Liebster Blog Award

I would like to thank Angie Rodesky for selecting my blog as one of her five Liebster blog picks! (Liebster means "favorite" or "dearest" in German) The premise behind this award is that when you are nominated, you are supposed to answer 11 questions about yourself (chosen by the person who nominated you), and then nominate 5 bloggers with less than 200 readers and provide 11 questions for them to answer.


Here are the questions I was asked to answer:

1.  What is your favorite birthday party memory?
The birthdays I celebrated in high school were the best. My friends came to my house and we hung out in the basement playing games like Pictionary while we snacked on chips and dip. One year we covered the room with straws by shooting little straws through big straws. We still found the occasional straw in that room years later.

2.  What was your first book report about?

Now you're asking me about ancient history. Though I've had to do book reports since grade school, the only one I actually remember writing was on “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad in high school.

3.  What is your favorite family dish?

I know it's boring, but mashed potatoes and gravy. I always had seconds. I wasn't such a big fan of the squirrel that sometimes appeared on my grandma's table, however.

4.  What do you like to do on a snowy day?

I would like to take my daughter sledding, but on the few occasions when it does snow here there usually isn't much of it and it doesn't last very long.

5.  What was the best job you've ever had and why?

As much as I loved working in a research lab and being the first person to learn how something works, the best job I've had is taking care of my daughter and watching her discover the world.  And when I hear her say "that's really cool" while watching a National Geographic video about dolphins and whales I know I'm on the right track.

6.  What is your favorite holiday?

I've always enjoyed Thanksgiving, particularly in grad school when I invited friends who weren't going home to my apartment for dinner. I enjoyed preparing the food and since the group was varied every year we always had interesting conversations. One year someone even showed slides of his Alaska trip.

7.  Everyone has a hobby or two, what are your hobbies?

I love to read (something I wish I had more time for). I enjoy mysteries, history, science and Jane Austen. I also enjoy planting flowers in the beds around my home. It's a work in progress, but it's fun to see the fruits of my labors and watch the critters they attract.

8.  What is your favorite childhood vacation memory?

I would have to say going to visit the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza when I was about twelve. It was amazing and an experience I have never forgotten.

9.  What is your favorite board game or card game that you like to play?

It's been a while since I've played it, but I look forward to introducing my daughter to Apples to Apples someday. It's great fun, easy to play and appropriate for everyone who can read.

10.  What is your all-time favorite movie and why?

That's hard to say. It depends on what mood I'm in, but I can say that a movie I enjoy again and again is Pride and Prejudice (with Colin Firth, of course). I recently bought it in Blue-Ray and now I really appreciate the details in the costumes.  I enjoy it because the story is excellent and it is interesting to see that while the times change, people (and how they act) don't.

11.  What is the fondest memory you have of your grandparents?

I loved going “Up North” (near Torch Lake) with my grandparents. I loved listening to the stream gurgling while we read in the evenings. I loved taking walks at night with them when we could really see the stars. We picked morels in the woods and searched for petoskey stones in the gravel pit nearby. It was a peaceful place and I was fortunate to share it with them.


Here are the five blogs I would like to nominate:
http://gensemi.blogspot.com/
http://www.spillingthefamilybeans.com/
http://discoveringyesterday.wordpress.com/
http://celebratingfamilystories.blogspot.com/
http://vanburendistrict.blogspot.com/


Here are my 11 questions for those who wish to participate:

1. How did you get started doing genealogy?
   
2. Do you live near where any of your ancestors lived? How close or far are you?
   
3. What is your least favorite genealogy task? Labeling photos? Sourcing in your genealogy software?
   
4. Who is your most interesting black sheep?
   
5. Have you done any DNA testing and have you found anything interesting?
   
6. Who is your earliest (verified by you) ancestor to cross the pond?
   
7. Who would you most like to break down the brick wall for?
   
8. What have you done to help out the future genealogists in your tree (besides blogging)?
   
9. Which one of your deceased relatives would you most like to have a conversation with and why?
   
10. If you could travel to another country from which your ancestors came, where would you most like to go?
    
11. If you've written family stories, have you shared them with your family? How have they been received?