Two Houses Make a Home

This entry is for a blog Carnival. This Carnival is called "Smile for the Camera" and is hosted by the footnoteMaven. This edition's topic is:

The 3rd Edition of Smile For The Camera takes its word prompts from a celebration of home. Where is home and how do you celebrate? Choose a photograph of an ancestor, relative, yourself, or an orphan photograph that shows a celebration of home.

This is what I will always remember as my true home. This is the house I grew up in on Garlow Road in Niagara Falls NY. When I lived there, there was a huge tree limb that reached across the front window from the tree to the left (top of it is barely visible in this picture from about 1980). Not only was this a great house to live in, the house was in a great neighborhood called Colonial Village. Everyone knew everyone, and everyone's children played in every other family's yard (except for Yarnell's yard; when going from one house to another next to theirs, we had to cut to the street, walk past that house, then cut back up in the yards again). Speaking of yards, this was our back yard, which played host to cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles as well as neighbors and friends. Notice something? NO FENCE. Well, when you see the fence on the next house, the white picket one here doesn't really count.This house survived numerous pick up football games, a miniature (a REALLY miniature) hockey rink, a sewage leak in the middle of the back yard, a huge crack in the basement caused by the rock quarry down the street, and most of all, it survived .............well......... ME. I haven't lived in this house for over 30 years, and haven't seen it in real life for over 20 years, but the thought of it will always bring back the very best memories of my childhood.

When I was 13, my family decided to leave Niagara Falls NY (from where hell freezes over in the winter) to Tempe, Az (to where it's hotter than hell in the summer).

The biggest problem with this house? Well, my brothers would say it was the fact that it only had three bedrooms (which meant they had to share one, since I am the only girl!). But I say it was the fence. Sure, it was functional, and it kept the dogs contained (Mandy here was a great one, but never fear-she was only out front when we were right there to watch her). But it didn't foster much in terms of offering warmth to the neighbors.

I noticed a few unique differences between the two important cities of my life: In one (NF), we ran FOR cover when it rained. In the other (Az) we ran FROM cover into the rain. In one, we ran FOR cover in the summer heat (Az), while in the other we ran FROM the cover in the summer warmth. One house was the center of generational activity and the other was the center of one generation coming of age. Two houses, two different meanings.

They both add up to a single, loving home.

The Carnival of Genealogy

The 51st edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is posted now by this month's host, Thomas MacEntee of Destination Austin Family. The topic was Independent Spirits, and there are lots of good reads linked in Thomas' article. Thanks for putting it together, Thomas.

I myself have been rather absent from blogging lately, and I am much chagrinned about it. I won't even make excuses about it, either, because who ever believes excuses? Suffice it to say, I'm BACK!

I have returned to scanning the pictures from what I am calling the Bell Book: A very old photo album with a velvety cover and hard pages with pictures cemented to them. A little while ago I discovered that my scanner's lid comes off, and this is allowing me to scan these photos without tearing the pages out of the book. The first group of photos are below. As I looked at these photos, I couldn't help but wonder if perhaps they were taken on a trip in celebration of something, perhaps even Independence Day. Though there are only guys here, so it was probably a boys weekend out or something.

After I scanned these photos at 200 dpi using the .jpg format, I remembered a tip I'd read about scanning at least at 300 dpi resolution in .tif format, so I scanned the others using those settings. For some reason, though, blogger won't upload the .tif images, though their help section says that format is accepted. I then tried to upload the pictures to my account at imagecave, but .tif pictures are not supported there. So I couldn't post those pictures. Which is a bummer, since they are pretty cool pictures!

Also as I was scanning these photos some other thoughts occurred to me. First, because these photos are cemented forever to the hard-back pages of the album, I'm having to scan entire pages, then crop individual photos from the page. I'm using the software that came with my all-in-one unit, an HP 1500. The software is called HP Image Zone. I can do some very basic editing with this once the picture is scanned. I basically only use the crop and rotate features of the editing program. It's kind of a pain, though, as when I go to save the photos, the default setting is to save them to a folder created by the software ("My Scans") and I have to scroll to the folder I want them in. It will not let me change this default. It gets rather tedious to do this after each photo is ready for saving. I don't save them to the default and then move them all at once because my stupid computer (using Windows XP) has a tendency to make copies of any file I attempt to move or delete, therefore defeating the purpose of saving space. So as I was scanning today I thought, I wonder if I can scan from my photo editing program, which will allow me to change the default folder in which to save them?

So I opened up my obscure Microsoft Picture It! 2003 to try this out. Yes, it lets me scan the photos from my scanner, then offers me all the editing choices of the program that I use anyway. The only problem is, once I crop one picture from the page, the page I scanned disappears and is replaced by the one image I cropped from it.

Which brings me back to this: I'm really wanting to do some serious photo work on my computer. So much so that I'm thinking about asking my niece to ship me out the photo albums I "restored" for her years ago that got me into genealogy so I can re-scan all those photos again, using better settings than the default. This would be one heckuvan undertaking, to rescan all the photos I have.

So I am left with decisions. First, do I go through all that trouble? Second, if I do, and I'm leaning towards it, I will need a better photo editing program. Third, if I really want to do a good job and make the most of the program, I need to learn how to use it in the least frustrating manner possible. So do I get a program that requires a class to take along with it to figure it out? And do those classes exist where I live?

Lots of questions. Would love some advice!

Walking on Sunshine

The topic for the 49th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy wins hands down over Sports Illustrated: It's the Swimsuit Edition!

Pull out the old photos of Grandma Moses in her seaside bloomers, Auntie Mae in her pin-up girl suit from the 1940s or 50s, cousin Paula in her psychedelic bikini from the 1970s, or even yourself in your Speedo! Let's have some fun here! Memorial Weekend is knocking on the door and that means the start of the summer sun, sand, and seaside season so let's get in the mood with summer fun photos. What? You don't have any swimsuit photos you dare to share? No problem! Tell us your best family beach stories instead!

I don't know if I have many photos of swimsuits, but I do have some photos of family having fun in the sun. My parents' families grew up in Luzerne County PA, and I grew up in Niagara Falls, NY. It was a great place to grow up, and summers were definitely the best times of the years. Swim lessons at Niagara Wheatfield High School in the mornings, softball practice/game in the early afternoon, followed by outdoor swimming in our neighbor's above ground pool, to the MR. SOFTIE Ice Cream truck! Oh how I remember scrounging up every penny I could find to buy a soft-serve ice cream cone! Mr. Softie was often the only thing that could get us out of the pool at the very sound of its music (our parents should have recorded it and played it when they wanted us out for all the effort they put into screaming at us to get out!).
This is a picture of some neighborhood kids with my neighbor's father putting up the aforementioned above ground pool!

At any rate, summers were so much fun growing up. In the summer between my 7th and 8th grade years, my family moved from the Falls to Tempe, Az. My friends were a little jealous of all the sun we'd have, which of course meant, suntans! I did spend some time every summer in the sun, lying in wait for the tan that rarely came. I'm fair-skinned, and merely burned and freckled.

However, time makes us wiser so they say, and I no longer sunbathe. I am fortunate so far to avoid the monstrosity known as Skin Cancer, but my brother had a scare with it last year, though he moved to Atlanta many years ago. He's fine now, but it was a wake up call nonetheless. So while we remember to have fun in the sun, also remember the one important ingredient: Sunscreen.


Clara HODICK, I believe the Clara that married my father's mother's brother William as opposed to Clara GORSKI HODICK who marriend my father's mother's brother Joseph.









Aunt Marianne, with whom most of you are now well-familiar, with her uncle, Jack THOMAS, who married my father's mother's sister, Susan HODICK (1903-1964). Looks like food was center of summer time fun in this family!











Noreen (Norie) McHUGH SCIBILIA ROZANSKI (1934 - 16 May 1996), my father's sister.







Jean Ann O'ROURKE McHUGH (18 Jan 1938 - 13 Nov 1988). My mother on a trip to Niagara Falls.

And finally, one that actually includes water:

My niece, Kelley with my brother Terry. Notice she's wearing a hat? Smart girl. Must be why the Law School of Washington and Lee University in Virginia accepted her into their fall 2008 cohort! (Sorry. Couldn't help but get that in there!). Congratulations, Kelley.

Oh My GOSH!

A couple of weeks ago, I attended Miriam's Scanfest, as has become my custom on the fourth Sunday of the month (third this month due to the holiday). I really didn't have anything that I was ready to scan (notice I didn't say I didn't have anything to scan, just nothing I was ready for!), so I worked on a little project for a cousin. However, as always happens when I attend Scanfest, I learned something new that might help me with a huge problem.

First the problem: Among the pictures that I found in my dad's house last summer was an old photo album with a courderoy-type fabric cover and hard pages. Of course the photos attached to the pages were attached with superglue that I'm sure would outstick any glue currently on the market. Not wanting to risk ripping the photos and really not wanting to tear out the pages, I was at a loss as to how I was going to scan these photos. I asked the group at Scanfest if anyone had used one of those pen scanners that you could run over a photo and scan. Leave it to this group to solve a problem I've had for almost a year now! No, I didn't get any good advice on the pen; rather I got really good advice against trying a pen scanner. However, someone mentioned that some scanners allow for removal of the lid to scan larger projects. Tonight I finally got around to searching my scanner's user manual. This here is the first scan from this old book, completed with the lid off my scanner! I am SO EXCITED! Here are what they look lide post-cropping:

Marianne McHugh

Unidentified folks

Various children on porch

Finally, a picture that is too precious to truly describe in words: The only known photograph of my father's oldest sister, who died as an infant of an unknown cause. The date of her birth is unknown, but it would be between 1925 and 1929. Folks, meet my aunt, Patsy McHugh.

The Smartest (Mouthed) Mom on Earth

The current Carnival of Genealogy topic surrounds the education of our mothers.

Mom, how'd you get so smart? We'll examine our mothers' education. What schools did your mom attend? Did she graduate high school or attend the school of hard knocks? Did she attend a one room school house or was she home-schooled? Was she the first in the family to attend college? Maybe your mom took self-study courses or was an avid reader. Tell us all about how a mother figure (mother, grandmother, mother in law, godmother, etc.) in your life became so brilliant!

Sadly, as is typical in my family, I had to do some second-hand research in order to answer these questions. While I remember some stories about my mother's school days, there aren't that many in my memory to give an in-depth answer to this question. Unfortunately, mom is no longer with us, having died from lung cancer in 1988. So I called on my father and the Internet to help me with this topic. The Internet proved to be rather useless, too, I'm afraid. Apparently two of the three schools my mom went to are no longer in existence.

I do recall a couple of funny stories about my mother's elementary years. I remember her tales of Catholic school, and how she hated it so. She told of the story of her teacher who wanted her placed in the class for ... well ... "slow" students because she (my mother) had the audacity to ask the teacher why "2 + 2 = 4".

Teacher: 2 + 2 is 4.
Jean: Why?
Teacher: (patiently) Because if you take two apples in one hand and two in the other and count from left to right, you'll get 4.
Jean: Why?
Teacher: (not as patiently)Okay, hold up your index fingers and your middle fingers. Now count. See how you get 4?
Jean: Why?
Teacher (not at all patiently): GO TO SISTER{ insert name}'s OFFICE RIGHT NOW.

My poor mother. All she wanted to know was why it was called "FOUR" and not "SNUFFLEOPHAGUS" or something. All the teacher had to say was 'Cuz God Said So" and mom would have been perfectly content. Instead my mom got in trouble. No wonder she had to resort to tricking her mother, who walked her to school, by walking the front door only to walk out the back door when gramma was out of sight. (and this "hooky" playing on the part of my mother didn't come out until all of us kids had finished our own schooling!).

I don't have any stories of mom's junior high school years. How sad is that? Dad says she went to South Junior High School in Niagara Falls, NY. The Niagara Falls NY part I knew, but a picture I have of her in front of her Junior High School I swear said "North Junior High School". Not having the original photo, I can't check it. But dad said he and his sister went to North and mom went to South. Here is a picture of my mom with a little bit of her Junior High School in the background.

As for high school, mom went to Niagara Falls High School, graduating in 1956. I don't have any stories of her high school years, either. How sad is this (and how many times am I going to ask this question?). I do, however have a great story about her high school ring.

My mother's first cousin was Jane (WILLIAMS) JOHNSON (1927-1996), the daughter of Margaret DOYLE (1900-1948) and Raymond WILLIAMS (1900 - ?). I was always very close to Jane and always referred to her as Aunt Jane. She was the secretary at Colonial Village Elementary School where I went to grade school, was there for me when I got sick and had to go home and when I got sent to the principal's office for punching Jeff W. in the stomach (he pushed me first!). Today, the library at Colonial Village School is named for her.

Sometime in 1996 I got a little box in the mail from my uncle Neil, Jane's husband. I knew something was wrong; Jane was the correspondent in the family. Sure enough, he'd enclosed a letter explaining that Jane had died in February of that year. He and his daughter were finally going through Jane's things, and in the process of cleaning out one of her purses, he found the item in the box he sent me: My mother's High School ring from 1956! I was absolutely dumbstruck. Apparently Neil and Jane had found the ring somewhere, and Jane put it in her purse to keep it until she could mail it to me. She never did, obviously. That ring is among my most treasured possessions.

There is a lesson to be learned by all in my story this month: Sons and Daughters: TALK to your parents about their own growing up years. DON'T roll your eyes at the stories they tell --WRITE THEM DOWN. Mothers and Fathers: TALK to your children about your growing up years AND about family stories handed down. LET your children roll their eyes: TELL THEM ANYWAY.

And yes, I did mean to yell ;).

47th Carnival of Genealogy

The 47th Carnival of Genealogy, with the topic of describing the hometown of your ancestor(s), is posted now at Jasia's site, HERE. I didn't get a chance to write an entry this time around, though it wasn't for lack of desire. Both my paternal and maternal ancestors settled in Luzerne County, PA; my maternal line in Pittston and my paternal line in and around Nanticoke.

While I do know pretty much what brought my ancestors to Pittston (railroading) and Nanticoke (coal mining), I know very little about the towns themselves. I have not had time to research them, either, which is why I was not able to partake in this month's COG.

Many other Bloggers have had time to do their research, however, so hop on over to this month's installment of the Carnival of Genealogy and get ready for some good reads! Meanwhile, I'll start doing my own research on Pittston and Nanticoke.

A Shocking Experience

This month's topic for the Carnival of Genealogy asks participants to talk about traits handed down to us from our ancestors.

What traits run in your family? Which of them did you inherit? Do you have your mother's blue eyes? Your grandfather's stubbornness? Your aunt's skill with knitting needles? Is there a talent for music in your family? Or do you come from a long line of teachers? Have you ever looked at an old photo and recognized your nose on another family member's face?

I could tell you all about my sometimes morbid sense of humor. Or about my light brown hair, that as a child I swore meant I was adopted since everyone in my immediate family had dark, dark brown hair. I could muse about where my temper comes from, or where my tendency to overanalyze things originated. I could ponder which of my traits were shared by those who came before me. I do this quite often anyway, you know. So today I'm not going to tell you about all of that. Today I'm going to tell you a little story.

You see, I have a little problem that is big-time annoying. And often painful. If you ever saw me getting out of my car you'd have an idea of what this problem might be. Or at least when it manifests itself. When I get out of my car, I hesitate to touch the car door to close it. I make several silly-looking attempts to put my hand on the door before I actually do. Sometimes, I even hesitate to put the key in the door.

It's the same thing when I turn a light on or off. And when I go to open the sliding patio door. Or attempt to touch another human being. Like the song says, " it starts in my toes then I crinkle my nose ..." (from the song, The Bubbly Song by Colbie Caillat). I cringe when I have to touch nearly anything. Even if there is wood around.

What is this little problem? Well, I have this annoying tendency to get static shocks when I touch anything. I'm not talking about a little "zap" here and there. I'm talking about a ZAP nearly everywhere -- sometimes I even see little blue and gold streaks. Touching wood before touching anything metal or containing metal does not work. Shoot, I even touch the wall and get a shock from the metal framework behind it. Believe it or not, I have even shorted out THREE computer mice by touching the blasted things. Yes, you read that right. I've touched the mouse, gotten a shock, and the mouse stopped working. THREE times this has happened. Rebooting doesn't help, unplugging the mouse doesn't help. Only replacing the mouse helps.

I keep a can of Static Guard in my car and at home. I have Scotch Guarded the new fabric chair I just bought (the heck with good back support, what was I thinking?) as well as the carpets in the house. I have even asked the doctor if this could be something physiological or nutritional. She looked at me as if I was from outer space. I have switched from dryer softener sheets to liquid fabric softener, and this has helped. It has not solved the problem, but it has helped. I should buy stock in the skin moisturizing companies; I use so much of it I keep them in business. I live for the monsoon season, though not for the spectacular lightening that people in Arizona just love (I am actually quite frightened of it), but for the fact that we actually have moisture in the air and that prevents the shocks.

So why am I posting this in a COG article about traits? A few months ago I was talking to the wife of my father's first cousin and she said "You know, Tom has that exact same problem".

So just which of my ancestors can T om and I blame for this electrifying trait?