From a prompt on 9/11

I was in England (from my native California) visiting my long-distance boyfriend. We had biked to a park and were just hanging out, when he got a text message. He told me I wasn’t going to be able to go home. I thought he was kidding with me because he didn’t want me to go home. He said we should get back to his house. On the way there, he got another text message saying “turn on your television.”

He didn’t tell me what was going on until we got to his house and saw it on the television. I don’t know anyone in New York, but I still cried. I called my family, and they said to stay where I was, that it was safer than being in Los Angeles. They were even concerned about me getting on a plane, but I told them it would be safer now than ever.

I was due to fly back on 9/17/2001, but as of 9/14/2001 British Airways didn’t know if the flight would be able to leave the ground. I asked for it to be rescheduled, because I didn’t want to go to London just to be turned back. I was rescheduled for 9/24/2001, and was angered to find out when I checked in they were charging me a re-booking fee, despite their website claims about rescheduling people. I never flew BA again.

Checking in for that flight, the metal detectors must have been on their highest setting, because I wore flip flops and nothing with buttons (thinking this would help me through security faster) and I still set off the metal detector with the hooks on my bra. My feet were cold on the plane for nothing! When I got home, everything was very surreal. Two weeks had passed, and it was like it never happened, because I didn’t go through the shock and anger and mourning with everyone else. Yet, it was everywhere. Only getting back to work made me feel connected to the real world again.

See more progress on: Write about where I was the morning of September 11th 2001

How to scan the old family photos

"Parents' pictures are done!"

How I did it: I bought a sheet-fed scanner, which was much faster than the flat bed I already had. Then I hired an unemployed friend to do the work for me. I still have to put some of the pictures back, the ones that were in the albums with the sticky pages and now need to be mounted with corner mounts onto scrapbook paper. The scanning itself, however, is done! Until my sisters dig up their pictures...

Lessons & tips: Do your research on scanning resolution and format, etc, particularly if you are researching before purchasing the scanner.

It took me 1 year.

It made me Happy

See more progress on: Scan the old family photos

Finished making copies of original documents

I now have copies of all of the original documents. Additional things I have processed since the last blog post:

* What appears to be a promissory note from 1904, signed by Refugio Echeverria, and co-signed by her father G. Echeverria (probably Guilebaldo).
* A letter from the same date as above, to the director of the "Normal Mixed School." It states that Refugio Echeverria wants to enroll in the school, and that she has fulfilled all of the indispensable requirements of the law and regulations to be admitted, as justified by the adjunct documents. It asks that the director grant her the right to attend her first year of school to be a teacher, and is signed by Refugio.
* A letter from a doctor Y. M. Cardenas, from the same date as above, attesting to having vaccinated Refugio Echeverria and to her good health.
* Birth certificate from 1886 birth of Refugio Echeverria.

Next step is to make detailed scans of both the documents (from the copies, as the originals are too delicate) and the photographs. After uploading to Flickr for backup purposes and to Geni for sharing purposes, I'll do what I can on short notice to stabilize the originals.

The things that are letter size or smaller are in archival-safe sheet protectors now, but all of the vital records are larger than legal size. My husband made a shopping trip for me to get scrapbooking supplies, as the 12x12 format is the only way to preserve the documents without folding, and within the next 2 days when my aunt goes back to Mexico.

Finally, I'll make another set of the copies for my aunt Angela, who is currently copying my files for herself. My aunt Cuca will be taking the originals home with her.

Genealogy finds from my aunts

If you follow my twitter, you already know that my aunt and I have traded genealogy notes. I showed her how to use Legacy and gave her a file to start out with, and also lent her my Aceves-Echeverria binder to make copies of my documents. In turn, she and my other aunt (who is visiting from Mexico) lent me their stuff. I think that I got the better deal! A quick inventory of what I've processed so far...

Pictures (I put these on Geni already, coming to Flickr soon):
* Picture of my grandmother (of whom we were told there are no photographs) in a group with other family members, including two of her aunts who helped raise her children when she died. According to my aunt Cuca, their stepmother threw all of the pictures and documents out, but this particular photograph was in my aunt's room.
* Picture of my grandmother alone, edited down from the above picture.
* Picture of my great grandmother.
* Picture of perhaps another great grandmother. Will have to double check identities.
* Picture of my uncle in the 50s with the bus he used to drive.
* Picture of my grandfather and his second wife.
* Picture of a group of kids, probably my dad and uncles.

Documents:
* My aunt's birth certificate.
* My uncle's birth certificate.
* My grandfather's birth certificate.
* My grandmother's birth certificate.
* My grandmother's death certificate.
* My grandfather and grandmother's marriage certificate.
* Hand-written letter from 1908 from Juan Ramirez (believed to be a bullfighter) to great-grandma Refugio Echeverria, written when she was pregnant with my grandmother.
* Hand-written letter from 1910 from Refugio Echeverria (either great-grandmother or great-great-grandmother; must use dates to determine) to her brother.
* Hand-written letter from 1911 from a Refugio Echeverria to her son. Probably great-great grandma, as we believe that grandma was an only child.
* Receipt from 1920 for what appears to be burial permit fee for Refugio Echeverria (unsure which one).
* Hand-written letter from 1916 from Refugio Echeverria to her brother.
* Hand-written letter from 1933 from "Maria" to her aunt Elodia Echeverria (both of the Refugios have a sister named Elodia).
* Enrollment papers for my grandmother to attend school in 1915. Unfortunately, only the signature of the headmaster is on this, not of the parents.

There are still some more documents that I haven't gone through. Some of them are falling apart, and I'm taking my time in this process. Basically, I'm making a color copy of each document, putting it away, and working from the copy. I'm on a deadline of getting the documents back to my aunt Angela's house before my aunt Cuca goes back to Mexico, so an update will probably come shortly!

As you can imagine, I'm thrilled for a number of reasons. Firstly, because I had believed, as had my father, that no pictures existed of my grandmother. They had asked around decades ago, but come up empty. I'm so glad my aunt Angela asked my aunt Cuca to look through her papers before she came on her visit. Secondly, while I may have eventually gotten all of the civil registration documents, the hand written letters are something that can never be ordered or reproduced by paying a fee. I'm so blessed that my aunt had kept them all these years. A big thank you to both of them!

Meet Isis

From Sarolite's Personal Blog

Since I haven't had the time/energy/etc to actually compose a blog post, I thought I'd start sharing some pictures.

This is Isis, our new Cane Corso that came with our new house. She's normally a very calm dog when she's inside, and a good guard dog inside and out. When put together with the puppy outside, however, she gets pretty hyper. We're working on a refresher of basic obedience training with her. She's big enough to take me with her if she decides she has to chase the neighbor's cat, so she needs a little more work before we can go to the park and stuff. She did great at my parents' house for a BBQ, and does reasonably well on walks. She just wants us to walk a whole lot faster!