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2021 Books On My Reading List...So Far

 I don't mind admitting it. I read maybe two or three books last year. This was probably because I was busy knitting 5 sweaters and weaving 40+ scarves and other items on my loom to sell since I decided to go full time as a textile artisan. Whatever my excuse, I'm declaring that I'll be reading at least 52 books in 2021. 

Life is about balance...and last year felt out of balance (for many obvious reasons)...and reading books helps balance me out, so I will not neglect that part of my life this year. With that being said, however, I will be careful in my choosing of books to read. I'm doing my best to balance commercial fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and literary fiction. I know that I will probably be reading more commercial fiction than anything else, if only because it's easier to digest, so please don't hold that against me--those of you who are literary scholars. 

So far, I've finished two books:

Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (LF: literary fiction)

Fallen Man by Tony Hillerman (CF: commercial fiction)

I'm currently reading:

Listening Woman by Tony Hillerman (CF)

Pale Death by David & Aimee Thurlo (CF)

I've bought a stack of Craig Johnson's Longmire Series books to read, along with a stack of Tony Hillerman novels. I'm also pulling books from my book shelves that I've acquired over the last ten years but haven't read yet. I'm also working a few hours a week at a local used book store, so I'll probably pick up more books to read as I go along. 

More to come.

Updated AncestryDNA and Family Tree DNA results

 Old AncestryDNA Results

September 2020 Updated Results

Old Family Tree DNA results

September 2020 Updated Results

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! 

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

My True Ancestry Ancient DNA Results!

Over the spring of this year, I discovered the site, My True Ancestry, that compares ancient DNA samples (from archaeological digs around the world) to your own DNA sample. This company gives you a small bit of information for free, but then you are asked to purchase upgrades to get more detailed information.

(You must already have your raw DNA data file downloaded from a previous testing company, i.e. Ancestry DNA, My Heritage DNA, 23 & Me, etc.)

Here are a few samples from my results (Knight, Level 2 membership).

Click on image to enlarge

Click on image to enlarge

Ancestry, Lab Tests, and Family Trees: My DNA journey

In the 5th grade, I was assigned a "family tree" project. The task was simple: start with your parent's information (name, date of birth, place of birth) and go back two more generations. I made an A+ on the assignment...and decided to keep going. I wanted to know more about my family's history. I badgered my parents and father's parents for information: names, dates, places, occupations, etc. After these sources were exhausted, my father took me to the Huntsville Public Library to continue my research in the Family History room where they stored thousands of books and census records of every state and county in the U.S. (It was the early 1990s--long before Ancestry.com was around). I spent countless Sunday afternoons there in between church services, sifting through records and books, hoping to discover the answers to all my questions about my ancestors. I learned how to take meticulous notes and created my own personal records--many of which I still have 27 years later.

A few years later, when the internet became accessible to most households, the search became easier. Printed records were scanned and entered into online databases and I searched every one available, bought family tree software programs, and continued to piece together information about my ancestors.

When Ancestry started up, I jumped on that train--finding more information than ever before. WW1 draft cards, land records, and immigration records dating back to the 17th century became accessible with the click of my mouse.


Then, there was DNA.

In 2011, National Geographic started the Genographic Project and I submitted a sample that would tell me what haplogroup I belonged to (on my mother's side--since I am female and did not inherit my father's y-chromosome).

I discovered that I belong to the U5 haplogroup--telling me a little about my direct maternal deep ancestry, but nothing specific.

Other DNA ancestry tests started popping up, so I finally decided to try another one (My Heritage DNA) in the fall of 2018. This one checked autosomal DNA on both my father's and mother's side and would give me more information about the last 5-6 generations of my family tree. As soon as I got my results, I persuaded my parents to do the test too. The results surprised me--at least in the smaller percentages of my ancestry makeup.

Results from My Heritage:

After reading about the variabilities between tests (algorithms and all that), I uploaded my raw data DNA to several other sites to see how different the results would be. 

The first one I used was Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) after paying $19 for an ethnicity estimate based on their 24 reference populations from around the world (a small number compared to other sites). 

Here are my results:

These results seem very different from the My Heritage results, but when you consider that FTDNA has half of the reference populations that My Heritage does, it starts to make more sense.

X Code Life was the next site I uploaded my raw data to, after paying a $40 fee for a ten-page report on my ethnicity breakdown. Not only does this company give you an ethnicity estimate on a broad level, it also breaks down any ethnicity over 5% into sub-ethnicities (like African tribes, European countries, etc.). 

Here were my results from X Code Life (the Global results should be viewed first):

Next came DNA Land--a site that lets you upload your raw data for FREE. (Of course, the results are much less detailed than some of the others). I've included my results alongside my parents' results to compare. 

(Because of bright colors, click on photo to see hard-to-read sections.)

GedMatch was the final site I uploaded our raw data into (also FREE). Since there are so many options on this site, I've only included the Eurogenes K13 results for mine and my parent's ethnicity breakdown. 

The final test I decided to use was Ancestry's DNA test. They do not allow any uploads of raw data from previous tests, so I had to send them a fresh (spit) sample. My sample has been received by them at their Utah lab, but results won't be ready for 6-8 weeks, so I'll update this blog as soon as those are ready. I'm curious to see how they are similar/different to the others since they have more reference populations that the other tests I've done. They are reported to be "the best," but I've also heard that about My Heritage and 23 and Me (whose test I haven't done yet). 

Until then! 

UPDATE:

Ancestry DNA results arrived tonight...

While these results seem very different from my other results at first glance, when I click on the regions, there is a lot of overlap that makes the estimates make more sense. For instance, the highest percentage (England, Wales, and NW Europe) includes Scotland and the edge of Ireland--even though my "Ireland and Scotland" percentage is only shown as 25% on this test--as opposed to the 54.7% on the MyHeritage test (which also included Wales). 

The biggest difference I'm seeing is the absence of Western Asian (from the MyHeritage test and a couple of the others)--making me wonder if the reference populations for these regions (through Ancestry's test) were fewer than those from the other tests (MyHeritage, XCode Life, DNA Land, GedMatch).

This is a good example of how these DNA tests vary when it comes to ethnicity estimates. 

UPDATE April 2, 2020: It took ages to get results from Living DNA after uploading my raw DNA data, but they're finally in! 

Also got an ancient admixture test from Genomelink. Results took about 30 minutes after uploading raw data DNA file.