Continuing with the 12th generation

 Finally I have reached Thomas, the youngest son and child, of Robert Siderfin and Grace (Kent) Siderfin in the twelfth generation. The next 38 pages will be the descendants of Thomas and are all his 3x great grandchildren. This work was done by my cousin Auriol Carney and as I gave her full credit in the book so I will do so in this companion charting book. Like most small surname studies the number of descendants is around 800 (I have added in some lines for the charting that I did not include in the revised and updated book first created by James Sanders. If the charting was taken to the present the numbers do increase substantially as that would be another three generations added on with some into the sixteenth generation from John Siderfin who lived at Luxborough, Somerset, England by 1500. 

Today is a work day and I will continue with the preparation for charting. Paint is all dry on the stairs and next week will see me paint the other half side of the stairs. Still lots of paint so I could add an extra layer just to the stair itself. I would like to use up all of that red paint. Then I move to the blue paint to do some patching in the only room that is light blue. It was Edward's study and finally being able to see all of those walls not covered by bookcases filled to the brim and on the top with books and in front of those bookcases stacks of boxes (even as much as four or five high). There really was just a narrow path in and a narrow path to the window as he did like fresh air  coming on in occasion. It is always a shock looking into that room which now has so little in it. But I need to have rooms that look like that so I can move in the next year or so. But the paint does need a few spots repainted and we will see how that goes. From there I move on to the painting that we did of most of the other areas just four years ago. Here and there where the chairlift was, where the original railing for the stairs was and such need touchup. I notice that a couple of the new doors we put on all the entrances (rooms, closets and cupboards) do have a few spots where the paint was a bit thin. Since I painted most of it that is on me for sure as my talents do not truly extend to being a great painter! For the remaining rooms I do not have any paint. I need to get paint for the kitchen cupboards to do some touchup and will do that this winter. 

The fence man is coming to do the new fences and the roof man will repair the roofing done just over a decade ago that is faulty. I had thought about doing a new roof but it would mean tearing off perfectly good tiles and filling the landfill with that and I decided no that wasn't the way to go plus I would have wanted to stay and enjoy my new nearly $12,000 roof. It was a good decision for me and anyone buying would be able to wait a while before having to do roofing. I need to wash the front windows on the outside and will get that done before winter. 

Other than that there is just the final garage cleanup and the yard cleanup before winter. But today I shall work on the book and do my exercises in between. A quiet day and I am looking forward to that. My hand is improving steadily and I am back to typing although try not to be too forceful on that small finger that does the a, q, z line and fortunately just the a gets a lot of hits which works but it also works the shift key for capitals on the right hand. So a little more work but I will take it easy. Bruising diminished quite a bit. Probably I would have gone to the doctor but getting there is difficult sometimes with the roads all torn up as the new light rail is going through in this area and if I had needed x-rays that is another trip somewhere else. I can see that being elderly has its problems. I could ask my daughter but she has thousands of patients and my hand was definitely not broken so I didn't actually go to the doctor but I would recommend that one do so for such a badly bruised hand personally if you do not have someone to talk to about your hand. It will be nice to be closer to my family since my other daughter is a thousand miles away teaching her students and doing her research. 

Latin is next. Breakfast is completed. Since it is the same meal every day it is pretty straightforward and I enjoy it. I think I could eat the same meals for a very long time although Edward certainly would have pushed me to have more variety as he did himself. Edward definitely liked his food and he enjoyed cooking as it turned out when he retired and actually when I went back to work outside the home. The girls and he made many meals together and had a great time doing so.

How an area influences where you live

 When we came here we sold our lovely house on 1/4 acre outside of the city of London, Ontario. We could have family there (we both had family) and it suited where we were living. But coming here I really liked this carriage home where we live. No plans to entertain particularly since no family (close that is) in the area and it was close to NRC where Edward worked and near the highway once I started to work again proofreading for printers at home. Fortunately Edward tended to see socializing with friends as going out but I was still ill in those days and by 8:00 pm I was finished for the day; not going anywhere and that persisted a long time actually. I went in to work three days a week to touch base and pick up my work; it was the principle under which I was hired although when their proofreader retired they asked if I would take on proofreader in house and we compromised on my being there from 9:00 ish until 2:00 ish and the rest of the work I did at home. That worked for them, the print run was before 2:00 so everything in a rush was read and it was ready to go. Also, initially, the plan was that I was going back to do my masters when my daughter had settled into school and that was practical. I was never really into leaving my child with a sitter after we moved here. It just felt mean since she had left behind all of her grandparents, her cousins, aunts and uncles and to take her to a stranger just didn't sit well with me. The carriage home I loved from day one and although Edward and the girls did go looking at singles up on the hill as they started to get built, Edward was just never that enthused because the lots were too small. He wanted to move further out which didn't work well with my working at home - too much traveling and so we were here the entire time nearly that we lived in Ottawa. When we first came we rented in the south end until we found a place that we liked. We knew people near by as well from Library/PhD days. It was lovely and the years passed so quickly although it was actually 46 years since we moved here in the spring. Looking back coming here was a long time ago. I was young and now I am old moving towards 80. It was interesting thinking about this when the doorbell appeared to not be working. In the country where we lived we actually didn't have a doorbell. Funny really. I think perhaps Edward cleared the doorbell mechanism here routinely but it is three and a half years since he passed and I never thought about it. It was pretty packed with more than the dog's fur - lots of dust! Easily remedied and I just happened to recall that he did do that. It actually sounds very loud now, perhaps one could turn it down, I will check that out next time I am climbing the ladder. 

Basement all washed and the painting is next. I am just putting in time and occasionally like to write it down as I save my blog in case some one wants to read it some time in the future long after I have passed. I saved my mother's letters over a twenty five period for the same reason. She was an interesting person. Her father died when she was eight and it had a great deal to do with her attitude as an adult. He talked to her a lot especially about his mother (my mother did look quite a bit like her grandmother Grace (Gray) Pincombe). Grace's first cousin was Sir John Carling and they were part of the social circle in London when her father was young and he always said to my mother that his mother loved all of that special activity that she attended because Sir John was her first cousin. Interesting really remembering her saying that but it was actually more my grandmother (my mother's mother) who told me about Grace. She said that John (my grandfather) never really let go of his mother when she died (he was just fourteen years of age) and her death was followed a year later by his young sister at the age of thirteen. Sad times for John I suspect, I think it was a very hard life for him and my grandmother thought so too. He was one of those eligible bachelors that people talked about where ever he went my grandmother said and my grandmother was none too popular I suspect for capturing this very eligible bachelor. But they had a happy life although short my grandmother was just 38 when she was widowed. It was fun matching up our autosomal DNA with all of our cousins. I have hundreds of cousins tested that are 2nd, 3rd and 4th in my lines but particularly I have about 30 2nd/3rd Pincombe cousins.

Well enough reminiscing and back to the painting. I actually have done a lot of painting the last ten years as Edward found it difficult as his illness progressed. I mostly painted the entire main floor and some of the top floor. Edward always painted before that; he was very very good at it. I was passable and still remain in that state even with all that practice! He was a perfectionist; I just got the job done as carefully as possible. 

The sooner that I get all of Edward's material organized and placed the sooner I can move is the real reality. I simply can not take 35 boxes of research material with me. I only have one box of my own but Edward researched through all that time of paper (mid 1960s to the 2020s) with my beginning in 2003 and I meant to have everything online and mostly it is but I do have one box (about half full). Edward did a lot of scanning but there is still a lot of paper to work through. Plus I need to check and make sure that everything is scanned and so there are four more boxes waiting to be shredded but need time to look at them. Fortunately I am a workaholic and can completely shut out the world and work for hours, days and weeks on end coming out for food mostly although I must replace some of my clothes because they are getting shabby. But then everything is expensive so I just sort of shrug my shoulders and continue wearing my twenty year old corduroy slacks and jerseys and some are even older. 

Perhaps a snack of yoghurt and a piece of banana bread before I start.

Hand is improving

 Slowly steadily the bruising is being reabsorbed in my hand; probably another week though before it will be all gone. A little soreness in the finger first thing but much improved. Today is another cleaning day - the basement and I will continue painting the stairs. The regular routine is helpful to get me back into writing my books. It is a slow process though writing books. 

I must investigate with Rogers whether they install those door bells that let you see who is there plus I actually need a working doorbell (when Rogers was installing the new cable I think someone might have rung the doorbell but it didn't make a sound). This one does not ring any more or rings sporadically as far as I can tell but I actually haven't heard it ring for a bit. But then it is old for a doorbell - 46+ years old. I always know when someone is coming so it doesn't really matter. Actually I think doorbells are extraneous really as delivery people seldom ring the bell anyway.Turned out to be a quick fix; I do not usually climb ladders on my own but I discovered that our beautiful grand dogs had left a lot of hair even up that high. All cleaned out; I thought I had vacuumed absolutely everything but not quite. Working again but I may put my note back up when I am writing as it is nice not to have to go to the door when I am writing. I really can not help anyone especially with my sprained finger!; at 79 I am not doing CPR or anything like that and I do not babysit children normally especially other people's children. Not my thing. Lovely people, children but I raised mine and if needed would care for my own but tend not to get involved with babysitting. I am much too old. Plus I never buy anything at the door. The City kindly leaves notes when they are doing work so unless you are going to drop a tree on my car or the gas line is leaking probably you do not need to ring my door. Plus I do plan to move in another year. I hope a young family moves in because this is a street for children for sure; mine loved it.

No work on the book yesterday; it was entirely a cleaning day. I actually never even opened the door except to check the mail. I seldom get any mail; I have everything coming on the email that can come that way. 

The reheated chicken stew was excellent once again and there is still two more days. I baked a banana bread last night; I haven't baked anything for quite a while. Last week the other three days I had a piece of salmon that lasted that long. I really do enjoy having left over meals. It gives me more time for my writing. I am still on the 12th generation with about 37 pages left to go. Then the charting can continue and I hope to complete it in the next couple of weeks along with the two missing newsletters. I have been somewhat tardy with that for sure. 

I see it is just 5 degrees celsius this morning. Must check on that back tap and turn it off although it is supposed to warm up and I still need it for a couple of days. No frost warning though on the weather channel. The nice thing about frost is getting rid of the pollen - my eyes and nose are running as I do have a couple of fall allergies to things like ragweed. Come on winter!

Breakfast next. Then Latin. Cleaning follows and the painting. The days pass very quickly.

Frost and a warming trend

 Apparently a slight frost warning this morning and now back to a warmer couple of days but definitely into Fall weather. I am glad that I shut off the tap out front and will do the same by next weekend with the tap at the back. In between I want to clean up the car, vacuum it and get the garage ready for winter so that I can put the car in whenever I want which will be soon. I would rather not scrape ice off of the windows! That will be a chore for later in the week. Today is large cleaning day and I begin very shortly.  My FitBit does not charge up as easily nor does it hold its charge as long as it used to. I think it is now nearly three years old so I must invest in a new one one of these days. I do find it handy. Mostly I know how much exercise I am doing and how effective it is but I must admit that the change in ownership has done away with the webpage details and you need to subscribe to really be able to look at a long term view of results. I do not plan to subscribe at the moment but will consider it for a bit and that will be the consideration that goes ahead with the type of FitBit watch that I purchase. 

I definitely do not need a lot of memberships beyond what I already have. I have four that I maintain for my writing and that will go on for a while yet. I class my house bills as another sort of membership which I pay monthly and that will go on for a while yet. But otherwise I limit my belonging/memberships in things. They need to be helpful for my maintenance, for my writing or my tithe to God which I give to the Church. One reason I was so in favour of going to Christ Church Cathedral was for that reason it is a "Mother" Church and as such will remain in place for a long time likely and so I would prefer to support it rather than local Churches which may or may not remain as a Church. It is sad to see Church dwindling but I also understand why people do not attend; I didn't understand when I was young and not really into my 30s but I have come to that understanding. I always simply loved going to Church every Sunday (and still do now that it is online) which I always made clear to anyone who knew me. It was a major choice for me to do that and voicing it was what God through Jesus asked us to do. To take the word of God to the people who do seem to forget it from one generation to the next for whatever reason. 

Cleaning day and it begins soon. First Latin and then cleaning. Generally I begin around 9:00 give or take. Today I slept in which was nice but that is 6:30 instead of 6:00 at which time I did my early morning exercises that take about ten or fifteen minutes (I started about the time that I went back to work outside of the home because when I was home I could build in exercise periods during my work day (called coffee breaks!)). I do tend to just live the day that is in front of me. Then I do my solitaire games which perhaps takes me fifteen minutes give or take and then play some spider solitaire if they haven't taken too long and then it is time for breakfast and that is now eaten but before breakfast I do my reclining warrior, rotation of the hip and knee joints in sitting position, jumping jacks and shoulder stand with walking in between each exercise which takes about ten minutes. Now back at the computer writing my blog and then into Latin. 

The day begins and it is very sunny today although just eight degrees celsius at 8:30 a.m. My finger is still somewhat stiff from the sprain but I can type fairly normally now. Taking the day off was a good plan that and the icing and heat treatment. Half of my hand is bruised but slowly diminishing now.

My grandfather loved to play solitaire

When I was a child I used to watch my grandfather play solitaire. He loved that game and I learned how to play a number of different kinds of solitaire from him but my favourite is Spider. I love Spider and with my one hand more or less out of commission for too much typing, I did devote a little time to my favourite game of solitaire today. I also did the clothes washing as I always do every Saturday morning. I did my exercises except for calisthenics as I do not want to resprain my small finger. It is fairly bruised even onto the second finger beside it but it is a little stiff and so long as I do not press down very much I do not feel it too much today. I will not type too much anyway just to be careful.

Yesterday the jets went over again and I have to admit I would love to have a flight on one of those fighter jets. Swooping through the air up in God's part of the world would be a treat for sure (and of course will not happen; it is a lovely dream). I did have ambition to become an astronaut when the Russians first sent up Yuri Gagarin back in the 50s for the first space trip to do that myself but I am more of a dreamer than a doer often enough although can be a doer if I need to be. 

The military is really our most important facility that we as a country create in order to take care of our three oceans fronts and all this land. There is so much land and I am glad that many of the First Peoples are in the military. They know this country, many of them, and can tell stories of areas that go back thousands of years. Like my grandfather and his part of Hampshire, England. I loved it when he talked about Bury Hill which was an ancient known fortification. 

Sunday once again and Church on YouTube. Although I loved going to my Anglican Church I was willing to go to Edward's United Church and we did go in London, Ontario before we moved here although Edward liked the Anglican Church in Hyde Park where we lived after we bought our house and so we went there. He liked Canon Abraham who was there at that time just before he retired. But when we came to Ottawa he found the Church to be less like his United Church and more like he thought a Catholic Church was. I loved it but I understood and so we checked out a few when we lived in Blossom Park and then when we moved here the United Church was up on the hill. I went to the local Anglican Church which met at the school closeby and had committed myself to helping out with Sunday School and as Church Secretary. Convent Glen United Church started part way through the year so was not really appropriate for me to move at that time which Edward understood so we went the next Fall. Such a long time ago now and even a long time since I was even in the building that was built whilst Edward was Treasurer. Edward went a few times into the 2000s and I went just one time but I didn't want to get back into it though. I had moved on to Christ Church Cathedral (Edward went with me to pay me back for my 17 years at his Church) but even there I avoided any commitments (that was why I chose the Cathedral really) although was asked but I was working full time and that kept me pretty busy. I wonder where the online Church will be today. Must check the YouTube Channel. 

It was at Durham Cathedral partially but mostly as Education Sunday it was all around England. A good bit of emphasis in support of education for girls which is always good to see. The world does best when men and women work together and great achievements are made whether on the basic level of just producing the foods of the earth or more complicated in scientific endeavours. 

Thank you God for our beautiful world. Help us to learn to be the kind of people you want us to be - loving, caring, patient and kind. Rid our world of jealousy, treachery, war and poverty.