When I started this journey of researching my paternal family name, I did not expect to find so many derivations of the spelling nor the number of people with that last name between 1795 and 1930 in Ireland. I also did not expect to find them in the locations I found either. I had been under the (obviously wrong) impression that my ancestor(s) came from what is today called the Republic of Ireland (Co. Cork). As it turns out, they are pretty much completely from today’s Northern Ireland. Of course, back in the day, it was simply Ireland. Most of the time in the census of the United State, they just stated they were from Ireland, if not born in the US. Continue reading “800 McCrystals and counting”
Category: Travel
The genealogical journey – McCrystal/McCristle
When I picked up the threads of all my old research, I had no idea the journey I was embarking on. This has been an incredible 11 months. I had the basic DNA tests done from both My Heritage and Ancestry, became a Green Room member, bought a database program (Family Historian7) that I am happy with, found out that my James, in all likelihood, came from Northern Ireland, not Co. Cork as I believed for 3/4 of my life and so much more. Amazing what, after 20 years of ignoring a subject, can be revealed via the search engines and artificial intelligence if one just asks the right questions. Continue reading “The genealogical journey – McCrystal/McCristle”
2026 – a year to travel again?
For the past 7 or 8 months I have been back to digging into my ancestry.
by goodvibrations/Stocksy
I had given this research up in the late 20-aughts because I felt I had fully explored everything available and had reached a dead-end. The proverbial “brick wall”. I was tired of the blood running in my eyes as I battered at the wall and got nowhere. I had been using Family Tree Maker and even that program had been sold so many times and not updated or maintained. All roads pointed to “give it up”. Continue reading “2026 – a year to travel again?”
Romance and/or Travel: the journey or the destination?
Travel. The word can bring forth thoughts, memories, feelings. Yet, it is just a word. A six-letter word. Looking up definitions for such a word, I found many variations. As a verb, travel was defined as early as the 1300’s:
travel (v.)
c.1375, “to journey,” from travailen (1300) “to make a journey,” originally “to toil, labor” (see travail). The semantic development may have been via the notion of “go on a difficult journey,” but it may also reflect the difficulty of going anywhere in the Middle Ages. Replaced O.E. faran. Travels “accounts of journeys” is recorded from 1591. Traveled “experienced in travel” is from 1413. Traveling salesman is attested from 1885.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Continue reading “Romance and/or Travel: the journey or the destination?”
Retirement leads to more questions than answers
A few years back we started discussing the retirement options. We decided I should take social security at 62 while Mike continued to work. After he reached 66, we began to revisit the questions again. Since most of his work is performed as a contractor (i.e., not FTE) in 6 to 60 month gigs, it is easy to put off the retirement decision each time a contract expires and a new one starts. Continue reading “Retirement leads to more questions than answers”
Sabot Lucky Burgers – an afternoon in Sintra
When we went to Sintra, not long after our arrival in Portugal, we wandered the village, looking at the houses, homes, Airbnb and shops near the train station. I was not as on top of my game as I would have liked in order to be able to enjoy the town. But I was hungry and thirsty. We had a late start on the day as well. Continue reading “Sabot Lucky Burgers – an afternoon in Sintra”
Festival Night – June 12
The city was actively engaged in preparations for the big festival on June 12th. We could feel it in the air, in the streets and in the shops and restaurants.
Cascais – a day trip
At the top of my bucket list for this trip was a visit to Cascais. It is fairly simple to get to, but we took the long way to the train station (on foot via the cobblestone sidewalks – a tough one for my sense of balance). We got sort of lost a couple of times. The easy way was to go to the Rossio subway station and take the green line to Cais do Sodre where we switch to the train to Cascais. But we walked. Eventually we reached the western waterfront of downtown. Google and the GPS said we were there, but we could not seem to find it.
Lisbon’s Sardine Festival- June 12-13
This whole time of our vacation, all the festivities seem to be leading up to the 12th of June – St. Anthony’s day of honor. I have been reading up on this since we came here not knowing about it. St. Anthony of Padua (12 th Century) is the patron saint of Lisbon. He was originally from Portugal but spent most of his life in Italy. However, the Portuguese are proud of his heritage.
A weekend in Lisboa
We decided to stay in town and eat at our favorite Tapas restaurant. The festival would go on until the wee hours of Sunday morning though it would not bother us. We could hear it and feel the thump of the music in our apartment, but when we close our windows they are very tight against sound.