PI in the Sky

The days this week have been mostly warm & sunny. Today is a little cloudy but that is okay for a change. It did rain ever-so-slightly the other day and it feels a little humid now as well.

The week has been a mixture of scrambling for tax-related documents so that we can "run the numbers" and file on time -- a real challenge this year for whatever reasons and basic researching.

So today is a special "number" day. I prefer to think of the other pie and specifically lemon meringue.

That just might be on the list of things to do today. Earlier this week we did go to the plaza to visit and to just relax:

We enjoyed the plaza, the dress shop and the park benches. There was a ton of activity as there was a wine-tasting event going as well. We met some very nice folks -- thanks to Dino.

What About Research

The research absorbed my time a great deal though I don't have a lot to exhibit. Mostly I tried to stay involved in the genealogical detective work so that I did not have to do the tax related detective work.

I did uncover a 1st cousin of Gail's:

Looking at the chart you can see that she
is the daughter of Jessie Calhoun and Mitchel
Llewellyn Drake.
I was lucky enough to find an Olympic High
School photo of her from the year 1929.
So their most recent common relative is Isaac Pine Calhoun.
I do not believe that Gail and Lexie ever met.

Then, I tried using the new "Charting Companion" software and came up with several possible chart views.

The one on the left shows Gail's Grandparents, Parents and her siblings and those
of us married to them.

There are many possibilities with this new program and I look forward to making more charts that I can share with folks from the tree.

You can click on the chart to make it a bit easier to see.

There are at least two more generations of descendants that we can show.

I'll be updating these as time goes on.

I also began editing a lot of the pictures that I had already included in the tree.
This will hopefully give photos that are a bit clearer and more uniform.

The chart on the right is an example of the updated photos.

Each one pretty much fills the space and features can be seen better.

Part of the problem of course is that I am missing a lot of pictures -- I may have the photos though and not know it because people are not always identified.

Photos and photo management take up a tremendous amount of time.



A Surprise Visit

Yesterday afternoon we had a surprise visit from Susan who had called the day before and mentioned that she was driving down from Seattle to ultimately visit with her brother in La Quinta, California.

We actually did sit down and visit for a couple of hours. We enjoyed hearing news from Seattle and of folks -- relatives and friends.

She was "on a mission" to keep driving so she continued on her way and stayed in the Mill Valley area until Saturday morning when she again resumed her drive.

She may stop by again on her return trip and she plans to be gone for a month or so. We'll get the pool-house ready just-in-case.

TV Genealogy

Last Sunday the new season of WDYTYA began on TLC.

The show featured Julie Chen and it was very interesting because of the Chinese research.

Julie found out things about her relatives that she had no idea previously.

It was an exciting result for her and her family.

Tomorrow night Josh Groban will be featured and it will be interesting to see what is uncovered in his family.

I would love to have the resources to do research the way Ancestry does these shows -- they must spare no expense.





So What is on our Nightstand ?

We just finished the memoirs of Carl Reiner and found that book to be so well written and enjoyable to read.

We learned a lot about many of the entertainers involved in TV during our younger years and ones that we enjoyed watching.

Last night we began reading Al Michaels' book (on the right).

We enjoy the broadcasting of Michaels on Sunday Night Football and other events that we have seen him do.

His story so far is fascinating as he describes his growing up days and just how he came to get into the business.

We will finish the book probably just before the start of pre-season football which will come fast.

Baseball spring training is upon us now and that seemed to sneak up
on us a bit.

So, that is a bit of our week. It is Saturday and dinner has not been decided on yet -- but we do plan to do some grocery shopping later today -- so maybe that lemon meringue pie is still a possibility or maybe even a lemon tart . . .

See you all in a few!