The 35th of a series on my family tree Prompt: Free Space ~*~ For this post a bit of license as I share an excerpt from the novel I’m writing based on the life of my Scottish grandmother, Alice Isabel Gordon. It’s a story of redemption and more than that I cannot say. This novel … More Shedding Light on the Family Tree: Playing Dead
The 34th in a series on my family tree Prompt: Timeline ~*~ “There are more questions than answersAnd the more I find out the less I know.”Johnny Nash ~*~ What a fun idea, I thought, to explore an ancestor’s life through their timeline. And so I went for a look-see up through the family tree … More Shedding Light on the Family Tree: Who’s son is he anyway?
The 32nd in a series on my family tree Prompt: At the Library In my family the books we love have a permanent home with us, so you might say we are not the best candidates for a library card. We keep meaningful books and documents for decades because you never know when you might … More Shedding Light on the Family Tree: The Library in a Railroad Bag
The 31st in a series on my family tree Prompt: Help ~*~ There was no official cry for help that day. A dark, smokey plume on the horizon was the only evidence to local farmers that something was terribly amiss. “Drop tools!” This instinctive rallying cry rippled in a seeming psychic wave through farmyards across … More Shedding Light on the Family Tree: We’ll Never Know
The 30th in a series about my family tree Prompt: Teams People who work the land know about team work. It’s the only way to get stuff done. Even now as my husband and I have stewardship over a horse farm we are more than aware of the team of people required to keep the … More Shedding Light on the Family Tree: Work Bees
The 28th in a series on my family tree Prompt: Character “When anyone asks me about the Irish character, I say look at the trees. Maimed, stark and misshapen, but ferociously tenacious.” ― Edna O’Brien, 20th Century Irish novelist ~*~ While scaling the branches of our family tree I’ve met a host of interesting characters. … More Shedding Light on the Family Tree: A Common Thread
The 27th in a series on my family tree Prompt: Extended Family We are more than the sum of our parts. To me this certainly rings true when considering the extended family. We do ourselves a disservice when we dismiss the influence of the broader clan. There’s much to be learned about time and place … More Shedding Light on the Family Tree: We are Family
The 26th in a series on my family tree Prompt: Identity Identity is so deeply nuanced that it’s not a topic I can tackle in just a few days with any satisfaction. And so, I’ve landed on writing a very short piece of fiction based on a true story. Here goes … ~*~ “One more … More Shedding Light on the Family Tree: A Case of Mistaken Identity
The 24th in a series on my family tree Prompt: Broken Branch In 1986 I inherited a 100-year-old black leather railroad bag from my maternal grandfather, Stanley Lewis McDonall. It was filled with old family documents, including letters and photographs and handwritten historical accounts, and as I reviewed them it was like discovering a part … More Shedding Light on the Family Tree: Somewhere Out There
The 22nd in a series of posts about my family treeInspired by Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Prompt: Conflict Conflict begins with the crossing of a boundary. An uninvited someone or something enters our mental, emotional, physical or spiritual space and provokes a defensive response. Basically, our solitude is invaded; our focus … More Shedding Light on the Family Tree: Love at Home
Shedding Light on the Family Tree 