Have you ever experienced what seemed a degree of separation? It felt too amazing to be a coincidence? It happened to me as I chatted with my seatmate on my return flight to Washington state from Virginia, and while it may have been a degree of separation – multi-layered actually – it was definitely a God thing. I recently traveled …
Happy Bday Moby-Dick ~ “Call Me Ishmael”
I could not help but notice that today is the anniversary of the publication of one of my favorite novels, Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville in 1851. Though “Call me Ishmael” became one of the most famous opening lines in literary history, the novel was not a commercial success and it was only after Melville’s death that his literary genius in …
In Honor of Women’s History Month: Mary Horton
Reading Randy Seaver’s blog, Genea-Musings, I just discovered that March is Women’s History Month! Saturday his blog featured another genea blogger, Lisa Alzo’s post Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month. Lisa offer’s thirty-one ideas to honor our female ancestors and I absolutely love this idea. Thank you, Randy and Lisa! In 1999 I took my mother, Helen Jean …
THE MISSING LINK: A Rose by Any Other Name
In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet says, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” She spoke of Romeo, of course, but what is true of a rose may not be true when you try to apply it to a person. Of course, if she meant what lies within each of us is what matters, I’d have to agree. …
THE MISSING LINK: Is Wanderlust a Gene?
If wanderlust is a gene, I must have it. I have a passion for travel, but I don’t do it enough – though some would say I do. I was born in a car to a father who was a career Navy pilot, and a mother who could make a home anywhere. By the time I was fifteen, I’d live …
Oh, for an English Apple!
In 1999, my mother and I flew from Oregon to Long Island, a journey that would become a cherished memory for me. My younger brother had been researching our genealogy and found that a lighthouse had been named after our 8th great-grandfather, Barnabas Horton. Mom had told us stories about this grandfather, tales that were passed down for generations. Family …