Let's celebrate the 4th of July on a Tablescape

Ready for a 4th of July celebration with a table full of red gingham, stars and stripes, Uncle Sam, and an elephant and a donkey.  We are a 2 party household so we cover all bases!  I bought the indigo tablecloth from Crate and Barrel several years ago on sale.  I love their tablecloths, they are usually heavy and well made.  This one almost looks like denim material with a slight weave to it. The runner came from a gift shop, now closed.  I bought the handmade donkey and elephant pot holders on eBay several years ago I think. They make me laugh.

The multi-color place mat came from Pier 1 several years ago.  I have had the red gingham plates for a few years, I have a smaller one too.  They are made by At Home with Marieke, I love the gingham!  The star plate is from Sur La Table a few years ago, I got it on sale in a set.  I watch for their sales because they have cute holiday designs sometimes. Napkins are either HomeGoods or Pier 1, I can't remember. I can't remember where I got the napkin rings but they were an antique white and I painted them because I wanted a true white. The flatware is Cambridge Barcelona, I have this pattern in a medium blue as well. I really like the frosted color and simple design. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

Using my Waterford Marquis red goblets on this tablescape. I think I use these more than any other goblets I have.  I got them at HomeGoods a few years ago.  I sometimes buy tablescaping items in sets of 12 because there are 11 of us with the grandkids and I was really lucky one day because I saw them and they had exactly 12. I grabbed them quick!  I later found the same pattern in an ice tea and I bought those as well. The other goblet is Red Spiral, I bought them at Pier 1 several years ago. The small bowl is from Pier1 as well from a few years back. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying goblets for your tablescaping collection including the colors that I use most often here.

There is something about red, white, and blue that is just timeless and the contrast in colors is always striking.

To see 200+ other tablescapes that I have created including 12 other 4th of July tables please click here. If you are on Facebook, join my Tablescape Ideas group! Just click on the Facebook Search box at the top of the page and type in Tablescape Ideas. Don’t miss my Tablescaping How-To section at the top of this blog post (or here) for more tablescaping tips and tricks.

I put a new tablescape on my blog every week so please check back!

The passing of our days...

I have been retired now for almost 2 years. Someone recently asked what I was doing now and indicated puzzlement about how I could retire.   Like my only value was tied up in my career. My first thought was that they don't know me now, they knew me when I was working but my life has changed.  But I realized as we talked that they think of retirement as their parents did. Work stopped completely for them.  My generation looks at retirement in a completely different way.  I am busier now than I was when I was working.  I tried to explain that but I could see that they didn't get it so I gave up. The last part of working, I was doing a 4-40.  I left the house at 6:15 AM and got home about 6:45 PM.  I had little time for anything else. Granted I had a 3 day weekend every week but those of us who worked that schedule agreed that Friday was mostly spent recovering from being tired all week.  And part of my job was traveling all over visiting libraries.  When I stopped working I was really tired, both mentally and physically.  I spent about 6 months really doing nothing but recovering from that kind of life style.  Since then, I have filled my days and every day when I get up I decide what I want to do that day.  And there aren't enough hours it seems to do it all.  When my friends and I want to get together we have to schedule a couple weeks out because our days are so full. I have always been an organizer, I like an environment that is organized and I am in the middle of organizing the house so that everything has a place and I don't have to search for anything, I hate wasting time looking for things.  I want every closet, drawer, and cupboard to be organized just so and I want to know where everything is. Yes, I do sound anal. I also am photographing and inventorying all the special family heirlooms, etc. so the kids will know whether something is a family heirloom or I bought it on ebay.  My daughter is really pushing me to do this and write the background stories as well.  And then there are all the photos...so much work to do there.  I am the only one who can identify the old ones and my husband is pushing me to get them scanned and organized.  That is a huge project that will go on for some time.  And there are all the genealogy files from my decades of research that need scanning and organizing.  That alone will take a few years.  Lately I spend time doing more research instead of organizing what I already have.  Right now I am documenting our surname in the 1650's in MA.  Going through probate records and land deeds from that time period and I love it. Truth be told I would rather do that than almost anything else.  I like to spend special time with family too now and I have time to see my brothers that I didn't have before. I am getting into cooking again, gathering recipes and trying new things. And then there is the garden, I work in the garden every day now, just spent two hours out there. There is always something that needs doing out there and I do enjoy that.   And I haven't even mentioned the second home we are furnishing at the moment or the traveling I have done and will continue to do.  So, what am I doing in retirement? The answer is, all of the above, and the days pass very quickly.

Another 4th of July table setting

This is another 4th of July table setting with an Uncle Sam theme. Lots of stars and stripes.

Genealogy for Beginners, Finding Your Family

I am a genealogist, I trace family history.  I have been doing this for over 40 years and I taught genealogy classes for many years.  I do genealogical research almost every day, it is a passion for me.  I have worked on our families for so long that it is nice to work on something different from time to time. Every week I am usually working on someone else’s family tree just for fun. Someone who has contacted me for help. It is just a fun hobby for me. Above is a photo from about 1940 of my maternal grandparents (back left) with some of their family including my mother (second row down, third from the left). With all the genealogical resources now on the Internet it can be fairly easy to go back a few generations quickly if you know where to look. If you don't have birth, marriage and death certificates for your parents and/or grandparents that will give you further information, you can start with the 1950 U.S. Census, the most recent Census that is available for the public to use.  It is available online for free at https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/collection/4464515 The link leads you to the index where you can search for your family by name and other identifying terms. The other Census decades are available at Family Search as well. The Census pages are very difficult to photograph but when you follow the link and find your family, you will be able to see the columns very clearly.

This is a page from the 1940 US Census https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/collection/2000219 that shows my maternal grandfather and grandmother (at the bottom, Willis and Joanna Leonard) who were living in San Bernardino, California at that time.  The Census shows (along the left edge) that they were living at 3233 Pershing Avenue.

As you can see, there is a large amount of other information that is provided about them including age, occupation, income, and their state or country of birth.  It also tells where they were in 1935 as well. You should always read across the top and see what the columns include.

The US Census has been taken every 10 years since 1790 however the Censuses before 1850 only list the head of the household and the 1890 Census was destroyed by fire.  Each Census contains different information and it is important to track your family line back through every decade and read each column carefully so you don't miss anything. The Census may contain errors because the census worker was relying on whoever it was who answered the door and provided the information or whoever filled out the form. Also the information provided by family between Censuses may differ from decade to decade because memories of the past might have changed or the information wasn't known firsthand and it was inaccurate. 

This page shows the family (at the bottom) in the 1930 US Census https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/collection/1810731 , still living in San Bernardino but now living at 427 Magnolia Avenue.  Willis and Joanna are listed but also in the household are two daughters, Lois and K. Elizabeth and Willis's mother-in-law, Emma L Howey. 

The Censuses from 1880 on state the relationship of everyone in the household to the head of the household only, no one else. This is important to remember when there are multiple marriages in a family. Before 1880 no relationships are stated in the Census and people often make mistakes thinking that everyone in the group listed was an immediate family group. For example, in 1850 my Great-Gr-Gr-Grandfather was listed with a woman and several children, all with the same surname. As it turns out, his first wife died, and then he married 2 different sister-in-laws, and all his children and nieces and nephews with the same surname were all listed together in the same household. You need to prove relationships from a parent to a child as well as dates and places. The 1930 Census also listed what ages the head of the household and spouse were when they were first married and it also gives the state or country where their parents were born.  Again, you need to read each column, across the top, to see what information is provided.

This Census page shows the family in 1920 https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/collection/1488411 , again in San Bernardino, and at the same address.  This is 10 years earlier and there are now other children still living at home.

What is interesting to note here is that for the older children, the birthplace of the mother is different from the younger children.  This is a strong clue that Willis may have been married before he married Joanna. The other clue is the fact that the oldest child listed is only 16 years younger than Joanna, another strong indication of an earlier marriage. Another clue is the gap between the birth of daughters Dorothy and Lois.

As you move back through the Census decades you will be able to find more information about your family.  It can be a challenge but it is worth it! Send me a Facebook message https://www.facebook.com/beth.wilson.777/ if you have any questions or need some help with your genealogy. You can read more blog posts that I have written about genealogy here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/genealogy