Photos and comments from Arizona and around the world
Genealogy's Star In honor of Memorial Day on May 27, and in remembrance of all who died while serving our country, findmypast.com will offer its collection of US and International military records for free in the days leading up to national observance. With...
Genealogy's Star My last post started me thinking. To increase my awareness of the topic, I am also reading a very interesting book about the history of genealogy, as such, that reinforces my thoughts. (See Weil, François. Family Trees: A History of Genealogy...
Genealogy's Star Genealogists as a whole are fairly myopic about their online usage. Not just because of the age of our eyes, but because we focus on a small set of comfortably familiar resources and largely ignore many other valuable online research...
Walking Arizona These agave stalks were seen all over the desert valleys all blooming at about the same time. Once these plants bloom, the main plant dies. So there are likely a lot of landscape gardeners out there looking for replacement plants. In...
Genealogy's Star Although it has been some time since I last put online some of my mystery photos, the digitized collection continues to grow. So far, I have digitized and developed over 5000 items. In case you haven't read some of the previous blog posts...
Genealogy's Star This video demonstrates how to add a source, other than one from FamilySearch.org, to the FamilySearch.org Family Tree program. Sources are added to individuals and there is a way to partially automate the process by using a program...
Walking Arizona Rather than being out in some wilderness area, the Red Rocks of Sedona are right in the town. It is sometimes hard to get photos without power lines and roads in the picture. Contrary to my usual landscape photos, I included a few houses...
Walking Arizona The green core in the center of the flowers is the stigma, the yellow filaments are the anthers that carry the pollen. The red portion of the flowers are the petals used by the plant to attract pollinators. I don't do much to help pollinate...
Walking Arizona These long legged avocets are a study in patience and voracious appetite. They are constantly on the move, looking for their next meal.
Walking Arizona This is a fairly modern ruin. Although the original builders borrowed techniques from the ancient inhabitants of the land, they added a few modern touches. It is interesting to note that the modern improvements have almost disappeared...
Walking Arizona Altitude give perspective. As you climb up into the mountains or look down into the Grand Canyon, you begin to see everything, including clouds, from a different perspective. In our world of easily obtainable aircraft flights, we tend...
Genealogy's Star The tag line on a recent family history promotion entitled "Family History is for Everyone" is "Family history is much more than dates, records, and research." The idea here is apparently to involve a wider audience in the area of family...
Genealogy's Star Google+ had some significant changes in the last day or so. The changes were announced at the keynote address at the Google I/O 2013 conference. The main visual change is that the display on Google+ adapts to single, double or triple...
Genealogy's Star I have recently been taken to task because of some comments I made concerning the reliability of the traditional genealogies of noble and royal families. So, how reliable are these royal pedigrees that are incorporated into so many family...
Walking Arizona Mesquite is a desert tree that is classified as a legume, just like lentils and beans. These abundant flowers turn into long edible pods and beans. Unfortunately, all this natural food goes to waste in most urban plantings of the trees...
Genealogy's Star I had an interesting comment to a past blog, as follows: The trouble with Blogs and many on-line resources... I have found that I can go on-line and find many... too many... resources that cover nearly any topic of interest to me. However,...
Walking Arizona Without moisture in the air, this spider's home is almost invisible except for the door. Usually, these structures are used in movies to create an atmosphere of ancient abandonment or spookiness, but they are just very utilitarian ways...
Genealogy's Star Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote on various occasions, "When I talk with a genealogist, I seem to sit with a corpse." See Emerson, Ralph Waldo, and Ronald A. Bosco. Later lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1843-1854. Athens, Ga. [u.a.]: University...
Genealogy's Star Did you just find yourself a little too busy to get going on your genealogy recently? Does it look like your summer might be too filled with other activities and you will not get much done on your research? Does the traffic at the Mesa...
Genealogy's Star Long before I was very much aware of my extended family, we had a book in our home with a green cover and the words "John Tanner Family" in gold on the cover. It was written before I was born, but it did list my father and his only brother....
Genealogy's Star The FamilySearch.org makeover of the website has now been online for about two weeks. The initial furor over the links or lack of links has subsided considerably, most likely due to the almost immediate changes made to the website. So...
Walking Arizona All of us have to go through the process of birth, growth and death. This is true even of the majestic saguaro cactus, the icon of the Arizona-Sonora Desert. This is a much younger saguaro than you might usually see in photos, but it...
Genealogy's Star During the past few weeks, I have been answering a whole lot of questions about MyHeritage.com due to my involvement with the company at RootsTech 2013. In a few cases, I have worked with the people asking the questions on a one-on-one...
Walking Arizona If you look closely at old saguaro cactus, you will see that they are full of holes. These holes are made by birds creating a place to nest. Here is a woodpecker getting ready to build its nest in a convenient hole left over from the...
Walking Arizona Look closely and you can see this bird's dinner waiting to be eaten.
