There Is a Story Behind that picture...

My first inclination over the last month was to write a pet peeve of mine...well others too, but my daughter asked for some copies of her wedding pictures, and so many memories came flooding in.
Thus, you get to be treated to the story behind the pictures in her wedding photos.

Not everyone would have wedding pictures such as these, but we did not use a professional photographer. It was her grandmother would loved, loved to take pictures. The decorations for the reception were done as a newly joined family effort. The groom's parents and the bride's parents met in the cultural hall of the church (LDS terms) and combined their thoughts and work to make it a beautiful reception. It meant stringing twine back and forth across the room at about 10 feet and hanging individually blown balloons from it to drop the ceiling. It turned out wonderful.

The bride's aunt, the groom's sister and the ceiling of balloons. 

That is just one story behind the pictures.

I will start with her dress. She had sewed each pearl on to the lace, that I added to the dress I made for her according to her specifications. There wasn't a pattern for the dress...the mom created it. In fact I was sewing the covered buttons on the sleeves as we drove from Houston to Dallas the night before the Wedding. They were sealed at the Dallas Temple.
Here is her dress.

There was another dress story that still is brought to remind me I forget things. Her sister's dress I discovered when getting ready to go to the temple had not had all the covered buttons done in the back. I had to sew her into the dress ... yeah there was a lot of teasing around that. Yes, I also made all the bridesmaid dresses.

The back of the dress that was sewn on. The little sister had asked to see the big sister's shoes.

They were both jokers and it showed through out their reception. They had both been threatening each other with a food fight regarding the cake cutting. The picture shows the end results.

They decided it was their place to entertain the attendees of the reception... They sang a family favorite "You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd" by Roger Miller. It was a funny event, and fitted both so well. 

I am waiting on the groom to tell me what the grandmother said to him... may not be able to share. 

This was a memory lane for me, I hope you enjoyed it. My point is when going through those pictures, write the memory down that goes with it if you have it. Don't just write the name of the people in the picture on the back. 

I love the stories.

Rootstech 2017 from across the pond

This year I am writing my review from the perspective of a UK family historian watching from afar and wishing she had made the journey across the pond.

When I first started to write this post I started to discuss what was happening in Salt Lake City. But I am not in Salt Lake City this year I am at home in Wales.
How can I write about a conference when I am not one of the attendees.

The Rootstech conference did not get underway until the Thursday but for me the excitement builds from the Monday.

In keeping with the tradition at 10am MST (SLC time) 5pm GMT the Rootstech week starts with Mondays with Myrt from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. The usual panel (including me) has little to say as Pat Richley-Erickson aka DearMYRTLE interviews a variety of folks from across the globe who have made the journey to Utah arriving early enough to get some research time in the Family History Library. 

Later on Monday early attendees from the Commonwealth countries enjoyed another tradition the Commonwealth dinner. This year they went to the Blue Lemon and afterwards photographs appeared on the Geniaus blog. I must say that when I went in 2015 this was a great way to meet others prior to the conference.

Going to an event like a genealogy conference is a great way to network with other genealogists/family historians. I know that for many attending classes is low priority. We all love to find connections with others (especially someone who may have photographs) and with such a large group many do find a link. This year a cousin of someone I met in 2015 made a connection with Judy G Russell The Legal Genealogist after watching her talk on the live stream. I knew about this via facebook before she wrote her post but she illustrates my point so well (better than I could).

I managed to catch all the RootsTech General Sessions on the live streaming and some of the classes that were streamed. Now that the recordings are up, those I missed I can catch up with later, there are more than those that livestreamed. Some are US centric but may hold useful suggestions most are general and the keynotes, in particular, inspirational and passionate.

If watching or attending RootsTech does nothing more than provide inspiration to feed your passion for your family then it has done its job. But we need innovators to provide us with the means to record, communicate and preserve. 
Some of the technology advances have brought about the success of this conference in getting to folks across the world. In the early years you could lose the video if anyone else was online. This year those at home could vote using the RootsTech app on their phone. 

We need new ideas rather than more of the same. I wonder what the innovators in the industry will bring us next year.

Before I go here courtesy of Lilian Magill (in the lilac sweater) is a photograph of many of the Geneabloggers at RootsTech 2017, noticeably absent were Russ Worthington (aka Cousin Russ) and Thomas MacEntee (Geneabloggers).

The final event for many of those in the photograph was an evening to wind down with friends courtesy of DearMyrtle who has some of her friends visit her house for an after party.

I love seeing the photographs from the other get togethers which are not part of the main RootsTech event. These are as much about why we should attend as the conference and you cannot get what I call "the buzz" unless you are actually there. 
There will be lots of tired, enthusiastic people headed home today or in the coming week (some stay on to do research) but for many it is so good you want to come back again.
Maybe next year I can write a first hand report. (fingers crossed)

Apologies and Reporting

I have been absent as of late. Not because I have lost my love and zeal for genealogy and blogging, rather, I have not learned to balance family and genealogy research.  It seems for me it is almost an all or nothing activity. I will share with you the past few months of my life. 

I worked with the Preserve the War of 1812 Pensions campaign for 3 years.  I loved the purpose and the activity of searching the files and finding living descendants.  When the funding was accomplished, my activity there was little needed, and I turned to other projects.

At the same time, my children decided they and their children needed equal time with me and this is a bit of my journey into creating family history with my grandchildren and as I have written about before, bridging the generations.

During the summer, we had our first family reunion.  This was important for those who could go because family had not gathered as a unit since my husband, their father, died in 2008.  All but two of 6 children could make it. The single son who was working and a daughter who was pregnant and expecting her 4^th child any minute.  There were 28 plus myself, who made it. Two grandchildren were working and could not attend. Since no one other than myself had ever visited the California family’s home, that was the focus. They planned 4 days of activities for the children and I was excited that they included some time for themselves. 

The trip started with my 20-year-old grandson and I leaving Texas and driving to Salt Lake to meet the Idaho family whose father was flying in. They needed to send one child with me as their car only seated 7 and they had 8 with dad. The connecting 3 different groups at the Salt Lake terminal was a story. The trip from Salt Lake to California and then back to Idaho was an awesome memory for my three grandchildren and me.

In California, we went to the Sequoia Forest, the beach, and learned about railroads going over the mountain grades. The young and new grandchildren were able to create relationships with the older ones. These are a couple of pictures from that family activity.

Once back at home, the two daughters in Texas decided since I had taken time from my genealogy activities for this, I must be up for grabs for activities at home. The Idaho daughter not to be out done scheduled every Monday in September for a Skype class on World War II ending in a lesson and stories about their great grandfather who served and I have written stories about him here.

The classes were successful, and one Texas grandson sat in on a lesson.  At the time I was not sure who was listening, but as the months go by, questions and statement tell me they were. One of the grandson’s chose to be his great grandfather for Halloween, dressed up like a WWII army soldier.  Cool right. History and family stories passed down two generations. I also helped with the Black Watch Costume and made the sporan for that grandchild. One is Pipi Longstocking and one is a Nerd... they LOVE reading. 

I went with another daughter to see the preview for Christmas lights at the Houston Zoo.  We took one of my other daughter’s children with us. There was fun, sharing, and memories made with young and old.

This week I went to a Civil War reenactment at the TexasLiendo plantation that served first as a Confederate headquarters, then when it fell, as a Union prison camp.

My grandson, who is 10, began trying to sort in his mind who and what generation of his family served in the Civil War. We had fun talking about both sides of the war and how he had those that served on both sides and one in the Confederacy that died in Savannah. His 3th great grandfather from Michigan served in the Michigan 3rd Cavalry Regiment from 03 Oct 1861. He was promoted to Full Qtr Master Serg on 19 Jan 1864 and mustered out on 12 Feb 1866 at San Antonio, TX.

We also visited a blacksmith tent and that gave us the opportunity to talk about his great great grandfather who was a blacksmith and we have his anvil.

So there you go, while I am AWOL occasionally, I am keeping the dream alive trying to share with the generations following, so the story is not forgotten.

Genealogy centenaries

Isn't it always the way? You wait years for a significant genealogy anniversary and then three come along at once. That's how it is in 2016 for my ancestors - three significant bicentenaries for three of my convict forbears, Nicholas Delaney, Sarah Marshall and John Simpson.

So I thought I'd share a bit of information about them. A lot of Australians are descended from this trio of law-breakers and maybe one of them will find this post and get in touch. We genealogists love hearing from cousins...

The first genealogy centenary is 13 June, 2016, the 200th anniversary of the official founding of the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney.

The Domain and Mrs Macquarie's Point, 1830, Creative Commons by Paul K

On 13 June, 1816, Nicholas Delaney, my 3x great grandfather, and his gang of convict workers finished building Mrs Macquarie's Drive, the road that runs round what was then the Government Domain. It's now part of the Botanic Garden.

The Botanic Gardens in the 21st century CC via Wikipedia

Cleverly, Nicholas arranged to finish the work on the birthday of Governor Lachlan Macquarie's wife, Elizabeth. The delighted Governor awarded Nicholas and his 10-man gang five gallons of spirits as a reward. There would have been sore heads as well as muscles the next morning.

Inscription on Mrs Macquarie's Chair, celebrating the day Nicholas finished the road CC by Graeme Churchyard

I've already written about building Mrs Macquarie's Drive as well as the only part of the original road which now survives, the Macquarie Culvert. As the 200th anniversary comes even nearer I hope to post more over on the A Rebel Hand blog.

Update: here's the first of those posts on Nicholas Delaney, Mrs Macquarie's Drive and the Botanic Garden's 200th anniversary.

The Macquarie Culvert, Mrs Macquarie's Drive, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney CC via Wikipedia

There's going to be a big party in the Botanic Gardens on the 13th and I've heard from some fellow Delaney descendants that they'll be going. If only I weren't half the world away I'd be there celebrating my ancestor's achievement. But I can't get to Australia this year. You can bet I'll be keeping up via social media and other channels, though.

The next bicentenary of this year is of the trial and sentencing of Sarah Marshall, my 3x great grandmother, on 24 July, 1816, at the Lancaster Assizes. 

Sarah Marshall's sentence via Ancestry

Sarah was convicted of 'stealing a petticoat valued at one penny, a bed gown valued at one penny, two caps valued at one penny, a pair of silk stockings valued at one penny and a sheet valued at one penny, being of the Goods and Chattels of John Oldham.'

And for fivepence-worth of clothes, she was to be 'transported to some part beyond the seas.' To New South Wales, in fact, like all my convict ancestors.

Australian Convict Transportation Records for Friendship II via Ancestry

Sarah's story - or what I can find out about it, because there are plenty of strong Lancashire brick walls surrounding her life before she half-inched the goods and chattels - includes two particularly dramatic episodes after her trial. She was sent out on a notorious convict ship, the Friendship, famous for the licentious behaviour on board during the voyage. Again, I'm planning to write more about that.

And she's popularly believed to be the 'Sarah's Ghost' who is said to haunt Castlereagh General Cemetery, having been murdered by a group of  lust-driven men. But the story's inaccurate. I'm glad about that. Poor Sarah, as if she hadn't suffered enough.

Sarah went on to marry, or live as if married to, John Simpson, a tailor, and his is the last of my trio of bicentenaries.

John was born in Yarm, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. On 8 November, 1816, he was charged with 'feloniously taking and carrying away two bales of goods, consisting of muslin and shawls' at Hope in the Derbyshire Peak District and committed to Derby county gaol. The Derby Mercury reported the facts on 21 November.

 

Derby Mercury report via FindMyPast

He was to stay in Derby Gaol until the Lent Assizes in March, 1817, when he was tried and sentenced to seven years' transportation.

John and Sarah's daughter Lucy Simpson married Thomas Delaney, the son of Nicholas and his wife Elizabeth Bayly, which ties up my three bicentenary ancestors neatly.

Past Life Styles Before the Internet

Last month, I was in a slump and missed my post. I was moving back to the house my husband and I built when we were young. We had such high hopes for it and slowly began working towards those goals while having and raising 6 children.  As you can imagine, it was S L O W. We abandoned it to live in my mother’s home when

         1. She moved into an assisted living facility because of early onset of dementia and...
           2.   My sweetheart had stage 4 col-rectal cancer. 

It is a story and a half house, so my children were concerned about long range challenges for me and my knees. 

Oh well, who know what will happen in ten years. The biggest challenge has been overcoming the pain at seeing what he had worked so lovingly to make had fallen into disrepair. Some reading this know me on social media such as Facebook. I frequently talk about comments from the tree house. My son remarked that it was an apt description as it was a cross between the Swiss Family Robinson’s and the Bernstein Bear’s home. 

Now you can understand a little of the confusion and disorientation I have been experiencing in planning ahead. Well, that coupled with family calling and asking for assistance with their personal problems. What’s a mom to do, say no? I think not. That is what life and genealogy is all about.

An experience I have had as I have been moving back home, is unpacking my genealogy files. Many times, it makes me smile as I see, notes written on scrap pieces of paper, and no reference as to where I found it. 

Today, moving in the professional world of genealogy, I hear chastisement in my head for not having a research plan sheet, or writing down my documentation. I have empathy for those who find themselves with genealogy information and not a clue as to which book it was they found it in. Let me explain.

Going back to building a house and finishing it ourselves while raising 6 children, will help you understand a little bit. I worked as a public health nurse or school nurse while my children were growing up, and helped my husband with work projects he had as well. We are member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which as most know emphasize finding your family history. We were the only members on both sides of family, who were members. No one had a clue about their family’s history, it all fell in my lap to find it, along with all the above. To shorted this story, I will just say the way it happened was, aside from a few planned visits to major libraries, I would swing by the local library for a 30 minutes to grab some research time when I went grocery shopping or was running errands. My sweetheart would look at me when I got home (days before cell phones) and say “you sure took a long time, at the library again?”  And that is how notes were scratched on odd pieces of paper and now, random information found without documentation. It was almost a lifestyle. Grabbing moments to recreate life times, it is why I am going back and filling in the blanks now. Life before the internet was not easy, nor was it always organized. That is my personal family history finding story.

Has anyone else experience a lifestyle so random or am I the only one? 

Finding ancestors in the 'wrong' year in records

If you're fortunate (or dedicated) enough to trace any ancestors back to before the 1750s, and they were from Britain or its colonies, you may come across some odd-looking dates in documents from the early months of each year. They might be in letters, books, newspapers or parish records.

Here's an example, from the parish records for Merioneth/Meirionnedd in north-west Wales:

It looks as if nobody was baptised, married or buried between March 21, 1748, and March 25, 1749 - which isn't very likely. But not understanding this record could cause problems.

Suppose you're looking for Hugh Ellis and all the evidence points to him being born in Cae Gwernog in 1749 - and you found this record. You might think your other information was wrong, because it looks as if he was baptised on 21 April, 1748.

You might find a parish record which is even more puzzling (but gives a clue to the solution), like this one for the baptism of Mary Roberts of Tarporley, from the Diocese of Chester parish records:

She was baptised on 1 January, 1744. But wait a minute - just above her in the baptism of Thomas Garnett, on 30 December... 1744. Couldn't these people keep their records in order?

And yes, of course, they could. It's just that the calendar was organised in a slightly different way until 1752 in Britain and its colonies.

Old Style

From the late 12th century until 1751, the legal year began on Lady Day, the Feast of the Annunciation, celebrated on 25 March (exactly nine months before Christmas Day). So the year changed on that day: 24 March, 1750, would be followed by 25 March, 1751, and the year's length was calculated according to the Julian calendar. It seems odd to us, but since it was the way things had been for centuries, it was easy to understand.

Except...

New Style

Except that in October 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced a new calendar. By then, because the length of a year under the Julian calendar had been slightly over-calculated as being 365 days and six hours, with the six hours being added together every fourth year to make a leap year, the date of Easter had drifted too far away from the Spring equinox.

This also resulted in 'removing' 10 days from the calendar to make up for the drift. The new calendar, known as the Gregorian, was adopted by Catholic countries. But the English-speaking world was officially Protestant, and Protestant states weren't having anything to do with a change decided by the Pope. They stayed with the Julian calendar.

This caused confusion in dating letters, reports and documents which crossed the time zone between Protestant and Catholic countries.

To avoid this confusion, people often dated their papers using OS (Old Style) and NS (New Style), or gave two alternative years for those awkward days from 1 January to 24 March, like 1700-01, or 1700/1.

Here's how one newspaper, the Newcastle Courant, coped with the date problem:

You'll notice that in the latest edition the paper is dated 1744, but the first article mentions a date as being in OS - it's a report from (Gregorian, NS) France.

Just to add a little more confusion, the legal year in Scotland was changed to begin on 1 January in 1600, and after the Union of Parliaments in 1707, this caused more legislative problems.

Parliament wasn't happy. In 1750, it stated that the use of the Julian calendar was 'attended with divers inconveniences, not only as it differs from the usage of neighbouring nations, but also from the legal method of computation in Scotland, and from the common usage throughout the whole kingdom, and thereby frequent mistakes are occasioned in the dates of deeds and other writings, and disputes arise therefrom.'

And so the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 was passed. It ruled that the English-speaking world would make two changes in 1752: that year would start on 1 January everywhere; and there would be 11 days removed from the calendar, since the drift had widened another year since 1582, when the Gregorian calendar came into force.

Still with me? Phew! I think we both deserve a picture to help explain the effect this had on record-keeping.

These are burials from the parish records of St Stephen's Church in Norwich. You'll see that 1750 burials go from 31 March to 14 March; 1751 burials are from 25 March to 24 December; and 1752 burial start on 2 January.

The other part of the changes brought about by the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 was the removal of 11 days. Here's the law:

 

So you went to bed in the evening of September 2 and woke up on the morning of September 14. Which was not much fun if your birthday or other special day fell into the 'lost' time.

The Whitehall and General Evening Posts tried to explain the whole muddle on the morning of 14 September, NS:

Until recently I believed the story that the loss of 11 days caused widespread riots, with people furiously demanding: 'Give us back our eleven days!'

Unfortunately, it seems that this is an urban, and rural, myth, though the phrase was well enough known at the time. It appears, as 'give us our Eleven Days', on a placard at the bottom of William Hogarth's satirical painting An Election Entertainment:

But the missing 11 days isn't just a story about how daft the uneducated people were. A very recent blog post has pointed out that, though poorer people's wages, which were often paid by the day, fell by a third in September 1752, their rents did not. A good reason to be angry.

The taxes still had to be brought in, and so (rather than lose 11 days' tax) the government ruled that the new fiscal year should start 11 days later than Lady Day. And an extra day was added in 1800. That's why the UK tax year begins on 6 April - it's the old Lady Day, plus the (now) 12 days' drift.

Finally, as everyone's going Shakespeare mad, with the 400th anniversary of his death on 23 April, here's a brain teaser:
Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes died on the same date - but not on the same day. How can that be?

Notes:

Believe it or not, I've simplified things a lot here. The original Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 can be read online, if you really want to
All images are from FindMyPast, except for the Hogarth painting, An Election Entertainment, which is CC via Wikimedia, and the extract from the Calendar Act
If working out OS/NS dates is too much of a time-waster, there's a handy online date converter to do the work for you

And Who Might You Be?

Are you planning on going to Germany in 2016? And are you looking for the graves to visit and for cousins to say hello? Things might turn out to be a bit difficult for both.

I wrote about the difficulties of finding your German ancestor’s grave on August 31, 2015 in my blogpost “Finding your Ancestor’s Grave (Or Not)” which you can find here http://bit.ly/1O2Lyi2. But finding relatives actually isn’t that easy either.

The main reason for the difficulty of finding German relatives simply is privacy. Not only are the privacy laws in German very strict and it is complicated, time consuming and sometimes simply impossible to find information on living people. But even when you manage to find them, you might not be able to get in touch with them or even be invited to their house. The reason for this is that Germans like to keep their privacy. They like to stick with their own family and friends and are rather reserved with getting in touch with people they do not know. And most of them simply aren’t looking for new found cousins, be it first, second or third.

Another reason is that in Germany genealogy is a more or less exotic thing to do. Remember, Germans usually stayed put and think they know where they come from. There simply doesn’t seem to be a need to know more and dig deeper. Therefore, most Germans aren’t even aware that they have relatives abroad. It happens quite often that I find relatives but they simply are unfriendly and hang up, making it very clear that they aren’t interested.

Often, there are no relatives in that area, their ancestors simply moved and their descendants are impossible to trace. The earlier emigration took place, the harder it is to find relatives.

But there still is hope and it is in fact possible to find relatives that know about the emigration and welcome you to Germany (which does not mean to their house). These are some examples where I found family members:

The emigrating ancestors had come from a small village close to the Dutch border with a very active Historical Society. They had information on everything a genealogist could ask for and knew directly which family member had emigrated and what became of the siblings. And as it was a Historical Society of a small village, many of its members were related. It only took one phone call and the research was more or less completed. And within 2 months about 200 family members from all over Germany met and welcomed their new found family member from America!

The emigrating ancestors came from a small village in Baden. I found out that there was a journalist living in the village, who also wrote about the old houses in this area. He agreed to meet my client and it turned out that they were distant cousins.

The family moved overseas in the 20^th century; therefore the memory of them simply was alive and the remaining cousins knew about them and wanted to meet (but not in their home). I was only able to find them, because I turned every (and I mean EVERY!) stone around.

Once, I found the name in an online family tree; a sibling had married into this family. The researcher had more information and put me in touch with the lady who had provided him with that part of information. It turned out that she not only was a distant cousin of my client, but also a genealogist and archivist who had actually wondered what had happened to the cousin who all of the sudden vanished.

So, you see, it is possible to find relatives, but you really need time, know your way around, be creative, and, most of all, you need luck! Without luck you will not be able to get there!

But even without meeting your relatives, you will meet a lot of kind and friendly people in Germany. And who knows, maybe it turns out that you are related?

Enjoy your trip! 

Autumn - Time to Reflect

Autumn Park - by Graeme Weatherston
image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net ID-1003803

Back in May, I blogged about the books on my Spring/Summer reading list. In June I blogged about all the events (graduations, weddings, and a family reunion) that were on our family's horizon. And then for the next 3 months I went quiet. It was a busy summer and I don't know where the time went. How was your summer?

After much discussion over the past few years, my parents in early June decided to put their home on the market - and it sold that first weekend. The scramble to find a new place, make decisions about what was going to their new home, what would be given to family or friends, and what would be given away was compounded by the fact that this was a tremendous downsize in house. Not only do you move out of your home, but you also have to move into a new home and get comfortably settled. That is where the children come in - to help clean, sort, pack, move, unpack and help arrange things in the new place. Taking on a project like that is easier when you are in college and/or moving into your first or second place (and have lots less "stuff").

One of the books on my May reading list came in handy and really made me think. In the life-changing magic of tidying up, Marie Kondo suggests that we only keep the items in our house that "spark joy."  She considers that organizing before you decide what to have in your home is a never-ending process of putting stuff away. Getting rid of the clutter and simplifying our lives are the keys to having more time to spend with family and friends, more time to spend on the activities that we enjoy, and more time to spend on the projects that bring us happiness and purpose. After finishing our parents' move I certainly have a new appreciation for this mindset and I am determined to simplify things at my own home.

Our family reunion weekend (scheduled for Eastern Washington in August) collided with the wildfires that devastated the area - serious firefighting and recovery efforts took precedence over our family trip. The end of summer and beginning of the school year and back to work schedule is always a bit of a scramble. Added to that this year was the first Guild of One-Name Studies' USA Seminar. My hat is off to those volunteers who work on seminar planning (and follow-through) - oftentimes they work in the background over many months to make sure that an event or seminar comes off without a hitch (and that is no small feat). I am happy to say that our seminar was a success and huge thanks goes to the New England Historic and Genealogical Society, our partner in the seminar.

And that brings me to another book on my May reading list - The Road to Character by David Brooks. Many times during the past few months I have seen, heard or read about people in the genealogy world and in the bigger world who are doing or saying things to make themselves the Big Me - emphasizing external success. David Brooks writes about the necessity to re-balance the scales "between our resume virtues - achieving wealth, fame and status - and our eulogy virtues, those that exist at the core of our being: kindness, bravery, honesty" focusing on inner character, being part of a larger cause, taking care with the relationships we form and the actions we take.

I appreciated that two of his inspiring leaders were Frances Perkins and Dorothy Day, as they are two women whom I have always admired. What they accomplished with their lives and how they thought of and worked on behalf of others continues to inspire me. I was thrilled that Pope Francis gave the life work of Dorothy Day a shout out on his recent visit to the United States. I learned something about leadership and sacrifice from the chapters about George Marshall and A. Phillip Randolph. The lesson from each chapter is that living according to a moral code is about "quieting the self", humility, modesty and maturity. We see too little of that today. Of course it is not easy and requires constant self-examination. Would that all of us work on re-balancing our lives to avoid the Big Me.

And now we are on to Autumn (here in the northern hemisphere). I have changed the background theme on my computer monitor to reflect the bounty and crispness that is Autumn - pumpkins, apples, cranberries, nuts and leaves. And I keep The Road to Character on my nightstand (still working through the chapter on Augustine - that is a tough one) and think about the eulogy virtues - and what I can do each day to be more kind, brave, honest and caring.