Ellis Island Grandparents

These are my grandparents, Thomas Broadfoot and Annie Aiken who came here from Scotland. As I have been working with the Ellis Island database lately, these people that I never knew are on my mind.

With all the talk about immigration these days, it is good for all of us to remember that most Americans have an immigrant past.

As these are my paternal grandparents, to find out about them, I must work with the records in Scotland. As a teenager, I interviewed my father and his brother and sisters and started to work out a hand drawn genealogy chart. I am glad I asked about the generations before these people with maiden names and dates.



Take the time to talk to your family about what they know about the past. Don't put it off any longer. It's a great Mother's and Father's Day family project.

Kindred Spirit: Tony Vincent

Recently, I bought a used handheld running the Windows Mobile OS, a Dell Axim x30 from a friend. (I bet you can guess which friend!) I am a long time user of handhelds running the Palm OS and I thought it was time to branch out to learn about this one.

I always turn to my friend, Tony Vincent, as I listen to his podcast, called Soft Reset on my shuffle and read his blog too. He knows a lot about handhelds in the classroom.

Since I was thinking of kindred spirits, I think I'll have an Anne of Green Gables summer reading project on my handheld. Montgomery's books are freely available in eReader format at ManyBooks.

Of course, I must make a Web page and use the photographs from my friend Kathy Wasik's trip to Prince Edward Island a couple of summers ago. (She took this one of Montgomery's house.)

Books 2 Help U Blog

I can recommend two books to help you get the most out of blogging.

Elizabeth Castro's VisualQuickProject Publishing a Blog with Blogger (Peachpit Press $12.99)

Julie C. Meloni's Blogging in a Snap (SAMS Teach Yourself Series $24.99)

Both were available from my library system so they are certainly affordable!

Going Beyond the Horizon

Some time ago, I dreamt that my parents were singing an old song to me from the 1930s-1940s called, Beyond the Blue Horizon, and when I woke up I felt that somehow this was a personal message. Investigating the song and its lyrics, I decided I should write it in my writing journal and there it has stayed until today.

Blogging is a new adventure for me and so I invite you to look beyond your own horizon and see the joy that is waiting for you...