Skip to main content

Day 166: TV Again!

Is it super lame to do two posts about TV in a row? Especially after you have just said you don't watch much TV? Oh well!

Yesterday when the boys were doing their bedtime stalling version of playing well together, I got sucked into an episode of Genealogy Roadshow. My husband left to go vote and returned to find me still staring mindlessly at the television, learning about how someone's three second-great-uncles died in 1872. (Spoiler: it was smallpox.)

I am a sucker for ancestry, even when it is not my ancestry, I guess. I really enjoy Finding Your Roots, too. I find it a bit lame that they always take some small detail and try to spin it dramatically, but it's TV, so I should expect that. Why is everyone so shocked that their ancestors owned slaves? It sounds awful now, but it was an accepted practice at one time and I don't think we should all reasonably assume our ancestors were the ones living counter-culturally. But I digress.

This is my stunning grandmother, Bess.
Definitely my favorite ancestral photo.
Isn't it perfect? 
I am always fascinated by the records they are able to find and the stories they can piece together. I would love very much for someone to do an in-depth family history for me. Ancestry research is probably the thing (besides reading all the books) that I would do if I had all the time and money in the world.

This is my grandparents and my uncle Skip in 1939.
Grandma had written "Grapes of Wrath" on the back.
Heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. 
I did a photo book about my maternal grandparents a few years ago. I included as much of a family tree as I could piece together from the notes I inherited from Grandma, and what my mom and uncles knew. I think I can find which generations came from Europe, but I don't know much else and would love to delve into it someday. Grandma was a fantastic storyteller and I wish we'd written or recorded more of her stories.

Family histories are so rich and interesting, and I hope someday to know more of mine. In the meantime, I'll just watch strangers on Geneaology Roadshow.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hey! Remember me?

Hey! I'm still here! I haven't given up on ye olde blog just yet, but I haven't had much to write about. I've been spending most of my time reading, mothering, household-running, reading, watching Instagram stories, and house hunting. Whew. Summer is flying by at breakneck speeds and I can barely keep up. I've read more books already than I did last year, which I think is saying a lot because I read more books last year than any year since I became a mother. I didn't set a number goal, but I did list out 10 or 15 that I wanted to get to. I've finished most, including the Harry Potters, but not all. It's a good reading year! Right now I'm reading one by a woman who gave up the Internet for a year. Insert scared emoji face. House hunting will likely be a whole separate post...someday. I have a few other posts in the rusty old brain, so we'll see if they come to fruition. I just didn't want you to forget about me!
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 149: Date with Mom

Mom and I slipped away yesterday afternoon for a trip to town. We had a relaxing couple of hours away from all the chaos at the lake. We shopped, drove around town chatting, I visited the sacrament of reconciliation, and we picked up my favorite small-town pizza joint pizza for supper. I love my hometown so much, but don't spend much time there anymore now that my parents live at the lake. I enjoyed cruising around town catching up on the changes and updates. Mom caught me up on local news, and I accidentally bought a dress, two shirts and a travel mug. That type of thing happens when I hang with my mom, but that's OK!  It was a wonderful afternoon and I'm grateful for our little escape. 
2 comments
Read more

Day 98: Audible

I love reading! However, as a mom with three kids under six, I don't get a lot of time to spend with my nose in a book. I do spend lots of time with my nose to my iPhone reading blog posts, which are much shorter than books and require less of a commitment. I vowed to myself at the beginning of this year that I was going to read more, since it brings me so much joy, not to mention the relaxation factor I so desperately need. I've also mentioned once or twice or fifty times that I love podcasts. Last fall, after listening to a few episodes of The Simple Show  , I took Tsh up on her offer to try Audible for a month for free. The first audio book I downloaded was Patrick Madrid's "Envoy for Christ." Everything I've ready by him gets a thumb's up from me, so I loved it, and I also loved the platform. I could "read" a book while doing dishes, cleaning the bathroom, watching the kids play in the yard. I was hooked. It only took me a couple of mo...
3 comments
Read more