A new blog for me!

I am planning a new blog, which will cover Eastern European genealogy.  I have been researching my family and my husband's family.  I have a lot of information, and now it is time to share.
The new blog will cover the Noznick, Rychly, and Koshuba families, as well as the Gerstein and Krause families.  Since that is a big order, and since it covers families who emigrated from the countries of Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, and Russia, I plan to give the blog a title that refers to Eastern Europe.  I will post pictures and recipes and whatever else I can come up with.

A New Title, a New Census

The 1940 US census was released this week.  I haven't seen much of it yet, since the site crashed on Monday.  Ancestry.com is downloading it and as of today, all of the states are in their data base.  They are organized by census enumeration districts, not by name, so this involves looking a city maps and knowing your ancestor's address in 1940.  I am excited about finding missing links about some of my family members.
I will also be publishing stories about some of my ancestors.

Yes, I still blog

The last blog was in November. I have to admire people who blog daily, even weekly. I used to write, but my discipline hasn't been so good lately. So, a quick update. We had a nice holiday. My husband had a big, and I mean big birthday. To celebrate, he wanted to go to Topobolampo, Rick Bayless' fine cuisine Mexican restaurant. f Since he won Top Chef Masters, it is very difficult to get a reservation. I tried, but there was nothing during the time David was in town, so I put us on the waiting list. We decided to go to Aruns, a very upscale Thai restaurant. This place has no menu, you just get the tasting menu of the day. It was very interesting, both in choice of food and presentation. A good time was had by all. Then Topobolampo called and said they had a reservation on Dec. 26. My husband wanted to go, so we did. The place has changed a little bit since the last time we were there--now they have 3 tasting menus, each from a different part of Mexico. We each had one of the choices. Again, wonderful food and presentation. After those gustatory adventures, we decided to stay in for New Years. That was a disappointment TV wise. Dick Clark looked like they took him out of the freezer, CNN was just bizarre. That left the local station, which wasn't very good either.
Since them, the new semester started, there has been a lot of snow and cold. We celebrated my birthday at Gabriel's in Highwood. I enjoyed a lovely birthday lunch with girlfriends at Frogy's also in Highwood. We booked a cruise for June, again on the Crystal Symphony, going to Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea. It starts in London and finishes in Stockhols, with 3 days in St Petersburg Russia. I've been to London, but everything else will be new to me. The boys are doing well, Jo has gained weight, and Gus is is usual goofy self. David is coming in in March to see Berlioz's Damnation of Faust at the Lyric Opera. So this is my winter so far. Spring is on the way, I know because the days are getting longer.

Even Sadder News

My dog, the beautiful Alma passed away today. She had lost control of her rear legs, so she couldn't stand up. It took two of us to walk her, one on the front, the other holding up her tail. Throughout everything, she was so mentally alert and normal. She spent the day on her pad in front of the window. She couldn't move at all, but she barked at everything that walked by. She let the puppies know who was the dog in charge. They deferred to her. Alma had a wonderful personality--she was very sweet and in her later years, friendly to everybody. I am so sad, I miss her so much. She was such a great dog.

So sad

Alma, my wonderful 12 3/4 year old dog isn't doing very well. She has been going downhill for some time, but now, she can't walk because she has lost the use of her back legs. Mostly she sits on her bed in front of the window and barks at whatever walks by. Guarding has been her job--her choice. For the past few days, she hassn't been too interested in eating either. She is such a good dog, she has a sweet dispostition and has been a great companion. The worst part of all this is that she is so mentally alert and normal. It's her body that is giving out, not her mind.

Finally, the new kitchen in pictures

The new puppies

Gus, running and Jo, sitting. And for those who wonder--Alma is alive and well guarding the front door.