Preserving your Family History

We all have a family that stretches into the past. Our relatives and family history does not define us, but knowing and appreciating where we came from can help us understand how we got here today.  We can learn about traditions, interests, and stories from the past.
I took home boxes of photos and slides when my parents passed away.  Over time I worked on sorting and figuring out the identity of many of the photos.  Then one day at my brothers house he handed me boxes with more historical information. Then when I was in town in June he pulled out more boxes.  Then last year my cousin sent me a box.  I have become the family historian.  It is quite fun and interesting.
I started making calls and have learned from some long lost relatives about my family tree and online resources.  Every so often I delve into the boxes and try to learn something new.  I try to piece together another story or figure out when other relatives immigrated and how that plays into the decisions my great grandfather had made.  Here is a photo of my Grandmother Anna's family.  She is the young girl on the left. Her parents starting a soda pop bottling company.  I found on the internet one of the old bottles with their logo and I have notes with the recipes for sodas!

There are three main reasons to learn more about your family history.
1.  You may learn about family values and traditions you might still hold honor, or about some that have gone by the wayside that might be interesting to pursue.  We have photos of the my family annual Christmas Eve fondue dinners.. which I carried on for decades with my family.  I have relatives from Lithuania and Ireland.  I can see the resemblance when I look at the old relatives.  One photo looks exactly like my son!
2.  You might share interests with your past relatives.  You might see some old trinket that is on your mantel in an old photograph.  I have my grandmothers old golf clubs. 
3.  Learning the stories about your relatives can be better than a drama or a sitcom on tv!  And, these stories can be carried on throughout the generations!  My Grandmother was pregnant when she married my Grandfather!  I have the receipt from 1920 when he bought the furniture to set up their home.

Reasons to Honor Veterans

Today we celebrate Veteran's from all the armed services.  My Dad served most of his life in the U.S. Navy... Most of my life in the Reserves.  Though I abhor war and fighting on any front, I know it is part of life for generations.  People have different values and often have to fight for them against others who truly believe that they are also right.
There are three reasons why I feel strongly that we need to honor those that serve our country.  First of all, they made a choice to be the front line for defense for the general belief for freedom in our country.  Second,y, they risk their life and health for that end.  And third, because they are not often compensated for all that they do and risk their life for.
I am grateful to live in this country and I respect my freedoms.  I dream of a world of peace... Not one where we all agree but one where we respect the opinions of others, do not live in fear, and power is not used to hurt others.
I celebrate my Dad as a Veteran but I know very little about his military career.  At his funeral a man walked in and said to my teenage son that Roman was by far the best commanding officer he ever served under.  That echoes in me when I think of Dad.
My Dad did PR for the Blue Angels for a year in the 1960's.

Three reasons Spring changes my world

Today is the official start of spring.  The season officially begins at 12:57 p.m. ET a precise and fixed point in time defined as when the center of the sun passes directly over the Equator. 
1.  When I see the bulbs and buds on the tree I feel the awakening of the garden. There might be compost and old leaves but the small colorful buds... as small as they might be... bring dots of bright color to the garden. I am reminded that life is not always that easy... that surviving the winter... from cold temperatures to wind and rain... is not that unlike the challenges I survive as the calendar page turns over. 
2.  The sun starts to shine brighter, warmer and for many more hours when we pass the official spring date.  I know that when there are too many dingy winter days, I can start losing my kick... but once I start feeling the warm sun on my cheeks and I eat dinner before the sunrise, I start to look more forward to the next day and my energy level seems to increase.
3.  More than any other season change, when spring comes I start to feel more of a renewal.  I start to examine how I am going to approach the next three seasons and what I am going to do to weed, nurture and grow my own garden in my life.
What do you think of on this day of change and renewal?

Fall Leaves are a Palette of Color

Fall leaves bring back such great memories of my childhood in the midwest!

The brilliant color!  The maple trees especially had leaves the color of rainbows.  We would find colorful leaves. Then, we would color them with crayons to match the colors. Mom would help as we'd place them on paper, cover with more paper and iron with a hot iron. Oh!  The pictures it would make!

The sound of the leaves when we walked!  They would rustle and crunch. We'd kick them and jump in piles.

The smell of burning leaves would waft through the neighborhood. It was the smell of fall!

In the northwest, the fall season doesn't have the same distinct effect on my senses.  We often have so much rain and wind during the fall, the color is usually brief and leaves adjust become mush on the streets.   But, this year we have had such dry weather that today I went to a park and walked through a pile of leaves!  It brought back so many memorized of my childhood in the fall in the Chicago suburbs.

The Amazing iPad

My fingers are constantly playing the keys on my laptop to connect me to the Internet world. I bought an iPad last month to interact with the web in a different way.
The iPad is colorful and reactive. It is a delight to my eyes and gives me a thrill each time I press the on button. The touch screen is playful and easy to interact with. Within seconds of opening up I am connected with the world. My tea has to brew before my laptop wakes up, loads, finds the Internet.
There are no directions, no software programs, to load, no spam filters, and no disc drives. I just turn it on and voilà, It is a tool waiting for me to use.
Apps are the future of connecting on the Internet. With net neutrality and the overwhelming amount of content and noise, apps seem to filter it out and make my connections more direct.

Are you considering trying out the iPad?
Here are the three reasons I suggest that you choose an iPad.

1. The iPad is the original.  Any other tablet at this time is just a copy.
2. It is the most common tablet out there. If there is a problem, you can go to the Apple store for help, classes and problems.
3. There are so many great apps designed for the iPad.  A tablet is only as good as the apps.  But, in no time, though hundreds of thousands of apps are developed, we will still only use a dozen frequently.

Up Close and Personal with Polar bears

Last year I travelled to the tundra to Churchhill Canada on Hudson Bay to spend a week with polar bears.  It was an absolutely amazing vacation.  I only went because I asked a friend who is a world traveller where she would go next.  She suggested this trip and we had to book it a year in advance.  I was thinking I was totally crazy... Wow!  A year went by so fast... all of a sudden I was packing! 
We spent the week in a vehicle like a train with four main cars.  Two were sleeping quarters for the two dozen people. One car was a salon. The fourth car was the dining room and kitchen.   For that week we never touched the ground... We were always about 8 feet up.  We would look out the windows and see the Polar Bears roaming around.  When going from one train car to another we would walk outside in the 25 degree below zero temps over a grate often with Polar Bears below!  Every day we went out on Polar Bear Safari's in a huge Tundra Buggy... a massive bus on tires that were about 4 feet in diameter.  We'd drive out on the tundra and look for Polar Bears.  I took some spectacular photos.  It was a trip of a lifetime.

There are three reasons I chose that extreme adventure.
First, few people in the entire world have or will ever see polar bears in their environment. Seriously!  There are only a handful of chances to ever go on a trip like this.
Second, climate change is affecting our plant. No matter how people want to dismiss it, pollution created by man is a major contributing factor. The polar bears with their diminishing food supply and the melting arctic ice caps are directly affected.
And, thirdly, the polar bear is an incredibly huge creature that is so beautiful. I could be so close and in their environment but still protected.  It was so exciting!

In your life, step out and take a trip... an exciting adventure... because your life is about the memories you create.

Red, blue, and yellow

Our world is made up of light and the spectrum of color. Nothing is more powerful than the three primary colors. All color is a combination of these three.

When we think of the color red, though as a primary color our image of that color is probably drastically different from the image in the mind of the person sitting next to you. Yet, there may be only one true primary red color.

In your life what are three truths that make up the spectrum of all that is you?