Our monumental moment at the archives arrived this week when we finished all of the probate files for Rockingham County. There were 155 boxes and I added up the total number of pictures we took which was over 436,000. Not bad for a years work! As soon as Rockingham was finished our archive director brought in the beginning of our next project which is Hillsborough County. It has the largest population in the state. This particular project has 354 boxes of probate files and although we have definitely gotten faster we won't be able to complete this much work before we go home. We don't know if new missionaries will be called to do the work or they will switch the project to our friends Tim and Phyllis who are working under contract with another genealogy company. It has been interesting for us to realize we are becoming much more expert in recognizing the writing and knowing if it is an H or an N or a W among other challenges that the writing has presented. We have also grown to love the names both given and surnames of many of the probate holders. We have already done over 1,500 files from the new county and have noticed many of our our friends from Rockingham--probably cousins, brothers, sisters, or parents.
Although we have been busy at the archives we have managed to get in several fun activities. On Friday night we headed over to Hopkington to attend the state fair. Unfortunately we never carry cash so we didn't make it through the front gate since they didn't take debit or credit cards. Once we got back to the car we decided we'd pass on the fair and just drove around looking at the various towns and houses in the immediate area. New Hampshire is just so beautiful and unique and that definitely satisfied our need to get out of the house for an evening. On Saturday we headed over to Maine and started up the coast at Kittery going north until we ended in Portland. We have come down from Portland along the coastline when Rachel, Andy & Angela, and Phil and Penny were here. Going in a different direction was like seeing everything for the first time. Driving on the Pacific Coast Highway in California is much different than driving on the Atlantic Coast Highway in Maine. In California you see huge vistas of coastline almost all the way up to San Francisco. In Maine you see huge vistas of trees with only an occasional glimpse of the ocean. The plus in Maine is you go through so many quaint towns that you get to see different aspects of the area. We stopped in Cape Elizabeth for a lobster roll at the little restaurant we found after doing a google search. It took us about 15 minutes just to find a parking place and then an additional 45 minutes in a line waiting to order our food. It was fun because we visited with a woman from Houston, Texas who had came to Maine to get a pure bred puppy (a hunting dog) from a breeder that lived nearby. The food was okay but the views were spectacular. I put some pictures on the blog but it doesn't do justice to show just how serene and surreal it is. After lunch we went into Portland so we could buy donuts for the Elders and Sisters from the Holey Donut shop but for some reason we just couldn't find it and hadn't written the address down. By then it was already 3 o'clock so I suspect it would have been closed for the day. They said that when the last donut is sold the doors close and as good as those donuts are I am sure they were all gone by noon!
I spoke in church last Sunday. The subject was "Making the Sabbath a Delight" using President Nelson's talk as a reference. It went well and reminded me that I need to do more to make our Sundays a day of learning, reflection, and an opportunity to count and recognize the great blessings we have received the previous week. If you have time be sure to go on the church website (LDS.org) for great ideas and insight in making the Sabbath a delight. Have a great week everyone.
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