Me, Myself and I - Introduction

Hi, I'm Lia from Portugal , a simple person with three big passions.

Photography, non professional, but I try my best to put a soul in my photos. Since childhood I remember being in love with several types of creative and artistic expressions, and through my teens I discovered how much photography made my eyes smile. Felt the need to capture moments, tell stories with images and show my vision of the beauty that surrounded me.
It also was a way to gather my past memories since I jumped many places due to my parents work.
Guess I spent a little "fortune" before digital photography came in use.

Travelling is another passion and also makes me very happy. Travelling anywhere! Just has to be a place I've never been before. It makes me feel like I'm in another dimension and very energetic. Love to learn about new cultures and habits of other people and enrich my knowledge. Love to learn about their History. The more different it is from the Portuguese culture, the more enchanted I am. Have visited many countries and wish to visit many more.

And last but not least my passion in Genealogy. I belong to several Portuguese Genealogy groups on the internet and have some years of experience in research in this area. In some I do support for those who are just starting their tree. It is more complex than some people may think because you have to understand paleography with all it's abbreviations and archaic language and also have a sixth sense to decode some handwritings; know where to look and understand this specific type of writing in Parish Registers that are records of baptisms, marriages, and burials made by the Church. In each of these records the name of the parents and grandparents are mentioned and so are the birth dates, locations, professions and other curious notes. It is a one step up at a time research.

I have my family roots traced until 1632, and also the Family Trees of some friends very advanced. It is a "treasure hunt" somehow, and gives you a sense of happiness and togetherness every time you find an ancestor and a bit of his life's story. We find all sorts of social classes in our ancestors and so many different professional activities. Everyone has a priest, a beggar, a noble, and a farmer in their tree. Believe me!

Hope you enjoy what I will be sharing :)