the path of that one I promise you.  So thankful John and Carol's son, Michael is safe.  

An enjoyable movie/ TV show we have watched lately...We watched Cast Away with Tom Hanks and Helen Hunt last weekend.  It was very good to revisit it after many years.  I just love Helen Hunt. She portrays being in love so beautifully.

I am curious about...healthcare!  Holy Cow!  People all around us are getting dropped by their insurance companies and especially small business owners.  Some people have said their insurance will rival their mortgage.  Seriously this is the lamest political disaster in a long, long time.  Even the Chief himself admits it now and has extended the deadline another year for some it seems.  I saw the headlines but did not actually read the article so I don't know for sure what the reprieve entails.  Apparently it applies to only those who have not already been canceled by their companies.

Plans for the rest of the week... are all about Trees.  Work on my Family Tree, teach two lessons on Tuesday and keep up with the house work and get some of the fall decor put to bed and I may even start on the Christmas Tree.  I decided to start there and then decide how much more I am actually going to put up this year.  I will probably do it all but I am pacing myself and taking my time. 

Jim is planning or at least hoping for a work crew here next Saturday to help him finish putting the roof on the work shop.  Then he can rest up a little during the rainy season and maybe get his hip replacement.  What a concept.  First we kill ourselves on all these huge and very physically challenging projects then we have surgery.  Why are men so stubborn about this sort of thing?  I hope he does it soon.  Tomorrow the Scouting for Food food collection for the region will happen. Yes I did say region.  Not the troop, not the district  not the town, not the county but the REGION!  He is in charge for the 18th year I am so glad it is almost over.   I am getting very weary of all the big projects and just want to get back to our regular life soon.  Do we have one anymore seems to be the big question?

 

One of my favorite things...Genealogy Conferences.  We went to the Ancestry Day in San Francisco this past Saturday.  We had a great time and it was fabulous to be back in the City after a long absence.  We went to dinner with our good friends afterwards and that was so nice and relaxing.  There is one in SLC I'd really love to attend in February but I'll be content to see some of it streaming live from the conference this year.  Planning to go in 2015 for sure.

 
One thing that made me so happy this past week...the condo is in its final escrow days, Jen and family got a new house in the exact place they wanted, The RI kitchen is getting closer to done every day and the health of my brother and Hazie are much better than what might have been.

The most surprising thing this past week...definitely my brother's unfortunate stroke.  Just did not see that one coming at all.  And finding the rose from my mother's bridal bouquet.  72 years old.

2 photos I am sharing this week...A blast from the past!

My Great Great Grandparents
 that immigrated to the US

 from Sweden in 1881.

Johan Andreasson and 
Albertina Josefina Christiansdotter.

They had 8 children.

Three of their sons, and two grandsons:

Fritz and Daisy, George and Hattie

Victor and Lida.

The little guys..

Howard and Virgil.

The babies were my Dad's first cousins, 

making them my first cousins, once removed.

 

UNTIL THE NEXT DAYBOOK,
 BE HAPPY AND CARRY ON!

❤♡♥♡❤♡♥♡❤♡♥s, Bon

Independence Day~Revisited

Pinterest photo

Jim and I spent the entire month of May on the east coast.  We had the opportunity to revisit our American Heritage and to gain a new appreciation for the price paid by thousands for the independence and liberties we all enjoy.

 Diorama of the Mayflower found 

in the Provincetown Museum

There is nothing like having your consciousness raised about your patriotism quite like discovering  that you have ancestors that were pilgrims. That would have never happened had we not been working and learning all the time we have been serving in the Oakland Family History Library.  If we hadn't been working hard to learn Family Tree and it hadn't come out when it did we would have missed this opportunity of a life time.  The trip was planned to the places we visited long before we knew any of this.  There is also nothing quite like having Bob Trapp sit beside you and guide you through verifying it all in "The Mayflower Families Through Five Generations" that we have right there on our shelves in the Library.  The Silver Books are the authoritative source for verification of those five generations and is a compilation of thousands of researchers' findings.

The Mayflower Society Building 

is directly behind this gorgeous house.

The thing about this discovery is not in being related to an historical figure or in being able to join a society.  The pearl is found in actually knowing who our ancestors are and knowing the information for them is well-documented and that they are a part of our lineage.  We were the first in both of our families to do family history so being able to discover this has been so wonderful. When I put the first pencil to a paper pedigree and had only a handful of names, I could not have imagined that 35 years later this could happen.  It is nothing short of a miracle.

We went on our first family history trip and learned the best vacations are those with a purpose beyond just touring and sightseeing.  I don't see any regular vacations in our future ever!  We understand now we need to go to several places and walk where they walked and stand by their graves.  We saw many beautiful places and learned so much along the way but the very best days were spent doing family history. 

Parishioner Cemetery, Truro, MA

Some ancestors are buried here

As much as we love the websites like Find A Grave and Billion Graves it is just not the same as being there. Through our experience in the Library we have learned many things pertinent to our family history and were prepared to search when we arrived.  We are so grateful to all the wonderful and brilliant people we work with that have taught us so much.  Our prior learning helped us know just what to do, where to go and how to find what we needed.

We learned all about Jim's immigrant Grandfather's real life experience in his first town in America after coming from Italy at 18. In New Jersey he would  join his brothers in the grocery business they established in Montclair just across the river from Manhattan.

We could browse through countless articles and city directories and old postcards and feel what his life was like in the early years in 3D...not just online!  We saw their first home and toured it because the current owner just happened to be home and invited us in.

Gramma and Grampa's first house.  

Their last house was our first house!

This home was featured in Scientific American in 1890! 

We found it in the local library!

We sat in their church, because it just happened to be open right when we passed by for a special event.   We saw his mother's elementary school because the one lady walking down a little side street just happened to know and we were prompted to stop and ask.

The place they worshiped God,

Our Lady of the The Immaculate Conception

Catholic Church in Montclair.

We found  the store, Ferrera and Co, at 425 Bloomfield Avenue because the city directory gave us the name and location of the business in about five minutes. We found them at the Historical Society because Jim was prompted to see if they even had one that very morning as we were driving in.   Montclair's Historical Society just happened to be open on Wednesdays only.  It felt like divine help and inspiration at every turn. (Because it was!)

Jim standing in front of the old grocery store

Now a self-described High End Thrift Shop!

We could just picture Grampa 

in his green bib apron 

taking care of the produce.

 It was the perfect day and one of the most wonderful genealogy experiences we could have ever hoped to have.  All  this was possible because we live in America!   We had the liberty to move about freely within our country and this is the place where people could immigrate to find opportunities they didn't have in the old country.  Right there in that little town our American branch in Jim's family was begun.

Jim visited Patriot's Cove in Charleston, South Carolina and toured the ships, the USS Yorktown and a sub and a battleship that gave him a glimpse at the courage and bravery of the young men,  including my father who served in WW2.  That just deepened our appreciation for our freedoms and liberties so much.  He saw the tiny spaces they lived in for months and months and with the danger all around them and how extremely young they were.  It was all very sobering and poignant for both of us.

Love this Rag Flag

From there we went to Plymouth, Massachusetts where we learned much more than we had ever  known about the pilgrims and gained a true appreciation for their immense sacrifices to come here and establish a place where we could have religious freedoms like in no other place on earth.  We gained a deep appreciation for the Native Americans that helped them learn how to raise corn and mentored them in the ways of their new country.

Pilgrim Hall Museum

My favorite museum of all time

In The Pilgrim Hall Museum we saw the artifacts the passengers owned and the treasures they carried with them on the Mayflower.  They had the original bible brought over on the voyage and used by William Bradford for his entire life.  They had lots of pilgrim clothing and so many wonderful books and things for sale.  We bought  a video entitle One Small Candle and it is positively fabulous.  We have watched it many times since we have been home.  We also bought the book, Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, and it is amazing.

Plymouth Plantation

A replica of the first colony

Very touching and meant a lot to us to visit here.

My favorite treasure in the Museum

The White Cradle brought by Susannah White

 on the Mayflower voyage.

Only one baby was born on the voyage,  the son of our ancestor, Stephen Hopkins.  I had a strong feeling that I was gazing upon the borrowed bed of that little relative.  There were three pregnant woman on the voyage.  They had to have bonded deeply on the perilous voyage.  It just makes sense that Susannah would have lent this to her friend, Elizabeth for her infant son, Oceanus.  That's just how most women are, right?  I could just picture that little baby boy sleeping there. The White baby was consider the first child born in the colonies.  He was actually born in Plymouth Harbor as they waited to get a secure place to begin the colonization, build their homes and for winter to pass.

Monticello, Charlottesville, VA

We saw the place where the Mayflower Compact was signed in Provincetown Harbor.  The concepts and principles it included became the basis for the Declaration of Independence. We also visited Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, who was as you know, the primary author of it. We didn't know it then but though recent research we have discovered we are also related to Thomas Jefferson! It was an entire trip of learning to love our family, our American forefathers, our military personnel and their sacrifices, and this great country even more than we had before.

We had this life altering experience because of this country we call America, our love for Family History and our dedication to making learning more a life long pursuit.

 

The First Congregational Meetinghouse 
Thomas Newcomb 'of Eastham'~ Minister 

One of my favorite parts was being able to stand in Truro, Massachusetts in front of the oldest church on Cape Cod.  It was built in 1707 and to know that one of my great-grandfathers was the minister there and had baptized six of his children in that very place in 1717.  It was a joy to discover that The Savior has been an important part of our heritage for many generations.

 Suddenly we felt a lot bigger than our one little family and it was wonderful and will always make for a more special Independence Day for us.  And a more meaningful Thanksgiving too for that matter!  We are already talking about going the Dakotas next and then on to Wales and Sweden.  Thank you co-workers and great teachers and Family Search/Family Tree.  We are believers in your new program and will be patient as you sort things out!!  Take all the time you need Family Search.....it is worth the wait!