June 10, 2009 - The After Blues, and How Do I Solve A Problem Like Maria?

Morning,

Not that this father of the groom had much to do with the excellent organization of the wedding, I'm just sort of going through after-the-event-blues.

The house is open, the humidity is rising, the dogs are walked and fed. Tink, of course is on her guard, fending the house of the dreaded squirrel aliens. Last night Mr. Green Jeans provided some Thai eggplants, tomatoes, basil, parsley and peppers from the garden and supper was a combination of the same roasted with pasta and a touch of sherry... Not bad, actually, really good.

I've been thinking about the direction I need to start with my genealogy work this morning. I'm not quite sure as there are a lot of paths I can choose. I keep saying to myself that this is the work I love, so don't put it into the category of "something that I have to get done"... but more in the vein of "that which I want to get accomplished". Makes a whole bit of difference.

In my organization, each project needs a starting point, and in someway I keep leaning towards trying to identify each point and address... what it is, and where I want to venture and accomplish. The one thing for sure is that my mind is continually on the go, and even though the wheels need some oil from time to time I know that it really never stops... or for that fact, never will.

Each project is unique. That is, dependent on the family tree I'm working on. But at the same time each is inter-connected as I learn from each direction I move in and then there is that "Aha! instant" when I realize that I can apply a moment of discovery and understanding to another situation I may have found myself within another project... if that makes sense?

My mind at this stage of the game is directing me to lay out my research and the discoveries of my great-grandmother Catherine Marie Antoinette (née July) Abraham. Great-grandmother Marie was my father's maternal grandmother. She left British Guiana, now Guyana, in 1919, the year before Dad was born in 1920. (Dad was born in Grenada on 6 April 1920 while his parents were there visiting the Smith family. He was brought up in British Guiana.)

I mentioned great-grandmother Marie earlier in my Blog on 6 May 2009. My work on her life is down as point number 3... and therefore, it looks like I'm following the path of my projects as I set them down that day. Cousin David, in Sacramento, discovered this picture of great-grandmother Catherine Marie Antoinette sitting at a beach, we believe, somewhere near San Diego. The picture was taken sometime between 1920 and 1940... Quite a range, but we should eventually be able to narrow the time frame. I clipped the picture of her sitting with some others who may have been Brebner and Ham cousins.

So the question is "How do I solve the problem of my great-grandmother Maria?" Sorry, bad use of some sound of music. (Check out the info of the BBC "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?" competition at this link. Reruns still can be seen on BBCAmerica.)

Keep coming back to my Blog and check on the progress of my work.

Enjoy,

Jim