Friday, August 08, 2008

Opening Ceremonies of the Summer 2008 Genea-Blogging Group Games: The Parade of Delegates

(please turn on your speakers)

Welcome to the Opening Ceremonies of the Summer 2008 Genea-Blogging Group Games



In the Spirit of

Unity

Friendly Competition

Quality Standards

and Achievement

we present to you the participants of

the Summer 2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games.





Delegates are listed in alphabetical order by blog title. Blog titles are linked so that you can easily return to your favorite blogs during the Games to check on the bloggers' progress. A link to each blogger's post describing the categories they are competing in is listed as "Categories Entered."







100 Years in America
A Light that Shines Again
Small-leaved Shamrock
by Lisa
Categories Entered: 1, 2, 3
(posting on all three blogs)


Lisa's flag represents her Irish, Croatian, and Hungarian heritage.







All My Branches Genealogy
by Wendy Littrell
Categories Entered

Her American, British, and German heritage are represented in this flag.







Amy's Genealogy, etc. Blog
by Amy Johnson Crow
Categories Entered

The flag represents being an American of Scottish and Irish heritage. The blue in the lower left is from the Union Jack and represents Scotland.







Ancestor Search Blog
by
Kathi Reid
Categories Entered

Kathi's flag meshes the elements of the flags of the United States, France and Romania to represent how these different ethnic groups have come together in her family. France and Romania were chosen to honor her two grandmothers who were born there.







AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors

by Miriam Robbins Midkiff
Categories Entered

The colors and stripes of Miriam's flag symbolize her current residence and ancestral heritage: The United States, the Netherlands, Friesland, England, Scotland, Canada and France.







Bluebonnet Country Genealogy
by Ruth Stephens
Categories Entered

Ruth's flag symbolizes the United States, where she resides; Ireland, her heritage; and Israel, where she hopes to visit. Our Lone Star blogger is also proud of her Texas heritage!







CanadaGenealogy, or "Jane's Your Aunt"
by M. Diane Rogers
Categories Entered

The Canadian maple leaf flag represents Diane's Canadian heritage, the Canadian Red Ensign represents her own English, Irish and Scottish ancestors, while the Swedish flag represents her husband's ancestors.







The Cheek that Doth Not Fade

by Richard Cheek
Categories Entered

Richard's flag combines the US flag and the Malaysian flag which represent the two countries where his children were born.







DearMYRTLE: Your Friend in Genealogy

by Pat Richley
Categories Entered

The banner of Ol' Myrt represents her Irish, American, and German roots.







Destination: Austin Family
by Thomas MacEntee
Categories Entered

Thomas' banner displays his Dutch, American, and British roots.







The Educated Genealogist
by Sheri Fenley
Categories Entered

German, Irish, and American heritage are symbolized in Sheri's flag.







Elyse's Genealogy Blog
by Elyse Doerflinger
Categories Entered

Elyse said: "I chose the flags of America (Born and raised!), Germany, and Wales. Since I am Welsh and German it really fits me rather well - don't ya think?"







The Family Curator
by Denise Levenick
Categories Entered

British and German heritage can be seen, along with proud American roots in Denise's banner.







footnoteMaven
by the footnoteMaven
Categories Entered

Can you see the flag of Scotland in the lower left corner of fM's banner? The Campbells are coming...to the Games!







Genea-Musings
by Randy Seaver
Categories Entered

Randy describes his flag: "England is the 'mother country' for almost all of my colonial ancestors and the mother country of the USA and Canada. I have a few Canadian ancestors, and many colonial American ancestors and USA-born ancestors."






GenBlog
by Julie Cahill Tarr
Categories Entered

Julie says: "My flag represents the American, German, and Irish sides of my heritage."







George Geder Genealogy~Photography~Restoration

by George Geder
Categories Entered

It has been suggested that George's ancestors hail from the Ivory Coast and Ghana. These elements are merged with those of the United States on a richly textured background in this beautiful banner.







Granite in My Blood
by Midge Frazel
Categories Entered

Midge's flag highlights her American and British ancestry, as well as her Stanton and Denison lines.







HomeTown Edition - Kratochvil & Secor
by Brenda K. Wolfgram Moore
Categories Entered

The stripes on Brenda's flag show Freedom of the United States. The Maple Leaf represents Canada and the solid red is for Austria.







I Dream of Genea(logy)
by Amir Dekel (abba-dad)
Categories Entered

Amir's flag symbolizes Israel, where he was born and lived most of his life; Nigeria, where he spent five years of his childhood; and the United States, which he calls home these days.






Island Routes
by Melody Lasalle
Categories Entered

Melody's flag represents that she was born in the United States. Her ancestry hails from several countries but she mostly identifies with her French and Portuguese heritage.







Janet the Researcher

by Janet Iles
Categories Entered

Janet's banner represent her maternal Scottish--and from way back--her maternal Germanic roots. It also shows her paternal English roots and her Canadian nationality. She enlarged the symbols for England and Scotland to represent their greater influence.







Jessica's Genejournal
by Jessica Oswalt
Categories Entered

British and German heritage are displayed, along with her American residence, in Jessica's banner.







kinexxions
by Becky Wiseman
Categories Entered

Becky's rich symbolism of her flag has been described in her post here.







Life at the Home20
by Laura Womack
Categories Entered

Laura used the colors from the flags of the US, UK and Ireland in her own flag. Red means patriotism. Blue means freedom. Green means unity. Gold means wealth. White means hope.







Little Bytes of Life
by Elizabeth O'Neal
Categories Entered

Elizabeth explains her flag: "Mine is a combination of USA, France, and UK (Scotland, Ireland) heritage. The USA portion is the greatest since my (paternal) ancestors have been in the U.S. since before the Mayflower." We think it's fitting for a member of the DAR!







looking4ancestors
by Kathryn Lake Hogan
Categories Entered

This is the flag of Walengada, representing Kathryn's Welsh, English, and Canadian heritage.







The Oracle of OMcHodoy
by Colleen McHugh
Categories Entered

Colleen's heritage from the United States, Ireland, and the Czech Republic are reflected in her banner.







Slekt og slikt!
by Laila Normann Christiansen
Categories Entered

Laila is Norwegian with Swedish ancestry (three of her great-grandparents immigrated from Sweden to Norway late 1800s). The American flag represents how she loves to visit the US and stay in her condo in Florida.







Steve's Genealogy Blog
by Stephen Danko
Categories Entered

Steve's flag shows the flags of Lithuania and Poland, the countries in which his ancestors lived, as a background for the flag of the United States where his family has lived for the past 100 years.







Transylvanian Dutch
by John Newmark
Categories Entered

On John's flag we see his American, Dutch, Jewish, and Transylvanian heritage. Yes, that IS a vampire, representing John's Transylvanian ancestry! It is from a painting by Edward Munsch, most famous for The Scream.







Twig Talk
by Sheri Bush
Categories Entered

British, French and American roots are represented in Sheri's banner. She's also proud of her German ancestry!







Vidar's Slektsblogg
by Vidar Øverlie
Categories Entered

This is Vidar's design of a merged Norwegian and Danish flag representing his own heritage.







West in New England
by Bill West
Categories Entered

Bill used England and Ireland's flags' colors because they represent both sides of his family: the colonists who came from England in the 17th century on the Mayflower and other ships, who were his father's ancestors, and the Irish immigrants of the 19th century who were his mother's grandparents.







What's Past is Prologue

by Donna Pointkouski
Categories Entered

On Donna's banner, we see her American, Polish, and Bavarian heritage, as well as the symbol of the Vatican, representing her strong Catholic ancestral roots.





Our bloggers represent a diversity of ethnicity, culture, and heritage, and reside in three actual nations:

Photobucket

Canada






Photobucket

Norway






Photobucket

The United States





We thank all those who have promoted these Games. We appreciate the encouragement and support of those who cannot participate due to work and family commitments or time constraints. You are our fans, cheering us from the stands, and we salute you!





Genea-Bloggers, are you prepared? May the light of our ancestors' lives shine before us, guiding us, motivating us, and leading us on to record their history for the generations to come.



Let the Games begin!


Personal flags created at WeAreMulticolored. National flags courtesy of 3DFlags.
"Bugler's Dream/Olympic Fanfare and Theme" composed and conducted by John Williams and performed by the Boston Symphony. Broadcast by Project Playlist.






11 comments:

Lisa / Smallest Leaf said...

Magnificent opening ceremony! You've got us all pepped up and inspired to do our very best!

Lisa
Small-leaved Shamrock
A light that shines again
100 Years in America

Kathryn Lake Hogan said...

Miriam,
Fantastic Opening Ceremony! We have a great group of Genea-bloggers participating, and cheering us on.

footnoteMaven said...

Outstanding performance hosting the opening ceremony. Let the games begin!

fM

Jasia said...

Fantastic presentation and orchestration Miriam!

To all the participants... I wish you all the best of luck, a whole lot of energy, focus, and drive!

May the best Genea-Bloggers win!!!

Elizabeth O'Neal said...

Awesome and awe-inspiring! I give it a 6.0!

Midge Frazel said...

Wow, you put my geek-friends to shame with the great blog posting with music!

When will I have time to research and post when I have sooo many new blogs to read and converse with.

Julie said...

Absolutely love the opening ceremony! I think if there was a "best flag award" I'd give it to Becky Wiseman.

Colleen said...

Awesome and amazing.

Abba-Dad said...

This is fantastic. Thank you so much for putting this together. I guess I started my genea-blog just in time :-)

Sheri Fenley said...

Brilliant! Well Done Miriam. I felt as if I were really there holding my heritage flag, marching in the parade of nations. The music is so inspiring.

Sheri Fenley

Ruth said...

I have been at work all evening and the Games was all I could think about. The second I got home, 1:48 am, I opened up my laptop and came straight here. Didn't even stop at the bathroom first...Well worth the wait! You guys have done an amazing job!