Thoughts, people, places – one thing leads to another in a constant flow of interconnectedness. As a genealogist I am always aware of people’s names and where they live, the places they say their families were from. There are so many other things we, or at least I do, that remind me of other experiences. Like this photo taken by me in June 2026, looking out a window in New York. Over the years I have taken many photos from windows in New York, generally around dawn, catching beautiful sunrises, or on snowy days, marveling at the blanket of white that calms the traffic and sounds of the city. Years ago I was captivated by an exhibition of the photography of Ahae at a Paris gallery. Ahae, an extraordinarily talented photographer spent years taking literally millions of photos from a single window in his studio in South Korea, of the changing seasons, weather, and wildlife. The exhibit and project were called “Through My Window.” I’m not by any stretch of the imagination comparing my feeble attempts at capturing the city to Ahae, only saying that when I do this it reminds me of his work.

When I do client work, sometimes I find relationships between my family and the client’s – it could be that they lived in the same place, or on occasion, even that we are actually distantly related. This year, fairly randomly, I chose to go to two conferences in Europe. The first one, not long ago, in Vienna, was the inaugural conference of the Association for Central European Jewish History and Genealogy, about which I wrote all during my Vienna adventure. If you read my blog, you may remember that before I went I realized I had distant relatives who lived in Vienna, and I went to see where they lived.

Tomorrow I’m leaving for Scotland and the Association of Professional Genealogists symposium in Glasgow. The symposium and the two-day conference from the University of Strathclyde that follows sounded terrific, and besides which, I’ve never been to Scotland. The symposium and conference should be fascinating. The conference is called Beyond the Family Tree: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on AI, DNA, Education and Community in Genealogy. In addition to being able to explore the streets of Glasgow and Edinborough, I’m really looking forward to the rainy cooler weather which will be a real break after the excessive dryness and heat in Phoenix.

Surprisingly, I realized that there is a relative connection in Glasgow, so I have a research goal in mind too. After World War II, or perhaps even late in the war, Isak Landsman settled in Glasgow. Isak was the son of Abraham Hersch Landsmann and Ettel Hofnung Winkler. Abraham and Ettel had at least 4 children – their daughter Diana married my grandmother’s brother Samuel. If you’ve read my book Stories They Never Told Us, or heard my talk It Started With a Box, you may recall how I found Samuel, Diana, their son Eugene, and their granddaughter, my dear cousin Ella. As I said, everything is related. I don’t know why Isak went to Scotland or much about his life there, but I am hoping to discover more about him and his wife Bluma Surgal. I have a letter written by him in 1948 on stationary from the Anglo-American Fountain Pen Company, Glasgow, Scotland but no clue (yet) about what his relationship was with this company. Isak died in Scotland in 1958 and his wife Bluma died after that, in Israel. If you’re familiar with my blogs you know that I refuse to permit gaps to exist without at least investigating to see if I can learn more, so off to the next part of the adventure! Stay tuned for my daily posts!