Friday Funny - Happy Halloween with a Scary Night

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Be safe but have fun

Hallowe'en

Allhalloween

All Hallows' Eve

All Saints Eve

What does your family do for Halloween?

What are your family traditions?  

Have you written those stories down so they won't be lost? 

Society Sunday - FGS2015 - Connect - Explore - Refresh

      FGS 2015 Conference                    

Two Conferences - One Location

                  
"Connect.Explore. Refresh    
  + RootsTech Conference       
both 11-14 February 2015    Salt Lake City, Utah 

What does this mean to me? 

.......and I hope it means a great deal to others. 

Connect -I hope that conference goes will connect with other individuals and society leaders. Find out what is working and what is not working? How can we improve, how can we change, how can we continue on as a society?  Share the latest ideas, network, make new friends. Connect with new ways of researching, with new tools, with a new zest to do the job.

Explore- Try to explore as many topics as you can with so many classes being offered at FGS to help in your research and explore the new cool tools with RootsTech with the many many classes they will be offering. This is a big chance to explore the country's (maybe the worlds) largest Genealogy Library right here in Salt Lake City. What an opportunity. Explore your heritage in a new light.

Refresh - Relaxing with other's of a like mind, with similar goals, that speak the same language. AND with people that don't gloss over when you begin to talk about your family & its tree - you know what I am talking about! OK, now that you have taken the classes, some workshops, spent countless hours/days at the Exhibit Hall and the Library- go home with a new frame of mind, new found information and documentation, new avenues for research, new cool tools to help you in your search for your ancestors...... refreshed, renewed and re- energized.

I hope to see you there...............   

...........it is worth the time and effort. 

 I will be there, will you?

Family Friends Friday - Gathering of the Clan

What a great weekend...........  a day at my first Scottish Games and a day with family members I have not seen or talked too in many many years- it's an ABERLE gathering. It was held in a home in West Sacramento- pool, swimming, and BBQ and lot so catching up. What a great day, and I hope the first of many......... Thanks Janice for your hospitality and opening up your home to this bunch. We had a great time. Hopefully the grounds were left as clean as it was when we arrived.

It did rain/sprinkled a little through out the day but it did not stop anything..........  just enough water that we knew it was coming down but no thunder or lightning so the water fun continued along with the BBQ etc etc.

The Cousins- it all about the cousins and their children. Only one cousin missing. Nate lives in Chicago so we really didn't expect to see him but wouldn't it have been great. Hi Nate, maybe next time.

left to right:   Jake (Connie's son); Anabella with DJ and Zaiden; Connie; Jason with Ashlyn (Michael's daughter), Travis with Aden (Michael's son) and Michael.........  what a great looking group.

There are certainly other cousins from other sides of the family but this is the immediate ABERLE cousins.

..........and here is everyone together. 

back left: Ron and Connie; Jason Aberle; Deb Aberle (wife of John Aberle); Leslie and Travis Aberle; Joe (Louella's friend) and Louella Fusaro (Travis's mother); Chuck and Sandi (Gardner-Aberle) Benward

front left: Jake (Ron & Connie's son); Josh (Jason's son); Anabella (daughter) & Zaiden (son) of DJ;   Michael Aberle; John Aberle; Ashlyn and Aden Aberle (Michael's children)

Not pictured Krisi (Jason's wife) & missing is Nate from Chicago & thanks to Janice for taking the pictures from 3 dozen phones. 

Great day with a BBQ machine out of the dark ages (1999), ran out of charcoal and ran out of lighter fluid but we finally got it all together between Janice, Connie, and John........  the charcoal temps finally got up to temps (of course after we cooked most of the meat) that would actually cook food well .............  beef, chicken, vegi, steaks and hot dogs all went on.....  lots of very good side dishes, fruit and sweets and plenty of drinks of all types. My two dozen deviled eggs disappeared quickly.

Several took advantage of the pool..........  love the make up of the pool, with a very shallow end for lounge chairs. How cool is that!! AND AND the pool is filled with salt water YES salt water. 

.........and these wonderful stepping stones around the pool that are sand dollars. Absolutely love them.

  

Notes to myself to-do:  Need to get with Connie and write down all the basic information about my niece and nephews, their spouses and children. It surprises me how much I don't know. Need to get caught up with the living first and then go back to the Ancestors.......

All these cousins all come from two families.........  Walter Bridge ABERLE and brother John ABERLE. The whole thing is a little complex (volatile & emotional) so I won't go into it here, I just need to know that I know the truth.

Walter ABERLE is the father of Michael, Jason and Travis
John ABERLE is the father of Connie, Douglas John (DJ) and Nate

Walter & John's parents are:

Douglas John and Dorothy Margaret (Bridge) ABERLE both born in 1921 in San Francisco, California both deceased

ABERLE family side is sketchy at best........  this information came from my wedding book, the family tree for groom filled in by MIL Dorothy Aberle...........

Doug's parents are listed as:
Miguel (Central America) and Clara (Klein- San Jose, California) ABERLE

Miguel's parents are: Richard ABERLE (no wife listed) he is from Spain
Clara's parents are: Walter and Clara (BAHN) Klein -both from Germany
================================

Dorothy BRIDGE Aberle is a bit easier to follow back..........
 born in San Francisco, California in  1921 (- 2003)
Her parents: Ernest Herbert Bridge (B: Park City, Utah) and
           Anna Frances Mache (San Francisco, California)

Ernest's parents:
John M and Helen (CATO) BRIDGE both from England
Anna's parents:
Peter (b: Lombardy, Italy) and Meta (Klee  b: New York, New York) Mache
===============================

I can see where some of the given names are popping up on the ABERLE side ......
                             Walter, Douglas John, Clara
....and so far I see where there is English, German and Italian backgrounds - Italian research is new for me.

Wondering if any of the family have any family pictures of the grandparents and great grandparents. That would be wonderful........  

Travel Tuesday - Scottish Games in Dixon - Come join us at the CEILIDH!!

The Scottish Games gave me an opportunity to Explore my Scottish side on my dad's side...... all at the Dixon Scottish Games yesterday. I have never attended before although each year I hear about them and for whatever reason could not make it. So this year all the stars were in alignment, a beautiful day and Chuck came with me...........  how much better does it get!! (well, add men in kilts) (Yes there are plenty of women participating too)

The Games feature a slice of Scottish life for guests to learn about, and sample.  Vendors selling Scottish foods, drink, and goods, will be on hand.  Athletes will compete in traditional Scottish sporting events, including Shinty and Rugby.  Dancers, pipers, and pipe bands will play and perform to traditional Scottish tunes.  And the clans will be present to help you find your inner Scot.

For more information about the Games & the Association - Dixon Scottish Cultural Association

I was thrilled because there was an interactive genealogical lecture presented by Lauren Boyd McLachlan.  

  

Lauren is President of the House of Boyd, President of the Scottish Information Society, Past President of the Marin County Genealogical Society, Co– Administrator of the Scottish DNA Project and Genealogist Emeritus for Clan Stewart Society in America.  

Lauren’s lectures  on Scottish Genealogy have been well received at the Sacramento Valley Caledonian Club’s Scottish Games and Gatherings as well as other venues for several years.  She has had a life long interest in family history and has been doing genealogy since the 1980s. She even gave us the password so that we could download her handout from the lecture. 

So You Think You Are Scottish but you need a SECRET password to download the information.

Scottish Heavy Athletics a little more explanation of each of the games...........

Wow, grown healthy men in kilts, what else could I ask for!! It sure kept my attention.......  and of course the question that is always asked. Anything under those kilts? Don't know but...............

Weight Over the Bar - Hammer Throw- now 16-22 lbs iron balls 

Throwing metal of great weights is not as easy as it looks. They brought the piece over to the sidelines so we could examine it and hold it............ HEAVY!!!! 

Caber Toss - 

Huge logs about 19 feet long and weighing about 120 lbs. must be thrown end to end........ and it is not an easy thing to do either. Very few were able to do it. 

So much harder to do ..........  he missed to put the sack over the top bar.... but listen to the music!!

I don't know what this game is called "SACK SLINGING?" I am sure that he was exhausted since this was the end of the day and each participant had quite a number of tries........ the bar is started above the colored marks and is raised 3 feet after each participants makes it over the bar or exhaust his 3 tries .....  then the remaining continue with 3 feet higher and then another 3 feet  etc. It starts with 23 feet and ends at 32 or maybe it was 35 feet............

Entertainment Through Out the Day - good music