Freezing cold day in Melbourne today and unfortunately I had to be out and about so limited genealogy time. Received an email a few days ago from the Toowoomba Regional Council Libraries about a seminar they are hosting on 13 August. I am giving three talks and John Graham will be giving two talks on Country Newspapers and The Ryerson Index to contemporary death notices and obituaries in Australian newspapers. John is a fellow Unlock the Past team presenter and I always enjoy his talks.
The Library has done a great poster and information flyer to promote the seminar and it was a timely reminder to me to revisit the talks they had requested. When I looked at my talk Brief Introduction to Family History I found it was last given in 2009 so I had a lot of updating to do today. It is always hard when doing these introductory talks to know what level to pitch the talk at - there will obviously be some really new people but also likely to have some experienced people too.
The other two talks I am giving are Family History on the Cheap and this is a talk I keep up to date all the time as it is so popular (and it is the title of one of my books available from Gould Genealogy & History) and Warning Warning: Tips & Tricks to Avoid Common Family History Mistakes which is based on some of my own learnings over the years.
As always I check my various emails, Facebook and Twitter accounts and answer any personal queries and try to add my own views where applicable. On the days when I don't get a lot of time to check Tweets or Facebook I often feel that I have missed heaps of you beaut things but you can't be on it 24/7. Do others feel like that if they don't check Twitter or Facebook on a reasonably regular basis?
More people have added me to their Google+ circles but I really haven't had time to do much more than skim some of the comments people have made. It's on the to do list.
A new website (for me) that I came across today was The Workhouse: The Story of an Institution and it is a very detailed look at every aspect associated with workhouses. I am sure that at least one of my ancestors were in a workhouse at some point in time although I have never found any there during a census. I loved the recipe for the workhouse Christmas pudding for 300 - it used 144 eggs along with other usual ingredients but I'm not too sure about the 13 lbs of carrots (seems an odd ingredient in a pudding). There are some really great photographs and the detailed text means that you should give yourself some time to fully explore this interesting site.
The rest of the family have gone to bed and if I don't follow soon, I will freeze (we turn the heating off at night) - went down to 4 degrees here last night and more of the same is expected tonight. Can't wait to go home to Queensland in August, if only for 3 weeks!
I also feel like I'm missing out if I don't check Twitter and Facebook every day. Google+ is still experimental and most of the people in my circles are American, and almost all the people who post are! There is a lot of double-posting.
ReplyDeleteWe've had temperatures in the minuses the last couple of nights, so I can sympathise with you!