November 14, 2025
I was working on my grandmother's puzzlegacy, and I decided that I needed to add a photo album section to the end of her life history. My concern is that I don't want the story broken up by too many photographs, but there are some important photographs that need to be seen in order to have visual context of her life. The context includes the type of clothing worn, the architecture of the homes, schools, and buildings, the natural surroundings, and the faces of relatives and friends. These photos may not add new information to the life history, but they do add depth and meaning, and a fuller understanding of the person's lived experience. I still think it's important to be intentional and frugal in adding photographs.
November 13, 2025
I added Los Angeles, California to the website, but I realized that I needed to break it down into neighborhoods. So I have added Eagle Rock, Venice, and Watts as subheadings to Los Angeles. These are three communities that my grandmother lived in while a child and adolescent. Each of these communities grew considerably during the 1910's and 1920's, and by 1926 all of them were consolidated into the city of Los Angeles.
November 4, 2025
I added Washington, Utah to the website. I have completed all of the locations associated with my grandfather and linked each of the those locations to the headers in his puzzlegacy. I believe that I have arrived at the format and organization that I wanted this website to become. Now it's just a matter of creating and adding puzzlegacies and extending invitations to others to join me. I will keep trying to do something meaningful with this website every day, and writing about my discoveries along the way.
November 3, 2025
I wish every day could be a discovery day. I was trying to locate resources for Youngstown, Ohio where my grandfather lived as a child. I have tried in the past to find access to the Youngstown Vindicator newspaper, but today when I looked I found a searchable collection for this newspaper in Google Books. I was pleasantly surprised. I have a subscription to Newspapers.com, but they have not included the Youngstown Vindicator yet. I did a search and found my grandfather listed a few times. I learned which elementary school he attended, and that he participated in a Christmas program and was listed on the Honor Roll. I immediately updated his life history (his puzzlegacy) to reflect the new information. That was so great! I couldn't find a way to just browse the newspaper by year, but I am still looking into it. One can do a Google search under the 'Books' tab and narrow the search to newspapers under the 'Tools" tab
November 1, 2025
Yesterday, the newspaper article mentioned a recitation of the poem, "Little Orphan Annie". This caught my attention because when I was a 5th grade teacher my mother-in-law would dress up as a witch for Halloween, and she would come to my classroom to recite a couple of Halloween stories which included "Little Orphan Annie". The kids loved it, and would listen intently and nervously to her. She always made it such a memorable experience. There is a Wikipedia article about this poem, and there are two recordings of it. I listened to them today, and it brought back those memories. I can imagine my own grandparents hearing this for the first time. Link to "Little Orphan Annie".
October 31, 2025
Happy Halloween! I was remembering my own childhood experiences with Halloween which took me back to the 1970's in Orem, Utah. I remember going Trick-or-Treating to homes in several different neighborhood blocks and using a pillowcase to collect the candy. I usually had a costume and plastic mask to wear. I remember watching Halloween T.V. specials like "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". We also dressed up for elementary school parties and church parties.
This made me wonder if my grandparents participated in Halloween activities and what that might have looked like. My grandparents grew up in the late 1910's and the 1920's. It appears that this was a transitional time for the Halloween holiday. At the turn of the century Halloween activities tended to be mischief and mayhem. Young people would often try to frighten each other and play pranks on people. This sometimes turned into vandalism. During the 1920's communities started to organize events in order to give structure to the holiday. This is also when the phrase "Trick or treat" became popular. It was a way for kids to bribe adults to avoid being pranked. Young adults mostly participated in parties and dances.
I found an article in the Sun-Advocate newspaper from Price, Utah dated November 4, 1920 that offered a nice description of a school party:
"The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth grades went together for a Halloween party given Saturday evening. Everything was wonderfully planned. There was no drag at all. The party began at Seven o'clock, games were played until about eight thirty. Then came the program. It was very appropriate. Chorus by the fifth and sixth, "Little Orphan Annie" recitation by May Williams, song by Vera Pizza, a recitation by Margaret Cribbs, a story by Miss Alice Murdock, and a Halloween guessing game by Mrs. Phillips. Luncheon was served at 9 30 o'clock. After, bobbing for apples was enjoyed until all went home."
October 30, 2025
I have told myself that if I am going to get serious about publishing this website that I need to work on it daily and provide something new every day - or at least Monday through Friday. If I can't do that at least then I should probably stay away from it. This means that I commit to working on this website every day and contribute to it in some meaningful way. For example, today I added Price, Utah as a location. I added a paragraph to the Price history tab.