Old AncestryDNA Results
September 2020 Updated Results
Old Family Tree DNA results
September 2020 Updated Results
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Happy St. Patrick's Day, Y'all!
Today is St. Patrick's Day...but most people aren't thinking about that fact. Not that I'm blaming them...but I'm choosing to remember and celebrate anything other than the chaos that's happening right now.
Green is my favorite color, but strangely enough, I only have a few green shirts. The one I chose to wear today is from my teenage years. Thankfully, it was much too big for me then, which is the only reason I can fit into it twenty years later. The shirt reads "McFerran's Irish Dancers" and features Irish dance shoes in the middle of a celtic knot design. I bought this shirt when I was one of Sheila McFerran's Irish dance students back in 1999/2000. Sheila was from Dublin, Ireland and had somehow landed in Madison, Alabama. I took Irish step dance lessons from several individuals during those years, but all of them were Sheila's students or herself.
Somehow the shirt survived, even though my Irish step dancing days have long since passed. Even though I'm stuck at home, I wear it today to honor both St. Patrick and Shelia McFerran--along with my Irish heritage.
Our ancestors (no matter where they came from) endured terrible hardships throughout the ages--whether it was plague, war, famine, or religious persecution. In spite of their hardships, they survived--and we are testaments of that survival. We too shall overcome this present hardship, giving our descendants hope for their own future when troubles come.
Happy St. Patrick's Day, Y'all!
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Revisiting Childhood Favorites
My love for books started at an early age. Reading was more than a form of entertainment, it was a form of escapism from (what seemed to be) a boring life in the Alabama countryside. I barely traveled out of the county that I lived in, much less out of the state, or --God forbid-- out of the Deep South.
In my books, I traveled the world--the real world and the worlds of sci-fi and fantasy. I learned about different cultures, languages, and customs. I traveled through time and space--getting a glimpse into ancient times, the Revolutionary War, etc.
Even with all my college degrees, I feel that the reading I did on my own throughout the years taught me more than anything a class ever could.
So, in honor of my childhood and teenage years, I'm revisiting books that made an impact--books that I've never forgotten, but have sat on my bookshelf, unread, for far too long.
I'll be adding to this list as the year passes, but here are the books I plan to revisit so far:
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Sing Down the Moon by Scott O'Dell
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry
Johnny Tremain by Ester Forbes
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
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