Posted in Travel on May 24th, 2011
Driving in Poland can be a harrowing experience! Since my trip took me across the countryside northwest from Warsaw to Osiek, then south to Krakow, and west to Zakopane before our our return to Warsaw — I booked quite a lot of time on the highways. Given the distances, it should not have been as [...]
Posted in Share a story about your heritage, Travel on Apr 28th, 2011
According to my grandmother’s birth certificate, Osiek, Poland was listed as my great-grandfather’s birthplace. Prior to my arrival in Poland, the genealogist had done some research to look for birth records in Osiek. The problem is that there are eighteen Osiek’s in the area that was previously known as the Russian Partition! The original meaning [...]
Posted in Travel on Apr 25th, 2011
It is Easter weekend and the city of Warsaw is busy with preparations for this most holy of Catholic holidays. Last week was Palm Sunday but the flower vendors are still selling the ornamental palm fronds that are traditionally blessed on Palm Sunday, and then go back into homes as Easter decorations on dining tables.
Flower [...]
I posted a couple of months ago that I was planning to go to Poland. By reading in the Polish genealogy magazine, Rodziny (Our Family), that it was possible to hire local genealogists to accompany you through the country, I decided that I would try to arrange my tour in that manner. I contacted the [...]
On my New Year’s post, I shared with you one of my resolutions which is to travel to Poland on a genealogical tour in 2011. I want to do a personal trip to explore my ancestral roots. Evidently this is not a new idea, as I read an article about ‘genealogical tourism’ in Rodizny, the [...]
Posted in Share a story about your heritage, Travel on Mar 9th, 2010
I have never heard of a ‘Gene-O-Rama’ but there is one happening in Ottawa, Canada on March 26-27. The subject of the conference will be Researching Female Ancestors. The program is jointly presented by the Ottawa branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society and the Library and Archives of Canada. On-line registration can be done by [...]
Posted in Travel, Uncategorized on Mar 2nd, 2010
While visiting in Southwestern Pennsylvania, I came across the work of a painter named Frank Melega. (1905 – 1997) Little did I know that he was the son of a Slovak coal miner who grew up in a coal mining ‘patch.’ He was destined to become the most famous artist to depict the Southwestern Pennsylvania [...]
Posted in Travel on Nov 10th, 2009
Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Zapata Ranch in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. Zapata Ranch is a former working ranch nestled below the Great Sand Dunes National Park, maintained by the Nature Conservancy which is preserving the habitat, flora and fauna, and herds of cattle and bison. Their goal is [...]
Posted in Share a story about your heritage, Travel on Sep 29th, 2009
Latvia seemed destined to remain behind the Iron Curtain forever in 1984 when I began planning my trip to discover my roots and visit relatives. Just one year earlier, President Ronald Reagan had described the Soviet Union as an “Evil Empire” just a few months after the former head of the KGB, Yuri Andropov, assumed [...]
Posted in Travel on Aug 11th, 2009
Last week I took a day’s excursion with a group of friends down to the Crow Canyon Archeological Center, located in Cortez, Colorado. www.crowcanyon.org We were given a VIP tour, thanks to one of the women who was with us who sits on the Board of Directors. Our visit started with a short explanation about [...]