Saturday, March 30, 2013

Saturday Serendipity -- March 30, 2013




Saturdays often allow a more leisurely approach to life than work days. I can more easily post links to some blog posts or other materials I have discovered during the week, or even to those discovered during a Saturday morning coffee and extended surfing of the blogosphere/internet.

Here are a few serendipitous discoveries from this week that I commend for inclusion on your reading list.

1.   Having worked with a new-found 4th cousin to track down a lost family Bible after more than 80 years, I can really understand how having a family bible more than 300 years old returned after being stolen would restore some faith in fellow man.  Read about Tim Shier's story here and how he retrieved this family treasure.  The link was found at Upfront Mini Bytes on Upfront With NGS.   [AND if you have Swedish ancestors, be sure to check out the news on available datbases and articles on Swedish research on Arkivdigital.]

2.  Always a good source for interesting reads related to genealogy and history, The Weekly Genealogist of NEHGS has an interesting link to a New York Times article on California in the Civil War http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/arts/artsspecial/heralding-californias-little-known-role-in-the-civil-war.html?ref=artsspecial&_r=1&

3.   Molly and I just returned today from a week in Switzerland -- a wonderful trip during her school Spring Break, but there was no spring to be found in Switzerland this past week (only rain, snow and winter temperatures).  We were there for "Karfreitag" or Good Friday and found that most of the non-tourist activities and shops in the country are "geschlossen" (closed) during this Good Friday/Easter weekend.  I found Heather's link at Leaves for Trees to German Easter ("Ostern") traditions on ABT UNK to be an interesting read since we were in the German speaking cities of Zurich, Luzerne and Bern this past week and Ostern preparation was everywhere -- including this photo we took in Zurich of choral practice at St. Peter's Kirche, a cathedral going back to about the year 1000.

Practicing the Hallelujah Chorus for Ostern at St. Peter's Kirche in Zurich.
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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew
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