Making Memories ~ A Nose Piercing For My Birthday

BIRTHDAYS is this week's prompt.

My mom died in 2015. 

Every year since I think about mom on my birthday.

This year we had our oldest son and our daughter-in-law visiting from Ontario. They surprised me arriving the day before my birthday. I was completely shocked when I turned around at the local Starbucks to discover the two of them standing there when I thought they were on the other side of Canada. I was so confused my son had to take his mask down and say "Happy Birthday Mom" for me to understand they were actually standing in front of me. 

On the morning of my birthday the 4 of us were sitting at the table drinking our warm beverage of choice when my daughter-in-law asked if I had ever considered getting my nose pierced. She said she wanted to get a second ring behind the one she already had, and thought it would be fun for us to go together.

HMMMMMM --
had I ever really considered getting my nose pierced?

UHHHHH -- no. 

I am petrified of needles, and have always wondered how those with nose piercings manage to blow their noses, but was afraid to ask.

BUT -- every year on my birthday I think about my mom. 

What exactly does my mom have to do with a pierced nose?

That is a fantastic question!!!

My mom stayed with us from the time of her diagnosis until her death. During that time we had many heart to heart conversations. After a discussion about how challenging I had been as a teenager she mentioned that she always thought I would get a tattoo or a nose piercing after I left home. She mentioned how cute she thought I would look with my nose pierced. At the time I laughed, and said I had no plan to get my nose pierced at almost 50 years of age. 

Over the past 6+ years I have thought about this discussion a lot, and wondered if maybe it wouldn't be so hard to blow your nose with a piece of jewelry inside of it. 

Back to the warm beverage discussion at the table on the morning of my birthday.

I tell them about my mom's thoughts about my having a nose piercing. 

The next thing I know we have appointments for nose piercings at a top reviewed reputable shop downtown for that afternoon. 

When we walked in she asked who was going first. 

I said me. 

In my head I was thinking there is no way I can see what actually is going to happen & then get it done myself. 

I must go first! 

I am known for researching everything very carefully, but this time I went in blind. 

Our piercer was very good. 

It barely hurt -
well it hurt more than I had hoped, but less that I had expected.

My daughter-in-law held my hand & told me how brave I was. 

In the weeks since I have discovered that blowing my nose is no different than before. 

It no longer hurts even when I sleep on my left side.

I have already chosen my next nose stud --- it's a dragonfly!

Remembering my mommy!!!

In 2019 Mom visited me:

And brought dad along too:

I will be forever grateful for this experience my daughter-in-law and I shared on their surprise visit to see us. 

We had the best time, and have fantastic memories. 

Creating memories with those we love! 

UPDATED to add:  I got my dragonfly as an early Christmas present!

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Sources:

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

________________________________________________________________

The Jenny Smith ~ Isabella (nee Glass) Thomson's poem

Current me is super pleased with past me. 

This week's prompt STORMY WEATHER had me struggling to decide who or what to write about. 

I decided to leave it to later in the week hoping inspiration would hit.

What happened was I forgot the prompt so went to the weekly prompt list I printed at the beginning of this year's challenge.

I discovered I had a notation about who I was going to write about.

Current me is super pleased with past me for how organized I was & now am.

I had decided to post a poem written by my 2nd great grandmother

Isabella Glass
BIRTH ABT. 1848/1849 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland
DEATH 29 JUL 1943 • Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh, Scotland
my 2nd great grandfather
Thomas Thomson
BIRTH ABT. 1849 • Buckhaven, East Wemyss, Fife, Scotland
DEATH 22 FEB 1919 • Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland

Isabella's birth year is not fully confirmed. 

Using the 1861 census her age was recorded as 12 making her birth year 1849. Her parents were married November 8th 1947 so that date makes sense. All of the following census records support 1849 as her birth year.

Her granddaughter (my grandmother) believed her to have died at age 98, but that would make her birth year 1845, and none of the records support that. I only mention this because grandma recorded on the poem page her belief that Isabella died at age 98. Find A Grave notes her as 94 or 95 when she died. The Find A Grave was created by my dad's 2nd cousin who I know researched with the assistance of a professional genealogist. His facts can be trusted. 

X2 great grandmother's poem about the stormy weather on THE JENNY SMITH fits this week's prompt. 

Isabella grew up a fisherman's daughter, and married a fisherman. 

She lived on the east coast of Scotland, North Berwick. As fisherfolk they traveled as evidenced by the 1891 census showing them in England. 

X2 great grandma, Isabella, knew all about the hazards of weather!

The poems were transcribed by my grandmother for her son, my dad.  The second poem, ROBIN REDBREAST, is also connected to weather.

The final line about tea made perfect sense. Grandma never left her Scottish roots behind. 

The love of tea was passed to me.  

I also shared it with my children.

about 1998

Grandma was very connected to her grandparents, Isabella & Thomas. She was born in their house on Clifford Road in North Berwick. 

Someday I want to walk in front of my X2 great grandparents house, but for now a virtual walk with Google Street View will do! 

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Sources:

8 Clifford Road, North Berwick, UK. Retrieved November 11th 2021 from 
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/8+Clifford+Rd,+North+Berwick+EH39+4PW,+UK/@56.0576394,-2.7271301,15.75z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x488707623eb664fd:0x2b65709873599406!8m2!3d56.0552935!4d-2.7211801?hl=en&authuser=0

Memorial 128537868, Isabella Glass Thomson, Find a Grave. Retrieved November 11th 2021 from 
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128537868/isabella-thomson

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

________________________________________________________________

Cousin Barack Obama ~ Spoiler Alert, Not Exactly

 As a Canadian this week's prompt, VOTING, made zero sense. 

Knowing the prompt was chosen last year in seems that voting in November in an expected thing. 

3 years ago I was also confused about the November voting. 

In seeking answers I decided to research in the typical way my age cohort does:

My question from 3 years ago

My brother & his family kindly answered, and it mostly became clear. The Canadian & American voting systems really are different.

Knowing the Americans were voting, but Canadians were not I was left to ponder what exactly to write about. 

I decided I would choose my own prompt this week. 

In the days I pondered what/who I should write about my cohort's research arena came through again.

My husband's 6th cousin via his paternal line posted that he was 23 degrees from Barack Obama via their shared ancestry's line. 

Really -- my husband & children are connected to Barack Obama.

How cools is that ponders me, but is it true?

As is usual with any good genealogy find there is some truth.

Barack Obama is in our forest, but not directly in our tree. 

He is the 1st cousin 8x removed of the wife of my husband's 7th great-granduncle via his mother's paternal line.

Is that close enough to call ourselves family?  Obviously!

Or maybe not

BUT wait - that connection is via his maternal line. His mother's father's line. The 6th cousin posted the connection via his father's paternal line. 

Back to researching, and adding folks. As usual, I had to be cautious in not doubling up since the spouse I needed to connect the two lines was already in our tree. 

After carefully connecting and back-checking the connection is clearly through my husband's mother's maternal line and his father's paternal line. 

Does it make the connection closer when it is through both parental lines?

I think it does!!!

Since Ancestry only provides one line of connection the exact cousin connection would take a lot more time than I am willing to provide this week to identify for his father's paternal line. 

Is our Bramble Bush connected to 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama?  Yes! 

Is he related to my husband and children? No! 

Do they have shared relatives they are related to? Yes. 

Is there shared blood?  No!  

That could change in the future, but for now....

Wikitree says that Barack Obama & my husband are 25 degrees of separation apart.

My husband and Barack Obama  live side by side in this Bramble Bush.

When you find folks you admire connected to your tree! 

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Source:

25 degrees of separation to Barack Obama, Wikitree. Retrieved November 6th 2021 from https://www.wikitree.com/

  

Photo:

Bramble, Google Images, Open Source. Retrieved November 6th 2021.

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

________________________________________________________________

Shock & Halloween ~ Electa Graves

Shock is the prompt for this week. 

It's also Halloween tomorrow.

Who better to present then my two 4th cousins X2 removed named ELECTA GRAVES. 

The name would only have been better if there was an R - I had been searching for an ELECTRA in our tree - ELECTA is close enough.

The last name GRAVES meant they were the perfect ancestor to feature this week.

May I introduce you to my 4th cousin X7 removed

Electa Graves
BIRTH 19 NOV 1762 • Belchertown, Hampshire, Massachusetts, USA
DEATH 27 JUN 1766 • Belchertown, Hampshire, Massachusetts, USA

The next child born after Electa died was a girl born in 1768, and they named her Electa as was common practice at the time. 

My 4th cousin X7 removed

Electa Graves

BIRTH 9 JAN 1768 • Belchertown, Hampshire, Massachusetts, USA

DEATH 14 AUGUST 1848 • Charlemont, Deerfield Valley, Massachusetts, USA

The 2nd Electa married my other 4th cousin X7 removed who also happened to be her 2nd cousin

Aaron Lyman

BIRTH 1 OCT 1760 • Belchertown, Hampshire, Massachusetts, USA

DEATH 14 AUG 1845 • Charlemont, Franklin, Massachusetts, USA

Their great grandparents were:
Benjamin Lyman

BIRTH 10 AUG 1674 • Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts, USA

DEATH 14 OCT 1723 • Northhampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts, USA

and

Thankful Pomeroy

BIRTH 31 MAY 1679 • Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts, USA

DEATH 18 SEP 1773 • Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts, USA

It is at this point that I can no longer tell you exactly how I am related to either of them because I am also related to Thankful in addition to Benjamin Lyman. 

I am also fairly confident I am related to Electa via her father's Strong line. Her connection to husband Aaron is via her mother's line. 

As I was digging I also found the name PARSONS who I wrote about for 2019's Halloween post that you can find here:
Witches, Witches, Everywhere ~ My relatives: Mary Bliss Parsons & Sarah Lyman Bridgman

Each generation has names that are repeated over and over again in our tree making it difficult to ensure new folks are actually new.

When your family tree wraps back and forth as only a Bramble Bush can! 

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Photo:

Halloween Pumpkin Jack-O'-Lantern, Retrieved October 30th 2021 from
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/halloween-pumpkin-jack-o--lantern-2837936/

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

________________________________________________________________

Olympic Champions ~ We Are Not

Sports - I could go looking through my tree to find a famous athlete related to our Bramble Bush, but instead I am going to tell you a tale about the competition between my husband and I over the past 29+ years. 

Early on in our relationship we were not competitive at all.  

I'm not sure when that changed, but it really did.

At one point I pondered if it was unhealthy the competition that began as soon as any type of sport was involved. 

Then I realized it wasn't real competition. 

It was just FUN & GAMES!

We weren't really competing. 

We were just having a little good natured fun.

This became obvious the day I realized we were competing while bowling.

Neither of us broke 100, but you would have thought we were Olympic champions the way we were behaving.

Our children are better bowlers that we are. 

In fact both of them are very skilled at any sport they try. 

When your children seem to have not taken after you at all! 

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

________________________________________________________________

Updated DNA Results ~ Valhalla Awaits

I am a fan of change. I know there are folks who don't like change. They prefer to have things stay the same. I am not one of those people. I feel that change is good. It's healthy to change things up every now & then. 

It wasn't too long after we moved in together that my husband discovered I like to change furniture around - a lot! Over the almost 30 years we have been together he has been a willing participant. 

Recently we attempted to change things in our living room and dining room only to discover that the current configuration is all that works with the current furniture. We only discovered this by attempting to shuffle everything before moving it all back to exactly where it started. 

If we are going to change things up we will have to purchase all new furniture. We aren't quite ready to do that so for now things stay the same. 

Recently I got an email from Ancestry DNA letting me that my DNA story had been updated. 

When I opened Ancestry DNA I discovered my husband's had as well. 

The changes weren't dramatic, BUT as you can see we now have more Viking in our DNA results - VALHALLA AWAITS!!!

My first results (or maybe they were also an updated result:

The lack of Irish in my first DNA results had me wondering about what became the Lake/Cannon mystery (My great grandmother Nellie May Cannon's paternity). 

My results before the newest update:

The 4% Irish that appeared in the update above (and remains below) wouldn't have resulted in my questioning what eventually became what looks like a NPE (non parental event).

My updated results:

My husband's results before the update: 

Even less changes in my husband's, but as you can see his previous minimal Viking (2%) has now increased to 6%

In looking at the changes in the DNA results I wondered why the results changed when the DNA didn't change. The explanation from Ancestry 

"AncestryDNA® ethnicity estimates now provide even greater precision.

DNA science is always improving, and we're proud to announce our latest ethnicity estimate update. We've added new regions in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas in our most precise ethnicity estimates yet." 1

That makes sense.

Taking delight in the discoveries! 

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Footnotes:

1 Ancestry DNA results. Retrieved October 15th 2021 from 
https://www.ancestry.ca/dna/lp/ancestry-dna-ethnicity-estimate-update

DNA results:

Ancestry DNA. Retrieved October 15th 2021 from Ancestry person account

Photos:

Viking Ship. Retrieved October 15th 2021 from 
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/viking-ship-drakkar-sailing-6366228/

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

________________________________________________________________

Preserving the Memory ~ A Special Place to Remember

It's already Week 40 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (2021) Challenge. 

To be honest I can't believe that 2021 is almost over.

In January the Coronavirus Pandemic will have been occurring for 2 years. By March we will have been in some sort of isolation measures for 2 years. In some ways time is dragging, and then I realize that time is zinging by with little things to mark the passage of time.

A few month ago I noticed the toothpaste tube needed to be replaced. I was only partially kidding when I asked my husband if he was eating it. I was pretty sure I had just replaced it a few weeks earlier. When the next change had me feeling the same way I realized that the only proof that time is passing is the empty toothpaste tube. 

Many years ago my dad told me "once the toothpaste is out of the tube you can't put it back in". He's right!

Time continues to march on, and yet there is nothing happening to mark it. 

What does this have to do with PRESERVATION?

In July my aunt died. I wrote about her in
A Trip Home ~ A Death in the Family

The pandemic resulted in not being able to connect before, during, and after her death.

No celebrations of life. 

No friends & family togetherness. 

How exactly do you have a place to come together, mourn, and remember in the midst of a pandemic. 

How do you preserve her memory forever?

Her family found a perfect place for this beautiful memorial bench & plaque (both made by a family member). 

Gone, but not forgotten.

Memorial Bench at Auntie Bobbi's favourite hiking spot
(those are her windchimes)

A daughter’s love
Auntie Bobbi's shoes, socks, hoodie, jacket, and pack made the climb!

Mother/Daughter time
YES ... those are her mom's shoes - really!!!

Shared with me: That was not an easy hike. I can't believe mom did that almost everyday. 

Auntie Bobbi was very active & fit. 

Little ones remember Auntie Bobbi
What a view from her memorial bench

A bike ride & a visit with Auntie Bobbi

Daughter & friends raise a glass

Creating this memorial in this beautiful location is perfect.

This was one of Auntie Bobbi's favourite hiking spots. 

There are so many photos of her in this area. 

So many photos of her sitting on benches that are near her newly built memorial bench. 

Enjoying a bevie on a nearby bench - Auntie Bobbi & her bestie

All season bench near her memorial bench
Auntie Bobbi & her bestie

She will never be forgotten.

Auntie Bobbi's bench will give hikers a spot to rest. 

Many will take a moment to remember. 

Others will wonder who she was. 

All will enjoy the comfort & beauty. 

I can hear her now - sit your ass down!

Gone, but never forgotten.

Auntie Bobbi near her memorial bench

Auntie Bobbi near her memorial bench

Auntie Bobbi & her bestie near her memorial bench

Auntie Bobbi would love that before you can sit & remember you must hike. 

Auntie Bobbi loved hiking.

Preserving the memory of those we love! 

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Photos:

Belong to family & friends

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

________________________________________________________________