Outdoor Cathedral

Tags

photos, trees

A post over on Moore Genealogy called, “A Special Place,” got me to thinking. I can’t recall a special place in my childhood, and even if I did, I wouldn’t have a photo of it.

However, I do have special places as an adult I love to visit. I walk the dog, hike, bike, camp, and while exploring the outdoors, I’ve found quite a few special places.

Here is one I call “Outdoor Cathedral.”

It’s on a bike path I visit infrequently. But every time I go there, I am inspired by the beauty and simplicity of the trees which cradle the path.

Before I reach this area, there are pines and fruit trees, and tall grass beside the trail. Then there’s a little downward dip in the path and I am gently ushered into such tranquil beauty that I always stop and look upward, as the tree branches direct me to do. After I have gazed heavenward for a while, I look at the path and am always enchanted by the patterns made from the sun shining through the tree limbs. In this photo, they remind me of stained glass…minus the coloring, of course.

The view down this bike path is awe inspiring to me, and always makes me stop and think about how beautiful nature is. And how frequently we are so busy we don’t stop to appreciate it.

When I look at the tree lifting their limbs towards heaven, and how they form a ceiling over the path, it truly feels like an outdoor cathedral. We don’t always need beautiful buildings or stained glass or powerful organ music to hear God.

Just step outside into nature…and look, and listen to His creation.

 

 

Family Search Adding New Feature Soon

Tags

ancestry research, hints, Tips, trees

You know those little shaking leaves in Ancestry, the ones that contain hints they’ve found for your ancestors? A hint feature will be available soon on Family Search.

The steps they have taken forward in the past few years are fantastic. This latest feature called hinting, will save a lot of time when searching for records. They’ll automatically search for records that match people in your family tree. Then when you visit people, those hints will show up on your ancestor’s page.

If you have a tree on Family Search, you are probably aware of their search records link on an ancestor’s page that automatically fills in the search query for you. They say finding records of your ancestors will be so much easier with this new hinting feature.

 No more looking through hundreds of search results. The system does the heavy lifting for you!!! It really is that easy!

When launched, this new hinting feature will go through the vast FamilySearch database of records and find the records for you that the hinting feature thinks might be about your specific ancestor. Just click and confirm the ones that are correct! We think you’ll be impressed.

 ~from Family Search blog post 28 May 2014 by David Green

When the new hinting technology goes into effect, it will also make adding other people in those records much easier.

To make this new hints feature work the best for you, here’s a few things you can do to prepare for it.

• Register and login. Make sure that your username and password work.
• Check your data. The better your ancestors’ data is, the better we will be able to match records and provide you with good hints. Check names, dates, places, relationships, and so forth.
• Add any new data to your tree as you find it. The more data you have on your ancestors, the better will be the likelihood of a quality hint. So, if your tree looks a little bare, add what you know, and fill in as much as you can. It will definitely help.

 ~from Family Search blog post 28 May 2014 by David Green

Of course the caveat here is you have to have created a tree on Family Search! If you haven’t, what better incentive is there to create one?!

Think Summer

Tags

hiking, spring, summer, trees, walking path

For those of us in the deep freeze (or Polar Vortex as they’re so fond of calling it) spring and summer are captured under the ground, and just waiting to burst forth in a few months. Don’t lose hope!