August-September 2009- MYSTERIES of HISTORY - Genealogical and historical mysteries - is a member of your family in this memorabilia?

7 July 2009 - Plan to concentrate on the mysteriously missing Aunt LulaBelle in my genealogy log for the whole month of July.

26 June 2009 --- Many thoughts going through my head about how people are moved when they hear of a celebrity's passing. I feel that part of the grief is the grief we feel over the wonderment of our own mortality. Death is the great equalizer.
Another loss is the loss of talent, entertainment, that what we like somehow defines us and if what we like passes on, that definition is teetering on shaky ground. ----for awhile at least --- until we can find someone else to define with.

I had numerous reactions yesterday. and some were knee jerk. What happened to all the people who were so concerned about the turmoil in Iran? Suddenly a very real event was being pushed aside.
Then I thought fondly of Farah Fawcett -how courageous she was and I was comforted a little that she now has peace.
And then the Michael Jackson announcement. I was conflicted and still am. You could have seen it coming, as talented as he was and may his music go on forever because it was brilliant---he was the most tortured of tortured souls. He was erasing himself before our very eyes. He was Peter Pan - he never could grow up. He needed the adulation of strangers. Did he ever know what is was to truly love and be loved? I hope that sometime in his 50 years he felt the pure sweet light of real love...the love that is spiritual and not physical.

For instance, I am reading Praire Tale by Melissa Gilbert right now. You know who she is - Half-Pint from Little House on the Prairie. I came to the part where she said her goodbyes to Michael Landon and my eyes welled with tears.
What grief I felt because I emphasized with her. I know what it feels to lose a loved one.
I remember when I was in high school, I had a celebrity crush on Steve McQueen. He was a knight in shining armor. I had just seen the movie "Baby the Rain Must Fall" where he played a tortured soul in love (with Lee Remick). He couldn't reform and paid the price in the end.
I was enthralled. I said something at school and someone cruelly said to me -- hey he died. Steve McQueen died. I broke out into tears and couldn't stop crying. I felt a loss because there was no one now to rescue me.
Most have been through teen angst, you know what I mean.
Well, come to find out it was Nick Adams not Steve McQueen that had recently died.

I've lived long enough to wrap myself in beliefs that I hope will comfort me. But I am also selfish. When someone we admire leaves us, there is grief but I think there is also grief over our own deaths. Will I have left something to be remembered? Will those that I love and loved remember me fondly? Will my grandchildren have sudden recalls like I have with my Grandmother every time I see a red bird? or when I catch a smell of ripe tobacco in a can that my Grandfather used to take out in back of the barn, roll his own and sneak a smoke? Will they remember the good times and laugh a little at some of the crazy things I have done? I hope so.
So my thoughts today are for all of us - everyone of us - because we are all one - whether you know it or not - that we continue to become more concerned about those around us; more compassionate for the tortured among us; and more joyous at our triumphs; more tolerant of each others journeys, and more welcoming in our hearts.

24 June 2009 - Was real happy to hear that a missing child was found safe ---I love safe endings http://bit.ly/BEj84 Haylee Donathan found safe.

Added a blurb about State Libraries on my Genealogy Log.

22 June 2009 --Went to the batting cages Saturday. After watching the little one try to hit the ball - I had such an urge to swing the bat myself. It took a few tried to get the rhythm but I was happy to be able to connect eventually and get that ball sailing. I am seriously thinking of using the batting cages as a form of exercise. My muscles felt the workout.

Getting a lot of strange followers on Twitter. And of course I do not follow back until I read the profile and what they have been tweeting for a week. If it's all promoting their product, no follow back. If it's blathering and repeating the same thing over and over, no follow back. It's the quality and not the quantity of tweeple I am looking for so I took a rest from Twitter for a day and it did me good.
Took the time to spend with family, get caught up on some genealogy researching, some volunteering and watched a few ballgames.
That also felt good.
So much happening in the world. Watching a revolution taking place in Iran - fearing that these episodes will trigger the madmen across the world to take advantage.
Glad that President Obama is taking caution in what he says. And of course the defeated Rep party in trying to incite unrest by their words saying the President is not taking enough of a hard line. That hard line rhetoric lost us a lot of respect in the world and the Rep members of congress sound like cranky old men.
Revolution, to be successful, has to come from within the country. The past few days have been in a frenzy, people get caught up in the more unsavory aspects, where peaceful people are now setting fires. Everyone needs a good nights sleep around the world, and take some time to think of what they really want.
If they don't they will become what they are fighting against.

Jim took these pictures of Peek-a-Boo yesterday - great color- shows her beautiful back feathers.

Still working on indexing for the FamilySearch project see my thoughts and other genealogy musings at:

20 June 2009--- Just some thoughts on the Iranian election and the Twitter following.
I am concerned that people from around the world, whose hearts are into helping may be causing injury to the people in Iran who are trying to make change.
Successful revolutions have to come from within the country.
19 June 2009 -- Ayden's planted peas are podding. Can't wait til he comes over to check them out. I hope the critters don't get to them.

14 June 2009 --Jim got back from Englishtown. Four pages of that day with pictures of the racers are now on the website at drag racing .

13 June 2009 -- Went to June 12 alum baseball game at Muzzy Field in Bristol Connecticut last night. Baseball at Muzzy Field pictures The players looked really good - especially Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd. This is who came - Bill "Spaceman" Lee, Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd, Ken Ryan, Jim Corsi, Jeff Plympton, Sam Horn.
Glad Jim went with me - his camera takes much better pictures. However Jim and his camera are in Englishtown today to watch the Drag races. He should get back with some great photos which I will post.

11 June 2009 - A scare the past few days. Youngest grandson was taken by ambulance with a very high fever. He tested positive for flu but tests have not come back for what type of flu he has. There have been school shut downs in the area. They gave him children's Tami-flu and he is much better. However it does put things more in perspective.

9 June 2009 - Been interested in the Eagle cam at Eagle Cam. I think the eaglets are testing their wings.

June 2009 - Decided to split this log with my genealogy interests. So I put a banner up for those interested in genealogy, research, family history only. That will make this log quite boring I think. I am thinking about offering all the items I have on blujay - or the vast majority of items for free with shipping. I am a bit tired of scanning, posting, not getting as many sales as I hoped after 6 months of being online. Feeling a bit crowded with stuff.

1 June 2009 --Maybe I should split this blog, internet log, Twitter log into sections. Genealogy Monday, RAK Tuesday, ?
My favorite #genealogy program (I've tried them all) Family Trees Quick & Easy by Individual Software. Inexpensive - no prompting to send to an online site, plenty of room for notes and searches.
#genealogy what did one of your ancestors do that made you smile when you heard about it? My gr-grandmother Charity got shunned for dancing on Sunday.
#genealogy stuck only source says she got his parents name during a seance Moses Bartlett b1781 Newton NH m Lydia Cone 1803 Newbury Mass
@geneabloggers Madness Monday?- how about a woman who sent me info - when I asked her source she said she got it during a seance.

MYSTERY Help me find what happened to my Great Aunt LulaBelle Mickle Florence Regan. http://tinyurl.com/dhfe3h Went missing around 1920 #genealogy
LulaBelle mystery - Reportedly her 2nd marriage was to Kenneth Mills Regan who later became Texas congressman. Last census has both in MO. #genealogy

31 May 2009 --- Found some related family on Twitter. It's nice to be able to share my research with others and possibly get another branch filled in.
Some of the genealogy- family history people I follow are --@FamilyStories, @footnoteMaven, @geneabloggers, @genealogynews, @Genealogy_Tree, @genseek, @MarkTucker, @yourgenealogy

Culled out some people I was following...got to be verbal diarrhea with some - same thing repeated endlessly or only retweets and nothing new. I am also not too keen on inappropriate language. I am not a prude but if language is peppered with words I wouldn't read out loud to my grandchild - I don't want to see it either.

30 May 2009 -- Let 5-year old Ayden use my digital camera. A child's perspective - what he sees, what he chooses to take pictures of - very interesting.

What's the chance of this happening? Taking a picture of a turtle and see to the left - a gold fish jumped up!
Taken today - Bristol CT Boulevard pond.

25 May 2009 - Parade - Memorial Day - Bristol CT

25 May 2009 - Memorial Day -- I still miss my Grandmother Veneita. She was and still is such a stable and wonderful presence in my life. All of us grand children and later great grand children that knew her felt her unflapple acceptance, no matter if we were angels or trouble makers.
I get my love of feeding and watching birds from her. By the way she was a White Sox fan amongst a bunch of Cubbies.
I am thankful I still have in my life my Aunt, her daughter, Joyce, who sounds like her and is a great listener.
I miss my little cousin Becky who was taken from us way too soon. She loved Grandma so much, too, and is now with her.
My Mother in law Rejeanne - although demetia and Parkinson's took her away from us way before her physical body left, every time there is a situation - I can hear her response in my head and a lot of times it makes me smile.

24 May 2009- watched the Atlantis landing. Followed them from Twitter throughout the mission. I am really glad that communications from space were available to us. Followed @NASA, @Astro_Mike, @Astronautics. Although I do not think they will continue to make reports - after all the mission was completed---it would be nice to have some reflection and follow up from the crew.

23 May 2009 -played around with making a custom background for twitter page. A little hard lining up pictures and such. First were too busy. Finally satisfied for now what I have.

18 May 2009 - Kevin Spacey actually replied to something I said. Cool. Of course was disturbed to learn that none of the Kevin Spacey or many of the other celebrities are for real on MySpace and Facebook. I can understand fan sites but not people going in acting like they are the celeb. That's just wrong. By the way - Kevin Spacey does NOT have a site on myspace. Those are all fake. I feel sorry for those people who went in - wished him Happy Birthday, etc.

17 May 2009 Found some people with parrots.

3 May 2009 - Heard Jerry Remy (Rem Dog) is ill and won't be back to announce the Red Sox games for awhile yet. He was a great player and is a funny announcer. Get well Jerry - Sox are having a hard time winning without you.

1 May 2009 - Thought I would highlight items from other blujay sellers. Random act of kindness.

30 April 2009- I'll try not to over-Twitter. Some of the people I was following just sort of took over the messages and I had to ignore. So my first lesson is to not follow everyone following me, to only follow those people who contribute to my interests and I might be able to contribute in return. Why waste anyone's time?

28 April 2009 - Found NHRA and John Force Racing tweets and decided to follow them. I also am ready to help hubby sign up for Twitter. He would be interested in all the drag racing info. This might console him a bit when Drag racing is over for the year.

27 April 2009 -- It's kind of nice throwing thoughts, favorite quotes, links - out on Twitter and seeing what resonates with other people.

26 April 2009- Found some Yogi Berra quotes - think I will share a few on Twitter.

25 April 2009 - Am thinking about sharing some of my genealogy and history finds. I am a collector of old newspapers and love to take vitals and other information online - especially vitals from 1880s to 2000 because the 1890 census was destroyed.

24 April 2009- found some interesting celebrities to follow. @NeilDiamond - I've always been a big fan of his music.
@KevinSpacey - so very interesting - nice he shares so many thoughts. He's a keeper for sure.
@BrentSpiner -- what can I say - was a fan of Next Generation - he's quote the storyteller.
Am thinking about asking Max if she would like to do a Billy Wirth Fan Club Twitter. She's better at sending messages about or fan club site.

21 April 2009 - first endeavor into Twitter. I am not much for social sites but I am starting to loosen up a little. I have a an electic array of interests and hope I can find some people to connect to. Should I or should I not hawk some of my blujay items on twitter? What the heck why not - maybe I will get an increase in sales or at least more people looking.

INTERESTS AND SOME OF THE PEOPLE I FOLLOW on TWITTER: - A certain resonance for areas in the world like England, certain areas of the US and Canada; history, family and world, 17th century English history.
PRINCE RUPERT and his history fascinates me. He was an enigma. Very young when he lead troops in the English Civil War; as an older man, was very interested in art, chemistry. Although a Prince, I feel he did not relish the title and would have been happier as a regular citizen.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN - is a hero. Made very hard decisions and stuck to them.
Plus because I was Illinois born - I feel he belongs to me. I follow @LincolnBuff2

RESEARCH - I love looking things up - finding out more - digging for buried treasure so to speak. Family history - has a lot of mysteries in it. You wonder sometimes if you have acquired some traits genetically.
BIRDS - domestic and natural - I am fascinated with them, love watching them, feeding them, taking pictures of them. We have Macaws - love parrots, want to one day get a couple caiques.
Uplifting/helping people - very concerned about children in danger and hope to do all I can humanly do to prevent any child from being hurt.
BASEBALL - although I route for the CUBS, I like to watch the game itself. I love to collect cards, sorting, reading about the players, encouraging youg people to be interested in the game.
DRAG RACING - got interested because by husband was always interested. Then as I watched with him, got interested in certain drivers. I follow on Twitter: @NitroJohn, @JFR_Racing, @courtneyforce, @ashleyforce, @JFRaceStation

CELEBRITIES - I co-own a website called Billy Wirth Fan Club. Celebs are put on earth to entertain. They have a huge venue for their beliefs - therefore, they have some responsibility to show others that they should be not idolized but thanked for entertaining us. I follow on Twitter - @KevinSpacey, @BrentSpiner, @JohnCleese, @NeilDiamond, @js7, @jimmyfallon, so far because they are interesting, sometimes funny and not afraid to show their human side. About Spirtuality and GOD - is universal, has no limitations, is not human but spirit and is pure LOVE; that we all carry a spark of the divine in us and GOD is not exclusive to one religion or one faith. Religions are a small piece of the GOD puzzle - not all correct, not all wrong. That there is a collective conscious. We just have to open ourselves to it.
I also believe in some sort of reincarnation - but not sure if it is human collective or individual. I have had Kundalini experiences that cannot be explained.
I also feel people need inspiration and humor and sometimes find them in quotes, books I read.

I feel everyone is put here on Earth for a purpose - to learn, to teach, to care. Sometimes it takes a whole lifetime to find that purpose.