Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Childhood Food Memories

I bought some corn on the cob yesterday. While I was cooking it tonight, I remembered that my father had a strange way of eating corn. He had dentures and couldn't sink his teeth into the kernels on the cob. So, would stand the cob up on his plate and slice the kernels off with a paring knife and then eat them using his fork.

Each time I have one of these memories, I think I should write them down. Then I get busy and forget until the next time.

This time, I've started a word doc and saved it in my Dropbox folder. That way, I can add to it whenever I want. Soon, I'll have enough to write a chapter in my family's history.

To me, genealogy is more than names and dates. The "corn on the cob" stories add flesh to the bones and make the genealogy more interesting to read.

This 'n' That

Well, I'm still reading a Comedy of Heirs and I'm really enjoying it. Torie O'Shea is a genealogist and in this book she discovers a family secret while holding a family reunion. I was amused that her cousin makes dollhouse miniatures for a living. That's another of my favourite obsessions.

This series is light and fun and I'm glad I discovered it.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Great Day in Windsor

Helen and I had a wonderful day in Windsor, NS yesterday. We arrived in Windsor just as the West Hants Historical Society opened for the day and dug right into our research. Helen focused on the obituary files and I looked through the family files for the surnames Cox, Sherman, Carmichael and Leighton. Last week, I had copied some information from a book I found at WHHS and forgot to record the source information, so I was able to get that.

We went out for lunch and then got sidetracked for about an hour with the Windsor parade. It lasted about an hour and we took lots of pictures for facebook. Then we got back to our research. WHHS closes at 5:00, so we had a full day. I'll add my research to the pile to "process" this winter. WHHS is only open on Wednesdays from mid September to June so I may not get there again until next year.

When we left the genealogy room, we drove to Chestnut Street on Ferry Hill to have a look at a B & B there. I spent a lot of time in that house when I was a teenager and I wanted to take a picture and get the name of the B & B so I could look it up. It's called Phoenix Hollow. The owner, Kelly, was sitting on the front verandah and gave Helen and I the grand tour. They have done a wonderful job of renovating and decorating this house. I am so pleased that they had the dining room hand painted original ceiling restored. The rooms are gorgeous and seem to have everything a person would need from an overnight accommodation. We plan on staying there sometime in the near future. Oh, and Kelly told us that Debbie Travis recently stayed there so it can't be too shabby!

We then drove around Falmouth a bit on roads where I've never been. It's pretty countryside but I'll have to look at a map before I explore a little more. We then took the Bog Road and drove through Hantsport to Hants Border and R and G's Family Restaurant. My mother (and others) had told me that they have really good "fish bits" and I was looking forward to having some. However, they only serve them on Wednesdays :( But, we did have a good bowl of chowder and caesar salad. The service was great. We had a view of the water from our table and could see a house close to the shore that we thought would have a wonderful view. So, when we left the restaurant, we drove down towards the water and to Avon Street. Well, let me tell you, that little shack by the water was to die for :) We drove slowly along Avon Street gawking at the lovely old homes with wonderful landscaping. I was green with envy :)

We ended up at a small park that is on land donated by Fundy Gypsum. There was a set of steep stairs leading to the beach that afforded a really nice view of Blomidon. Helen and I went down the stairs to the beach and took tons of pictures of the gypsum sitting there. It has really interesting texture and the pictures look great. Helen mentioned that she would use some of her pics for a screensaver and a scrapbook page for her ancestors that worked in the gypsum industry. That reminded me that I have several collateral ancestors that worked at the quarry on Wentworth Road, Hants County and I can do a similar scrapbook page. We plan on getting together during the winter months to work on these.

This was our last stop for the day and we headed home with lots of info to add to our family histories.