That's Gneiss! #173 ~ Just a regular week gone by
Plus: searching for an elusive ancestor, and South African disco
Hello friends,
I predict the next few weeks are going to be a strange time for all of us. As we approach the one-year anniversary of the start of pandemic lockdowns, each week will bring a list of “the last time I [fill in the blank] before lockdown.” Michael and I have already surpassed the last time we took a trip anywhere together. I was looking for something in my older newsletters and I realized something I’m really missing is going out into the world and seeing all the weird and wonderful things. Our world is very small, and it’s going to be a while yet before it expands again.
One week ago we were sitting under several inches of snow, and I still had a few days left of my week off from work.
I have mixed feelings about snow, like many people. I love it, but after a couple of days it gets tiresome. The slushy melting phase isn’t terribly pretty either. Not having to drive in the snow this year helped make it more enjoyable, as did sights like this!
Once it started to melt, it disappeared pretty quickly with a few exceptions. Somebody was very ambitious! I haven’t walked by since I took this photo, but I bet there are still blobs of snow left at this spot. I like how eventually the only thing left are random small patches of snow that inexplicably survive both the rising temperatures and the rain until poof! They’re gone too.
Yesterday I saw my first fully open daffodil of the year!
After the snow melts, the green shades of the trees and plants seem even more vivid. I’ve started seeing more buds on plants, and tiny leaves starting to poke out for another year. The moss is loving all of the moisture in any form.
We still have plenty of gray, dreary days ahead, but spring doesn’t seem so elusive anymore. I look forward to the time when I’ll be able to sit outside and read, or tend to our garden beds.
I’ve been thinking about everyone I know in Texas, and hoping they’re okay. What’s been happening there is NOT okay, and could have been prevented if not for greed and negligence. I hope there are better days ahead for everyone there.
Yesterday I attended a library program - ATTENDED! I wasn’t working - I attended for fun! The program was called “Not Who He Once Was: Tips for Finding Your Name-changing Ancestor” and was presented by Mary Kircher Roddy. I was quite interested in the topic, as Michael’s grandfather is a complete mystery. Family stories indicate he changed his name at some point before coming to England, there’s reference to a family name, and a few other clues. Then he left England and came back to the U.S. where he disappears again, allegedly into the Chicago area.
I’ve been utterly stumped, but haven’t really done any organized research. Every now and then I plunk his grandfather’s name into the various databases and see what comes up, which is a whole lotta nuthin.’ He did manage to choose a name that’s the same as a prominent man from New England in the late 1700’s. There’s plenty about that guy!
Recently Michael did the 23andMe DNA test, and this is where things have finally gotten interesting. There are a couple of people who fall into the second-cousin range who mention variations of the family name on their profiles! It’s not a common name, and not the type of name somebody would randomly make up as a family name to give their kid as a middle name. Progress! I haven’t reached out to either of those folks yet, but plan to soon. “Bagging a live one” was one of the tips from yesterday’s workshop - find somebody who’s living that you can ask!
I’ve started organizing the information I have into some semblance of order, so I can maybe finally make some headway. There is one very interesting tidbit that exists. Years ago Michael made a drawing from a photo of his grandfather, grandmother, and one of their children.
Michael is an excellent artist, by the way.
Several years ago we hired a genealogist in the UK to do a little legwork for us there, and he found some information related to military service for somebody with the same name (minus the first name). There was a photo!
That hair.
This is going to take a lot of work, but after the class yesterday I’m feeling reenergized! I got quite a few good tips for better searching.
Genealogy is such a rabbit hole!
Tidbits
From Links I Would Gchat You if We Were Friends:
Tired of the view out of your window? Check out WindowSwap to see somebody else’s view!
Emojipedia - everything you ever wanted to know about your favorite emojis! Learn what they mean and when to use them, their history, and what they look like on different platforms.
Be Prepared - Dan Rather shares some thoughts about being prepared for disaster - reassuring, wise, and to the point about where things go wrong
So many to try! So sparkly, so color-changy… so cleverly packaged!
Our friends from Algiers have been working on some new things - have a listen!
Making: Working away on my daily watercolor pod drawings! Only 79 to go… it’s hard to capture the colors accurately, but they’re close! I also did a little bit of watercolor painting on my remaining days off, but didn’t take photos.
Reading: I finished Mexican Gothic - an excellent read! I can’t say much because I don’t want to give anything away… Now I’m on to Northwest Trees (thinking about forests!), and How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy while waiting for some holds to come in.
Art zone
This week’s featured artist is Karen Carson, who Austin Kleon shared in his latest newsletter.
Carson debuted in 1971 with wall pieces made of zippered canvases that could be reconfigured to create multiple abstract compositions. Since then, she has continued to shift and change, working in a wide variety of genres and mediums, including abstract painting, figuration, collage drawing, large scale installation, painted vinyl banners, and light boxes. After the zipper works, Carson discovered painterly expressionism as the fitting style for her vision of the turbulence of contemporary life. (source)
I love the variety of her subjects, styles, and mediums.
Destructive nature is a frequent subject:
Double Dragon Fire, 2004
Silk dye, acrylic, metallic textile paint
55" x 168"
Fire Box # 1, 2003
Transparent vinyl on plexi-glass, metal framed light-box
26" x 50" x 3 3/4"
Wind Swept, 2005
Ink, silk dye and acrylic on silk
40" x 127 1/4" two panels
And then there’s some completely different work…
Recoil and Advance, 1990-91
Bas relief, acrylic, wood molding , plexiglass, and found clocks on wood panel
90 1/4" x 156" x 5"
You can see all of here work at her website: https://www.karencarsonartist.com
Do you have a favorite?
Videos of the Week
Michael discovered a new album of South African disco music from the 80’s this week. The album is brand new, but the music is not!
SATURDAY NIGHT - SOUTH AFRICAN DISCO POP HITS - 1981 TO 1987
Here are two of the artists on the compilation - so good!
Current Temperature: 52.0 F (11.1 C)
Current Humidity: 85%
Wind (max gust): 14.8 mph
Precipitation: 0.01" inches
Your watercolor pods look fantastic side by side! And I had no idea Michael was such a good artist! I hope you unravel his genealogical mystery.