Hard to believe today is the last day of autumn and tomorrow will be winter. But then it never really gets that cold up here and only occasionally do I miss those frosty Canberra mornings when it looks like it snowed all night. Still half the year is almost gone and my year long projects keep pottering along - cataloging my library into LibraryThing, scanning my old photos, tidying up my really old genealogy research including scanning old photocopies which have seriously faded over the last 20-30 years. Don't get me started on all the old rusty staples and paper clips I'm finding in my files!
Even if you could finish your family history (and I don't believe you can as new information keeps turning up with new digitised resources eg Trove and I'm seriously staggered at how many times I keep finding new newspaper articles on my family) you would never finish looking after your family records. Updating software, migrating files, and with all of our wet weather in early May we have had a serious mould outbreak. Something we never saw down south. So housework was the main winner this week!
However I did manage to go to Redcliffe Library and give my Warning Warning Tips & Tricks to Avoid Common Mistakes. It was a great audience and I actually went a little over time for the first time in ages. As usual the presentation is on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations. My next talk for Moreton Libraries is not until 11 June and it is at Deception Bay.
Before then on 9 June I have the pleasure of attending Helen Smith's talk on Death Certificates and Medical Terms. Best of all I don't even have to travel far as Helen is giving the talk at the Bribie Island Library! Afterwards we will be lunching on the beautiful Pumicestone Passage.
I hope it is one of our clear blue sky days so that Helen can truly see Paradise. These little guys visit me throughout the day - we have lorikeets and rosellas visit as well as crested pigeons, doves, butcher birds, magpies, peewees and even the humble sparrow. It can be a bit distracting trying to write and watch them at the same time!
With only six weeks until I am off on my Baltic genealogy cruise with Unlock the Past I am doing last minute trip planning and making final payments. I always like to pay for as much as I can before I go to save any last minute issues. Sharing a cabin with a friend from the Gold Coast will be a new experience for me but it is a great way to keep travel costs down and have more money for side trips and souvenirs. Alona (Lonetester) has just posted her five reasons why she is looking forward to the Baltic cruise - read them here.
As this will be my first European holiday since 2000 and the first time I have traveled to the Baltic I am maximising my holiday time and leaving my work and voluntary commitments back on Bribie.
This means I am hoping that everyone will send me their National Family History Month events before the end of June so that I can add them to the web calendar. Any events received while I am away will not go up until after I return. I am also sending out the launch invitations and getting the launch program finalised before I leave too. I return on 27 July and will have just three days to get over jet lag, get back up to speed and fly to Adelaide on 30 July for the launch the next day. Wish me luck!
Five years ago my first research guide What Was The Voyage Really Like? was published by Unlock the Past. It doesn't seem five years but I have spent the last few days doing a second edition and it really is amazing how much has changed in just five years. Records have been digitised and are now available online for ease of access and being able to do your own searches is fantastic. The ongoing development of Trove has made is so much easier for us to find photographs of ships, for example, before we could only do by individually searching each of our state libraries collections. It really is a fantastic time to be doing family history research, I only hope that those doing it online also realise there are still a lot of resources in our libraries and archives that are not online.
Although I am not a great ebook fan I do love a bargain and Thomas MacEntee (Geneabloggers) (USA) quite often advertises free ebooks on Facebook and just this morning I downloaded another title. GenEbooks (Australian) also has discounted specials or a free title which I try to remember to download if the title interests me. I now have quite a collection of free genealogy titles on my Ipad which will probably accompany me to Europe and help pass those long hours in the air or on stopovers, assuming I get sick of shopping in Dubai.
Otherwise I have not done too much genealogy or blogging this week but at least the house is clean and even the gardens were weeded and watered. Since the flood earlier in the month it has not rained at all and everything looks dry. Have another great genealogy week!
Even if you could finish your family history (and I don't believe you can as new information keeps turning up with new digitised resources eg Trove and I'm seriously staggered at how many times I keep finding new newspaper articles on my family) you would never finish looking after your family records. Updating software, migrating files, and with all of our wet weather in early May we have had a serious mould outbreak. Something we never saw down south. So housework was the main winner this week!
However I did manage to go to Redcliffe Library and give my Warning Warning Tips & Tricks to Avoid Common Mistakes. It was a great audience and I actually went a little over time for the first time in ages. As usual the presentation is on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations. My next talk for Moreton Libraries is not until 11 June and it is at Deception Bay.
 |
| Lorikeets |
I hope it is one of our clear blue sky days so that Helen can truly see Paradise. These little guys visit me throughout the day - we have lorikeets and rosellas visit as well as crested pigeons, doves, butcher birds, magpies, peewees and even the humble sparrow. It can be a bit distracting trying to write and watch them at the same time!
 |
| Pale crested rosella |
As this will be my first European holiday since 2000 and the first time I have traveled to the Baltic I am maximising my holiday time and leaving my work and voluntary commitments back on Bribie.
This means I am hoping that everyone will send me their National Family History Month events before the end of June so that I can add them to the web calendar. Any events received while I am away will not go up until after I return. I am also sending out the launch invitations and getting the launch program finalised before I leave too. I return on 27 July and will have just three days to get over jet lag, get back up to speed and fly to Adelaide on 30 July for the launch the next day. Wish me luck!
Five years ago my first research guide What Was The Voyage Really Like? was published by Unlock the Past. It doesn't seem five years but I have spent the last few days doing a second edition and it really is amazing how much has changed in just five years. Records have been digitised and are now available online for ease of access and being able to do your own searches is fantastic. The ongoing development of Trove has made is so much easier for us to find photographs of ships, for example, before we could only do by individually searching each of our state libraries collections. It really is a fantastic time to be doing family history research, I only hope that those doing it online also realise there are still a lot of resources in our libraries and archives that are not online.
Although I am not a great ebook fan I do love a bargain and Thomas MacEntee (Geneabloggers) (USA) quite often advertises free ebooks on Facebook and just this morning I downloaded another title. GenEbooks (Australian) also has discounted specials or a free title which I try to remember to download if the title interests me. I now have quite a collection of free genealogy titles on my Ipad which will probably accompany me to Europe and help pass those long hours in the air or on stopovers, assuming I get sick of shopping in Dubai.
Otherwise I have not done too much genealogy or blogging this week but at least the house is clean and even the gardens were weeded and watered. Since the flood earlier in the month it has not rained at all and everything looks dry. Have another great genealogy week!
