Monthly Blog - July, 2006

Saturday, July 29, 2006

This weekend, we will put the August newsletter online. The newsletter also includes August meetings.

It also includes the many articles I have had published since June, so be sure to read them. The title of the articles is given and the website or the name of the publication is also given. There are 5 news articles published on my own site <http://www.genealogycanada.com>.

The notice that the Ottawa Genealogical Society <http://www.ogs.on.ca> has accepted the honour of hosting next years seminar called "The Nation's Capital: The Peopling of Canada."

If you have relatives that were involved in the Second World War and were from Cape Breton Island (a part of Nova Scotia), be sure to read the Website of the Month, where these veterans appear in a website just launched on the Internet.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Received an e-mail notice that the National Press Club in Ottawa will be holding a meeting this Tuesday in order to save the club from closing.

Three years ago, the club went into receivership, and now is their one and only chance to get out of it and set a new course for the club.

David Brown, a very well-known former columnist with the Ottawa Citizen, and now its president, will present a new pathway for the club to follow, but first he needs to know if there is enough membership to sustain the club.

One of the things he plans to suggest is that the membership change. So everyone should try to attend.

The meeting will be held Tuesday, August 1, 2006 at 6 p.m. The address of the Press Club is 165 Sparks St, Ottawa.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Read that the director of Writer's Fest, Neil Wilson, has been reported in the Ottawa Citizen as approaching the Ottawa Archdiocese about the future of St. Brigid's Church in Ottawa's Lowertown district. The archdiocise wants to sell the church because it needs (expensive) roof repairs, although the congregation does not want it sold.

Wilson brought forth the idea that the church (it has a hall, with stage and kitchen, I believe), could be rented to various arts and writing groups, thereby saving the church.

As president of the Ottawa Branch of the Professional Writer's of Canada (PWAC), I plan to contact him, and to offer my support. I will certainly bring it up at the fall PWAC meeting.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Mailed the Andrew Barclay Family Record to my cousin Charles in Nova Scotia so that he can take it to the rest of the cousins at a supper to be held in a community hall in Jordan Falls (a village near Shelburne) on July 30th. My husband called him on Friday - apparently, the first reviews are encouraging.

Monday, July 24, 2006

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Got an e-mail today, informing me that the Valley Writers Guild has folded <http://www.valleywritersguild.ca>.

Started in 16 years ago, it was an exciting and interesting group for writers to join. Since I lived at CFB Uplands in the south of Ottawa at the time, it was rather a quick time to go there. The meetings were held in Kemptville, a town to the south of Ottawa. Their meetings ended up being held on a Sunday afternoon, and it was really a lovely drive. A great time out, it gave me an opportunity to eat a really good supper at various places in the lower Ottawa Valley.

I haven't attended in the past few years, but I always checked in on their website, and they appeared to be doing quite well - but obviously, it was not. It's too bad.

Maybe someone else will pick up the mantel and carry on the good fight, and the group. I wonder if their being so close to Ottawa—with Ottawa having its own writing group—meant that they weren't getting as many people out to their meetings, and their membership also declined?

Sunday, July 16 to Saturday, July 22, 2006

Only one entry this week because it has been really too hot to work (middle 40s, with too many thunderstorms to mention), and because I am too tired to have done much. The heat always did bother me, and now that I am diabetic, I do find it more taxing. However, I carry on!

I have been busy this week, as much as the heat will allow me, reading through the Andrew Barclay Family Record and I completed it - and am ready to send it off to my cousin in Nova Scotia.

The rest of the week I used to go over my article on immigration and got my application in for the British Isles Family History Society seminar in September.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Received the promo for the 10th Annual Ottawa International Writers Festival <http://www.writersfest.com>, and they will have a very good lineup.

Some of the events to take place before the event include -

Thursday, Sept. 14 will see Charlotte Gray with her newest book Reluctant Genuis: Alexander Graham Bell and the Passion for Invention, which, if one has read the reviews, as I have, appears to be a very good book. I will let you know. It will be held at the Library and Archives Canada.

Sunday, October 1 will see the return of the former Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson, promoting her book, Heart Matters. It wil be held at the Chateau Laurier.

Saturday, October 7 will see author Wayne Johnston with his book, The Custodian of Paradise. It will he held at the Library and Archives Canada.

Friday, July 14, 2006

The article is finished, I just have to write cutlines for the photos and pages I have put in with it - it's about 2,000 words.

I was able to read and give the ok to first three chapters of The Andrew Barclay Family Record yesterday, and do Chapters 4 to 6 today --- plus e-mails.

That is enough for today, as it is expected to go up to 32 degrees today -

Found out that Dwight Yoakum is to be in Ottawa this October 6th - yes sir, I WILL be there!

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

I am deep into the article now, plus I am tracking down the answers to more email.

I expect to be finished by Wednesday - and by God, I think I will be - if all goes well. The way I have it planned, I expect to write the article in the morning and get the book ready (The Andrew Barclay Family Record), with looking through it one last time.

I know that I have some information to add to it concerning the 1911 census, but think I have found out that I can find this time around.

It has taken 20 years to write (along with everything else I write), so it's been a rather long time. However ...

Monday, July 10, 2006

Today, I have planned to continue to write an article for Internet Genealogy that I have been commissioned to write as soon as possible. It will take the rest of the week for me to write it.

And then, in the afternoon, I plan for the rest of the week to finish off the The Andrew Barclay Family Record so that I can send it to my cousin in Nova Scotia.

Just a few thoughts about the rest of July - next week - I plan to finish an article of immigration for Internet Genealogy and then the last week, I intend to finish a proposal for Sourcing Canada which I plan to send to the Ontario Genealogy Society.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Was to a meeting today at the Media Club of Canada in Ottawa (website) and had a very productive time putting together the executive for 2006/2007.

I am the Membership Chair, and Mario is the Treasurer. Rosemary Tayler is the President, June Coxon is Past President and Events Chair, Shannon Mannion is Vice-President and Head of Publicity (she writes a car column for the Ottawa Citizen) and Iris Ten Holder is the Secretary and our newsletter editor for the Galley (website). My article on War Brides and War Grooms is in the February edition of the newsletter.

We had brunch, with very nice raspberries from June's garden - city garden, that is. The meeting lasted from 9 until just after noon.

On our way home, we stopped into one of our favourite stores to get oranges and stopped in front of a charity BBQ for hot dogs - which were very good.

Needless to say - it was HOT!

Friday, July 09, 2006

Went out this evening shopping in town and ate supper at our "summer place", a small eatery at the edge of Buckingham - with my usual hot dog and poutine - a mixture of french fries, gravy, and cheese curds. Sounds gross, but don't knock it until you try it. And this place uses well-cooked "burnt" or darkly-coloured fries. Mario says that they taste even better than poutine using regular "golden" or light-coloured fries. But we both agree that it's a tasty dish!

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Spent all day going over five news stories and one column for an Internet company which I write for, plus I had to send in a bio and a head and shoulders shot, so it was a busy day.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Have had a couple of email from Charles (my cousin in Nova Scotia) who is planning a supper on July 30th in the IOOF Hall in Jordan Falls and wants to know if I have the book finished. The book is The Barclay Family Record, and starts with Andrew Barclay from Scotland who emigrated to the America colony of Massachusetts c1760.

Through fortune or misfortune (depending which way you look at it), he wound up in Shelburne, Nova Scotia in May, 1783 and was one of the founders of the town.

Monday, July 03, 2006

Today, we went to Gatineau (the old Gatineau section) and it was hot - too hot for these old Nova Scotian bones. I remember when summer was just pleasantly warm - not so hot you could hardly stand it.

We were in the Loblaws store when it started to thunder, and the fire alarm went of f a couple of times. I heard that it caused damage in the Orleans sector of Ottawa.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Missed last week altogether. I was really busy - doing my July newsletter at <http://www.genealogycanada.com> and writing my articles. And, of course, celebrating Canada Day on the 1st. However, I went back and recreated the previous week because I wanted to note that I had.