My Quip - Stop For A Moment To Remember... and Give Thanks.

Greetings,

Spring certainly is happening at its critical pace here in Tampa... in my garden.


The Ti plants, the amaryllis, the domesticated milkweed, and the scrub roses… and the little pinks that I forgot their names.

The weather is great, and I just stop in wonder in thanksgiving when there is much tragedy occurring all over this globe of ours.

Please stop for a moment and remember… and give thanks for each of our own gifts, and our short time on this planet.

My thoughts are with each of you,

Jim

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My Quip - My Rear Window

Early Morning,

Of late I’m beginning to feel like Jimmy Stewart of his character L. B. "Jeff" Jeffries in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. It’s the compartmentalization that I’ve transgressed to; my genealogy and my quilt designs. There are many stories going on, developing, and even though I am a participant, I am sitting across the courtyard just peering in.

Each of my searches and treks in my genealogy work has taken on a life of its own. My Transcription Project in the search for the origins and ancestry of my ggg-grandfather James Smith has become an ultimate fixation. Each new, albeit old, document allows itself to unwind, presenting facts and figures of days gone by. Each tangent entices me to follow its trail to seek its subtle answer.

Tonight I discovered four new July ancestors...

Hallelujah to the introduction of my five-times great grandparents and two of their offspring, a gggg-granduncle and a gggg-grandaunt. I also uncovered the marriage registration of my great-great-great-great grandparents July, which of course, now satisfies a number of the questions which have confused my search and progression back in time. Check back for the details.

Another window is the email question I received a couple of weeks ago. The question is a pondering as to whether my Uncle Jim Robertson may have been the birth father of a ardent ancestor searcher. I can’t answer this question as yet but the trek and opening into the mystery of this realm certainly has got my mind racing. In such a search, question after question has to be asked... and who knows what we may discover, just around the corner. Does the Y-DNA have the answer?

As each piece of each puzzle unfolds, I sit and observe as Jimmy Stewart,as the disabled Jeff, stares out of his apartment window, puzzling at the stories befitting each and every of his distant neighbors. The fabric of the lives of my ancestors become living stories as does each of the quilt projects that we take on. The courtyard of the stories continue.

After this weekend two quilts, OP Angel and the Isle of The Misfits Toys will be delivered to their new homes. Christmas gifts of warmth and cheer.

The design and reflection of the North Carolina waves lapping the shores are the workings of a new bargello creation on the dining room table. The choice of fabrics are now taking their places. The coupled hearts electronically delivered.

Another new composition, the Bai Jia Bei, a gift of 100 Wishes begins to formulate as a trail of red thread weaves its way into the life of a child and family. And the pieces of OP Ornament drape in strips on the long-arm waiting their piecing to completion.

I am that Jeff Jeffries, the Jimmy Stewart. And I am the participant.

Regards, stay tuned, and enjoy.

Jim

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My Quip – What Am I Expecting of My Blogs?

Morning,

For the past couple of days the following question has been keeping me up at night… not that I really sleep much anyway; What am I expecting of my Blogs? And a succinct and definite answer or answers seems to evade the mushed-up gray matter between my ears.

At present I have four Blogs; two active and two in-active. Two deal with the subject of genealogy. One is our quilt catalog and the fourth is my past attempt at writing a fictional fantasy.

My most active Blog is A Genealogy Hunt. Would I be wrong if I did make mention that I am somewhat obsessed with the subject of genealogy? I have geared and steered A Genealogy Hunt as sort-of a journal of the search and research into the genealogy and ancestry of my family lines; Smith and Robertson and their associated branches. But is it as active a blog as I think it should be?

Should I not present more of my travails and thought-processes of the nature of my investigations and examinations? I certainly do not claim to be an expert genealogist, under whatever auspices one may want to define the classification. Should I not focus on the how I did that, versus look what I’ve found? Reasonable question… and it’s me who is asking the question. I am not responding to anyone or to any reader’s comment at present.

Now flip over to my second active Blog, this one. It is sort-of a presentation catalog of the quilts that we have made. I design and Andy quilts. Our goal is to cut up some fabric and then sew it back together again. We make a good team and we enjoy the cooperative working process. All-things-being-equal our results are not just your run-of-the-mill, in our opinion, quilts. But should I provide more detail? Should I blog about how two amateur quilt-artists really enjoy our efforts? Should I present our techniques?

And what about the other attempts, the other Blogs, Hero and Angel and Genealogy, The Anderson Garcia Saga? Should I spend more time in those arenas? This is just my thought progression. You can comment or not.

And then there is my cooking. I just love to cook. I love to create good and healthy food… to eat. And of course along with that goes the gardening-for-the-table. But the blogging food recipe arena is a saturated market. You certainly can tell that when you can find the same and/or similar recipes in type, on coincidental blogs after a Google, Bing, or Yahoo search. And why do I continue to buy cookbooks?

These are just my thoughts this morning. I have to get back to work now. I am working on the transcription of an Indenture that is 10 pages long that includes references to ggg-grandfather James Smith, his daughter, gg-grandaunt Sophia and her husband, gg-granduncle Benjamin Ventour. This Document is immediately followed by a two-page Indenture that is most definitely connected to the 10-pager.

I have to take some photos of our next quilt which was completed yesterday and is ready for presentation. This is the second quilt in our OP Noël Series – OP Noël II. (There is no OP Noël I, as yet.) The designs on the third, OP Angel have been completed. And the design and fabrics have been chosen for a brand new small quilt titled P’nG, pronounced Ping. P’nG’s colors are pink and grey.

Stay tuned and enjoy,

Jim

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My Quip - Morning Carmen Miranda - Quilts SB and A Genealogy Hunt

Morning,

This morning I followed a usual routine. I got up a bit earlier than usual and I walked the Pack. I then fed all and got myself some breakfast and coffee. I turned on the PC and checked out all my messages. Stopped in at the regular sites and checked the rankings at Top Listed and found that A Genealogy Hunt was at the number 2 Rank and Quilts SB hit 3rd for the first time. As these are real time numbers Quilts SB is now ranked at 6th.

I checked out Google Analytics for June 23rd. The Bounce Rate for A Genealogy Hunt had reduced to 36.4%. (According to Wikipedia the Bounce Rate “represents the percentage of initial visitors to a site who “bounce” away to a different site, rather than continue on to other pages within the same site.”) This is good news and the Bounce Rate has been slowly decreasing. It means that more readers are checking out and into A Genealogy Hunt. The rate for Quilts SB is 44.0% which is also a relatively good rating. And of course this is the statistician in me… I have to check.

And this morning I found a great piece of correspondence from Dawn who may or may not have some Smith in Grenada connection to my ggg-grandfather James Smith. It’s a lead, and after responding to her queries it was time to get ready for the rest of my day.

I now know what it feels like to wear the market stall of Carmen Miranda. This morning, in the shower I began reading the labels and ingredients of the hair and soap products. First there was an avocado pre-conditioner. Then a mango shampoo followed by hemp conditioner… The body and facial washes were of various citrus, plus one hell of a lot of 25-cent long words that certainly don’t fit into my vocabulary. And all I could think about was boom-chi-chi-boom-chi-chi-boom. Ms. Carmen had all the right ideas on top… I wonder if she ever had stock and shares in J&J…

Oh and last two night suppers: Guyanese Chow Mein and Curry Shrimp, Chicken and Vegetable Stew.

Enjoy,

Jim

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