Tuesday, August 13, 2024

The Irish Blessing

 The Church Service on Sunday in Switzerland concluded with the Irish Blessing being read by the presiding curate whom we have seen a number of times when Cornwall is the selection for the Sunday Service on the Church of England YouTube. I have a copy of the Irish Blessing on my wall and it was one of my Grandmother's favourite poems/sayings when I was a child. There were so many hints that her mother had been of Irish descent and a mtDNA match with a family that has known Irish descent does intrigue me. But Ellen (Taylor) Buller died at the age of 37 years of pneumonia when here youngest child was just one year of age and the twin boys born just two years before Sarah died of lung disease due to the sooty air of Birmingham at that time (mid 1890s). Life has changed very much in Birmingham; we were there in 2016 and in 2008 and the city is a lovely place to visit. My grandmother commented once that when she visited there in 1939 she could hardly believe the difference between the city then and the city that she grew up in in the 1890s and early 1900s before emigrating to Canada in 1908 on her own at the age of twenty years. I always thought she was so very brave actually coming on a ship by herself. Her only comfort was her two sisters being on the same boat as the Birmingham Union had arranged to send the youngest Sarah to Canada (with the Middleton group) to be with the family of their half-sister in London, Ontario with the second child being allowed to live with her older sister in Canada once they arrived in London, Ontario. But still she was on her own and that was very brave of her I thought. 

Working through some quotes on my roof as I want to re-roof it this fall. I have a few projects at hand to do this fall. I felt the roof could use a refreshing for a year or so. The fence is being refurbished at the back in September which will be nice. Just one more large item to work on and then I will start to do some spot painting inside. We painted it all just five years ago now and it still looks quite good. There is only so much that I feel I need to do before selling. Personally I think whoever buys the house will pretty much change it all. 

Cleaning day once again and must soon get that done. Completed the first day of cleaning yesterday. I wonder sometimes if I could do it all in one day but I am tired at the end of the first day of cleaning always so not likely! At nearly 79 years of age there is only so much ability to do things all at once!

Amazing how little sky is left to see outside of my workroom window. Another year I think the trees will cover the entire outside although still some sky shining through the breaks in the trees. I have watched everyone of these trees grow as there were none in my eye's view when we moved here. Fourty six years of trees growing; always an amazing sight. The trees last much longer than us often enough although we have hundreds of fires burning right now in the forests of Canada. It is usual for there to be fires burning but this is by far and above the normal of my childhood. 

On to the day. Breakfast completed. Latin to do next. Then begin the cleaning.

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