We have been having great fall weather since it started in late September. Autumn will officially go until December 21st and then of course it is officially winter . . .
We have had cold, rain, hot (mid 80s) and in between all in this week and thinking about it caused the post title to come to mind -- go figure. Growing up, TV was not part of our home until the late 40s. And one of the first shows that was produced for kids -- "Howdy Doody" was very popular in my neighborhood.
We watched the show (at first at other kid's homes) every day that we could. And thinking back, TV did not come on during the day until 4:30 pm until "Howdy" came on. If we turned the set on -- a "test pattern" appeared:
So we often sat in front of our 7 inch screen TV and looked at a test pattern for a few minutes so that we would not miss even one minute of the show. Precisely at 4:30 pm the opening line -- question -- would announce the show and the rest is history.
There were several characters in the show (which aired 1947 -- 1960) and besides Howdy and Buffalo Bob, there was Princess Summerfall Winterspring -- we should add windy in there somehow for the huge amounts of wind we have had this week and even as I write . . . (the neighbors are trying to pick up their back fence . . .).
Be that as it may, we are enjoying the seasonal displays of variety. We have seen some other regions -- on TV -- with varying extremes though.
Webinar Wednesday
This week I was not sure if I would benefit at all from the topic that was being presented -- but since it was being presented by a person that I respect (Thomas MacEntee) I eagerly joined the presentation. I was "blown away" by a concept that I had never associated with genealogy problem solving.
And as a matter of fact the name of the concept was totally foreign to me -- "mind-mapping". But I was completely satisfied with the concept and the presentation:
The concept was explained thoroughly and demonstrated completely with examples and "how-to's which encouraged me to embrace the idea. I certainly felt that I had several places that this could help me with brick wall type blockages.
So I applied some of the basics right away to one scenario that had just come up in the prior couple of weeks: Who are the parents of Charity Reed? This is something that I thought was a "done-deed" and just accepted as to the line of ancestry.
Charity Reed IS my (our) 3rd Great Grandmother and that is proven -- she was married to John Hiles Jr and they had at least ten children. In my tree I had her parents listed and then from there went up those lines . . .
But in the last couple of weeks, a cousin of ours has introduced the possibility that who we had accepted as Charity's parents just might not be her parents. And so the question arises -- just who are Charity's parents then.
So the mind mapping webinar comes along and I see an application -- Who are Charity's Parents?
Mind mapping is a way to brain-storm and visually display that -- and that is what I have started -- heavy on the started:
The above is some of the brainstorming that I have started, using www.popplet.com as the platform to express questions, evidence and facts. And I think the advice of the webinar to practice makes a lot of sense. The "popplet" can be shared with others and can be edited by them and thus possibly a solution will evolve from the process -- hopefully we'll see.
So much to learn and do . . .
From the Tree -- Birthdays & Anniversaries
So this week I am reporting the upcoming dates for folks in the tree . . .
And the Anniversaries:
All in all, another active month.
A Pre-
Actually every year whether on not we go to other homes for Thanksgiving dinner, we also always prepare our own Thanksgiving dinner (eaten on Friday and later) so that we have the leftovers and all.
This year we have a new "turkey-fryer" to use. For several years I have been tempted to "deep-fry" a turkey. Everyone says how good they are -- but I am so glad that I resisted -- until now.
We have a fryer that uses NO oil -- so the many dangers and other negatives (what to do with leftover oil) have been eliminated.
So earlier this week we "did" a large chicken for a trial run -- and it worked like a charm. No oil and virtually no real mess to clean up from the cooking process -- not even running the "clean" cycle in our range.
So we are set to "fry" a turkey next Friday which will provide us with several meals . . .
Boot Camp Bonus
Today I was treated with a bonus couple of webinars. It did throw me off-schedule a bit as the first one started at 7 a.m. A nice feature about webinars is that the camera only works one-way so far, that is one can enjoy the class in "jammies" . . .
The two webinars were put on by excellent presenters both of whom know their material and know how to present it.
The first session was about Genealogy Writing presented by Lisa Alzo who has presented many webinars that I have attended. She had excellent tips and suggestions with links that can be referred to as needed.
The second was presented by Thomas MacEntee, this time about "Word". Microsoft Word to be exact.The secrets that he presented will make working with Word so much more doable -- I have always found Word to be difficult to work with and this will help. Thomas MacEntee knows Word as he taught classes on Word in the corporate world professionally . . .
Both sessions were valuable and there was a nominal charge to attend -- but so well-worth it! Both sessions sold out quickly this week. I will look forward to additional "boot camps".
Lastly This Week
We finished reading our latest biography -- Johnny Carson. It was an excellent well-written book that divulged an entirely different view of Carson.
We just started reading our next biography -- and it is about another "Johnny":
The book itself was notably "heavier" than the Carson book, whatever that means -- but I do have to support it while reading just before going to sleep . . . but Cash is another figure that we have enjoyed over the years and look forward to learning more about his experiences.
So that was a bit of our week -- have a great Thanksgiving! See you all in a few!
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