19th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture Posted!

The 19th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on "I speak from experience," and you can read more about it here. Enjoy!

18th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture Posted!

The 18th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on poetry, and you can read more about it here. Enjoy!

89th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 89th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on

"The Third Annual iGene Awards, The Best of The Best! It's Academy awards time... time for the Academy of Genealogy and Family History, aka AGFH, to honor their best blog posts of 2009 in the following 5 categories:

• Best Picture - Best old family photo that appeared on your blog in 2009. Tell us which you liked best and why.
• Best Screen Play - Which family story that you shared in 2009 would make the best movie? Who would you cast as your family members?
• Best Documentary - Which was the best informational article you wrote about a place, thing, or event involving your family's history in 2009?
• Best Biography - Which was the best biographical article you wrote in 2009?
• Best Comedy - Which was the best funny story, poem, joke, photo, or video that you shared on your blog in 2009?"

Enjoy!

88th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 88th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on

"Ode to My Family's History! This time around we'll be composing a poem that tells our family's history. It can be long or short, rhyme or not rhyme, funny or serious, illustrated or not... you choose, but make it appropriate as an introduction for a book or video on your family history. The challenge is on! The deadline for submissions is February 1st, 30 submissions accepted."

Enjoy!

What Day Was I Born On?

FootnoteMaven has posted an article on the nursery rhyme about the characteristics of the day a child was born, and has issued a challenge for other genealogists to list the day they were born with the rhyme for that day. Of course, I could not resist not posting, and I've decided to participate as well.

So, what day was I born on? I was born on a Sunday. The poem, according to footnoteMaven's post, states: "But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day/Is bonny and blithe and good and gay."

When I was a little girl, I received a book of nursery rhymes as a Christmas gift, and I remember that this poem was in the book. Of course, I do not remember the words for the verse in the book being the same as the verse above.

Wikipedia's article on the poem gives a different version of the Sunday, and lists the verse for Sunday as: "But the child that is born on Sabbath-day/Is bonny and happy and wise and gay." This verse is much closer to what I can recall from my nursery book, although I think the wording in my book was a modernized version of the verse. Either way, the two different verses for that day are fairly similar.

So, on what day where you born?

A Poem In My Pocket ...

Lisa of A Light That Shines Again, 100 Years In America, and Small-leaved Shamrock posted a challenge to other genealogy bloggers to post their favorite poem today, in tribute to April being the National Poetry Month. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of poetry; I'm more of a fan of short stories. (It could be either that the poems I had to read in school were unappealing to me, or it just could be that I like to write short stories.) So, I really don't have a "favorite poem," but I happen to like Psalm 96 (I guess Psalms counts as poems), and used part of it as a beginning to a short story:

Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all people.

For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the nations,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.

Say among the nations, "The Lord reigns."
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;
they will sing before the Lord, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his truth. (Psalm 96:1-13 NIV Version)

I'm not exactly sure as to why I like this psalm, but this song does remind me of contemporary Christian songs of today, so maybe that is why. (Anyhow, I only used the first stanza in the story, but that's for another time.) Of course, I have written poems before in school, but I don't believe they are any good. I did write an allegorical and historical poem about the history of Boston (and Massachusetts in general) last year for a class, but it is extremely long. Plus, I feel embarrassed to post it. Either way, this post is long enough as it is.

More on Limericks ...

Over the past few days since I posted my limerick post, a couple of limerick posts on me have been posted in the comments section. I've been busy, so I haven't had a chance to post them before, but I will now.

The first one is from Terry:

Jessica is a student who blogs
(Wearing mittens) about some HOGS
As off to class through snow she slogs
To learn and to earn her degree.
Top priority is to study we decree ---
But at genealogy away she plugs.

The second one is from Janice:

Jessica stockpiles all the links she can muster,
Shining the best of them to a fine lustre
Quizzes, carnivals, and tips she includes in the cluster
If only she'd known of a very rich uncle
Thoughts of grad school would then not give her carbuncle
And she could master the world into which life has thrust her.

Thank you to both Terry and Janice.

Limerick Post ...

Within the past week or so, Terry Thornton has posted a challenge for other genealogy bloggers to post limericks about their blogs. I am going to attempt to come with my own limerick. So, here goes my poem:

I live in the land of the mitten

where every gets written

on my blog,

from the weather to book logs

all the while I'm sittin'.

Okay, I tried. I don't think this is very good, but this is what I came up with at the moment.