August Genealogy To-Do

So July got away from me and it looks like August is going to be very busy too.  I’m finding that the format of my to-do list isn’t working for me anymore – doesn’t motivate me to get any specific thing done – and kind of bores me.  So I’m thinking about how to change it into something more useful.

In the meantime, this month I’m going to just briefly describe what I’m doing by weeks.  The first week I have to finish planning the big England trip with my sister, which includes either going to NH to meet with her or a focussed phone call.  It is one month to our trip!  Will end the week with a quick getaway to Portland with my husband, and a meet-up with youngest niece.  Tractor races!

The second week includes the TIARA conference here in Massachusetts that Judy and I are attending.  It looks like I may have a family branch (Boothby) that came from Ireland, maybe Ulster Scots, which in my understanding included people from northern England and Scotland who were sent by England to Ireland to manage lands etc.  I also have a collateral line that came from the Dublin area (the Daltons and Barrys who married into the Coffin family in Cincinnati).  Judy’s got Irish interests as well so this conference should be a blast.

The third week my husband and I are driving to Philadelphia via Connecticut (to  pick up his 90-year-old cousin) to visit more cousins.  There is one baby to meet and a new one on the way as well.  It takes a lot to move us out of the usual routine to go visiting like this, but sometimes you just have to do it!

And the fourth week will be given over to organizing my packing for England.  I’m communicating with my Denman cousin (we don’t have the exact relationship pinned down yet, but that is one of my big goals for the trip), who we will meet up with and spend a little time in her area of the world.  This part of the trip is really exciting to me, and I’m sure I’ll have lots to write about the whole trip when we return.

So, that’s how my August and first half of September are shaping up.  I hope all of the genealogists out there have equally fun plans for the rest of the summer.