Julie's post led me to check and see when I last blogged. Gasp! It was August 23rd, almost 8 months ago. Although I haven't blogged in awhile, I have been busy with genealogy type things.
First, in August I was busy prepping for a three week genealogical trip of a lifetime to New England, which I was taking in September. The preparation included:
- ordering Family Search microfilm on Vermont land records
- transcribing over fifty of these land records
- organizing my research for the trip
- writing research plans
- researching repository card catalogs
- and so much more
Next, was the trip itself where I was gone for 26 days. I could write a year of blog posts based on this trip. I visited New York, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. I combined research with vacation. Some of the genealogical highlights of this trip were:
- Visiting my fourth great grandparents, Alexander and Sarah (Salisbury) Glover, gravesite and my fifth great grandparents, William and Elizabeth (Beal) Salisbury, gravesite at Joslyn Cemetery, Phelps, Ontario, New York.
- Exploring the Hingham, Massachusetts area, including a visit to the Hingham Historical Society's Heritage Visitor Center, which was temporarily housed at Talbot's Headquarters. A blog post in itself!
- Exploring Cape Cod cemeteries-Old Cove Burying Ground in Eastham; Old Town Burial Ground in Sandwich; Old Burying Ground/First Parish Cemetery in Brewster.
- Visiting the historical sites of Salem, Massachusetts AND
- Meeting "Life from the Roots" blogger, Barbara Poole for the first time.
- Spending many hours in Plymouth, Massachusetts seeing Plimouth Plantation, Mayflower II, Pilgrim Hall Museum and all the historical sites around Plymouth.
- Researching at New England Historic Genealogical Society library for two days, including a consultation with genealogist Rhonda McClure.
- Sitting on the cellar hole steps of my fifth great grandparents, Moses and Hannah (Santclare) Poor in Salem, New Hampshire.
- Researching and exploring the areas of Pittsford and Shoreham, Vermont. I visited cemeteries, libraries and historical societies in the area.
- Touring Fort Ticonderoga to see where my fourth great grandfather, Hopkins Rowley, raided the fort as part of Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys.
- Researching at the Leahy Library of Vermont History Center in Barre, Vermont.
This above may have been enough of a reason not to blog because I came home with many records to analyze, but ten days after my vacation I had thumb surgery! I wasn't able to use it for almost three months! I am still rebuilding strength in that hand.
The holidays came and went as I was recovering from surgery. January rolls around and I found myself providing care and support to my aging parents. My parents, who still live independently, needed a little help as my dad found himself in and out of the hospital with low hemoglobin and low blood pressure. Other parental support came in the form of visiting senior living options for them and presenting them with a few options, which they are still deciding on.
These are a few of the reasons I haven't kept up on my blog. I guess I have a good excuse for neglecting my blog. One thing I don't like to do is to blog unless I know that what I am posting is quality material and for me that takes time. Time which has been short in supply the past eight months.
I can't guarantee that I am on the way to regular blog posts, but Julie's blog post got me thinking about my blog, and that is the first step to more posts.
