A picture is worth a thousand words...

I really am fascinated with old photographs.  I love to research as much as I can about the the person in the picture.  I often wondered why so many did not smile?  I have learned that in the early days dentistry was not a thriving profession by their teens or early 20's  many had such bad or missing teeth they did not want to show them. Also any kind of movement during exposure could blur the image.  Mystery solved!

George Washington's Teeth

Washington suffered from problems with his teeth throughout his life. He lost his first adult tooth when he was twenty-two and had only one left by the time he became President. John Adams claims he lost them because he used them to crack Brazil nuts but modern historians suggest the mercury oxide, which he was given to treat illnesses such as smallpox and malaria, probably contributed to the loss. He had several sets of false teeth made, four of them by a dentist named John Greenwood.  Contrary to popular belief, none of the sets were made from wood. The set made when he became President was carved from hippopotamus and elephant ivory, held together with gold springs. Dental problems left Washington in constant pain, for which he took laudanum

Ancestors from my Family Tree

Teeth or Not... ?

Melinda Chapman

Mary Craig

Rebecca Minerva Wood

Fergus and Hannah Hewitt

A perfect Smile

Around the Globe and Back...

via the Internet

Starting in a  very warm and beautiful Salt Lake City on to...

Queensland Australia ...

Scarborough, Canada

Normandy, France

Auckland, New Zealand

Strathaven, Lanarkshire, Scotland

And these are only a few places I have followed my ancestors to this week. Too bad it can only be from my desk chair.   No time this week to do any spotlight Posts but I have lots of ideas to work with. 

Who shall I choose?

KEEP CALM and CARRY ON...

I love this British Expression.

It has been a busy but fun week for me.  Starting out with Monday morning when I arrived at school to start out the new year at 8am sharp, only problem was I was a week early!  I know this sounds like I am really losing it but, you must understand I lose track of the days and date when being on an extended time off.  Plus every other School District in the State of Utah did start on Monday.

  Every time you listened to the news we got a reminder to watch for school crossings and children out there.  Not one time did I hear that my school district did not start until the 29th of August. I did know that!

It wasn't all bad though, I did stay and get some necessary paperwork done and provided the office staff with a good laugh at my expense!

Other news on the Family History Front - some very welcome contacts from distant cousins and  friends of cousins with new information from them and some I could share.  Will be Blogging more on that later.

My favorite Pic of the week was from a contact passing on a sketch of her home in Norfolk.

This home was built in the 1600's and has the initials ER on the end, meaning "Elizabeth Regina" My friend Ingrid lives in the far left by the green gate.

 Ingrid used to live across the street from my cousin Eric Longrigg (son of my Grand Father's brother) and his wife, and after his death and because he had no children she found a lot of his photo's and papers in her possession which she has been sending to me. She saw my Family Tree on ancestry.com.  This week I was contacted by another friend of this same family and I was able to pass some of the same on to her. The ancestry.com website is an amazing resource, I usually find something or someone new every  day.

Just getting by...

I have spent the past week purging old files and folders from my thirty some years of family research notes.  Scanning on to my family tree program all photo copies and photographs and certificates and Wills that date back a couple of hundred years.

My desk doesn't look quite this bad but it is pretty close.

Lets hope it is worth it in the end. At least it will be less for my kids to throw away after I am dead and gone.  I know they will appreciate it.

For now I will keep on scanning.

And...

 Purging.

Funny and True...

Fun Genealogy Video

I found this in my email today and enjoyed it and wanted to pass it on.

Really Bad Hair Day...

It is very windy in Utah today.  A Major Spring Storm  is about to arrive.  Unfortunately that is not the only reason for my "bad hair".  Since last Wednesday I have had a case of Bursitis in my right shoulder (it is improving) it makes it impossible to raise your arm above your head to fix your own hair.

I found these weird hairstyles at http://thewondrous.com

Think maybe I would prefer any one of these to the way mine has looked. 

The Witch has got to go

I just have to type something just so I can get that Witch to move on down. I am at school looking out of the window at our first snowfall of the year. Tired because of watching the Election Returns last night. What a very exiting and Historic Evening, I loved the speeches from both McCain and Obama. I wish Obama well, we are all hoping for great things to happen soon.
Anyone reading this I would invite to click on my sister Jan's Blog to see some really beautiful Art. I wish my Blog was as classy as hers.

Time to add more Random Thoughts

It has been a few days. This morning I was up early and had to take my car for Body Work because someone turned right in to Paul when he was driving it a week ago and ripped the front Bumper clean off it.. First stop though was to the Rental Car Place where they loaned me a little Toyota Corolla that took off like a rocket and braked on a dime. A little scary until I got used to it. Hope my car is fixed real soon. My sister Jan was after me to label all my Posts so I did that yesterday and I can see the reason behind doing that. Not sure if I like all the labels I chose but they can be changed. Fall Recess coming up at the end of the week and the weather is supposed to be wonderful.
We had snow last weekend but now we are back to Fall again. You know you are in Utah if you know all 4 seasons as Almost Winter,Winter,Still Winter and Road Construction. Also if you design your kids Halloween costumes to fit over a snowsuit.

I Must Be Rich

But I know I am not. We came back to school on the 25th of August and I was supposed to turn in a time sheet projected two weeks in to September so I could have a Pay Check in September. I totally forgot. So no Pay for me. Today is the end of September and I luckily remembered I needed to turn it in again today. I noticed I got a 59 cents an hour Pay Raise. Happy Day!! What on earth I am going to do with all that Money at the end of October.