Turn Back Time Tuesday - Timeless Pictures

It's Tuesday and I thought it would be fun to post a few "timeless" pictures!  It is so fun to look back on old pictures. I've scanned them to make sure I have these memories for a long time!

At the Alaska State Fair.

My brother Kevin and I, with Mom.

Kevin, Terri and Todd with our Great Grandmother Marley.

Today's Terri's Tidbit:

Some fun websites I have found that you might want to check out:  We went to a great concert in Denver last weekend that was organized by the Christian singer Chris Tomlin.  During the concert he shared that there is a project going on to build a Museum of the Bible in Washington DC.  It sounds like a fascinating project.  Check it out here.

Want to find out your BMI and the number of calories you burn?  Check out this fun site.

Not sure who your Senate and House representatives are?  Here is an easy site to find out who they are.

Keeping Family History Alive

Many people will never know about the family members that came before them.  I didn't want to be one of those people so I started doing research, and before long, became an addict.  Yes, a genealogy addict!  I want to find all my relatives and pass on those names to my children, so they can in turn pass them on to their children.  Research is not always an easy task but it is getting easier and easier, thanks to all the websites that are devoted to genealogy and family history. I heard yesterday that genealogy has surpassed gardening as a favorite hobby.  More and more people are going to become addicts, just like me!

My mom passed away at the young age of 52.  Oh how I wish I had sat down with her and asked her lots of questions about her life growing up, about her family members, about her earliest memories, about lots of things.  But I didn't.  Don't wait to ask those questions of the ones you love.  I have started quizzing my dad and I have found out some of the most amazing things.  You will too!

Me as a baby, with my mom and dad.

While doing my research, I seem to run into brick walls more than not, but every once in awhile, I come across something that blows one of those walls wide open.  I recently went on a search of a great, great grandmother and knew lots about her from the time she married on until she died.  However, I couldn't find anything about her before that.  As I mentioned in a previous blog, I went onto the Facebook page for the North Carolina Genealogy group and posted a query seeking information on Margaret E. Gordy Green.  In no time, someone came back with several pieces of information that were very helpful and I was able to break down that wall.

It is so important to make sure any information you find is well sourced and that you constantly back up what you have found.  Sourcing is important so you know where to go back, to find that information, if you need it again.  And you would certainly hate to lose all the info you have found because you didn't have it backed up.  I use Backblaze as my cloud backup but I also have a zip drive with the same information on it.  I try to backup my info a couple times a week but at least once, for sure.

I have been scanning pictures and saving them in several places too.  All those pictures that were taken back in the early 60's are becoming more and more faded.  I don't want to lose those precious memories.  Some of them I have been able to enhance in my photo program, that came with the computer.  But they will never be as good as they were back then.  Below is an example of what I am talking about -

This is the photo that has been
enhanced.  The original is below.

I have lots of scanning and enhancing to do but it will be worth it to be able to preserve them for later.  

Do you have a bunch of old family VHS tapes laying around?  There are lots of companies now that will take them and put them on a DVD.  I have one from the 60's of my family that really brings back precious memories.  I want to get it on a zip drive or saved in another format so I don't lose it.  There are some programs out there that will do that too.  I am still trying to decide which one is better but I will do it, so it will be preserved for the future.  

    

See how faded this on
not be able to see it.  

I have made a book, through Shutterfly, about my mom's life, which I gave to my family for Christmas one year. They loved having that book of pictures and stories.  And Shutterfly made it so easy to do and was very reasonable.  

All these things will help you preserve your family history and although they might not appreciate it now, I have no doubt, that in the future, your children, and theirs, will love that you took the extra time to keep their memories alive.  

Today's Terri's Tidbit:  If you have old family VHS tapes, audio tapes, etc and you would like them put onto a DVD or other medium, contact TMC Place.com. They have been preserving people's memories for over 30 years.