If you have been wanting a Stablo Nomadic Easel or Just Go sketching or painting board it is very easy to make your own clone for a lot less cost. This is great if you aren't sure if it's for you, or you simply don't want to spend the money on a sketching solution. Or even if you want a different size than those available commercially.

Rootsmagic 9 has been released today. I've been a fan for quite a few years, since Bruce Buzbee reached out to me in response to this blog post. Each release brings something new but the last release (Rootsmagic 8) was a rebuild from the ground up. 

Rootsmagic 9 builds onto this new foundation and introduces the following features:

1. Associations: these are new relationships beyond spouse, child, parent. A list of associations is provided plus you can make your own. Examples, friends, neighbours, apprentice, employee, employer. 

2. Colour code sets: currently I have two colours set in my file - a blue for my husband and his ancestors, and a red for mine. Colour codes let you have up to 8 sets of colours - each set can have quite 27 colours. The example provided was war (WWI, WWII, Civil, Revolutionary etc). I'm thinking it could be used to track Countries or Nationalities (Canada, USA, England, Scotland, etc). 

3. New database tools: Rearrange children or spouses for everyone in the file based on dates; Delete multiple people in a group, combining groups, change or removing fact types from everyone, enhanced property list. Note: BACKUP FIRST! These tools are particularly useful for people who have imported a gedcom into your own file in the past and need to do some cleanup.

4. View media from person view without having to select each fact or source citation. This is filterable by fact. This can be really helpful to identify duplicate copies of media. However, there is still no "merge" feature to merge two citation media together. This is one of my pet peeves with Ancestry source sync'ing as you end up with multiple copies.

5. Saved searches: I have been waiting for this for soooo long. I like to set these up and reuse them as task lists. For example, I have a search that looks for people who were alive and living in England during the 1880 census but whose census I haven't found yet:

The searches in Rootsmagic could still use some upgrading and aren't as good as genealogy software I was using in the year 2000 (Bruce please fix this!). I would like to see ability to add more parameters, ability to reorder parameters, and the ability to duplicate the saved search (e.g. I'd like to make a copy of this for 1870 census and just change the dates).

6. Filter tasks: Again another feature I've been waiting for. Tasks needed to be grouped by place, website, microfilms, books and so on. For example, if I am scouring birth records in England - I may as well be looking for *all* of the missing births at the same time. I've typically managed this with creative naming in the past but this is much better.

7. Citation usage: allows you to see all uses of the citation from the citation source and edit from there.

8. Groups: criteria for adding to people to groups. This feature is *powerful*. It allows you to select from the screen list, a saved search, or criteria you set on the fly. After you create the group you can then filter people from the people screen using the group. So if I use this feature with my saved search above, I can then filter people based on their membership of the search group.

A small ask

Upgrading to Rootsmagic 9 from Rootsmagic 8 is 50% off and comes in at $20 USD. Please support the Rootsmagic team by purchasing a copy and even buying the accompanying book. Bruce has spent years building and then rebuilding this software. Genealogy software is "niche" and large online companies like Ancestry are competing with the smaller guys. I want to make sure my file is available locally and I don't have to share *everything* with Ancestry for privacy reasons. Support Rootsmagic - buy your copy here.

I recently acquired a Prazisa optical rangefinder while thrifting in Kamloops, B.C. I had been wanting a rangefinder since acquiring a Leica rangefinder camera (IIIf) with a broken rangefinder. 

This camera could be used in zone focusing mode, but I didn’t have the confidence to do that unless shooting at f/8 to f/16 as my guesstimating of distances is really poor. Using f/8-f/16 would provide significant almost infinite depth of field it doesn’t allow you to isolate the subject and forces you into slower (sometimes blurry) shutter speeds.

I had looked on eBay for an optical rangefinder but didn’t have great confidence in finding one that actually worked, wasn’t foggy/fungus etc. I also wanted one that mounted horizontally on the camera cold shoe and not one that mounted vertically which I thought would attract too much attention when in use (like the Leica Fokos rangefinders).

I had wandered around the whole thrift store 2x. Given the thrift store was in support of our local hospitals  where I work, I was determined to find something to buy. I took a look in the cabinet under the cash register which was full of jewelry and trinkets, and noticed the rangefinder in a box. The two circular windows were staring up at me.

The styling of the Prazisa rangefinder matches the Leica perfectly and they look like they belong together.

The Minolta Maxxum 7000 family

I thrifted my first Minolta Maxxum 7000 with a 28mm 2.8 AF lens for $10. I spotted it at thrift store next to a Minolta SRT101 film camera (also $10). I'd had the SRT101 before and sold it. It was very heavy and I gravitated towards my Canon AE1 film camera instead, so it wasn't interesting to me. But the Minolta Maxxum (or Dynax) 7000 intrigued me. I had been looking for a more modern SLR, thinking I'd run into a Canon EOS or Nikon SLR at some point. 

My $10 thrifted Minolta Maxxum 7000 with 28mm 2.8 lens

I hadn't considered a Minolta and was not even aware of them as a camera brand bar a few digital SLRs I'd seen back in the early 2000s. The camera had several recognizable buttons, ISO, Drive, Mode, and a +/- exposure compensation button. I tested the auto focus - quite snappy although a bit loud - fired a few test shots and the camera focused and fired. For $10 how could I go wrong. The camera even had working batteries - 4 AAAs.

Maxxum 7000 comes with a top LCD screen showing aperture, shutter speed etc.

I later learned the Minolta Maxxum 7000 was the first film SLR to be equipped with auto focus. It was produced in 1985 and interestingly the overlapping XX in the logo was controversial with Exxon suing Minolta for trademark infringement. What a claim to fame! 

Front view. Plastic grip showing some white coating due to age

These types of camera are not terribly popular. Most people getting into film want full manual mode - cameras like the Pentax K-1000, Canon AE1/A1 or the Minolta SRT101/X700. But I have already been down that path. I kept my AE1 as it was the smallest of the SLRs I owned and I had 3 lenses already as well as the power winder. I wasn't quite willing to part with it yet.

Maxxum's Data Back 70. Disappointingly only goes up to 2019.

The Minolta Maxxum 7000 uses an A Mount lens. Wait. I've heard of that before. I am a Sony A6000 owner and I guess am aware of the other Sony line up of DSLRs also using A mount lenses (you have to be careful buying lenses to make sure you buy E Mount for the A6000 and not A mount). So it turns out that Sony bought the rights to the A Mount for their first series of DSLRs like the A99. And even more strange (to me) the lenses are compatible between the two brands.

I checked out the Flickr (yes it's still around) groups for the Minolta 7000 camera. The photos I saw were actually sharp, clear, and really quite good for such an old camera. The photos shot with the 28mm 2.8 lens looked really decent, but I also noticed photos shot with a 50mm 1.7 lens that looked even better. Hmmm, I really wanted to look into that lens. I hopped onto our local buy and sell and spotted the lens for $40. Well that would turn my $10 bargain into a $50 investment. I offered the seller $25 but he turned me down. Did I really need it? Or did I just want it? I hesitated.

A few days later I found myself out thrifting again. I purchased a nice $10 point and shoot Canon Sure Shot Owl AF with an original Canon case for the kids to use (disposables are all the rage but this is better and cheaper). I was pretty much done for the day but in my last thrift store noticed a camera on the bottom shelf of the locked area. On checking it, guess what, another Minolta Maxxum 7000 but this time with two lenses and a flash. $25. Ok lady behind the counter, can I take a closer look?

Minolta Maxxum 7000 #2 with the XX logo and 50mm 1.7 lens

The second Minolta had a 28-85mm 3.5-4.5 lens mounted. A big heavy lens but one with Macro on it. Interesting. But what was the other lens? Oh yes, the coveted 50mm 1.7 lens. You know that feeling you have when you just put it out in the world that you'd find something and then it happened. Yes that. So I found my 50mm 1.7 for $25 (the turned down offer) but with a bonus camera body, 28-85mm lens, half case and a Minolta flash.

Minolta Maxxum #2 with the 28-85 lens

So now I own two Minolta Maxxum 7000s (did I mention that the 2nd one has the famous overlapping XX in the logo - so I know it was produced in the first 3 months of production before they had to change the logo), 3 lenses and a flash for the grand sum of $35. Canadian. Not even American dollars.  

Maxxum with flash and half body case

I'm running my first roll of film through Minolta #1 but the camera is looking good so far. These cameras seem to be quite readily available on Facebook marketplace and if you find one (or two!) at a thrift store, I encourage you to check them out.

Minolta 7000 Flickr Group

Minolta Lens Reviews (coming soon):
50mm 1.7 AF
28mm 2.8 AF
28-85mm AF

My first typewriter was an Adler Tippa. It was gifted to me by my aunt who had purchased it new a few years before. The typewriter was made in Holland in 1972 by the Triumph Adler company. While not the best typer out there (I prefer my Olivetti Lettera 32) it is extremely portable, as it is only 2.75 inches thin in the case. I also adore the colour!

Luckily the storage case also kept the manual with the typewriter. You can download a PDF copy of the manual here.

And here is the story of the typewriter:

Does anyone really need 4 typewriters? I'm told (by members of www.typepals.com) it doesn't seem to matter how many typewriters you acquire, you can always use another one. 

Typewriters are getting harder to find in thrift stores. Lots of electrics but not so many manuals. I guess this is a sign that more people are discovering the joy of using typewriters - which is a good thing as these machines often have lots of life left in them. 

My latest find was in the local classifieds. It is an Underwood Rhythm Touch. I watched the ad for several days as the typewriter was calling my name. At $50 it was around half the price of a couple of giant standards also listed. I finally succumbed to the temptation and drove over to take a look. The typewriter was working and a faint image could be seen on the paper. The space bar was sticky and the bell only rang about 1/2 the time. After paying the sellers $40 I drove away with my new typewriter.

After a bit of cleaning using air and alcohol (tip: don't blow the typewriter out on your office desk) the spacebar was no longer sticky. The bell took a bit longer to figure out. It required both cleaning with alcohol but also some sewing machine oil on the mechanism to allow it to reset between rings. It is now ringing the bell on every line as I approach the margin.

The serial number is 6716768 which identifies it as being manufactured in 1950. This is my oldest typewriter and also my first standard sized typewriter. The 11 indicates the carriage is 11 inches and will take an 8.5x11 in landscape orientation. This was originally designed for typing full size envelopes and such and is a handy feature without needing a wide carriage (like my Olympia SM9) which can be a bit too wide and unwieldy.

I was a little apprehensive about purchasing a standard typewriter because of the extra size required to store it, but I am enjoying the fact the page is so high. The paper is in your line of sight and limits the distraction around your - it is so easy to focus on the words on the page and the writing experience.

I have ordered a new two coloured ribbon and will still type on this one while I'm waiting. 

Last week Rootsmagic finally realized Rootsmagic 8. This is a long awaited re-write of Rootsmagic 7. 

1. Make Rootsmagic now native to the Mac. This means an easier installation and less errors. The features on the Mac are also the same as on Windows - no more having a "lite" version. 
2. Simplify the navigation. The standard top Windows menu (File, Edit etc) has been replaced with something more intuitive and that allows you to switch screens while still remembering where your place in the other screen.
3. Enhance the editing capabilities. You can have multiple edits screens at the same time, and switch to another family member from any edit person's edit screen, then switch back.
4. Create more powerful searches. 
5. Save to modern file formats. RTF has been replaced with Word's .DOC format, lists can be exported to Excel .XLSX formats.
6. Create new wall charts and fan charts. 
7. Create resusable citations. Create it one time and attach to multiple people or events.
8. Combine to-do items, correspondence lists, research logs into a single tasks area. 
9. Improve the places and mapping features. The place list is now easier to edit and merge. It is also easy to see where the place is used (either event or person). After you geocode the location, you can then view it on a map.

My Edward III lineage

Two and two are four (your grandparents)

Four and four are eight (your great grandparents)

Eight and eight are sixteen (your great-great grandparents)

Sixteen and sixteen are thirty-two (your 3rd great grandparents)

- Danny has a significant number of female ancestors in his line to Edward III. Females generally married young, and bore children early into their marriage.

- I have a significant number of male ancestors in my line to Edward III. Males generally married later (to younger females), in fact, many had multiple marriages as spouses died in childbirth etc. In fact you'll see from the photo, my maiden name Hamersley is an unbroken patrilineal line back to 1565 (Sir Hugh Hamersley) before it switches to the first female. Danny's line switched to females much earlier. 

Where should you look? 

As a long time member of the Flickr community (since 2005) and Pro, I haven't participated in the Flickr community much in the last few years. I've seen the community become a ghost town with most people moving on to 500px or Instagram.

Flickr was neglected by Yahoo for many years and (even with Pro subscriptions to keep the lights on) there has been little change to the site or the app.

The acquisition of Flickr by Smugmug should have been a fresh start for Flickr with Smugmug bringing new innovations and ideas to the table on how to move things forward. Smugmug should be talking to existing customers (especially Pros) about why they stayed, what they enjoyed and what they missed from the heyday of the service. Smugmug should be communicating more about Flickr's financial position and asking customers about fund-raising "add-ons" they would want to purchase - prints, books, business/art cards, Pro + features like slideshows (Animoto style) and storefronts for prints/digital assets. There are plenty of photography related competitors making money.

Now I'm more worried for Flickr than ever. Instead of working with the Flickr community, they took the easy route (which I believe is also the wrong route) to increase the fees before offering anything new, effectively punishing long time supporters and driving them away. Flickr membership isn't really worth anything , not even the $25 I've been paying. Google or Apple will back up all your photos for free. And if you backup your computer you're covered anyway.

So what are we paying for? Comments on each others photos? A pat on the back? Discussions and info in community groups that could just as easily be found in the many camera fan forums? Smugmug needs to think about the value the site offers to the customer before increasing rates.

Let me know your thoughts below.

I first discovered the travellers notebook concept through Jane Davenport, her “butterfly” book is designed to be a travellers notebook for artists and I thought it was genius that you could have different sections with different types of paper - making it the perfect “sketchbook” for notes, sketching and watercolour. But I also stumbled onto a whole world of travellers notebook journalers. And through that a world of bullet journaling. Bullet journaling is based on the concept of designing your own journal. Many people use it for a calendar which doesn’t appeal to me as I am a heavy user of shared Gmail calendars - one for each member of the family. However mastering a To Do list and all those little snippets of information floating around in your head appeals to me. So I spent some time thinking about these tools and how they could work for me and eventually came up with a solution in part influenced by @HoneyRozes (Instagram, Youtube), a bullet journaler.


Rather than using my Butterfly book - which is set up for art - I decided to purchase a leather travellers journal from the Travellers Notebook (‘TN) company (formerly known as Midori). This is really just a cover for the notebook inserts to be stored within it but works the same as the Butterfly book where you can add your own notebook inserts. I used the default insert that came with the TN. I love the smell of the leather and the way the cover gets more and more worn with time. 


On the cover I wrote the date the notebook was started (June 2017) so I can easily identify the date range for each notebook. Inside the notebook I created a calendar so I could reference dates when planning To Do’s. I also wrote out 12 Questions for Change taken from the “Change Your Life, Change Your Questions” book. 


I made a mistake with the calendar as I didn’t have enough space to have a full year of planning - instead I only had room for 10 months instead of the full 12. Yes, I should have measured everything out in advance. Got to remember that for the next one!


The next layout in my journal was to create a monthly planning list view. This time I had space for all 12 months! This enables me to add items in advance for each month - if they are due on specific dates I add the date in the square - if not, the square remains blank. If the item is a project that spans months then I draw a horizontal arrow leading into the next month. As I add weeks into the journal I reference this page to make sure there aren’t any items to be transferred in for the week.  Here’s how it works... at the beginning of the week (usually on Sunday afternoon or evening) I plan the upcoming week.


First I set up the page layout....


Then I add the section titles.... the titles I came up with are work, not (i.e. not work stuff), home (for home maintenance items), and kids (for things I need to do for my kids). These sections are for my To Do’s for the week. 


Next I add the date range for the week, along with the week number. The week number isn’t really important but it’s kind of nice to know how far we are through the year already. These go at the top of the page.


Next I add additional section titles. I am still playing around with these but I think I’ve settled on Lessons Learned, Successes, Notes and Next Week. I use the lessons learned to record things I want to do better in the future, successes to record and celebrate my successes, Notes for anything I need to write down for the week - phone numbers, messages and so on, then lastly Next week to write down anything for next week. This section isn’t really required as I could use the monthly planning list view. I highlight these headings to make them stand out and easier to read.


Then I transfer in all the To Do’s from the previous week....


Each item transferred has a box next to it. Let me explain how I am using these.

• An empty box means it isn’t done,
• A box with a date means it needs to be done on a specific date,
• A box with a cross in it means its cancelled,
• A box with a > in it means it’s incomplete and transferred to the next week,
• A filled box means it’s complete (yay!).

I have been using this system successfully since the beginning of June. Initially I used the system to collect a “brain dump” of everything floating around in my head that I was worried would be forgotten. Each week I have many to do more items that I collected and gradually everything that was “non-urgent” has been accomplished and my To Do list has gotten shorter.  Is the system perfect? I doubt it... but it has the advantage of being portable, doesn’t conflict with my gmail calendar(s), isn’t overwhelming (weekly seems the perfect length of time for planning) and is always there for me to write quick To Do’s and notes. I haven’t filled out all the remaining “speads” in the notebook in case I want to tweak the weekly layout in the future. I hope you have enjoyed this quick tour of my personal organization system and you are inspired to create a system of your own.