The 7th in a Series on my Family Tree … Volume II Prompt: Outcast ~*~ What happens when people withdraw from the family? Could they be considered outcasts by choice? My maternal grandmother, Alice (Gordon) McDonall (1916-1994), comes up quite often in these family tree posts, as well she might. Granny Alice was an extraordinary … More The Need for Self-Preservation
The 5th in a Series … Volume II Prompt: Oops! ~*~ The climb up the family tree is just one misplaced footfall away from an inconvenient “Oops!” An incorrect date can throw off an entire lineage. A misspelled name or wrong location can yield a labyrinth of erroneous information or plummet us into an endless … More The Perils of Careless Recordkeeping
The 4th in a Series on my Family Tree Prompt: Education ~*~ Education can take a variety of forms. Not everyone is designed to learn in the same way. Put a dreamer in a classroom with a more linear thinker and try to teach each according to the learning style of the other and frustration, … More University of Life; School of Hard Knocks
The 3rd in a Series ~ Volume II Prompt: Out of Place ~*~ The challenge with focusing on one side of the family tree is that the same names keep coming up. This is due in part to the many broken branches we’re continuously working to repair. The Scottish/northern England ancestors are proving most elusive, … More Laundry Day on the GNRP
The 1st in a Series ~ Volume II Prompt: I’d Like to Meet ~*~ My first thought while considering who from my thousands of ancestors I’d like to meet was “I have to pick just one?” A seemingly impossible task for I want to meet them all. Still, for the purposes of this exercise I … More We’ll Meet Again
The 44th in a series on my family tree Prompt: Ghost Story ~*~ Some family stories are just too strange to be believed. This particular tale first came to light earlier this year during an email exchange with my cousin Kelly who is working on the McDonall family tree with me. In the sharing of … More Shedding Light on the Family Tree: The Ghost and Mrs. Cox
The 44th in a series on my family tree Prompt: Shadow ~*~ Every family has its shadow characters. People whose misery casts a pall wherever it lands and upon whomever it entangles. In previous posts reference has already been made to family members who created emotional havoc for their immediate circle and, indeed, for ensuing … More Shedding Light on the Family Tree: The Shadow of War
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 33rd in a series on my family tree Prompt: Service ~*~ Unforeseen circumstances threw me into full-time service in our horse barn this week, and so this will be short and, perhaps, a little philosophical. The heart of service is a willingness and desire to help others. Interestingly enough, this desire begins in the … More Shedding Light on the Family Tree: The Heart of Service
The 19th in a series of posts about my family treeInspired by Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Prompt: Food and Drink For some time I’ve been eyeing a handwritten recipe for my Scottish great grandmother, Jane (Robson) Gordon’s shortbread. It’s one I inherited after my granny Alice, her daughter, died in 1994. … More Shedding Light on the Family Tree: A Short One on Shortbread
Shedding Light on the Family Tree 