The Shrinking Tree

Or, Why Charlemagne is Not My Ancestor By Eilene Lyon My recent post, The Instant Tree, sparked a discussion with Zoe Krainik from Hollywood Genes which I thought worthy of expanding on. Zoe provided a link to this article that seems to suggest that each European today is descended from everyone living in Europe during... Continue Reading →

August 13, 2019 32

The Botanist

Week 20: #52 Ancestors – Nature By Eilene Lyon You’ve met my great-grandmother, Clara Ransom Davis in several earlier posts. Clara moved to Idaho as a teen and attended Moscow High School, becoming a teacher at 16, while still in school herself. She attended the University of Idaho, and graduated with the third class in... Continue Reading →

May 19, 2019 30

The Huntington: Galleries

By Eilene Lyon During my day-long visit to the Huntington, I alternated between strolling through the gardens and visiting the galleries to get out of the sun for a bit. I wrote previously about the gardens. Henry and Arabella were both collectors and particularly enamored with Louis XVI French style. Their former residence is dedicated... Continue Reading →

April 29, 2019 23

Unintended Consequences

Week 15: #52 Ancestors – DNA By Eilene Lyon Well into my second year of doing Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks prompts, I’ve struck on one that really has me stymied. The “DNA” prompt just doesn’t bring any particular ancestor or relative to mind. Should I write about medical issues? Perhaps the... Continue Reading →

April 26, 2019 33

The Drought Diaries: Reprieve?

By Eilene Lyon The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Has given my heart A change of mood And saved some part Of a day I had rued. --Robert Frost Dust of Snow March 14, 2019 The skiing at Wolf Creek was totally awesome! The... Continue Reading →

March 29, 2019 6

A Slow Death

By Eilene Lyon A 19th Century Scourge In my gold rush research, I’ve come across a couple cases of milk sickness – a deadly disease that was common in the 19th century throughout the Ohio River Valley states. I made the erroneous assumption that this was some bacterial illness that was neutralized by pasteurization. Rather,... Continue Reading →

March 24, 2019 32

The Striker

By Eilene Lyon We live in a forested area with many birds - and in a house with lots of windows. Once we started using UV decals, the number of birds striking our home dropped, but did not stop altogether. Every year, some continue to perish this way, which really saddens me, but I really... Continue Reading →

March 22, 2019 26

The Rest of the Tour: Southwest New Mexico

By Eilene Lyon Following up on my post about the Bisti Badlands, these are some highlights from the rest of our tour of southwest New Mexico last October. From the Bisti, we continued south on NM 371 to I-40. Exiting at mile 89, we headed to a BLM campground adjacent to El Malpais National Monument... Continue Reading →

March 5, 2019 29

A Secret Mission

Week 50: #52 Ancestors – Naughty By Laurence M. Smith (May 7, 1985) At times there are unusual experiences involved in being an Electrical Engineer. It was the time of World War II. I had just transferred from Portland to Spokane, Washington, to work on the design of the Spokane Army Air Field. It was... Continue Reading →

December 9, 2018 26