Saturday, April 23, 2016

Dewey's Readathon today - halfway and some

Hooray! I'm more than half way through Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon - 24 hours of #reading pleasure. Last time I could only cheer others as I had commitments, but this time I'm in.

If you are interested, catch up with me and all the #readathon readers on Twitter. Lots of good conversation there. Many of us can talk, text and read! Hashtag #readathon

The four main books I chose are:

READ - The Anatomy of Murder by Imogen Robertson - a mystery set in London, England in 1781. Having just been to modern London, this was an easy choice. And a very good read!

READ - Marriage Law for Genealogists: the definitive guide by Rebecca Probert. Of course, there's always some #genealogy. This is a book I brought home from my trip. Recommend it if you are doing English or Welsh research.

READING NOW - The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay

TBR - Cultural Memories and Imagined Futures: The Art of Jane Ash Poitras by Pamela McCallum


Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon: http://www.24hourreadathon.com/

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Images of Canadian History - Your Choices?

The Canadian Museum of History is due to open its Canadian History Hall on 1 July, 2017. As part of this process, the Museum has been asking for suggestions for images for the area leading to the Hall - the History Hall Gateway.

You can still submit ideas - the deadline is April 29th, 2016.

Of course, being a westerner, I'd like to see that the Gateway (and the Hall) reflects all of Canada, especially the west and the north. The criteria seem to make that a little difficult, but use your imagination and knowledge of Canada and submit your ideas now.


Here are the criteria:

"LANDMARKS
Landmarks are visually recognizable places or locations in Canada still standing today that speak to events of the past. Examples: Citadel Hill in Halifax or Habitat 67 in Montréal. Please do not include landmarks that no longer exist or historical photographs.

SYMBOLS
Symbols represent aspects of Canadian life or identity. For example: the beaver on the nickel (as opposed to a picture of a beaver in a lake) or the maple leaf from the flag. Keep in mind this category is not about geography or natural history as such (it therefore excludes images of natural landscapes such as Niagara Falls or Banff). Nor is it about commercial logos or trademarks.

CANADIANS
In this category we’re looking for images of Canadians doing activities typically associated with Canada. For example: kids playing hockey or pow wow dancers. This category does not include Canadian personalities or represent any recognizable individual. It could however include monuments erected in memory of specific individuals, such as the Terry Fox monument in Thunder Bay."

Why would I quibble about the criteria?

The west and the north have few 'old' built landmarks, But I'm thinking right now of  Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Park and the Alaska Highway, and Nanaimo's Bastion though it was an HBC (commercial) building. First, it represents British Columbia's fur trading and mining beginnings, but also, in 1909 it served as a symbol of BC at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition and could symbolize BC's historical place in the Pacific Northwest of North American and then and now in the world's Pacific area.

And as for symbols, for instance, why think of Canada's history without the Hudson's Bay Company? The HBC seal seems an obvious choice to me, but it is commercial.  So would be an HBC blanket, I suppose.

And Canadians doing Canadian things- well, there's lots of hockey in the west - and soccer too, what else, skiing, fishing, whale researching, still some lumbering, mining, no maple syruping but lots of growing grapes and drinking wine though!

And walking on the Seawall where I live. Maybe choose Vancouver's Girl in a Wetsuit?

And as for monuments to people, my first choices would be something to do with the Northwest Rebellions and the Pauline Johnson Memorial in Stanley Park. (Surely Stanley Park itself should qualify as a landmark.)  And please! there are Terry Fox monuments in Canada, but none like this one in Vancouver.



Saturday, April 09, 2016

Who Do You Think You Are Live! 2016 - Day 2

Favourite displays at Who Do You Think You Are Live 2016?









Everyone attending must have ideas on this, but for me the outstanding one has to be Forces War Records.

Knowledgeable, entertaining, bold, and a Spitfire!


Friday, April 08, 2016

What am I reading in England?



As I was packing someone asked me which books I was taking to read. I laughed and said I was taking half a dozen to last me on the immediate journey at least, but in my luggage I had a hundred more, the new ones mostly a mix of mystery, genealogy and steampunk. For someone like me, who can't imagine a day without a book, this is grand.

Of course, the hundred more aren't so heavy as the six. They're all in my Kindle account and as long as it's cloudy, so to speak, I won't run out of books to read. 

This trip has not been without challenges, mostly small, thankfully, but still. Reading helps. Two people recommended I read The Martian by Andy Weir and that was one of the paper books I brought along. Loved it! And what a good companion Mark Watney is - an unfailing sense of humour and the ability to fix almost anything (and explain mostly how he does it). OK, occasionally he blows something up or electrocutes it accidentally, but still, what a guy - he always bounces back. 

As an example of how handy Kindle is to me, after I left home, I had a note from David (D.J) Wiseman. I read his first genealogy mystery some time ago and now he's finished another. I was able to buy that via Amazon.ca, download and start reading in under 4 minutes. Can't complain about that! If you're into genealogy, you'll like this mystery, The Death Of Tommy Quick And Other Lies (Askance Publishing, 2016), featuring genealogist Lydia Silverstream, in a sequel to A Habit Of Dying (2012). It is available both as a paper or digital book.




Who Do You Think You Are Live! 2016 - Day 1


Guild of One Name Studies stand, WDYTYALive 2016.

Today was the second day of Who Do You Think You Are Live 2016 in Birmingham, England (or very near it). I've had no trouble getting there from Birmingham. Nice buses! Although not as cheap as at home. (And a little drizzle to remind me of the wet coast of British Columbia.)

Yesterday I had a quick go round (honest, I only bought a couple of light books and CDs) and after that I was helping at the Guild of One Name Studies stand. It was a busy day, but overall not as crowded as I expected.

Happily, the Guild had lots of visitors though and we were kept on our toes answering questions, and looking up surnames to check if they were available to register or not. And two members manned the computers to show visitors the spread of their names in the 1881 UK census, and give them a copy of the map generated with Archive Software's Surname Atlas.

Many had heard of the Guild but wanted to know more; some were determined already to begin their own surname study. Great to hear! One interesting question that came up twice to me was about specific surname studies begun by someone who had had to abandon them for some reason, perhaps illness. This is one reason I joined the Guild - to have somewhere to 'deposit' my Saggers surname study material so it's not lost 'after I'm gone'.

Friday, April 01, 2016

Google acknowleges it's into genealogy!

Wow! Catch this genealogy announcement for today? Though be warned, the news release  quoted is dated  - 1 April 2016.

Alphabet Inc. (Google's parent) has purchased Dick Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter. Dick's article quotes Google's CEO, Larry Page, as saying: "It’s a great time to be in the genealogy business."

Indeed! Any time is good for genealogy, so likely for the business part too.  Read Dick Eastman's full article here: http://blog.eogn.com/2016/03/31/eastmans-online-genealogy-newsletter-purchased-by-google/#more-12690

I look forward to seeing genealogy Google Doodles. Love those Google Doodles!  Has there ever been a genealogy related one? Please let me know. I don't remember any.

(Written in Birmingham, England. First full day of my genealogy holiday here. More about that later.)