well today I went to the cemetery to visit my late husbands grave, it has been seven years today that he is gone. The weather was perfect. I brought him a little bouquet of purple flowers and laid them in front of his stone next to some I had brought to him on fathers day. Time passes by, yet it seemed as if it were yesterday that he was here with me. So many love ones in the cemetery, they were all important to others just like me. If there is an afterlife, then I believe my husband is in heaven playing checkers with my father, with my father cheating haha.
While I was there , I wanted to find another lady's grandfather's stone, so I did find it, and took a photo to send her. I know she is going to be very happy to receive it. I want to return to the cemetery, to copy all the single tombstones that I do have have the names at the moment, I have most of the double tombstones except for the last two years or so. I also want to copy all the veterans , their graves are all located together, with the same kind of stone. Another project in the future. This is one of the reasons memories are something to have and to share, I have memories of my grandchildren's papa with whom I have been sharing with them.
have a great day.

Been sitting here thinking "what would my faithful readers be interested in today?" So thinking back about my school years I remember things we did in school, one thing in paticular was giving and receiving valentines from our classmates. I remember Mom buying big books of valentines, for about one dollar, and me sitting down and addressing them to my friends. Now this was back in the early 1950s when I was around nine or ten. I was so excited when I would get some from my classmates. And my dear Mom saved some of them for me which she gave me long after I got married. I recently got in contact with someone who went to school with me, and it was so nice talking about our teachers, and what we did , where we went, then we wanted to exchange old photos, I did not have any but I found a few things with my friend's name on it and sent it. Plus I found a valentine I had received from this friend. So will share the valentine with you.
have a great day.

What a gorgeous day, but tonight it will be over, thundershowers expected. Today I went to get my hair done, and we have a long drive way to the road, and this little long eared brown baby rabbit was just sitting there. I drove towards him , do you think he would move? no way hosay, I had to open my car door , and yell "get out the road", well he made a beeline into the woods some fast. I did not want to hurt him, and was afraid he would run in front of my car.
There was a flea market nearby, so I went, well I saw some old photos in a old frame, and I began wondering " I wonder who these people were?" No names on the frames, it is such a shame that nothing is marked. I have some old photos given to me by my mother that she doesnt know who them were, they belonged to my grandmother. Again what a shame they cannot be identified. Today there are so many ways to preserve the photos, and marking who the were is a must otherwise our grandchildren one day will inherit the old photos and not have a clue as to who they were.
And if you have any aunts or uncles, who have photos in their possessions, talk to them, have some copies made off of them, ask them about the people in the photos , where did they live? Mark it down, begin a scrapbook , or a family book, you will certainly have made someone happy down the road one day.
Have a great day.

Now is the season for hurricanes and tornados, we had a tornado watch a few days ago, in all my lifetime I cannot remember having such a warning. So I guess the weather is changing , we are having hotter weather than we used to.
Speaking of hurricanes and tornados, our ancestors must have gone through such things, how did they cope? They were not equipped such as we are today.
It would be interesting knowing how they managed would it not?
If they had such tragedies, probably they helped each other rebuild etc. My mother told me in her young days, all the neighbors would help one another build their houses and barns etc, the women made meals, while the men worked. Can you imagine all the women gathered together laughing and gossiping, maybe even singing? Men working with the tools they had, nothing like today, no electric drills and electric saws, just the good old fashion tools.
It would be nice to be able to go back in time, just to take a peep and watch them working, and watch them doing what they liked to do, such as singing, or playing music. Many had no cars, just horses and wagons. When my sister died, the hearse at that time in 1933 was a sleigh and horses, she died in december, and at that time they buried them then.
I went on a sleigh ride when I was newly married and nearly froze to death haha, it was soooooooooooo cold, I think we picked the coldest day in the winter.
have a great day.

If only our ancestors could open their eyes today and tell us stories, wouldn't we be pleased? Browsing through old records , it seems as if they are trying to do just that. For instance in one census you find their families in one area , the next census they are elsewhere, meaning they had moved. Now ask yourself this question , 'why did they move?'. Could it be the head of the household found work elsewhere and moved his family there?
My grandfather was a saw filer, and he was known to be one of the best in his village. He went working in lumber camps all over, in the USA, in Quebec, in Cape Breton. Had my mother not told me this, I would still be looking for him. He also went to a school in Danforth Maine when he was seventeen, and taught school there for a short while. I recently located him through some of my group members being age 17 and a student.
I sometimes wonder if my ancestors were good musicians? Were they good singers? If so I don' t take after them ha ha. I cannot carry a tune, at least I couldnt when I was in school. My class was auditioning for a choir, and my cousin and I went to strut our stuff. I love singing but when I tried out, I think I started to sing O Canada, I hadn't finished the first bar, the nun told me Aline go home you are out of tune. But there are good singers among my cousins.
And my father played the harmonica and the jews harp.
Yes if only our ancestors could open their eyes, what a wealth of information we could have.
Have a great day.

Yesterday I went to my genealogy center again, I feel so at home there, it is quiet and there is such a gold mine to be found, now I know how a prospector must have felt in the olden days. You keep looking for the mother lode, when you hit it , wow. That is the same with genealogy . The fever gets in your blood, you thirst for more information. I have been going there for a long time now, since 1976 , that is thirty years. And I never get tired of going. Yesterday I found some information in old documents that I never knew were there.
I have an acadian genealogy group, and many new members come in seeking help, they have hit brick walls, and they do not live near the acadian center thatI go to, so I am pleased to be able to find some of their brick walls. Yesterday I found information for two of our members , they were pleased.
But I am not the only one helping in our group. This is the first group that I have ever seen help out so much, it is amazing. Yep we are one big family, I am not saying this to drum up business, I am saying this because I am so proud of our group, and I do hope others will get the news that we try very hard to help .
I have created an acadian website also, on it I try to put anything acadian related, I have added music to some of the pages, and the latest thing that I have added is a board to share stories about our acadian ancestors. Even if you have one line that is acadian, then our group is for you, if you had ancestors in Quebec, that originated in Acadie, or if you are in the UK and you had ancestors originally from Acadie, or if you are a descendent from the exiled acadians, yep our group is the place to see. Enough of my boasting, but it does fill out today's blog.
If you are interested at all in Acadian genealogy and making new friends, click on the blue book in my website it takes you to our group,in the meantime just check out our website, I am sure you will find something acadian related you like.
Have a great day. http://www.geocities.com/ize_o_blue/index.html

Well I haven't posted for a few days, so thought I would post tonight. I am sure many of you remember our rock n roll years, the petticoats, the loafers, bobby sox, and the duck tail hair the men wore? Well tonight I went to a little combination restaurant and entertainment on my way home from town, and at the restaurant there was a couple called Linda and Lenny and they played rock n roll, they played the song rocking robin, wow I was impressed so I did what any other old grandma would do , I got up and jived, boy it was fun.
And that reminds me when I was around fifteen or so, and there was this diner up the road, and I remember in the diner were booths and a large jukebox in the corner. The cook made the best hamburgers you ever tasted, and there were usually couples jiving in the middle of the floor, would you believe that there was this man who used to go there and every time he went there he would eat around 11 or 12 hamburgers? I saw him do it. Wow what an appetite he had.
I remember when I was a teenager, my mothers got me a black felt skirt with a pink poodle on the front of it. That was the style back then. Do you remember?
Have a great day.

Well Canada day is over again for another year, Fourth of July is tomorrow. I wanted to go see the fireworks, and in our park we were suppose to have a few different bands playing music, so around 9.30 pm decided to go see, but all of a sudden rain started falling, thunderstorms rolled in, and everything was cancelled, it was sort of a dissappointment.
I wonder how our ancestors celebrated occasions? I do know they had picnic gatherings, that must have been fun for them. What did they do before the radio's came out? I imagine many of them learned how to play music, and entertained their family and friends. It would be nice to go back to a hundred years ago and see how our ancestors really lived. I know the women were busy with their chores, and the men worked in the fields and did some fishing. But what about their leisure time? Some could not read nor write so it makes me wonder. The women knit and sewed , maybe that was their passtimes, the men chewed tobacco , or smoked a pipe ,that could have been their pastimes. What kind of games did their kids play? I wonder how far back the game of hopscoth and kick the can go?
My mother told me, they used to climb trees, and eat the spruce gum, she said they used to go hunting partridge and rabbit when she was young. This would be in the late 1920's.
Mom also said they would go by the river and fish. She said one time her and her brother got into an old rowboat and rowed in the middle of the water and they discovered the old row boat was leaking, so Mom said her brother rowed the boat as fast as he could and she bailed out the water as fast as she could and they made it to safety.
Have a great day.

Happy Canada Day to all you Canadians out there, hope you have a great day, and Happy fourth of July all you Americans out there. I am going to a Barbque today, sure hope the weather holds out.
I must share with you something that I wanted to mention before, I love acadian music, songs, and fiddle and accordion and guitar music, so when I moved here six months ago, I went to a senior dance. What a lovely evening I had. The band played a variety of music, rock n roll, two steps, waltzes, they even had a square dance. Then they played some acadian songs, with the acadian slang in it, for instance they sang mon car a un flat tyre..... typical Shiaque (slang), well did I ever enjoy that song and it reminded me that my late husband and a few of his friends composed a song similar to it when they were young, I still have the song and It would be so nice to be able to put it to music.
My mother once told me that when they were young married her and my dad, they would gather at some neighbors or friends houses and there were always someone either singing, playing the fiddle, or even dancing.
I remember going to a place before I was married in the country, and that is how it was then , the couple who lived there were elderly and he played the fiddle and she tap danced, and everyone would gather there. I loved it.
People seldom went to clubs or bars back then. They made their own fun their own way. Oh , memories are surely something to treasure and share.
Have a great day