Who Do You Think YOU Are?

Wow, I have been gone from the Blog for a bit - sorry blog buddies! I am still here, although just barely. Things have just been a bit crazy the past couple of weeks and (I am not going to lie) I have been feeling overwhelmed. Some things had to be put on the back-burner for a little bit - ah, such is life!

One thing I missed since I was away this past weekend was the Ancestry.ca free search weekend. Normally you have to buy a subscription to access their records, but for this past weekend only you could search around for free!

Found here

Researching my roots is something I have always wanted to do but can never seem to make a priority. And since I'm on a tight budget, buying a subscription to something like this is just not in the cards. I really wish I had been home so that I could take a quick look around - who knows, maybe I would have found something interesting about my family!

My roots are sort of muddled and I really don't know anything about them at all - my mother's mother is my only living grandparent (and I honestly don't get along with her very well), is from Newfoundland originally and has an English maiden name and married name (Clancey/Walton). My mom has no siblings, and I do not even share her name anyway. I have my dad's last name (Humes) but have no contact with my dad or anyone on his side of the family. The only person I would be able to contact (and would feel comfortable doing so) is my aunt in Ontario and she isn't even my dad's biological sister (she was adopted). My dad's dad died when he was a teenager, so I never met him and his mother died when I was a little kid.

See? Where to start?

My mom would know bits and pieces about my dad's side but not much of anything solid to go on. I have a lot of questions about where my name comes from (it's sort of a strange name that you don't hear often, but you do hear "Hume" - no "s" - so there must be some connection there). Some say it's obviously English, others say it's obviously Scottish or Irish. I really have no idea. I have always felt a bit of a disconnect from my origins; no real solid connection to a particular place or people.

Not that I am not a whole person without an awareness of my roots, but it is something that would be nice to know. I have a very small family and I love the little family I have very much, but sometimes I long to know if I have more connections to greater things; important people, places and things in history.

Perhaps one of these days I will get serious about researching my ancestry and find out more about where I come from, but for now I am happy knowing where I was yesterday and where I will be tomorrow (well, most of the time).

Have you ever researched your ancestry? What did you find out? Where are your roots?

FYI there are lots of great genealogy resources for Canadians here. Ever seen the show "Who Do You Think You Are?", where celebs look back through their ancestral records to uncover fascinating connections to world events? Very interesting - check it out! I had actually only seen the American version before now, but will make sure to check out the Canadian one too.

Date With Fantasy

My heart skipped a beat when I opened my latest Vogue magazine (January 2010), specifically to the feature entitled "Date With Destiny", and saw Canada's own Owen Pallett in this gorgeous photo with supermodel Raquel Zimmerman. For those of you that don't know, Owen Pallett is a musician who records under the name Final Fantasy. His music is an amazing and eclectic mix of classical and synth, past and future. Many of his songs are actually built up with Owen recording himself playing one part and playing it back underneath his playing of another part - essentially accompanying himself! (wow, confusing enough for ya?!). His lyrics are often strange and seemingly stream-of-consciousness, but that's part of their amazing-ness. There is no one else out there today playing music like this.

This warmed my heart in particular because I was lucky enough to see Owen play live, in a concert with Symphony Nova Scotia, back in October! I honestly had never heard of Owen nor heard any of his songs before attending this concert, but I came out with my jaw hanging open in awe at his talent and innovation (and at the same qualities that I feel the Symphony possesses, in my opinion one of the most innovative and professional orchestras in the country). Best of all? They are both Canadian!

You can listen to Owen Pallett's concert with SNS here: http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/cod/concerts/20091023owenp