So much done and so much to do. That seems like my life at the moment. It is a good thing perhaps but I am into this quiet state where I just want to live a very quiet life and get as much done as possible. The stacks are in front of me. I think that is a virtue of moving about from place to place as I do. I think I enjoy the change in my life and it isn't that different from when Edward would move us about from place to place seeking his ancestors. Then I would have piles as I worked away at my many projects trying to tie up loose ends before another repository or cemetery trip or a trip to his (and mine if it was England) homelands. How he loved all those trips after making the first overseas trip. I think living here in North America all of our lives going to Europe is an eye opener for us. This is where (in Ed's case) all of his lines for the most part came from the 1620s on to the American Colonies and then he did have a couple who came directly to Canada but most came in those early early days of the American and Dutch Colonies. He loved to think about them living in these what seemed back in the late 1900s such old cities on Long Island, in Manhattan, in Connecticut, in Rhode Island and we were on Block Island where his Rathburn family came and Boston and so many other places. We visited them all. Some of his earliest Dutch people were in Fort Orange (Albany) and New Amsterdam (New York) with his English colonial ancestors coming mostly in the 1630s.
Then my oldest daughter and I went to Rome in 2001 and that was old. The ruins there are magnificent. I can never quite decide whether I prefer the ruins of Rome to the repaired and refitted buildings of England/Scotland and Ireland (and they do a wonderful job as I did not realize that some had been ruins!). Both are so appealing in their way. But my daughter and I also went to London, England on that trip and spent our days wandering about the City of London. I did try to persuade Edward to come but my oldest daughter was in transition between a computer science career and returning to do her masters/PhD. So when Edward said no she said yes and so we were off. We spent four months learning Italian (she is really good at languages) and when we arrived she spoke in Italian all the day and I mumbled away although some of my Italian was pretty good just not that much. But I made up for that in London as I can understand a lot of the different accents and words still used in England because three of my grandparents were born and lived in England into their 20s and 30s. My father was born there. But it was the oldness of Europe that I was talking about and Edward was surprised by how old Europe was still. Having two World Wars there had destroyed so much and yet so much remained. COVID squashed his dream of going to Holland and Germany although we were in parts of Germany (along the Rhine) twice. He also wanted to take the entire Rhine tour with Viking but we did do part of it. It was exciting for him to see how people lived in that area along the Rhine because his Palatine ancestors had come along that route to America. Going to Ile de Re was also exciting because his Huguenot ancestors lived there before they came to Staten Island New York. We actually visited the exact area where his Huguenot ancestors lived in St Martin.
But it is the workload that remains with me that I am contemplating. I want to organize all of the items that we will take to his eldest niece. She will treasure her grandmother's things as she grew up in her home. They were Edward's memories of his mother but we only saw her on regular visits every three months or so as the girls grew up so they are not attached to all of these things whereas his niece grew up there and her children as well so they will have a good home. There is a lot of material. It will fill the back of the van for sure. There are so many pictures and they will treasure them as they are of their family. Edward was an avid photographer and he has many many pictures of them through the years. And all those dishes. It will be nice to see them have a home instead of being in boxes. Edward used to take them out and look at them but they were never part of our living space really. They were his childhood home memories.
I think he was sorry that he sold the house that he grew up in after all. In 2000 he wasn't contemplating retirement at that time but by 2004 he was retired. Funny how life flows. He never really said he wished he kept his home but it was in his mind towards the end of his life sometimes as he would talk about his home. Something he didn't really do much through the years.
So I am looking at my piles and this week (with just the bedding plants to put in the ground) I shall work away at the piles. I have a whole month to prepare the next issue of the Blake newsletter. I have some ideas on the discussion topic and a lot of material stored away for that one.
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