Segunda feira, March 15

Yikes... nearly a month has passed ... what happened?  Let me see ... since I was last here ...

I finished this bracelet ...

I like it, but I'm not totally pleased with it. I love the beads and colors and texture of the bracelet ... I'm not happy with the fit (my own fault - I got weary of it a little too early and wanted it done).  I can get it on and off by myself, however, and it has nice movement on the wrist. Some of the flower beads are too wobbly though.

I'm falling out of love with the construction of this bracelet - I think it needs a wider base, so it won't flip so easily. Since it is a woven bracelet, I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to add some width, but managing all the threads might be a nightmare, since I already have 10 threads as is. I guess I will simply have to try a new design out.

I started a new piece from a Cynthia Rutledge design ...

These pretty little pieces are meant to be part of a bracelet, but after all the time spent making them, I don't think I would trust them to hold up on my wrist... I think I will alter the way of attatching them together with a beaded band instead of the suggested beaded rings. This will take some time to figure out, I think.

Outside we have ventured into spring! We have gone from enough snow to this back a few weeks ago...

then we had about 6 inches of very wet, sloppy snow... which melted in a few days -yay ... but it has stayed on the cool side with freezing temperatures at night and warmer upper 30's to 40's during the day. And you northerners know what that means! Sugaring! Not me, but every now and then I passed longingly by a sugarhouse with steam pouring out of the cupola. Very pleasant memories for me. Maybe I will ask a neighbor if I can tap their tree next year.

Right now it is 39F and rainy. Ugh. But there is a promise of sun on Wednesday, and that will cheer us up again. Here is a picture taken this morning of the same daffodil sprouts ...

The group on the lower left are the same as above. They have lots of friends now...

I am having lots and lots of computer problems these days. I would like to blame it on Windows 7, but I'm not sure that it deserves all the blame. Google seems to have it's share in it too. And HP. The end result is making a truly unhappy experience for the computer user. Today, as has happened over the past few weeks, the computer refuses to keep up with my typing, causing me to create all sorts of abominations as far as documents go. Good thing I don't have to work with one of these every day. I would go bonkers!

I was going to say, what happened to the "good" old days... but we all know what happened. Old, old story.

Speaking of old, old stories ... when we went to Boston the week before last, I had a chance to try my hand at genealogical research at the New England Historical Genealogical Society library on Newbury Street. It was such a successful experience, I joined. Imagine ... you can walk right in, sign in and go up to the 6th floor and start finding out about your ancestors. I spent about 2.5 days at the library and found some amazing new things I did not know about my family.

I now have a family tree online courtesy of Ancestry.com. I used them for a while a couple of years ago ... and had found quite a bit of information like naturalization documents, census records, death records... then decided I didn't want to shell out the money for a subscription. Never did put the information into a family tree. But I was reinfected with the family search bug, and now I have a thriving family tree with 188 people in it.

I am in awe of the magnitude that my little world has opened up to. I have evidence at hand that I belong to a huge group of people who are related to me. And we have a history together. This is beginning to sound a little pollyannish, but when I scan through the names - it is awesome to think of each one as a living, breathing, working, loving, person, instead of just a name and a date. I started reading about the discovery and early days of America. What was it like to come to Boston in 1680? There wasn't much there really. It was the size of a present day village. The population was approximately 4,500 people. That's when the first of my ancestors arrived in town. I want to learn so much more about the times.

The one big lesson that I have learned from all the poking into corners and scanning hours of facts is that my family did not stay in one place for very long. I want to know why the first family moved four times in MA before settling in CT. Was it the thing to do? Were they following work? Did they know people somewhere else and went to find them? Was it just too cold?

So, if you see me in person, and I am wearing a blank face - as if nobody was home - it's probably likely that I am trying to figure this all out. lol.