Ancestral Musings

 My searches have not been too arcane.  I've used the internet, I've procured birth and death certificates from Washington state's office of vital statistics, I've looked at digitized newspapers, wills, land records, photographs, censuses, and family Bibles. Wikipedia has provided some historical background to some of the more puzzling moves made by ancestors.  I interviewed my late mother-in-law informally several times as her family tree was complicated by a beloved stepmother whose family became a part of Edith's life.  My family was resolutely tight-lipped, my mother's philosophy being "the past is past" which I'm sure anyone who has spent more than 30 seconds on this occupation can tell you is absolutely wrong.  The past is always rising up to poke us in the ribs and say "Remember me?" So, for now, I'll say that my sources have been pretty conventional.  I'll keep my eye out for more creative ways to seek out data and flesh o...

 I am falling behind again!  I admit, my enthusiasm for this year's topics is lower, partly because my enthusiasm for pretty much any topic is lower.  The pandemic is a year old, more or less, and we are all very tired of our four walls and our limited human contact.  Things here in Washington state are improving enough that restaurants can have indoor dining: with only 25% capacity, but we'll take it.  My husband and I have both had our first shots of vaccine:  I got Moderna on February 1st and he got Pfizer on February 3rd and today I got a reminder about my appointment next week for dose #2.  In any case, we hope to be able to travel without too much trouble this summer. As to Valentine:  My family history seems to be devoid of any references to Valentine's day, or the name Valentine, or even great romance.  There were a few long, happy marriages that no one ever talks about because not much happened, and at least one marriage that had bee...

I'm going to say right here that my mother Ruth Belknap Prewitt was a cook of the 1950s.  We didn't have a huge amount of Jello in my memory but we did have some rather watery stews and a lot of clam chowder (canned clams, which considering we were living in Washington state is kind of sad).  My sister would make fudge from time to time, and we occasionally had popcorn, made in a probably lethal little appliance that popped the corn over a heating element.  Mom's cooking did get a bit more adventurous after we lived overseas where she was introduced to a more Mediterranean style of eating and also met Americans who had preserved their immediate ancestors' style of cooking.  The latter is how my mom ended up with a recipe for Chinese Fried Rice, taught to her by a wonderful lady named Alice who was of Korean descent, raised in Hawaii and whose home address at that time was in Texas.  We were all living in Israel at the time (early 1960s) while dad and husbands wo...

Yes, yes, I am behind.  But I have been making a quilt that has been recalcitrant to say the least, and on Monday of this week I actually received my first dose of the Moderna vaccine!  It was mostly without reaction, though I think that in the middle of the night I did end up with a bit of a headache and maybe the feeling that I was a little feverish.  However, I just went back to sleep without doing anything about it so I count that as a win.  My husband got his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine (it came down to what they had on hand when your appointment arrived) on Wednesday.  He hasn't noticed any side effects.  Onward to herd immunity! I believe that we had a favorite photograph last year too but this year I thought I would use one from my own past.  This photo is L-R, myself, my mother and father, and my sister Cecilia on my wedding day, June 11, 1977.  It was also my graduation day from college (graduate in the morning, wedding at 5 pm in t...