Finding the Time and Space - Motivation Monday

This week is my "deep summer" week. I know it's summer and hot outside but, in my mind, this mid-week of summer (5 out of 9) feels cool, calm, and refreshing.

You see, I'm a teacher, and my summer months are very different than my winter months.

 

Much of my days have been filled with doing the things in my house that have waited for me all year. So far, I have painted two rooms and turned one of those into an office - for ME! I'm working on the rest of the house also, but my office is where I want to be. There is plenty to do in here! I have spent hours filing, sorting, and scanning.



I've been blessed with a large collection of old pictures of ancestors, along with letters, documents, and artifacts. I'm very grateful for it all but, I also feel the pressure of responsibility, as the family genealogist, to keep it safe and honor it with some attention.

Now that I have a spot, I am motivated to begin setting down goals for future work in my new space!

Yours Truly

This post comes too late to help the poor mystery people in the picture below, but you can keep something as terrible from happening to your family, simply by following this advice!
When labeling your pictures, it is always best to include the actual names of the subjects in the description. Clever words won't be enough. Image descriptions are most useful when names are included. 

Can you see this happy family smiling all the way from the 1980s? Little did they know, at that time, that they would become part of a mystery, and so they will forever remain nameless to me. Let's delve into the cause of this catastrophe!

I came across this picture when sorting photos from Uncle Reuben's envelopes into stacks of family and friends. I turned this one over and, seeing all the words on the back, breathed a sigh of relief because I hadn't recognized even one person on the front. my expectations plummeted by the time I finished the second line. Nevertheless, I continued reading...

  Bottom Row - left to right
Youngest & Eldest daughter and
Mae who never aged a year since
marriage.

   Top Row Right to Left
son and yours truly

The rest - daughter and sons in 
laws and their childrens - dog 
included
 

How many names did YOU read? I counted one, unless you count "Yours Truly." The writer deserves kudos for filling the back of the photo with words, but for all that effort, he completely missed the point of writing a description.

I'm hoping these are friends of Reuben and Marge, or possibly Marge's family, whom I know little about, rather than someone I should include on my family tree chart. Until I have the answer, this picture will live in my "?" box. After donning my investigator cap, I have deduced that the name of the older woman in the middle of the front row is Mae, the wife of the older man standing behind her, who is the writer, an expert at concealing his family members' identities.  Funny guy!