Recipe for Success...

This summer has been rather rainy so far. It's days like this that all you want to do
is curl up on the couch with a cup of tea, a good book and comfort food.  One of my
favorites that Mom used to make was Colcannon, a combination of mashed potatoes and
cabbage (along with generous amounts of cream, butter, salt and pepper).  Perhaps it's
the Irish bloodlines or a flashback to the famine, but everything always seemed better
when accompanied by a side order of potatoes (mashed, baked, fried, boiled ....you name
it).

Some Irish favorites still make their way to our tables, even if only a few times a
year.  What would St. Pat's be like without Corned Beef and Cabbage.  Irish Stew, Soda
bread and Boxty (potato pancakes) were some of the dishes passed on to our mothers
(although Mom's soda bread making left something to the imagination).

Food has always been an integral part of every culture. Kitchen traditions have been a
great way to teach your kids about their cultures and bring the family together.  Half
of our family gatherings end up with most of us in the kitchen, either eating, cooking
or just shooting the breeze.  Family picnics (if the sun ever comes out this summer)
are a great way to get together and get caught up.    Pull that barbecue out of the
garage and get the charcoal going.  A day in the sun with good food, family and friends
 can make the summer even more enjoyable.

School Daze.....

Shifted gears yet again to relieve some of the frustration of the current mysteries i'm working on, so I thought I'd do a bit of browsing throught the yearbooks on Ancestry to see if I could find any of my family.  While i wasn't able to find my immediate family, i did make an interesting discovery.  I came across my Uncle Bill's picture.  He was a history professor at Seton Hall back in those days (1940's).  I immediately emailed my find to his daughters, who I know would enjoy it.

I hadn't realized how many yearbooks have already been digitized for the archive.  I was suprised to find as many as i did.  I still have to check out more current yearbooks, to see if i can find the cousins around my age or so.  I don't know if my yearbook is there, but if not, i may volunteer and scan it in for the records.  Take out those yearbooks that are sitting in the bookcase, see if it's already been added to the collection. It's a fun trip down memory lane at the very least

And the Mystery Continues.....

I know it's been a bit since my last post.  I've been working on the latest mystery of
the true history of Margaret Kelly, my grandmother.  According to my father, Margaret
and my grandfather met in Ireland and married prior to emigrating to the United States.
However, when i found the US census information for the couple, it showed them both
emigrating when they were very young - Margaret in 1888. I had a stroke of luck
checking Findagrave.com and found that my grandmother's father was named Michael.  I
was able to find Michael, his wife Mary, and children James(2 yrs) and Margaret (7
mos).  So now i have some information i can use to track her family. Pretty exciting
stuff.
The newest conundrum though is her husband Bernard emigrating to the US in 1890.  The
records i have of Bernard show him in Ireland yet until 1912.  I still have to locate
their arrival record in order to see if they returned to Ireland or if I have the wrong
family in my research. The search goes on.  I'll keep you posted.