I've been emailing back and forth with a sixth cousin (I think). She's traced the family back to before Jews in Germany had last names. The furthest-back ancestor she's found was a man who was born in 1710, who had at least three sons, who all got different last names. One of the three names makes sense -- it's a version of the father's first name -- but we have no idea where the other two came from. Best guess is that they came from house symbols -- most houses in those villages were marked with symbols, rather than numbers, and a lot of people took their name from the symbol of whichever house they were living in at the time.

Iceland in 2015, is that for the solar eclipse? Man, I want to see that. Let's all go.

Yes, total eclipse. Also, Iceland and all its wonders! I agree, we should all go. ideally, someone planny can get everything set up and I can just tag along...

I don't mind chiming in with 71 degrees in Oakland today, because the rest of you non-droughtees will not be suffering water rationing very soon. I am sick of the gorgeous weather and cannot enjoy it at all because it's horribly damaging to our environment and I am sick about it.

Word with java. We'll probably get a wet spring to encourage the growth that will burn this summer.

I agree, we should all go.

Indeed!

Wow Hil, that is impressive. We couldn't trace my dad off this continent. Mom is better, but lots of dead ends there too. I haven't had the energy to devote any time to this, but other relatives have.

That sounds so tempting, -t.

Wow Hil, that is impressive. We couldn't trace my dad off this continent. Mom is better, but lots of dead ends there too. I haven't had the energy to devote any time to this, but other relatives have.

Well, getting off the continent is pretty easy, since two of my grandparents were immigrants.

Before they had last names is super impressive. My mom's done quite a bit of research for her side of the family, but not that far. My dad's side is really just lore, but there's a lot of it, which is almost like research. In the way that anecdotes are like data. You know, good enough for me to mention in cocktail chatter.

I've got several lines pretty reliably back to the 1600s. It's very handy to connect in to New England colonists and their genealogically obsessed descendents.

Good luck, Consuela!

I'm going to Iceland briefly along with Paris! I think I'm going to go to the spa that Mr. Robin went to recently, because why not? Unless someone tells me about other amazing things to do in Reykjavik in the winter.