Surprises: My Surprise Present!!

I was completely taken by surprise yesterday, because my brother Alan had bought something for me that he knew I wanted very much (and which was on my Christmas Wish List for later this year).

He is not so very into our family history, but does listen when I talk about it, although sometimes with that glazed look in his eye that non-genealogists get.     So he very kindly treated me to this:

Original photograph taken by me - copyright 2011

 

A handheld scanner!!   Wow, this is such a wonderful gift for me.  I can take it with me to Record Offices to scan documents and parish registers and all sorts.  I can take it with me to visit my family to scan lots of old photographs and I have so very many copies of documents and Wills that need to be scanned so I am going to have a wonderful time with my new present!! 

Here is a pic of me using it today, having worked out how it works!!

Original photograph taken by me - copyright 2011

 

I scanned those Marriage Licences that came the other day with my new present today.  (I also posted this photo to my Project 365 Photo Journal blog (where I am taking a photo every day for a year) at http://picsbychris.wordpress.com/)  Now I am ready for anything!!  Armed with my portable scanner and digital camera there will be no stopping me now!! 

Surprises: I’ve been given the One Lovely Blog Award again, twice in one day!!

What can I say?  I am very chuffed, delighted and honoured that my fellow geneabloggers like my blog enough to give me the One Lovely Blog Award.

Thank you so very much to Dee at Shakin’ the Family Tree and to Ginger at Brooks and Williams Families of North Carolina for both giving me this Award on the same day!   It follows the same Award given to me by Aillin at Australian Genealogy Journeys just a week or so ago!!  I passed the Award on to 15 other great blogs then, and now I shall have to pass the Award on to some more deserving blogs.    Should be fun but will probably take me a few days before I actually get it all sorted and post it here. 

This is such a great way to “meet” some of my other geneabloggers, when maybe I have just visited their blogs but not actually had contact with the authors.  Thank you again Dee and Ginger.  I’m thrilled to bits.

Surprises: Update on my long-lost cousin calling from New York

Following my post about the surprise phone call from my long-lost cousin Heather who is in New York.  She phoned back!!  I’m so pleased that she did, as she did not leave a number for me to call her back.

We had a lovely looooooong chat for nearly two hours.  We covered so many things and have now arranged to phone each other once a month, taking it in turns to make the phone call.  I’m absolutely delighted and we have a good many years to catch up on. 

Surprises: My long-lost cousin called from New York!!

ooooh Wow, my cousin Heather just phoned from New York, but I missed her!!  I didn’t get to the phone in time, so she left a message and suggested I call her or she will phone back.  Buuuuuuuuut, she didn’t leave her number!!!!! 

It must be the 1970s or early 1980s when we last saw each other and last spoke to each other, so I was absolutely thrilled to find the message was from Heather.  I would have phoned her back straight away but …

I’m really hoping she will call back today.  I’m sure we will be having a terrific chat about things, I’m sooooooo looking forward to it.

I mentioned Heather and there is a photo in my March 7 post for the Women’s History Month – Fearless Females theme.  Perhaps it’s long-distance telepathy that made her get in touch today? 

Surprises! – I have another Award!! One Lovely Blog Award :-)

 

I’m delighted and very honoured to have been nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award by Aillin at Australian Genealogy Journeys.  Thank you so much Aillin for this lovely surprise.        (See, it’s making me smile a lot)!!

We are given very few rules for accepting the award and they are as follows:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who granted the award and their blog link. 

2. Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.

3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

The 15 other blogs I have chosen to pass the One Lovely Blog Award on to are mainly fairly new ones to me and I have chosen them because I have found them interesting, helpful, and always a pleasure to visit.  Some also combine scrapbooking with their genealogy, which is something I like very much and some cover research in the UK, as I do.

Congratulations to the following 15 blogs, I’ve enjoyed my previous visits to your blogs and look forward to visiting you many times again.

1.   Pete at A Brummie Family Tree

2.   MarDi at A Hoyt Family Genealogy

3.   Liz at Entwined Roots

4.   Sue at Family Folklore Blog

5.   Anita at Family Tree Rings

6.   Ros at GenWestUK

7.   Julie at Grave Encounters

8.   Cheryl at Heritage Happens

9.   Kim at Heritage Heart

10.   Kathryn at Kathryn’s Quest

11.   Rosemary at London Roots Research

12.   Renee at Renee’s Genealogy Blog

13.   Denise at The Family Curator

14.   Jennifer at The Scrappy Genealogist

15.   Vicki at World War II London Blitz Diary 1939-1945

Many thanks again Aillin for choosing my blog for the One Lovely Blog Award. 

Surprises!: Project 365 – taking a photo daily for a year!!

Well, it’s a surprise for me!  I loved the idea of this when I first came across it, so I have decided to give it a go.  Because the Project is not genealogy as such I have started a new blog where I can post my daily photos and say something about them, why I took them and so on.

It will certainly be a test of my motivation and perseverence and I really intend on actually taking a photo every day.

In a way it will be a virtual diary of my year so in a hundred or so years time my descendants will get a glimpse of my life in 2011.  A snapshot of one of my (now many) years.

It’s only Day 2 for me but if you want to have a look, please visit http://picsbychris.wordpress.com and I would welcome any comments.  There is an email subscription thingy there, so you can be notified when I add posts. 

Surprises! – Edward John Dartnell

I recently dug out some old paperwork I had collected on my maternal Dartnell family and discovered that my 2 x great grandfather Edward John Dartnell was working in The Atheneum Club in Pall Mall, London. 

The 1851 Census shows that he was working at this Gentleman’s Club, so now I am off on a hunt to see if I can find staff records of sorts from that time.  I am hoping there is an archive for the Club somewhere as it is still going today and it would be very good to learn more about it.

The Club where my 2 x great grandfather Edward John Dartnell was working in 1851

I’ve been having a browse on the internet to see what there is about the Atheneum and it’s so good to see the photos of  it – very grand!!  It must have been a wonderful place to work in, although probably very hard work at the time.

It’s going to be interesting finding out more about this!!