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Spoiler alert: It’s not just old folks who need to organize their pills! NOTE 1: Since I’m retired now, on Medicare, and collecting the Social Security benefits I worked for decades to accrue, I figure I’ve earned the right to talk about “old folks”. Yes? NOTE 2: Although the title implies a series, I’m…
Are you frustrated with your life? Or, maybe your life is pretty good, but you’re annoyed with a few aspects of it? Maybe you just need to change your settings. (Scroll down for 2026 UPDATE.) Tech Settings Technology has preferences we can set for everything from font…
NOTE: Don’t worry, this post doesn’t contain spoilers! I have long been a fan of the Outlander series of books by Diana Gabaldon. History, romance, genealogy, time travel, adventure, strong female characters, and men in kilts — what could be better? When the Starz TV series premiered in 2014, I thought: “That’s not what Jamie…
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…
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