Another glorious Sunday

Sunday again thanks be to God and we are in the ordinary season of the Church Year with this being the 6th Sunday after Trinity and will be celebrated in my time at the Church House Chapel, London, England. The theme "When I am weak, I am strong." I will attend a little later this morning although the service has already been online for one hour due to the time difference. 

Discovered yesterday that the rats/mice may not yet be dead as the neighbour related the news when I mentioned that we were starting to enjoy the return of the wildlife to our feeders. Apparently they are poisoning the rats (quite understandable as they do have disease and one does not want them around young children and there are some children on their other side which concerns me I must admit). One does not like to see children injured. So no feed yesterday in the large open feeder. A disappointment to the squirrels and large birds that came to check out the food later in the day. We hadn't seen the rats/mice for such a long time (a couple of weeks) that we thought they were deceased or gone. I am seldom out in the yard mostly looking out my working room window. I did go out into the back portion of our yard and collect up the fallen branches. They need to be broken up or tied up in short bundles so that the garbage collectors will take them away. That will let me cut that portion shorter as well. Since there is a mice/rat problem in the area it is really necessary to keep all of that foliage very short as it does attract the rats/mice - that and excess bird feed and eating outside. All of those things are fun to do for sure but if you do not want rats or mice you have to be very proactive. Actually it is amazing to now see the birds so clearly and the squirrels.

I went out and cut the lawn to prevent anything hiding in any long grass. We keep the bushes around the house free of weeds but must clean up the fence line again as there are a lot of wild flowers next door that creep through the fence. I am noting that more comes through the wooden fence than the chain link because of the gaps in the wood. I am thinking that just replacing the wood fence with chain link would be better. The heavy foliage does rather invite rats and mice as they like to hide in them and wait for opportunities to grab food especially if people eat outside. So the need to keep a good clear area around the house is very important. But I acquired that knowledge from my husband who shared it with both neighbours as he watched the foliage grow up in both yards that adjoin us. Myself, I do not care what the neighbours grow as long as it stays out of my yard and then I do not actually say anything I just pull it out! Not a particularly confrontational person normally.

But I was surprised to see this nearly 79 year old cut that huge lawn on such a hot day! I guess I am recovering from my surgeries as I am still hale and hearty today. My daughter would cut it but the lilies are in full bloom on both sides and one of her stronger allergies for her asthma. So a few times during the summer I do cut the lawns. Good exercise! Perhaps I will do it next year again when I am nearly 80 although to be honest I hope to have moved by then. We need to start looking around for a more suitable house and property for this old woman. I would have a condo but my daughter likes to stay with me during her research term and garden. Breakfast and on to the day. 

 

On April 26th last

 April 26, 1978 was the day that we moved into the house in which I am currently living. At that time there was just this first set of carriage homes built and all but the one next door to me was occupied. It was not occupied until early July when the family of two parents and seven children moved in. Sort of funny in a way as I was the middle child of seven children. My husband did find it overwhelming to have so many children next door and would come in from the yard to get away from all that but gradually he did get used to it somewhat as they did not actually spend a lot of time out of doors as the years passed. Sometimes I think that was behind his looking at other houses (single family) up on the hill as they were built but he did love this house. The rooms were large enough to suit him and the yard was always the selling point for him. Nothing he looked at had such a huge yard and he did love to garden when he wasn't working. Spring would find him out there shoveling away the snow from his flower beds year after year. He waited breathlessly for the first snowdrops, the crocuses and then all the rest to come up. He did so love them. So this year April 26, 2024 we have lived in this house for 46 years and there isn't anyone left now that was living here before us. It has been an interesting run. The first year I was busy with my little one at school (a tuition student at the local 4 year old kindergarten) in the fall and helping out one day a week at her school. I was also volunteer secretary at the local Anglican Church (my parents always went to Church when they came and I always went with them. The priest needed secretarial type help and so I volunteered). There wasn't a United Church nearby at that time and Edward really wanted a United Church. That did actually happen through that year but I had committed myself to my Anglican Church that year and wanted to wait until the next Fall which we did. In the meantime I had become involved in some volunteer proofreading/copy editing work which kept me busy whilst my daughter was in school. It was a special time in some ways as I now had some time to work through my ideas of where to move to next in my personal life. I was interested in doing my masters and did pursue that idea. I had had a second miscarriage when my eldest was two so was taking it easy in terms of excessive exercise (I am prone to excessive exercise!) just in case but as my daughter got older the desire to have more children was disappearing to some extent on my part as I approached 35 I must admit although when I did become pregnant I was very content but cautious to ensure that I did not miscarry again and I was very excited about the upcoming addition to the family although also busy as I was Brown Owl for my daughter's brownie pack at the local Roman Catholic School,  I was volunteer secretary at Edward's United Church (he became treasurer so spent time in lines doing the banking that he needed done) plus I was teaching him to do that bookkeeping since I had taken a bookkeeper course in my high school days, I helped one day a week at my daughter's school working with 12 French Immersion students at a time improving their reading in English, and I ran five kilometres most days so I stopped running as that seemed like a good idea. Although it turned my world upside down once again I decided not to pursue my masters not long after she was born and instead started proofreading journals for the National Research Council having spent the year when my second daughter was an infant marking papers for the professor with whom I had planned to do my masters. It was a good fit; I preferred to be with my daughter and I enjoyed proofreading/copyediting. So the years passed during which I continued to help with the various organizations that my daughters attended and helping at their schools and doing some work for which I was volunteered (my husband did have that tendency to volunteer me to help here and there including his United Church (he just thought it was something that I would enjoy because I had been volunteer secretary at the Anglican Church!). Then I suddenly went back to work outside the home after proofreading/copyediting for private printers for ten years and I stopped doing anything here (except for keeping score at my daughter's baseball games!). From that point onward I seldom talked to neighbours or even knowing who they were and it pretty much remains that way. Surprisingly when I do walk about people say hello as if they know me which is very kind. But now as I contemplate selling and moving on I will leave behind being the longest living person on the street (I do not think I am the eldest; at nearly 79 I suspect there are people older than me)! Sort of funny actually. 

 Yesterday seven items left and I was just a little nostalgic for the trunk as it went out the door. But it all went except I changed my husband's old overstuffed rocking chair for my blue stuffed chair since I wanted to get rid of one of them and my daughter wanted to keep the other one. It didn't really matter which one. The wooden fireplace was a brute to move; Edward and I carried that one in and down the stairs so do know how heavy it is. The bed took a while to take apart but was glad to see it go without damage to the walls. The rest of the things were easy to move out and it was done in 1 hour and ten minutes (three hours had been allotted). They actually came early around 10:30 in the morning because they were already finished with another project I gathered. I would say they did a good job although did leave their tool kit behind and I had to send a message in to their office to let them know that. I just left it between the doors for them to pick up (always handy to have a front entrance like that and I did watch to make sure they got it as did my daughter!). So now I have a huge empty room and we can begin the process of bringing all of Edward's material that still needs to be sorted into one room where I have a scanning station and can also take pictures if items that are too big to scan. It will also become the book room and I will move my two bookcases into there. The closet is huge and I will be able to put all the boxes in there with a schedule to show placement making this task a little easier. Who would have ever dreamed that I would still be sorting original pictures and material three years later. All of my originals are with my sister and it is an incentive to ensure that there is a place for everything as I near the end of life. I will try to get that all organized so that my daughters do not have anything to do except bury me. But Edward's decline although over a period of a decade was very slow and it always seemed that there was lots of time until there wasn't. He had done a good deal of organizing and giving away boxes himself already. But now the room can be set up and the downsizing of all of that material can commence going to cousins who are into the genealogical history of their shared families and it will not be lost. 

Still a little swelling in my eye although coming down nicely. Sometimes a little headache if I do too much on the computer so avoid that. Concentrating mostly on my Latin still as I will not do any heavy research until early September. 

I think that looking at the pro-Palestinian encampments the worst part of all of this was the protests helped to prolong the war and the deaths/injuries by supporting the terrorists Hamas. They gave Hamas an impression that there was hope for success in their desire to commit genocide against the Jewish people and for that I do condemn these protests in our streets and universities. They started with a lie - the Palestinians have never had a right to any Israeli land once the decision was made in the United Nations in 1948!  Obviously we can not have Palestinians (even Palestinian-Canadians if such a people exist; myself I think we are Canadians with no hyphenation and my English roots are just as complete as any Palestinian roots!) teaching in our schools or working in any way with our children. We can not have adherents to the philosophy that is spouted by Pro-Palestinians involved in our schools including universities. It is false what they say. We need to ensure that the social media is corrected when claims are made supporting Hamas. I do not see that Hamas, Hezbollah or the Houthis have done anything for the peoples in the countries where they have taken over from the legitimate governments there. None of these countries are self supporting or efficient and remain on the verge of collapse at any change in their status. They should not be so generously supported by the United Nations when other peoples like the Rohyingas have so little support but lots of enthusiasm to become good corporate citizens if they ever get the chance. Having terrorists to fight their cause (genocide of the Jewish people) should be eliminated and not supported. It will always be a mistake to support terrorists.

Breakfast and then Latin; on to the day.

Rain last night

Good news there was rain last night. I did water a little but the rain is so much more effective. Mother Nature tries very hard to keep the world on an even keel; just need the co-operation of the people to make it happen. 

This is reduction day as seven heavy items leave me for ever. When I look at the items just one really means something to me - a large blue leather covered traveling suitcase (cedar lined). It has been with us for a very very long time and held the treasures of my children for a number of years. But it is very large and now empty as I have given away all of the old toys that were the last occupier of the large suitcase. I will watch that one go a little sadly but I expect the company that does this resells it or donates it somewhere where it is useful. It is quite heavy and awkward. For my daughters the chair that is going is one that their dad used for years and years but it is very worn and as we downsize it just will not fit into where ever we end up moving one of these days. So it too will be missed. But the rest of the items less so as they are too big or worn out or not used and do not carry a huge amount of memory with them.  

U of T campus all dismantled and the Pro-Palestinians are now scattered about where ever they live. The whole purpose useless really as they could have done a lot more if they had formed a group to bring thousands of children here from Gaza to protect them from the bombing but then they wouldn't have had the news reels showing them killed to help them in their quest to commit genocide against the Jewish people. I will  never see it any other way because all of my life the Palestinians were killing Jewish people and then later letting Hamas do it and praising Hamas for that (a hate crime in Canada by the way). Definitely not the Canadian way; we do not attack other countries. It was nice to see the U Waterloo has sued the Pro-Palestinian protesters. More of the universities should do that as it will cost a lot of money to repair the properties that were occupied by the protesters. These are publicly owned institutions and the people have to pay to repair them not the protesters; that is just wrong. 

On to the day; it will be a busy one. Breakfast first and then Latin lessons.

All sorts of things getting managed

 Yesterday we resolved the fence at least the style and that will go ahead in the early fall. The birds have returned to feed along with the chipmunks and the squirrels. They finish off the food by nightfall and then we fill it again the next day after sunrise. The doors will go on early next week. I must set up 1-800-got-junk and the seven items will be gone by the end of the week if they still have spots. The house will be lighter once again. Just one item coming in but we can organize the front room now to be the review area and go through the rest of Edward's boxes. I need to do scanning for some things and get them up online on the website. I also need to collect up the original images and forward them on to his various cousins so that they are not lost. There are 55 years worth of pictures that he collected and a number of them belonged to his maternal uncle and he had them for a while perhaps since the grandfather passed away not sure on that. 

So a day of getting all sorts of things managed. There are still more items that we hope to have completed by the end of the summer but we are making a good start for sure. Downsizing in earnest and soon back to writing the books. 

I mostly have put together the Pincombe-Pinkham Newsletter. Just a little more writing to do in the discussion and it will be ready and published today. Then I can work on the Blake Newsletter which was due on the 1st of July. 

This is generally the hottest month of the year and we will need to keep a check on the watering. I am definitely not a gardener but we do enjoy the produce from the garden so will likely keep doing that. Lawns needs cutting so perhaps today for that. 

Breakfast and then Latin and on to the day. Slowly getting back to my normal exercise routine and will keep adding the exercises back in. I do not see any effect on my eyes from doing so; sounds like it is time to move forward with more exercises. I do miss the exercise although did do a lot of walking every day in excess of what I used to do. Nice to be back running and moving back towards my thirty minute run each day. 

I must admit I fail to understand why the individuals involved in the U of T encampment feel that they had a right to inconvenience everyone from the time that they set it all up. Now that it is down they do not appear to have learned anything from the experience. Their attitude towards the Jewish people does not have a leg to stand on. The Palestinians received the absolute same treatment as the Jewish people in 1948 and one notes that the Jewish people have thousands of years of history on all of this land and are indigenous to the land (one can not live in Canada and not realize that the indigenous to the land have first rights). If one looks one can see that the Jewish people accepted the UN decision and created a strong viable country; the Palestinians whined and complained through three or more generations, accomplished nothing with the land that they received and elected a terrorist group to be the leader of their "country" continuing throughout these generations to blame Israel and attack them regularly; Jewish school children were being murdered in their school yards by Palestinians when I was a child. The people of Gaza also continue to live off of the hardworking people of the world with 500 United Nations trucks a day going into Gaza to support them. The decision on where each was to live was made by the United Nations in 1948 and it was created to give us peace. I think that it is time for the Palestinians in Canada (and why are they not just Canadians like the rest of us?) to grow up personally. If they see us as being so complicit why do they live here? The world is moving forward and there are other people who actually have suffered and are ignored and would like the opportunities that the Palestinians received in 1948. Make a life for the children of Gaza and stop wasting their lives by attacking Israel. The October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and their adherents was barbaric and totally unacceptable; celebrating it as the Palestinians who live here did illegal and they should be in jail for their hate crime not setting up encampments at our universities and spoiling convocations for many across Canada.

Cloudy today

This cloudy day is a boon for me as I have been suffering from migraines the last little while although it is now turning sunny for the moment. I am avoiding bright light for more than a few minutes at a time. I experienced that for a few days after the first eye was operated on and it did extend into the week or two that followed but this time it is a much stronger sensitivity but it is my stronger eye and has been doing the lions share of the work through my life. The swelling is still there although decreasing over time but I am careful to keep up with my eye drops and on a regular basis as given to me. I think when the fourth week comes I will continue as I did before but for a week instead of three days to wean myself off of them. By the time that I have finished doing that it will be time for my optometrist appointment and I can get his opinion on the light sensitivity and the migraines. Since the conduit to an ophthalmologist is by referral from an optometrist that approach seems reasonable. I have had migraines for a very long time though although I first really remember them when we got a colour television. I could not bear to look at the screen with all the flashing lights. That is still the case somewhat as I avoid looking at it directly for long periods of time. But I may have solved my present migraines as I have been wearing my wrap around sunglasses to keep the dust out of my eyes while I was cleaning and apparently that is not a good idea to wear sunglasses in the house. I had tried the wielders glasses but found them strange. So I will cease doing that.

Yesterday an answer to my query about putting on storm doors (the old ones are just that really old; one is about fifteen years old and the other is 45 years old). I decided to try Home Depot service of finding a contractor and after two sets of three suggestions one responded  and came by to measure the doors and will send me a quote. The quote has arrived in my inbox and I will handle that very soon this morning. Since I have a few tasks I discussed those with him as well as the fence extension on the front lawn. I need to do something about the front porch as well which is pulling away from the wall and I wasn't clever using the hardening sand and it has obliterated the colour from my current tiles. He did have a solution and I will pursue that in the fall. I am looking forward to the lovely new doors for sure. The hardworking aluminium doors will be recycled which is good news. 

The reading for today is from Habakkuk 2. This utterance as defined by the Concordance of the Bible is an answer to the questions posed in the first chapter of Habakkuk. One ponders what is meant by these words. Is God talking about the terrorists that Iran funds - Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis? Will the Palestinians cast off the vipers (Hamas) in their midst who have destroyed their lives with their wanton desire for genocide against the Jewish people? Hamas did steal from the Palestinians and lied to them and taught their children to hate a people who have not wronged them. The entire chapter reads as a condemnation of Hamas as I see it. Hamas is evil (granted some of them are Palestinians but they do not represent the best interests of their people).

But they will be mocked
with these words:
    You're doomed!
You stored up stolen goods
and cheated others
    of what belonged to them.
But without warning,
those you owe
    will demand payment.
Then you will become
    a frightened victim.
You robbed cities and nations
everywhere on earth
    and murdered their people.
Now those who survived
    will be as cruel to you.

Peace is all that our fallen soldiers wanted by fighting in two World Wars in the past century and we need to find that peace so that their souls can rest in peace through eternity knowing that their sacrifice led the way to peace in our time. 

More funding for the military should be our primary concern. It is always nice to provide extras in life like dental care for those who can not afford it but we all have a responsibility to be prudent in our spending so that our needs as a country can be satisfied first before pleasure.

Cleaning day one accomplished on to day two

 The basement is always the easier cleaning day and by the end of the week there will be three more large items gone - an overstuffed rocking chair, a wooden fireplace heater, and a large blue cedar lined trunk. The basement is finally starting to look empty and it does need to be. Moving time does not look so long off now. In total seven large items leaving all of them useful and I hope that the company is able to make some use out of them rather than a landfill but this is really the best way to manage my getting rid of them.

The promise of the morning looks like another beautiful day. It is 13 degrees celsius and sunny at 6:00 a.m. This has been a lovely summer actually - no smoke from the forest fires that are not burning in Ontario and Quebec like last year. The trees are certainly filling the sky with 5 to 10% blue sky out my workroom window. 

Today someone comes to see about the new doors and to look at my fence that I want extended; somewhat reworked. It will be nice to have that done.  

It does now seem that it will be sooner rather than later when I begin my research once again although not likely until mid August at the earliest. In the meantime I must do my two newsletters that I am now behind in. That will perhaps be my focus for the rest of the week.

Prayers for peace in the world as always. Breakfast and then Latin (while the robot vacuums the rug).

Canada Day

157 years since Confederation.  Canada with its huge land mass and small population is in a unique position in the world. We fought two World Wars in the last century which put us on the world stage as a country. One of the founding nations of the United Nations we wanted peace for the world and have never been an aggressor nation. We have waited a long time for peace but we need to be always ready for war because of countries like Russia, Iran and North Korea who attack other countries. As we enter into year 158 since confederation one could wish for an end to all wars and a better life for all. A world where hatred would disappear and the children in a country like Israel or Ukraine or Sudan or Gaza could sleep at night without fear. God bless the world and remove those who would shatter its peace from our midst (perhaps if they all lived together on a desert island in the middle of the ocean they could learn to be good citizens of the world). They would tire of their ignorant attacks on other people; one could dream. 

Yesterday I spent a little time reviewing some of the old Latin material that I want to start working on towards the end of the summer. Very legible with my new eyes so to speak. Mine you I could read them before as well but I think they are somewhat brighter as it was the dullness that I now realize was there and would eventually lead to blindness if one doesn't remove the cataracts. Still some swelling in the last operated eye and I am still getting used to the bright lights in both eyes but more so in the newly operated eye. My appointment with the optometrist is at the end of July though as I managed to find someone who could take me earlier and was closer to where I live. Certainly my distance glasses now prove to be my reading glasses which is somewhat fascinating. The reading glasses are now much too strong to be useful to me. I wander about without glasses looking out the windows and clearly seeing the fine leaves on the trees and the birds flying in the sky. The squirrels are clearly visible and distinguishable and even the chipmunks as they returned yesterday to feed at the swinging feeder. Even the black squirrel finally managed to get into the feeder but his gymnastics that finally enabled it to move from the solid fence to the swinging feeder were something to behold. This morning all is quiet out there; no sign of mice/rats but we just put out a small amount of feed. Perhaps the birds will now return - time will tell.

Today is cleaning day and I will watch the Canada Day celebrations on the television. We always used to go downtown to the events but I am a watcher rather than a "being" there person. YouTube, television were meant for me for sure. But sometimes I do go. 

Breakfast and on to the day. I do think my astigmatism correction is not quite right in these glasses but I am still not using them very much and it is not very long until my appointment. This is another downsizing time as we will have 1-800-got-junk to remove seven large items which will hopefully not just end up in the landfill.