Our house borders with an elementary school and all week there has been "celebrations" going on in the open spaces behind our house. Some sounds are "okay" but some, like the very loud recorded music, get old in a hurry. I don't recall this kind of activity when I was in elementary school. Mostly it was the sounds of sighing on the part of the teachers . . .
Never-the-less, we expect more quiet during the week -- except for the bell system that is automatic for recess, lunch and the start of classes. However, the weekend sounds will increase and the late day sounds will increase with the playing of baseball.
We enjoy most of the sounds and sometimes play Quiddler at the high table under the arbor out back. When the temperature gets too high we retreat to the a/c inside . . .
Again, what to do? We might attend events such as the one pictured below. The picture found among ones from my Mother's collection -- but without any description.
It appears to be an event in the 1920s and probably in the Chicago area. There seems to be a building, possibly a dedication ceremony. The folks attending appear to be well-dressed and attentive.
But, like many many of the shoe-box type photos, it is unlikely to ever resolve "what it's all about".
Trying to answer the "what to do question" can be found in the following:
Just in the nick of time, Ancestry Academy is offering some new classes and I believe that I will attend. The first one, about tracing the ancestry of a particular house, is one that I have been intending to do for some time. I have several homes that I would like to trace, some from my childhood and some more recent houses. We'll see how that all goes.
The second class has to do with researching railroad workers. We have a ton of "railroad workers" in our tree so this is appealing as well. Recently, I found that my younger brother was listed as an employee of a well known RR. I was surprised as I did not recall him ever working there . . .
The third class and the importance of it is pretty self-evident. Eventually I'd like to write a story . . .
And lastly, the fourth new class is all about DNA -- and who doesn't want to know more about DNA.
Actually, I find the subject of DNA and those results very confusing at best. But I do have to say that recently Ancestry has made some real advancements as it has to do with DNA results and identifying the folks in our tree.
Above is one of the latest updates from Ancestry DNA to me. Of course it shows (in the pie chart) my ethnicity estimate -- which is not surprising to see that I'm, 41% Western European, 27% Scandinavian and 23% Great British, with the remaining spread through several regions.
The nice thing too is that Ancestry DNA indicates that so far they have found 188 4th cousins or closer for me and if those folks have trees on Ancestry I can search for additional clues as to how they connect -- and in some cases, Ancestry points those connections out for me.
I believe that in the coming months that DNA results will get even more defined and more available as others get tested.
On Thursday of this week, before we had watched the 2nd and 3rd installment of Roots that we had recorded -- our DVR went out. It was not functioning correctly and was not recording correctly and more importantly was not letting us view shows that indicated that they had recorded.
We called DirecTV and after discussing the non-performance they promised to overnight a new DVR. Which they in fact did do. The problem was that we lost all the recorded shows that we had in our "library" including Roots.
After connecting the new DVR -- which surprisingly took relatively little trouble, we were pleased that the new DVR worked well and we found other showings of Roots which we recorded.
And so we have now watched through three of the episodes and will probably watch the fourth tonight. We could do without some of the gore that was presented and actually we "looked away" for several scenes. It is hard to imagine that humanity slipped to such a low level during that horrible period in history.
I still have to be thankful to Alex Haley and "Roots" for getting me started in working on genealogy.
And lastly, coming up this week in California, besides baseball and basketball, is the California Presidential Primary on Tuesday, June 7:
This Presidential Primary in California just may "mean something" for a change as the races have not been totally defined. It'll be interesting to say the least -- and unfortunately I have to say we may have to practice "looking away" for this event as well . . . it is hard to imagine that we have slipped to this level at this period in history as well . . .
That is a slice of our week, it is Sunday and it'll be "dogs" for lunch and a slow cooked pork roast for dinner . . . See you all "in a few" !
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