A Quote by Anna Pavlova

No one can arrive from being talented alone. God gives talent, work transforms talent into genius.
Anna Pavlova

Do you think that you were given any talent?  Thinking over my family tree, I see some who were given talent, but they didn't put that talent to work for them. Too often talent is taken for granted or completely ignored. If you want your talent to grow, you have to put in the work.

How hard it used to be...

We are going through a bit of a tough time at the moment,  but it occurred to me that my ancestors have probably known worse. I am a big genealogy buff and I have been studying one particular line in our family. My great grandfather left his family in Lincolnshire, crossed the ocean and settled in Ontario Canada. It's rather sad that none of his brothers joined him, but that is how it turned out. Little did he know that a hundred and fifty years later, he would have  hundreds if not thousands of descendants.

All worked out quite nicely for him and I'm sure that it will for us as well!

The past is not dead. It isn't even past.
William Faulkner, 1897-1962

“Never destroy any aspect of personality, for what you think is the wild branch maybe the heart of the tree.” Mrs. Henry George

Sister to sister we will always be, a couple of nuts off the family tree.
UNKNOWN 

He walks as if balancing the family tree on his nose."
 Raymond Moley

"Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future. We make discoveries about ourselves."
Gail Lumet Buckley


Love and work are the cornerstones of our
humanness
Sigmund Freud

Don't You Just Love Great News!

There is nothing better than hearing that a brand new generation is joining the family. It's hard to believe... at least to me, but I'm about to become a great aunt! Can't wait to see the new little one! Another little name (although I don't know what it will be to add to the family tree!

My Monday Morning Thoughts

Lincolnshire Plum Bread , with Cote Hill Blue Cheese Damson Cheese (Photo credit: Girl Interrupted Eating)

After having been on vacation for two week, searching for ancestors in Lincolnshire (and finding them) I am glad to be home. Not that I wouldn't turn around and start packing for another vacation... in say about a month or so. I had so much fun. Doing family research isn't just about collecting names and dates, it's about walking the fields where they once worked, eating at the pubs that they might have visited and of course sampling the foods that are famous in the region. For me, it was tasting authentic Lincolnshire Plum Bread. It's kind of like Christmas pudding but in slices. I didn't mean to eat more than one slice, but I did and then went on to polish off the wedge of cheese (not blue cheese) that came with it. Now I want to make it myself so that I can see what it tastes like toasted. I can almost imagine but want to give it a go. ;) Hmmm, it didn't come with preserves... that might be awfully good too.

One bad thing about ancestor hunting... you tend to eat alot and then have to come home and exercise all of those delicious calories off. Is it worth it?? You bet it is.  Zumba this afternoon!!