step four of the DOABLE approach to telling your family’s tales
family tree drawn by Marie Lynskey
In my research on family trees I came across Marie Lynskey, a calligrapher who will draw a beautiful family tree for you. She has also written a book “Family Trees: A Manual for Their Design, Layout & Display” available on Amazon. Here are a few more samples of her work. Happily Marie is available to put her talents to work for your family tree.
Fable’s pedigree
Inspire by the Colorful Clan post, I did a photo pedigree chart for Fable. As you can see I have two grandparents that I don’t have photos for. I found someone who has puppy photos of Laramie but I’m hoping to find an adult photo. I’m really happy with how it came out. I’ve uploaded an InDesign CS6 template here for your personal use. It shouldn’t be too hard to adapt it to humans. I’d love to see your project if you use the template.
version of the colorful clan for Apex (the first puppy we raised for GDB)
A couple of weeks ago I did a post on colorful clan family tree for a 4″ x 12″ panoramic frame. I’ve put together a simple Adobe InDesign template to recreate the one from Parents.com. As I was working on it I realized that I didn’t need to have different colors of paper. With a color printer I could just print my background color.
For a sample I decided to show Apex’s (the first puppy we raised for Guide Dogs for the Blind) family tree. As you can see I don’t have all the birth dates and I don’t have any death date though some of these dogs have certainly passed away. But I though it would work to show what the template is like. Of course when you open the template up in InDesign you will be able to customize anything you would like from the fonts to the background colors.
You can download the Panoramic Clan Template here from Dropbox. When you open it up in Dropbox it will look like crazy gobbledegook. But once you save it to you computer and open it in InDesign it will work fine. I made this template in InDesign CS6. Let me know if you have problems or suggestions. I’m hoping to make more templates this coming year.
I realized this morning that we are almost half way through the first month of the new year. Feels like I’m not getting enough done each day. How about you? After taking a long break from working on my Dad’s Key West history I need to get back into it. I’m thinking Lynn Palermo’s Family History Writing Challenge might be just the perfect motivator. If you’ve done it before jump on board again this year. February is just around the corner. If not check out her website, register and then get set to more writing done this year.
Well, I don’t have total success to report but I did get some writing in (about half of the days). My parents are coming down on Friday, so I should get some time with my Dad over the next couple of weeks. When he called today he wanted me to find a road map for the 50s. I was glad I could tell him that I already had one. I even had it out on my desk from today’s attempt at writing about his cross-country drive to get to Key West from San Diego.
I also called about setting up a SCUBA class. Not surprising there isn’t anything available for October but they haven’t set up November yet. So they will contact me when they get that arranged. I have mixed feelings about taking the class. It’s just an hour so how bad can it be. But I think it will really be helpful in writing this history, so I’ll do it. Maybe it will be more fun than I expect.
I hope I’ll be reporting more writing progress with next weeks update than I did this week.
Progress made this last week but somehow managed not to write anything. I finished going through the “Buddy Line” newsletter for the Underwater Swimmers School last week. So far this week, I took the info I pulled from the “Buddy Line” and filed it in the folders I have set up under different subjects as reference when I actually start writing. I think this information will really be helpful. I don’t know of anything else I should gather or research so no more excuses for not to get started. Hopefully once I start writing it won’t be so painful to keep going. I’m committing to have some writing done by next week’s check in. In a perfect world I’d get at least 500 words written five times by then. Wish me luck!
To tell the truth I haven’t done much in the last week on this project. I need to jump back into writing and I’m procrastinating. At least I think that is the problem. I used a bit of a delay tactic today and started scouring the 14 years of the “Buddy Line” (a quarterly newsletter for the Underwater Swimmers School). I found one really good find that goes across multiple issues. A student shared his diary for 1957 while he was at the school. My Dad was an instructor at the time. He is only mentioned by name once but I think reading the daily entries we give me more insight into what it was like. I hope I’ll have more to report next week.
I met with my Dad again yesterday to work on his history about the three years he was an instructor at the Navy’s Underwater Swimmers School in Key West, Florida. The goal was to try to make sure that I understand all the equipment etc. that he used. I’m amazed at how much I have learned about SCUBA and what he did there. I’m sure there is still more to know, but it is time for me to get back to writing. That is where I will figure out what I need to know.
Someone started a Facebook group for the Underwater Swimmer School. I created a Facebook account for my Dad so he could be apart of it. Not too many members yet but one was a student while my Dad was there and he remembers him. He even remembers that my Dad was known as Red in those days. He commented on how he lead them in PT drills (I think that was the term he used). I’m not sure what that means. Looks like I already have another question for my Dad.
My Dad and I got together today to talk more about his memories of Key West. It was good to talk and ask more questions. I recorded most of it for future reference. Part of the discussion was about how to approach the writing and the perspective to write it from. Gradually I think our vision is becoming clearer. I must have hope that we will figure this out if we just keep working at it and learning how to do it. Friday afternoon we will be getting together again. My parents are in town for the next couple of weeks.
Couple of other developments on Key West. Last week when I was researching I came across a book called “The Streets of Key West.” It included a 1950’s street map of Key West. I got the copy ordered through Barnes and Noble from a Goodwill in Florida. I think it will have some interesting bits of history. Found out today that someone as created a closed Facebook group for the Underwater Swimmers School. They emailed me because my address it their contact with my Dad. I joined the group and then realized that I really need to make a Facebook account for my Dad. No one knows me and there is no way for them to easily tell that I’m his daughter. So I’ll be getting a new email address for him and set up a Facebook profile for him. It could be a great source of information for this project and a good way to share what we are doing with those who would be interested.
Now I just need to get back to writing. I haven’t gotten to it so far this week and with a new puppy coming tomorrow it will be challenging to focus. But I must find a way. Anyone have any tricks or suggestion?
practicing in the pool at U/WSS in Key West
Yesterday I spent some time chatting with my Dad about his memories from the Underwater Swimmers School. As he was explaining how different parts of the SCUBA equipment work he came up with and idea that is both exciting and scary. He wants me to take a SCUBA class. That is not something that I’ve ever thought of having on my bucket list. While the thought is kind of scary and invokes claustrophobic images in my head, I think it would really give me some insight into this history and even other volumes of my Dad’s Navy experience. So I’ve add finding a class to my to do list for the week.
I’ve been working on writing at least 500 words on this project everyday. It is rather haphazard now but I’m doing it and that is a very good thing. My parents are heading back to Idaho tomorrow. I’d hoped they would stay down until the end of next week so I could get with my Dad some more but my Mom really want to get back home. They will be back in a couple of weeks.
I had no idea where this story project was going to take me when I started. It is stretching me in so many ways I never imagined. It is good to learn and do new things especially as I get older. I don’t want to get so old that I’m not willing to try to do new things. What ways have your family story projects helped you to learn new things?
telling family tales 