We Can See Clearly Now . . . No Rain in Sight

We have had bright sunshine every day this week -- only once did it seem that maybe just maybe there was a hint of rain. While it is really nice -- now -- there is a price to pay of course, starting with major water-use restrictions in our town.
On MLK day this week,  the unmistakable sounds of baseball wafted throughout our backyard. When I checked it out I was amazed at the activity going on:

There was obviously a "little-league" baseball type clinic or some such thing going on. Hundreds of kids acting out their baseball moves and drills. Parents and other onlookers were stretched out on the grass.  We had to shake ourselves to remind us that it was only January.

We realize that the same scene was not able to take place in the frigid Midwest and/or East. It is nice to know that the athletic grounds behind our house get a thorough workout. And we know only too soon that the sounds of actual games will be wafting over our fence (and maybe the occasional ball).

Basically, this was and is our weather pattern here in Healdsburg . . .

Webinar Week

I was lucky this week in that I not only had Webinar Wednesday, I had webinars Wednesday morning and evening -- but that was not all -- I had two webinars today Saturday as well.

The webinars started with one from Legacy Family Tree about Irish research and even though I don't have a lot of Irish searching to do -- the process used for Irish research is easily transferable to other search types.

I learned a lot about just the process of genealogical searching in general as well as Irish specific searching.

Later in the day I attended the second webinar of the day from Heritage Collector -- a program that I have and am anxious to be more proficient with . . . each time I attend a webinar from HC I do get better at using the program -- I have signed up for additional webinars from them.

And then today, Saturday, I attending two more webinars from "Boot Camp". These are special webinars put on by Thomas MacEntee and Lisa Alzo -- I attended an earlier Boot Camp late last year.

While there is a modest charge to the Boot Camp webinars -- they are well worth the cost. The two today were with the theme of "Getting Your Genealogy Groove Back". Getting back in the groove is certainly something that needs to happen from time to time. I learned a lot today.

Sochi 2014

In less than two weeks the Winter Olympic Games begin -- if all goes well. There is a lot of controversy about the games, and we hope that we'll be able to enjoy watching them as well as seeing attendees from around the world enjoying the games as well.

The games are scheduled to be held from February 6 -- 23 in an unsettled part of the world. Above you cans see the proposed events and dates along with the "medal" events.

What Some Participants will be Wearing

I did not realize the degree to which fashion was almost at the forefront as much as the athleticism, but the following pretty much says it all:

There is no doubt that these Olympics will be colorful as depicted above. The bottom left picture shows the basic uniforms for the official staff. The top right and middle show some German outfits, but the all time favorite would be the top left, left middle and the bottom right -- these are the outfits ( I am almost ready to not claim being part Norwegian) for the curling team from Norway.

If you'd like to read more about the decision process for the Norwegians read the following newspaper article that appeared in the Press Democrat and originally The New York Times:

Dates From Our Tree for Next Week

More birth dates than anniversaries . . .

83 years ago this month:

I've mentioned this sad story before, but it never ceases to amaze me. Growing up I had never even heard of Malcolm Hiles and it was only after starting doing genealogy that I found out that he was a first cousin and that we shared a Great Great Grandfather (Daniel Hiles):

Malcolm was one of three sons born to LeRoy D Hiles (brother of my Gr Grandfather, John), and if it weren't for finding the following newspaper article I wouldn't have been aware of how his life ended. I often
wonder if my father had known about this story & why was it not at some point shared with us . . .

The picture above is of Malcolm and his wife Emma shortly before the event -- the picture did not appear in the paper, just the verbiage. Sadly I never met any of Malcolm's children either though his youngest daughter Helen Marie Hiles, lived until 1996.

Lastly

It has been another NFL withdrawal week with no MNF nor TNF this week. We will be ending the withdrawal with maybe some peeks at the Pro Bowl:

And so tomorrow we will probably glance a bit at the game and maybe find some interest but we don't anticipate that . . . we will definitely be ready for the Superbowl one week from tomorrow. We are hoping that some of the current snow will still be on the ground in a week . . .

That is a bit of our week. Burgers tonight. See you all in a few . . .