Spring into Home Teaching

We had our home teachers visit with us on the deck yesterday afternoon. It was a lovely spring day, and since we've had so few of them, we thought we'd celebrate. It looks like it's going to rain this week, so that might be the last time we celebrate spring this month. It's been a long, cold winter, and it feels like spring is loath to come! Ed and I are firmly convinced summer will surely not come at all this year!

Rose Ball

Ed and I worked all day in the yard and the basement on Saturday, but managed to clean ourselves up in the evening to drop over at the Stake Rose Ball, featuring the Columbia Jazz band.

It was festively decorated with lights and lanterns, and the sandwiches and cheesecake really hit the spot!

Braiding

We learned how to braid hair in Activity Day on Wednesday.  A few of the girls already had some experience,  but we had enough different styles to keep everyone interested.

I taught French braiding because that is my specialty.

The girls also learned fish tails from Alisa and Krista.

Heather oversaw the whole thing and got in on a braiding train.

After it was all over I stayed to learn to do a fishtail, too. Too bad it is 15 years too late for me! I need my little girls at home again to practice on!

The Judy's go to Westminster

Judy K. and I went to Westminster last Thursday to see what they had in the library in terms of genealogy. They had a ton of Maryland books, and a volunteer named Ann who was very knowledgeable. She showed us some of the best books to look in. Unfortunately, it was all reference material and I couldn't bring any of it home with me. We found some references to a few wills that might be interesting. We're hot on the trail of Isaac Mallarnee, wondering why he died in Utah in 1870, when he never joined the church and his wife died five years after him in Baltimore. Was he visiting his daughter, Sarah Ann Mallarnee Jones? Did his wife go with him? Did he move to Fairview, Utah and leave his wife behind in Maryland? Inquiring minds want to know!

Cooking with the Pearl Strings

The Pearl Strings had their family and friends concert in the Bush basement last night. We were cookin'! Helen's parents were here from Idaho, so we scheduled this event to coincide with their visit.

In addition, we were able to talk a few friends into coming, and we filled the basement!

We tried to incorporate songs about food into our program, including new words to Chattanooga Chew Chew! (Notice Helen on the train whistle!)

We did 13 songs, 5 of which were about food (in red). Well, 6 songs were about food if you count, Hey Good Looking, (what you got cooking)! That song was Barb's first singing solo, as well as my first dobro solo!

Here is our gig list. (Food songs in red)

Blackberry Blossom

Shoo Fly Pie

I’ll Fly Away

Dream a Little Dream of Me

Chattanooga Chew Chew

Bye Bye Blackbird

Tennessee Flat Top Box

Day-O (Banana Boat Song)

Hey Good Lookin’

Nobody But the Baby

You Don’t Know Me

Berry Picking Time

Always

Jen and I also did a Dueling Banjo's duet with banjo and ukulele. It is still a bit of a work in progress, but we're having a lot of fun with it!

As a matter of fact, we're just having a lot of fun with band in general!

Cherry Blossoms in DC

This morning we decided to pop down to DC and see the cherry blossoms. It was the peak weekend for them, and Ed had missed them the other 4 years we were here. This is us looking happy because we scored a parking spot!

Part of the fun is trying to get nice pictures of the monuments with cherry blossoms in front of them.

This was even more difficult if you were trying to take a selfie, and include the cherry blossoms and monuments in the picture as well!

The skies were beautiful, and we enjoyed the walk, despite having to share it with thousands of our new best friends. The Jefferson Memorial looks beautiful flanked with pink trees.

The Washington Monument is surrounded by cranes, but you can't tell at all from this angle!

I was hoping to get my 5 miles in, by the time we finished the loop around the tidal basin, but it was closer to 3.5. And, with stopping to take pictures every few minutes, we averaged a leisurely 30 minutes per mile. It was a perfect way to spend a beautiful spring morning!

An Evening in Washington

Ed and I stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Tyson's Corner last night. He had an event there that included dinner, a speaker and entertainment. It was a great meal, and we enjoyed hearing from Gary Sinise, who was given a humanitarian award for his service to the military (entertaining the troops with his Lt. Dan Band, and his foundation supporting servicemen injured in the line of duty).

We thought our room number was cool. If you know why, you can comment on my blog!

I also liked the Giant Easter eggs in the lobby of the hotel. Spring is here!

Judy, Judy,...

Judy Krieger and I went on a genealogy field trip today to the Eldersburg Library! She introduced me to the miracle of inter-library loans. We found several books that we were able to request from other libraries. They will magically be sent here to Eldersburg where I can check them out and take them home to peruse. All of them are chock full of Baltimore marriage, death and birth records. Hopefully, we'll discover a lot of information about my family from them.

We also found one lonely book of marriage and deaths from the Baltimore Sun. Unfortunately, the dates were a little late, as my relatives were mostly gone from Baltimore by the mid-19th century, but I checked it out anyway and will take some time poring over it to see if I have any relatives in it at all. 

Spring is finally Springing!

This is the first week since January that it hasn't snowed at least once! (At least if feels that way!) It snowed last Monday, but so far this week--only rain! Suzanne and I were out walking today with no jackets--finally! We stopped to take a picture of the daffodils blooming along the fire road. That's how we knew it must be spring. Everything seems to be a month later than usual. We'll know it's really spring, however, when the cherry blossoms start to bloom! I can't wait!

Relating to Baltimore

The hunt is on! I've finally started my search for my Baltimore relatives. Starting with James Naylor Jones (born in 1810) and his wife, Sarah Ann Mallarnee, I've decided to verify who my Baltimore family really was. I had two goals in mind: to see if I was really related to Lord Baltimore (the answer appears to be "no") and if I had an ancestor who arrived on the Ark and the Dove, the two initial ships that arrived in 1634 to found the colony of Maryland. The answer to the second one appears to be yes! I had a Thomas Green--the second proprietary governor of Maryland (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Greene_(governor), and a Thomas Price, who both arrived on the first ship. And to boot, I have a Thomas Graves (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Thomas_Graves) who arrived on the second supply ship to Jamestown, Virginia! Apparently, men named Thomas in our family were adventurers!

William Stone

William Stone, also an ancestor, was the third proprietary governor of Maryland, but arrived via Virginia (arrived in Virginia in 1619), with his wife Verlinda Graves. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stone_(Maryland_governor)

James Naylor Jones, B. 1810, Baltimore

I started my quest on Thursday with the help of Judy Krieger, an expert genealogist in our ward. She found so much on Ancestry.com, that I immediately came home and signed up for a membership. Over the course of the next several days, I found 143 names. It took all day Friday and Saturday just to collect the data! Now, my goal is to go to the Maryland Archives and St. Paul's Parish and verify everything I have written down. In the process I hope to be able to fill in the gaps where more research is needed!

I entered everything into Legacy, but if any members of the family want a GEDCOM file, I can make one and send it to them. Or, if you purchase Legacy, I can just send you the Legacy file.

More Fun With One Source Contacting

They're back! What would a year be without a visit or two from our favorite contractors? This year Ed got me some nice craft shelves for the basement. We briefly thought about installing them ourselves, and fortunately, came to our senses! Roberto and Billy Ray put them in in one day, including two electrical outlets!

They are a definite improvement over the white shelves (seen through the arch). We'll move the white shelves into the storage room. All we have left is the granite installation, and the knobs and pulls for the drawers and doors. Ed is gearing up to do that last bit all by himself!

Bells at the Eldersburg Library

The Freedeom Area Ringers played at the Eldersburg library Thursday night. I was a little nervous after having missed the rehearsal last week, but fortunately, I did not screw up!

Ed even got a picture of me with a half smile on my face! That's a giant leap forward from last year where I looked like I was in pain the entire performance. Maybe I'm getting better!

Fitness Activity

At Activity Day Wednesday night we played volleyball. There was a little learning curve for the girls, but we played multi-hit (you can hit it as many times as you want before it goes over), which helped a little. The hardest thing for the girls to remember was that they had to hit it at least twice before it could go back to the other side.

It was a very popular activity, and we had a hard time keeping the boys out of the gym!

Afterwards, in order to negate any health benefits we might have derived from the activity, we all enjoyed a delicious piece of chocolate cake!