Friday, January 16, 2009

Weekly Genealogy Blogging Prompt #2

Week #2: Participate in carnivals. A blog carnival is a showcase of bloggers’ posts on a given topic. Genealogy bloggers LOVE carnivals because there’s something for everyone. To learn about when these showcase-type events are happening, read others’ genealogy blogs. Someone’s always talking about a carnival.

It took me awhile to get to this blog assignment. I had a hard time finding a carnival that I wanted to blog about but finally chose the theme "Winter Wonderland". Since we live in Florida and my wife's family has been in the Southern states since Jamestown I figured that this would be a challenge. I searched through all of our old photographs, most of which were from Florida and finally found one that represents Florida in the winter.

Here it is, a Christmas tree and the family's first radio! Based on where this picture was in the photo album it was probably taken during Christmas 1930. The previous picture was dated 1930 and the next one was 1931.

Florida is known for its mild winters and the next picture shows just how mild our climate is. This picture was taken December 27, 1929. Notice the top is down on the car.

My wife's family came to Florida in the 1850's and settled in an area they later named Yalaha in central Florida. Supposedly, Yalaha means "yellow orange" in the native Seminole language. Her family was among the first to import the orange stock into Florida. They made a good business growing oranges and asparagus ferns as is testified by several articles in the Florida Agricultural Journal during the 1890's. Additionally the captured small alligators and shipped them to Jacksonville to sell to the tourists during the 1920's.

Just to let everyone know, it does get cold in Florida. We have finally dropped out of the 70's and it is only 47 today. Hope everyone enjoys their winter and keeps warm.

4 comments:

Andrea Christman said...

Nice job! I loved this post! I am originally from Texas and my Winter Wonderland photographs are few and far between! I am still procrastinating, looking for a Carnival to post to. There are a couple of possibilities, but I am stuck with inertia on this cold, Saturday morning!

Miriam Robbins said...

Hi, Miles! If you would like more information on how to submit a post to a blog carnival, please read my article here at Bootcamp for Genealobloggers.

Also, on the first of every month, I list all the carnivals that are taking place that month and their deadlines on my AnceStories blog. Look for the Calendar of Events category.

Miles Meyer said...

Thanks for the links Miriam. Being new to blogging I need all the help I can get.

Greta Koehl said...

Another Texas chiming in - I grew up in Southern California and Texas and remember seeing maybe a couple of snowflakes in my childhood, though I do have one snow picture taken of my parents and me as a baby in the snow in Pennsylvania. I had to go to college out east before I saw real snow. I also enjoyed reading another Southerner's take on this subject!