Good morning and I hope spring weather is getting closer, the rains and storms stop along the east coast and other areas! I wanted to give you a report on my trip to Frankfort and a little other information. The program Saturday for the Kentucky Historical Society and Kentucky Genealogical Society was tremendous! Despite chillier weather and a goodly amount of rain, there were approximately 100 people in the monthly seminar held at the Kentucky Historical Center. If you've never visited the Historical Center and researched in their library - I hope you can soon. The facilities are wonderful, the museum is great and the library is outstanding. The monthly seminars are co-sponsored by the KHS and KGS and the topics are varied and interesting. I will begin posting about 2 weeks in advance the topics and if possible the speakers. There is never any charge for the courses, pre-registration is needed (normally closing on Thursday before the program), and box lunches are provided at a reasonable fee if you so desire. I went up the night before and enroute, the gentleman from there who provided transportation took me over to Pleasant Hill Shaker Village. Oh my goodness! We arrived only 1/2 hour before closing but were able to take a driving tour of the huge acreage, visit the gift shop (temptation!), talked to the gentleman in charge of their livestock and thus refreshing my knowledge of my farm days; they raise sheep, goats, cattle, chickens, turkeys, etc and have 2 beautiful percherons who annually pull a funeral wagon when a Shaker funeral recreation is done. We, along with my host's wife ate at the Shaker Inn there and I know I gained a few pounds - it is some of the finest food I've eaten in years in a wonderful atmosphere. If you want to learn more about Pleasant Hill, do a web search, there are several excellent sites that show pictures of the area and what is available there. Saturday, I spoke for the morning session and the afternoon session on Genealogy 101. It was a receptive audience with quite a few beginning genealogists and some who were wanting to pick up some "tricks of the trade" that perhaps they hadn't thought of. I started with the extreme basics of beginning with oneself and working backwards, using tape recorders, what you'll find in the County Clerk's office (and how to act!), what is found in the wills, deeds, marriages, Bible records and of course, the census records - including clues one can find in the 1850 census and beyond that we often over-look. The session was again videotaped and I imagine I gave the videographer fits as I moved around a lot from an overhead projector into the audience. We took a question and answer session also. The presentation will be shown on the local access station in Frankfort several times and in a few weeks I will order the cd to see how it came out (scares me!) It is always a treat to speak for these groups, the sessions have grown from a small turn-out to a hundred or more participants monthly; the enthusiasm is contagious and has breathed a fresh breath of life into those who attend. One gentleman drove all the way from West Virginia to hear the presentation and that is humbling!!! I was able to meet a few of you from the lists and that's always a treat!! Now - to another topic. I am going to be in and out for a period of maybe 6 weeks, starting soon. I am having a lot of remodeling done on my home which is of course my office also thanks to the owner of my humble abode. Most of the time I'll be able to work around the confusion, sometimes not. I will also be rather out of sight from this Friday through next Tuesday as a dear cousin of mine is flying in Friday; we haven't seen each other since she was 4 and I was 8. I'll be able to keep up with my posting to the lists but any queries might be held until after the visit. And, it's almost time to start on the summer quarterly plus our local society meeting. I trust you all have a great day; I'll see you tomorrow with more of the Carter story. Sandi SCKY Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=south-central-kentucky Barren Co Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=kybarren GGP: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/