- The Good Place
- Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine
- Derry Girls
- Great News
- Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23
- Speechless
- Shrill
- Special
- Grace and Frankie
- Workin' Moms
- Parks and Recreation
- The Mindy Project
- Feel Good
- Chewing Gum
- Lady Dynamite
- New Girl
- One Day At a Time (2017)
- The Office
- What We Do In the Shadows
SerialEnthusiast
Thursday, August 1, 2024
TV Roundup: "Short" shows
Monday, July 22, 2024
A family history puzzle
Except for the fact that kicks this off, all information is publicly available.
There are two people - Rheta Bailey and John Ramsay - that we suspect of having the same mother, but different fathers. I got a tip from another researcher that a child of John Ramsay (who I will denote LR) shows a potential 1C1R (first cousin once removed) to someone I will denote WS. All we have is that person's name; they have not responded to contact through the genealogy website.
The first thing I do is search my DNA matches to see if the surname Sudds shows up in any family trees. There are no hits, which supports the idea that the link is due to the father of John Ramsay, and not his mother. I do the same thing for my aunt's matches; there are two, but one has a private tree that I can't check, and the other's Sudds connection died in 1714 in England, so is too far back to be the connection I'm looking for.
I turn to newspaper archives to look for the surname "Sudds" in Windsor, Ontario. I'm rewarded by 1,286 hits, so I filter down to just BMD (birth, marriage, death) for 49 hits.
That's quite a few to check, so I make a side trip to Find-a-Grave to search for Sudds buried in Essex; there are 10, a manageable number. I use that list to search the newspaper archives.
- Charles d. 1948, no hits
- Dorothy d. 2011: bingo, she has a child listed of the same name, plus his wife's name and their two children. I have a candidate for my WS already! The obituary doesn't list her birthday or age, but I will probably find that later, which will give me an idea of when WS might have been born. I've made the mistake before of assuming the first candidate I came up with was the person I wanted, so I continue on.
- Elsie d. 1980, no hits
- George d. 1999; found his bio, and as a bonus we know he lived in Cottam (the tiny four-corners town my grandparents lived in).
- Howard d. 2006; found his bio, lists siblings and children.
- Margaret d. 2017; found her bio. At this point I'm seeing the same names over and over, which confirms these are all part of the same extended family.
- Margie d. 2018; found bio.
- Olive d. 2002; found bio.
- Oscar d. 1998; also lists a child WS, and I was expecting to see the name Dorothy as his wife, but instead it's Joyce; I check Dorothy's obit again and sure enough, she was "Dorothy Joyce".
- Thomas d. 1993; husband of Margie above.
- I can't find Ella (b. 1900), but she ended up in Michigan, so perhaps was gone by 1921. Married a Foster, appears as "Helen" on later records. Died 1930 in Detroit.
- I can't find Mabel (b. 1901), but she married and had her first child around 1921. Married a Gyles, died 1971 in Essex County. Her marriage record in 1920 says she lives in Windsor. Mabel attempted to cross the border into Detroit on August 14, 1916. She is 15 years and 11 months old, born in Wallaceburg, a laborer by occupation. She has never been in the US before, has paid her own passage, shows $1 and is going to visit a friend, Miss Margaret Bishop, at 235 Bullet (maybe? hard to read) in Detroit. She is 5 foot and 2 inches tall, with a dark complexion, brown hair, and brown eyes. The back of the card says "Debarred. Under 16, and LPC (No appeal)".
- I can't find Ruby May (b. 1903), but I notice in passing her marriage record has a different/wrong last name for her mother, which is something to follow up on. Married a Baldwin.
- I can't find Geneva (b. 1906). Married name Purser, died 2001 in Wallaceburg.
- I can't find Belvia (b. 1909). I go back later and search for her, and find a Belva Sudds (mistranscribed "Sadde", which is why I didn't find it at first) living in Enniskillen, Lambton East, with Alice and George Houson (sp?) in 1921. She is a lodger and 13 years old. Married McLean or MacLean.
- I can't find Wilfred (b. 1910). This is puzzling, but not wholly unusual after a mother died, for the family to be elsewhere and not easily found. Died 1976 in Napanee.
- Elsie, already thoroughly discussed. Obit mentions siblings Oscar, Hazel Underwood, Lillian Bowden, Evelena Phillips. Also mentions she has 32 grandchildren and 42 great-grandchildren!
- Hazel, b. 1896. Married Norman McFarlane, is living in Wallaceburg in 1921. Married for a second time in 1931 in Lucas, Ohio; I have seen this before when couples wanted to get married in secret; sure enough, her first husband is still alive and living in Canada in 1931. Died 1981 in Bangor, Bay, Michigan. Her obit mentions two sisters, Ena and Lillie, and a brother Oscar.
- Lillian. Married Ray Gates in 1917, divorced 1930, married James Bowden in 1933.
Friday, April 12, 2024
Band Practice
- The Erie Canal (SATB, unaccompanied. Soprano line has splits and requires at least two people. Alto line has melody throughout and requires at least three people. Someone needs to be able to whistle briefly.)
- L'il Liza Jane (SATB, unaccompanied. No splits, can be done by a quartet.)
- "Sing We And Chant It.", 16th century madrigal (SSATB).
- "O occhi, manza mia", 16th century madrigal, in Italian. 'Oh eyes of my beloved'. (SSAA).
- "Can't Buy Me Love", Beatles, but in the style of the King's Singers. (SSAA).
- "That Lonesome Road", James Taylor. (SSAA. Two middle lines have splits, so requires eight people.).
- "Something", Beatles (SSSAAA).
- "Landslide", Fleetwood Mac. (SSSAAA).
- "Breakfast at Tiffany's", Deep Blue Something. (Solo line with SSAA accompaniment.)
- "Seaside Rendezvous", Queen. (SSAAA with splits. Melody mostly in middle line).
- "Take a Bow", Rihanna. (SSAA with splits. Melody mostly in top line.)
- "Dancing Queen", ABBA. (SSAA).
- "Fix You", Coldplay. (SSAA with splits).
- "I Got Rhythm", Gershwin, in the style of the Swingle Singers (SSAA).
- "Mon coeur se recommende a vous", 16th century madrigal, in French. (SSSAAA).
- "Sing Me To Heaven", (SSAA).
- "Heart of Glass", Blondie. (Solo line with SSAA accompaniment).
- "If", Beatles. (SSA).
- "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". (SSSAAA).
- "True Colors". (Solo line with SSAA accompaniment. Top line splits.)
- "Don't Get Around Much Anymore". (SSAA)
- "Blue Skies". (SSAA. Top line splits.).
Sunday, April 7, 2024
Wildflowers - The Wailin' Jennys
Here are a couple of links to versions of the song. They play it in the key of B (five sharps).
- original album version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_87VZAXZAug
- live version where you can see who does what, when: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XhVILjWkNg
- Chord chart and lyrics for the ukulele players, but changed to be in the key of C: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dEd-Xsfh_0UHJ9G7BTSjO77F8KjvvlPd/view?usp=sharing
- The three vocal lines, also in the key of C: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1akGITCT6bXNReq5Hpb4mWL4QSOAqESy6/view?usp=sharing
- A mashup of the banjo and violin parts, in the original key for playing along with the recording: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g26f-pj8XxBR9s5A55p_OiRYAetdqtOv/view?usp=sharing
- The same mashup, transposed to be in C: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T3VplS5f8BYA3JwgWt3jNoQ4fJYYYGHM/view?usp=sharing
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Marion Almassizadeh
They might be a slightly silly crew who don't see the point in being serious for the camera (or even looking at it), but Marion Almassizadeh is very proud of her seven adopted teenagers. Through good investing she will even be able to start them out well in life, helping some of them to start businesses and getting others launched in their chosen careers. The second-youngest, Bayleigh, has agreed to continue running the foster home as a condition of inheriting the tall house.
This is one of the first user-created homes I remember playing, created by someone with the username "plasticbox". It's three stories with a lavishly-furnished apartment on the first floor, which I kept solely for Marion. The upper two stories had four small bedrooms of varying sizes, suitable for single beds or a crib, a little office area with a computer and a third-floor sitting room with a TV. Combined with Marion's want to have ten children, having her adopt children who were left alone in the early stages of the challenge seemed like a natural choice. The oldest, Hollis, has just turned into an adult and will move out the next Monday at 9am. There's a gap of a few days, but there will be a string of five birthdays in a row. Perhaps I'll have some of them move out en masse into a 'new adult' home where they can continue to have fun together while they find mates and jobs!
Cindy and Uriah Newson
Cindy scolds the cat. "Do I not have enough to deal with, without you destroying the furniture?". Her partner Uriah is off at the new house with most of the older kids, fixing it up for the family. This one-bedroom house has held the family for a long time, but with a teenager, five school-age kids, and a toddler (Clarance is asleep in the crib), it's bursting at the seams. In fact, it has been in the family since Uriah's grandmother Una Underhill moved to town. One of their ten children will inherit it and continue the tradition.
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Apocalypse Challenge G: end of week 20
Wayland brushes her teeth three times after getting home from school, like the good girl she is.
Children getting minimal hygiene from the "wash hands" interaction mean that the children in my Apocalypse Challenge end up brushing their teeth about eight times a day. In my head it's like this obscure religious imperative that has popped up after the Apocalypse.
Wayland aged up to a teen later the same day. Her mother Garland is an elder now, but her father and uncle Christopher are still adults with some days to go.
I have Wayland and her eventual spouse earmarked for the Medical and Military careers.