Journaling Responses to "Week Forty-Three: The New Year"

Here are what some other bloggers had to say about their childhood memories of The New Year:

The New Year by Wendy Littrell at All My Branches

New Years Memories - Traditions by Donna Wendt at Another Day with Donna

A Very Special Day - New Years Day by Cathy at Detour Through History

New Years Day - Spent and Spending by Thomas MacEntee at Destination: Austin Family

New Year's Eve Traditions by Kathryn Lake Hogan at Looking4Ancestors

My own is My New Year's Memories at AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors.

Journaling Responses to "Week Forty-One: Fall"

There were a couple of excellent responses to the Fall theme and I'm including them here, along with my own:

"Autumn in My Mind - Word Prompt" by Wendy Littrell at All My Branches

An untitled post by Thomas MacEntee at Destination: Austin Family

Mine is "My Favorite Season" posted at my other blog AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors

The Genea-Bloggers' Picnic Has Been Posted

Bill West of West in New England has posted "Welcome to the Picnic!" He asked genealogy bloggers what kinds of picnics they remembered from their childhood. I added some more questions in "Week Forty: The Geneabloggers' Picnic."

There are 20 picnickers, each with their own picnic baskets and favorite foods. My submission, "Picnic Time" is here.

Enjoy the reads!

Journaling Responses to "Week Thirty-Nine: Summer"

We had some great responses to last week's prompts! I even heard from a fellow genealogy society member who journals off line! She brought up some good points about copying and pasting my prompts while trying to eliminate the images on the blog. I will address these later this week.

First of all, we have faithful Thomas of Destination: Austin Family with "Summertime and the Living Is..." Next is Apple of Apple's Tree with "Summer Time." It's been a while since Jasia of Creative Gene joined us, and her post is "I Can't Resist."

I have been wanting all week to write my own post, but this weekend was absolutely crazy, and the busy-ness spills over into the early part of this week. So please forgive me if I hold off on posting a new set of prompts; I want to write my own responses, and then we'll move on!

UPDATE: My post is "Celebrate Summer!"

Journaling Responses to "Week Thirty-Eight: The Doctor"

Tex, who blogs at All My Ancestors, wrote "The Doctor: A Medical History." And Thomas of Destination: Austin Family posted "Doctor, No!" I got a good laugh at Thomas' comment, "How about lawyer and indian chief to complement this theme?"

Journaling Responses to "Week Thirty-Seven: The Dentist"

There were two genea-bloggers who posted their responses to "Week Thirty-Seven: The Dentist." They were Thomas MacEntee of Destination: Austin Family with "A Fistful of Teeth" and Tex of All My Ancestors with "Dental Health: Family Adventures and Memories."

UPDATE: Kathryn Lake Hogan of looking4ancestors posted "Visiting the Dentist" on 28 July 2008.

Journaling Responses to "Week Thirty-Six: My Computer"

Thomas at Destination: Austin Family has written about his computer experiences at "My Computer," while Robert Lord left a few words about his first computer in the comments section of the post to the last journaling prompts. I have been wanting to write about my own early computer experiences and the evolution of the technology in our home, but ironically, my laptop was having some issues and so I was limited to the amount of time I could be online and blog! I still plan on writing about this later, and will update this post when I do.

Journaling Responses to "Week Thirty-Five: Spring"

Take a look at Thomas' response at his blog, Destination: Austin Family, titled "Spring." I love the photo of the flowery hat, and he and I share a love of asparagus as one of our favorite spring foods.

Spring, alas, is not my favorite season for a myriad of reasons, which I explain in "Spring: Not My Favorite Season" over at my genealogy blog, AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors.

Stay tuned for "Week Thirty-Six: Computer Memories," which will be posted tomorrow.

Journaling Responses to "Week Thirty-Four: Holy Days of Spring"

Ever the faithful journal-keeper, Thomas MacEntee of Destination: Austin Family has posted his response to the last set of journal prompts, "Holy Days", on his blog.

I also did some browsing through some of my favorite genealogy blogs and came up with the following list of Easter memories and traditions. Even though they weren't written for the journal prompt, I think that by reading these, you may get even more ideas on how to share your Holy Days of Spring memories.

• Craig Manson of GeneaBlogie shares "Easter Sunday, Albuquerque, c. 1960s."

• Jasia of Creative Gene wrote about attending this year's Easter Mass in "Polish Pride."

• Lisa of 100 Years in America wrote about a Hungarian tradition that takes place Easter Monday in "Hungarian Easter Monday weather: showers!" Easter Monday was also a holiday celebrated in Ireland, and she tells about this in "A joyful Easter Monday to you!" on her Small-leaved Shamrock blog. Lisa also shared two traditions from Eastern Europe: "Decorating eggs... and fighting!" and making Croatian Easter bread in "Doing your Easter baking?" Both these posts are on her 100 Years in America blog.

• Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist highlighted an article from the Pittsburg (Pennsylvania) Post-Gazette about how the long-standing tradition of blessing Easter baskets is still being faithfully observed. She also shared her traditional Slovak Easter breakfast in "Happy Easter!"

• And John Newmark, who often writes about his Jewish heritage, shared this sentimental post, "An Easter Bloom," about a flower his great-grandfather picked and gave his daughter (John's grandmother) on Easter Sunday in 1926.
  

It's always interesting to see the diverse ways in which holidays are celebrated within the same country by people of the same religion. Our culture, family history, and geographic location influence us all in many ways, and it is simply fascinating and fun to see that as we celebrate our holidays!

I realize it's been a couple of weeks since I've posted a prompt. I've put together a new one that will post tomorrow and have already started working on next week's. Blogger in Draft's scheduling feature is a godsend, helping me to plan and work ahead!

Journaling Responses to Week Thirty-Three: Laughter, the Best Medicine

Here are some posts by other bloggers who've responded to last week's prompts about Laughter, the Best Medicine:

• Tex knows a lot about humor; in fact, she once wrote a dissertation on it! Her post is AnceStories: Laughter, the Best Medicine at her blog, All My Ancestors.
• I love Colleen's title for her post: Ha! Ha! Ha! You can read it at The Orations of OMcHodoy.
• You've got to see the fun and wacky photo Thomas posted on Make 'Em Laugh on his blog, Destination: Austin Family. Having participated in Scanfest with Thomas, I know he has a wicked sense of humor!

If you have written a response to this prompt on your blog (even if it is long after the time it was originally posted), please let me know, and I'll add a link to your post. Remember, they don't have to be written in order; you can pick and choose as you like.

Journaling Responses to "Week Thirty-Two: Honoring Our Leaders"

I apologize for dropping out of sight the last two weeks. I've barely been keeping my head above water, and things have eased up just a bit, enough for me to try to get back on track. I wanted to let you know about some terrific responses to the last set of journaling prompts, which have been published on genealogy blogs:

• Elizabeth from Little Bytes of Life posted "Week Thirty-Two (But Week One for Me): Honoring Our Leaders."
• Thomas at Destination: Austin Family wrote "Honoring Our Leaders."
• Tex posted "President's Day...Late" at her blog, All My Ancestors.
• My own post is "Honoring Our Presidents" at AnceStories.
  

I enjoyed reading these, especially discovering which president each person felt was the greatest leader for our country.

As a side note, I encourage you not to feel that you have to write any of these posts in a particular order, or that you need to "catch up." They are numbered for my convenience only. You can write from any prompt at any time, and if you have a blog, post them whenever you wish. In other words, it's not like a carnival with a specific due date. If for some reason, like the last two weeks, I'm unable to get prompts published, I encourage you to take a list at some of the other prompts you may not have written to, so far, and use them instead. The idea is to get you to write about your own life and your ancestors' lives to share with future generations. Feel free to come up with your own prompts and write to those, too!

Journaling Responses to "Week Thirty-One: St. Valentine's Day"

These genea-bloggers have posted their responses to "Week Thirty-One: St. Valentine's Day" on their blogs, and can be found at the following links:

• Thomas MacEntee at Destination: Austin Family published "St. Valentine's Day" before he left for vacation. He also published "1001 Reasons Why You Want to be My Sweetheart."
• I wrote some of my Valentine's Day memories from my early school years in Klawock, Alaska in my post, "Happy Valentine's Day!" on my AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors blog.
• However, I believe Randy Seaver trumped us both with his "Valentine's Day Gift"! Visit his blog, Genea-Musings, to read how romantic Randy got his best Valentine's Day gift ever!

If you or any other blogger you know responded to these prompts, please leave a comment below, and I'll be sure to add the post to my list.

Journaling Responses to Week Thirty: Crafts and Hobbies

Thomas from Destination: Austin Family tells me he's addicted to these journal prompts! He's no slouch at creating prompts, either, as his Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories prove! Thomas responded to last week's prompts about Crafts and Hobbies in his post by the same name, here.

If you or another blogger you know has responded, please leave a comment below, and I'll add a link to your post.

Journaling Responses to Week Twenty-Nine: Family Time

The following genea-bloggers have posted their journal responses to "Week Twenty-Nine: Family Time" on their blogs, and can be found at the following links:

• Lori Thornton at Smoky Mountain Family Historian posted "Family Life"

• Thomas MacEntee at Destination: Austin Family also wrote a post entitled "Family Life" and included old and newer photos

I always appreciate hearing from anyone who's been following these prompts. If you are journaling your responses, please let me know by using the comments feature. Remember, you don't have to have a blog to write the stories of your childhood for your descendants!

Journaling Responses to "Week Twenty-Eight: Games and Puzzles"

The following genea-bloggers have posted their journal responses to "Week Twenty-Eight: Games and Puzzles" on their blogs, and can be found at the following links:

• Thomas MacEntee's "Games and Puzzles" at Destination: Austin Family

• Lori Thornton's "Games and Puzzles" at Smoky Mountain Family Historian

• Tex's "Games" at All My Ancestors

I've really appreciated and enjoyed reading these responses. When people talk about their families, you really get an understanding of the dynamics of these families and the individual's growing up years. Comparing and contrasting those similarities and differences with one's own family is fascinating!

If you know of anyone else who has posted a response, please let me know by using the comments feature. Remember, you don't have to have a blog to write the stories of your childhood for your descendants!

Journaling Responses to "Week Twenty-Seven: Civil Rights and Diversity"

This past week, several bloggers took on the challenge of writing about civil rights and social justice and then posting their responses on their blogs. Here are links where you can read their stories:

• Larry Lehmer of Passing It On posted "Black, white, yellow and brown: Does it really matter?"

• Thomas MacEntee of Destination: Family Austin wrote "Civil Rights and Diversity: Serving Witness, Giving Voice." He also invited us to re-read "Race and Family History" which he posted back in November.

• UPDATE 20 Jan 2008: Colleen of Orations of OMcHodoy posted her thoughts on "Civil Rights and Diversity".
  

Several other people commented on my post or e-mailed me privately to tell me that they were also writing responses, but due to the sensitive nature of the topic, were not posting them on their blogs. This is certainly understandable.

If you have responded to this topic on your blog and would like me to link to your post, please contact me. My e-mail can be found by clicking on my profile information in the right-hand column.

As a reminder, you don't need to have a blog to write these responses. They're meant for you to write in whatever format you are most comfortable with, whether in a bound journal, in a document format (like Microsoft Word) on your computer, or online in private or public format, whatever works best for you. Be sure to make backups if you are writing in electronic format, whether you print up your writings or store them on a CD, DVD, or USB drive.

Journaling Responses to "Week Twenty-Six: Winter"

There's been a variety of thoughtful responses to Sunday's writing prompt on "Winter," and I thought I'd leave some links to them so you can read them as well:

• Thomas MacEntee's "Old Man Winter" at Destination: Austin Family

• Randy Seaver's "Winter in San Diego - Memories" at Genea-Musings

• "Winter" by the author of All My Ancestors

• UPDATE 15 Jan 2008: Terry Thornton's "Recollections of Winter: From Angel Dust to Wearing Long Johns" at Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi

• UPDATE 15 Jan 2008: Bill West's "Winter" at West in New England
  

If you know of any others, please let me know. My e-mail is available on my profile page (see right-hand column).