Hazel Thornton
One day, when we were discussing our new book club reading list, of which one selection was about the Ku Klux Klan, my aunt said offhandedly, “Oh yeah, Daddy joined the Klan. But then he realized he didn’t agree with what they were doing and quit. Mommy made dresses for us girls out of the…
Decluttering and letting go of unwanted items is good for the soul. One man’s trash can indeed be another man’s treasure! Repurposing can be a creative and satisfying endeavor. And recycling is good for the planet. But there’s a limit to what one person…
“Francis Robbins went west to the gold rush and was never heard from again.” This was a story I had never heard until I started researching my family history. And that’s all there was to it, too. Nothing about the man himself or the family he left behind. Because nobody knew anything else. Frank…
Prologue I received a bird feeder camera for Christmas. What a nice gift! As a long-time watcher and feeder of birds, my main concern was that I had already cut back in recent years due to the number of critters it attracts that end up wreaking havoc in my yard and under my house and…
I was struggling to put together my February newsletter. My writing group asked: What do you usually do when you’re stuck on what to include? I replied: Well, usually I have a new blog post to offer. But I haven’t been inspired to write a new one lately. Then I remembered that I’d been gathering…
As a genealogist, and as a U.S. citizen living in politically stressful times, I think about immigrants kind of a lot. Especially around Thanksgiving time, which is right now, as I write. NOTE: If you do nothing else, scroll down and watch the powerful 5-minute video I have provided for you. Thanks! The first Thanksgiving…
Who (or what) were you named after? I was named for my paternal grandmother, Hazel Islery Clay Thornton, the “bathing beauty” on the cover of my book What’s a Photo Without the Story? How to Create Your Family Legacy. My mom was named for her maternal grandmother, and my dad was a Junior. Why are…
Do you say, “Rabbit, rabbit,” for luck on the first day of the month? Have you heard others saying it (or seen them posting it on social media) and didn’t know why? Here’s how I remember it… Girl Scouts At Girl Scout camp, in 1970s Idaho, we had a tradition, on the first day of…
I keep hearing people complain about “doomscrolling”. It’s depressing and time consuming. But it’s not inevitable! I’m not sure if they get hooked on the gloom and doom in their news feeds, in the same way we sometimes can’t look away from a slow-moving train wreck, or if they just haven’t figured out how to…
You may have heard the terms invisible illnesses and hidden disabilities. But if you don’t have one yourself, I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t think about it very often. I didn’t either until I was diagnosed with one that affected my mobility. This post is to raise awareness and offer resources. An invisible illness…
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