Journey of a Lifetime....

     

                                                

       Recently, I spoke with my cousin, who was filled with excitement as he shared details about an upcoming trip, which I would describe as, a trip of a lifetime.  At the mention of the country of Spain I immediately was captivated, since my main focus for research has been in that region of the world, the Iberian Peninsula.  

      As the conversation continued, I was filled with a sense of excitement and awe as he spoke about an ancient journey, a series of old pilgrimage paths throughout all of Europe, called ‘El Camino de Santiago’, also known in English, as ‘The Way of St. James’, all ultimately culminating in northwest Spain, Santiago de Compostela, which is the capital of Galicia, Spain.  
Santiago de Compostela is in the Province of  ‘La Coruña’

      
The ancient paths have witnessed pilgrims walking along the routes of the Camino de Santiago, for more than 1000 years. 


      Historical tradition states that Santiago is considered the burial site of one of Jesus’ Apostles, James, also known as 'James the Great',  son of Zebedee and brother to John the Apostle.  
     


     It is said, that due to his evangelism of Christianity in Spain, St. James’ remains were carried by boat from Jerusalem to northern Spain where they were buried on the site of what is now the city of Santiago de Compostela. 
    It was throughout the Middle Ages, that it was a highly travelled route, however political instability in 16th century Europe contributed to its decline.

Today, the path is well-traveled as the journey unfolds through northern Spain, predominantly mountainous, home to the Picos de Europa, stunningly beautiful, deep forests, valleys and gorges.

The path of long ago was depicted as a route of penance established by the Church.  Custom indicates that pilgrims who participated brought back home Galician scallop shells as proof of their journey.

Today, this journey attracts from an ever growing number of those who are seeking solace or a spiritual reawakening to those who simply take pleasure and are captivated in the spectacular natural wonder of this region.....                                                      

 Either way, it is the journey of a lifetime.

The Way Trailer:
The movie 'The Way' is a powerful and inspirational story about the historical pilgrimage "The Way of St. James" in Galica, Spain, starring Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez.                                                                                                          
 Photo Credits:                                                          

 Photo 1:  Photo by: Matt Munro                                     
 Photo 4:  Photo by: Maureen Measu                            
 Photo 6:  Photo by: B.C. Torrisse                      
  Photos not labeled, by Wikipedia

Backing Up ~ Priceless!

Technology ~ Blessing or Curse

Backing Up ~ Priceless!

How wonderful to be living in this period of time in history with all the marvelous and delightful technology that we experience on a daily basis.  Take the computer, for instance, it causes us to fluctuate from an array of emotions from delight and appreciation as we accomplish a myriad of tasks that we undertake on a daily basis to feeling overwhelmed and exasperated as we attempt to take authority over this powerhouse machine that seems, at times to have acquired its own will and mind.

Concurrently, we store monumental amounts of information which amounts to a substantial deposit of our lives on this comparatively small piece of incredible machinery.  

I cringe to think what would happen if suddenly we were unable to access this information locked deeply inside this amazing marvel.  Not to mention all of our treasures amounting to endless hours of research of family history, personal data, photos and so the list goes on....

What if an important document or file gets altered before verification or worse yet, it ‘disappears’.  Yes, I think we all unfortunately have  had the experience of displeasure or panic at the realization of what happened at the flick of a wrong key entry.  

I had a taste of this last night as I was ‘tweeking’ a website that I have been working on.  Funny, how quickly we become microscopic and extremely focused on the most minute details, temporarily becoming this 'technologically introspective stranger' as we venture to complete our most challenging undertaking.  Yet within a second of the wrong keystroke... it all vanishes, hours and hours of labor intensive work... gone.

I was quickly reminded of many times in past years of the importance of backing up everything we execute on the computer. 

Yes, despite this, I have somehow become a bit inattentive to heeding what I know should be top priority and not have allowed myself the luxury of letting that task fly under the radar due to endless reasons. I find myself now in the midst of hours upon hours of restructuring and repair as a result, brought on by myself.  

Needless, to say at this point I have ‘scheduled’ my computer backups on my Calendar for twice per month routinely.  In addition, as a rule, I think it may be wise to back up any scans of photographs or any new data that would be difficult to replace as it transpires.

 No matter how monotonous and repetitive an operation may seem, it must be done... no matter what, or relish in the consequences.

As I am now finishing the last ‘tweeks’ of my attempts to replicate my site,  I guess I should find my external hard drive and back up my work, after I..... 

Today ~ March 22 2012 Ancestry.com Live Chat

Crista Cowan of Ancestry.com- "Prove It or Disprove It" Live at 1pm EST today, March 22, 2012

Ancestry LiveStream

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

~  Old Irish Blessings  ~

~May the good Lord protect you,
And bless you today.
And may troubles ignore you,
Each step of the way.

May God hold you in the palm of His hand

~May God be with you and bless you.

May you see your children's children.
May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness.
From this day forward.

~May you have love that never ends,

lots of money, and lots of friends.

Health be yours, whatever you do,

and may God send many blessings to you!

~ May your troubles be less,

And your blessing be more.
And nothing but happiness,
Come through your door. 


*Interesting links with information on Saint Patrick:

The Real Saint Patrick- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCJpf71spQM

History of St. Patrick's Day ~The History Channel

Getting Close to 1940 Census Debut!

Here is the link for 'The 1940 Census Index' The 1940 Census where you can view video tutorials and instructions on how to work with the indexing software.  There is also a download for the 1940 Indexing Simulation Software that you can try out now.
The 1940 Census Indexing Simulation

There’s Always a Way..

Just returned from a wonderful trip out west to the Phoenix, Arizona area to visit family for my husband’s sweet Mother’s 90th Birthday celebration!  

It was my first time out west so you can imagine how fascinated I was with the beautiful desert landscape in the area.  Of course, as far as I am concerned, no trip can be experienced without involving geographical and family history.  On our last day there, my husband’s sister generously shared her family photo album with precious photos of past generations.  I knew my time was limited and I did not want to pass up the opportunity to document this treasure.  

Since, I do not have a ‘Flip-Pal’, I used the next best thing, my handy IPhone. 

I photographed close to 200 photos, front and the back of the photo for identification. 

As for the photos that were unidentified, I was able to ask my Mother-in-Law about them.  It was a blessing to participate with her as she recounted some wonderful memories of her life.  

As I always say... there's always a way.  Although, it may not have been the most perfect, technique, as my husband, who is a professional photographer hinted.  I was at least able to accomplish documenting the photos and spend memorable time with family.  

As a result, I now have a photo to add for those family members as well as fond memories spent hearing about days gone by.

Now, on to setting time to chronicle all those treasures....