Fifteen Albums (Music Meme)

Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of, musically shaped your world.

AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheep
Billy Squier - Don't Say No
Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A.
Bruce Springsteen - Lucky Town
Bryan Adams - 18 Til I Die
The Eagles - Eagles Live
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Foreigner - 4
Joe Cocker - Live
Journey - Time³
Little River Band - Greatest Hits
Pat Benatar - Crimes of Passion
Queen - The Game
Robert Plant - Now and Zen
Rod Stewart - A Night on the Town

* Note: My profound musical moments are usually attributed to a specific song, not the artist or the entire album. Looking through the discography of the artists responsible for those magical songs led me to choose the above albums...let me tell you, it wasn't easy! My iTunes Library is full of songs from artist's greatest hits releases. I'm reaching back a few years here.

Following From In Front

 

 

Lizzie is my fifth dog (three Australian Shepherds and one Corgi blend) from the Herding Class.  She's the second one that does something I call, "Following from in front." My Aussie, Sydney, did it really well. Lizzie is now a close second.

When Lizzie first joined our family she would pretty much stay planted on the sofa when I left the room to do something. Oh, she would certainly keep a close eye on me. However, I have noticed in the last month or so that she now jumps down nearly every time I leave the room.  Okay, so it's a little annoying if I'm going to be coming right back. She won't jump up on the sofa, which means I have to gift her a lift. Oh, excuse me. She WILL jump up if we're giving her a 'bye-bye' biscuit. She may be polite, but she LOVES her treats.

Now, I do like the idea of her WANTING to be with me, but can't she follow me from behind to do it? She gets in front of me as I'm walking about in the house and then, with a slightly anxious demeanor, turns back to see where I am and where I'm going. She hasn't run into anything...yet. I haven't crashed into her...yet. It's just a matter of time though if she keeps this up.

She also doesn't seem to know what to do with herself, while she's waiting for me to complete my task. She doesn't lie down and wait patiently, like Tucker did. She doesn't lie down and watch for my next move like Sydney did. She has a different agenda. One that I haven't figured out yet. She MAY be struggling with her place in the house. WE are certain that she belongs here, but SHE needs to feel it too. I just wish she would feel like she belongs from behind me rather than in front.

Family Research News for 22 Feb 2009

 

I spent many hours trying to locate several of my HILL and McINTYRE ancestors. I exhausted my online sources and plan to move on to the Family History Library catalog. In the meantime I'll try to be satisfied with all of this!

Recent Finds and Acquisitions

• Delbert Long on the Ship's Passenger List for the Lurline arriving in Los Angeles from Honolulu on 05 Sep 1941.
• Civil War Enlistment, Service, and Pension data and documents for Gilbert Washburn.
• Death certificate of Gilbert Eugene Washburn.
• Death certificate of Henrietta (Lee) Washburn.

Added Data for the Following People:

• William G. Long
• Annie (Gates) Long
• Delbert Warren Long
• Gilbert Eugene Washburn
• Henrietta (Lee) Washburn
• Edward Eugene Washburn

Added the Following Individuals to the Tree:

• Ella E. Long
• Annie E. Long
• Leona M. Long
• John Meiers
• Gustie Meiers
• John A. Meiers
• Christ M. Meiers
• Emil W. Meiers
• Clara A. Meiers
• Violet E. Meiers
• Lillian Meiers
• Erna Meiers
• William Meiers
• Leo Meiers
• Walter Washburn
• Maria Hendryx
• Edward Lee
• Evaline Shepherd

Requests and Queries

• Ordered a birth record for Leona M. Long from the Massachusettes State Archives.
  
• Requested a birth record for George W. Lewis from Erie County OHGenWeb.

Recent Contributions

• Submitted over a dozen corrections and comments at Ancestry.

Family Research News for 20 Feb 2009

 

I am thrilled with all that I've accomplished in the last two days utilizing Ancestry, Family Search Labs, Find A Grave, and Google Search. A big woo hoo!!!

Recent Finds and Acquisitions

• I believe I found my 3rd great-grandfather, Richard D. Hill, and 3rd great-granduncle, John R. Hill, in the 1830 U.S. Census in Rensselaerville, Albany, New York. This is a BIG deal if I can find supporting documentation.
  
• Identified Pastor Melvin R. Walter as the spouse of my first cousin once removed (Living) Hill. Found online obituary.
• Identified Helen Malone as the second wife of Albert Warren Long.
• Death Certificate for Fern (Musch) Bowman.
• Death certificate and two obituaries for Almira (Raymond) Littleton.
• Real estate transfer from Almira (Raymond) Littleton to children.
• Real estate transfer from Hattie (Littleton) Hill and John Henry Littleton to Albert J. Littleton.
• Received obituary for Raymond A. Hill.

Added Data for the Following Individuals:

• Fern (Musch) Bowman
• Marion (Musch) Huffman
• Corvin Huffman
• Lloyd J. Huffman
• Marion N. Huffman
• Richard M. Huffman
• Wint C. Huffman

Added the Following Individuals to the Tree:

• Corvin Huffman
• George A. Huffman
• Nettie Huffman
• Melvin R. Walter
• Robert L. Walter
• Edna Blatter
• Living Walter
• Living Walter
• Living Walter

Requests and queries

• Requested several newspaper notices for Hattie (Hill) Musch.

Recent Contributions

Submitted the following names to Spring Grove Cemetery, Medina, Ohio, at Find A Grave:

• Arthur C. Lindley
• Fern (Musch) Bowman
• Carl P. Musch
• Corwin Charles Musch
• Fredda Mae (Musch) Seeley
• George Musch
• Gretchen (Musch) Lindley
• Jay Adelbert Hill
• Marion (Musch) Huffman

The information is entered in my RootsMagic database and to Geni.com.

Family Research News for 18 Feb 2009

 

After a prolonged genealogical dry spell (no Ancestry subscription for well over a year.) I am back in the swing of things and thrilled (doing the Genealogy Happy Dance) over some of the family history I've uncovered in the last several days at Ancestry and Family Search Labs.

New Finds and Acquisitions

• The marriage certificate for Julia Agnes KANE and Charles William ODELL.
• The birth certificate for Vivian Mary ODELL.
• The WWI Draft Card and death certificate for Charles William ODELL.
• The death certificate for Harry Harrison WASHBURN.
• A passenger flight manifest, indexed marriage and death information for Delbert (Albert) Warren LONG.
• A second cousin (living) and her mother on a ship's passenger list from Southampton to New York City in 1947.
• The year of death and burial information for George E. HILL.
• Census information and images for a number of people.

Requests and Queries

• I've ordered a death certificate, requested a grave marker photograph, and inquired about a court case all pertaining to Richard Harrison WASHBURN.
• I requested the obituary for Raymond A. HILL.
• I posted a query regarding Anthony DeCOSTA on the Ancestry Message Board for Portugal.
• I posted a query regarding the HILL Family on the Ancestry Message Board for Medina, Ohio.

Recent Contributions

• I uploaded more documents and photographs to Footnote and contributed to several Person Pages.
• I submitted marriage information on several of my HILL ancestors to the Ohio USGenWeb Archives for Medina County.

A Face to Write On About

Look at the star of our new checks. Are they not perfect? And, they cost the same as the the stupid ugly ones from the bank. AWE$OME! 

Book Review: The Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel

Title: The Red Leather Diary
Series: Standalone
Author: Lily Koppel
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Published: 10/13/2009
Publisher: Harper Collins
Genre(s): Biography

DESCRIPTION

Rescued from a Dumpster on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a discarded diary brings to life the glamorous, forgotten world of an extraordinary young woman.

For more than half a century, the red leather diary lay silent, languishing inside a steamer trunk, its worn cover crumbling into little flakes. When a cleaning sweep of a New York City apartment building brings this lost treasure to light, both the diary and its owner are given a second life.

Recovered by Lily Koppel, a young writer working at the New York Times, the journal paints a vivid picture of 1930s New York—horseback riding in Central Park, summer excursions to the Catskills, and an obsession with a famous avant-garde actress. From 1929 to 1934, not a single day's entry is skipped.

Opening the tarnished brass lock, Koppel embarks on a journey into the past, traveling to a New York in which women of privilege meet for tea at Schrafft's, dance at the Hotel Pennsylvania, and toast the night at El Morocco. As she turns the diary's brittle pages, Koppel is captivated by the headstrong young woman whose intimate thoughts and emotions fill the pale blue lines. Who was this lovely ingénue who adored the works of Baudelaire and Jane Austen, who was sexually curious beyond her years, who traveled to Rome, Paris, and London?

Compelled by the hopes and heartaches captured in the pages, Koppel sets out to find the diary's owner, her only clue the inscription on the frontispiece—"This book belongs to . . . Florence Wolfson." A chance phone call from a private investigator leads Koppel to Florence, a ninety-year-old woman living with her husband of sixty-seven years. Reunited with her diary, Florence ventures back to the girl she once was, rediscovering a lost self that burned with artistic fervor.

Joining intimate interviews with original diary entries, Koppel reveals the world of a New York teenager obsessed with the state of her soul and her appearance, and muses on the serendipitous chain of events that returned the lost journal to its owner. Evocative and entrancing, The Red Leather Diary re-creates the romance and glitter, sophistication and promise, of 1930s New York, bringing to life the true story of a precocious young woman who dared to follow her dreams.

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 MY THOUGHTS

A recommendation by a friend in 2008 had me adding this book to my "want-to-read" list. It took me awhile, but I finally got a copy. The rescue of the diary and the premise of the book made it seem like a book worth reading. However, I found it too much like a book filled with captions. I kept looking for more depth to Florence's life and the places she lived her life. I felt that the surface was barely scratched. Where was the emotion? Not until the author meets Florence in 2006 did I sense some real emotion. (The mention of the closing of Claremont Riding Academy did strike a chord with me.) I expected to see something in Florence's words or the author's writing as to why Florence married Nat. To me it seemed like an eeny-meeny-miny-mo kind of thing. They did, however, remain together for 67 years and her dedication to him was very touching. The one thing I truly related to was that she seemed to love riding horses. I certainly don't regret reading it.

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A Shred of Sense

 

When Lizzie is frightened by something and decides to retreat to her bed upstairs, there is no getting her back downstairs by calling her or offering her treats. Nope, that doesn’t work. If we want her to come running all one of us has to do is…are you ready for it?

Use the shredder or printer. Occasionally, she is so disgruntled by the noise that she lets out with a bark. Lizzie, bark?!

Minutes ago we called her. She wouldn’t come. Husband tells Daughter to shred something, and voila, she raced downstairs ready to issue her complaint.

She gets over it quickly, though. She’s already sound asleep on the sofa.

(The title in no way means we think that Lizzie has no sense. We love her and all of her quirks.)