Judy Spiers Photo Restoration

I enjoyed a nice, long visit with my mom, Judy Spiers, yesterday. We do talk regularly on the phone, but it’s always so much better to visit with her in person. We haven’t really been able to catch up like this for a few months now.

During our visit, I made a point of bringing up several ideas I’ve had that relate to this web site. She has some modest experience with her own blog at this point, so, if she’s willing to make an ongoing commitment to this site, she’d make a good contributing author.

It looks like I’m now officially taking a step towards a new family reunion: I’m asking if anyone is interested.

This web site may look pretty sophisticated, but it’s really not. Nothing has been planned as far as an official family reunion. If this is going to be done right, there are many questions to be asked and answered, and there’s a considerable amount of work to do.

Mom and I are still mulling over yesterday’s conversation. We’re writing up our ideas and comparing notes, and we’re discussing ways to bringing more family members into this conversation.

We’ll see.

This 1919 photo of the MacWhirter family is a sample from a family photo restoration project I’ve been working on. If you click on the image you’ll link to an associated Flickr page.

The 2007 Cutting Family Reunion was held on the weekend of July 20–22, at Ocean Shores in Washington State. It rained all weekend long, but it was great fun!

It’s now been five long years since the last post to this site. I thought there should at least be a little something for anyone that stopped by.

-i.

This bulletin board system (BBS) is hosted by an application called PHP BBS, which should be familiar to a few of you. PHP BBS is a fairly straight-forward and easy to use application, and I hope that you’ll find it useful. Unfortunately, I don’t have time right now to add graphics and links that would tie our BBS into the rest of the Cutting Reunion web site, so I’ll ask that you be patient with the system if you get confused. We’re making this up as we go along.

One problem that I’m aware of that I think is worth mentioning is that you’ll have to create another account in order to participate this BBS, which means that you’ll have another login and password to keep track of in addition to the account you created to comment on our home page. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but there’s nothing I can do about that at the moment. This redundancy is due to the fact that our web site uses two separate web applications—one for blog posts (WordPress) and one for this new bulletin board system (PHP BBS). I lack the programming experience (and time) required to consolidate user accounts. (If anyone out there has programming experience and knows how to do this, send me an email!)

That said, I hope that you’ll take the time to poke around the BBS and that you’ll get involved with the discussion. Regardless of how slick any of this technology looks it’s all for nothing if you don’t participate.

Enjoy!

-i.

• We have the web site launched.
• I have just written the “About” page—something that will help someone on the east coast with the last name of Cutting to know what in the world we are doing.  (And maybe coax a little more genealogical information from them.)
• We’ve done initial research on the Cutting family genealogy.  In the “About” page, you will find the website for the Cutting name having some 394 entries.  Take a look.  Do we belong there?
• Family members are already signing up on the web site so they can participate–we invite you to do that, too.
• Ian says he’s working on the back end of the web site.
• I met with Ian at Southcenter (south end of Seattle) to hand off a couple old family photos for him to use in a mailing—which we hope will be going out by the end of this month.

Next:  We are thinking it would be nice to put out a monthly newsletter—an idea that is really in the formative stages.  Got ideas?  What kinds of things do you think we can share between now and July that will help us know each other better and have more fun?  Let us know!

Judy Cutting Spiers

It’s January 15th, and it’s a short time until the Cutting Reunion.  In case you are wondering, we selected the 3rd weekend in July because that is the time of year when it is least likely to rain.  Yeah!   

You may also be wondering why we chose Ocean Shores over Enumclaw.  That reason is simple, too.  There are more hotels to choose from, it should be easier to get reservations, and, there is far more to do.  Our beaches are a cool temperature year round, so only the most hardy swim.  But the beaches are great fun for wading, picnicing and building sandcastles–all of which are free.  For a price, you can rent mopeds, horses and 4-man bikes.  And Ocean Shores is great for kite flying. 

We are just in the very formative stages of planning.  And it is our hope that everyone will feel free to do whatever best suits your personal style for relaxation.  Our goal will be to build lasting relationships.  For those who wish to join in, we will undoubtedly have a few games or exercises to help us start the fun.  And there should be ample time for just visiting, sun bathing or napping—for long walks on the beach, to watch the sun set, and, hopefully, to roast weiners and marshmallows over a bon fire under a starry sky.             

I want to thank Ian for making this web site possible.  And I want to thank his girl friend, Mary Rock, for teaching me how to use it–and for researching hotels.  There is a campground right on the north end of Ocean Shores.  She will be researching both of these   accomodations and reporting back shortly so we can all make our reservations.

Welcome aboard.  We hope we can make the time leading up to the reunion fun and informative so that your time at the reunion itself will simply be the best! 

This web site has been set up as a blog so you can get involved, too.  We welcome your comments and ideas.  We invite you to check in on this site regularly as we will be updating it as new information becomes available.

Judy