There is so much sadness in BC

 Prayers continuing for all those still recovering from gun shot wounds and prayers for the souls of the lost children and adults. May God hold them close to Him wrapped in His loving arms. I watched our government leaders all at the Memorial yesterday on the television. Such a sad time in our nation. 

I could not settle down to work yesterday so I did an academic study questionnaire that I have been in for about six years as it was ready for me to submit once again (every two years). It is an interesting study and I hope it finds value in the future. I couldn't settle down to it the last couple of days but today I did do that. As I answered some of the questions I found myself thinking about a small town now missing all of those young children where everyone knows everyone else. It is not something that I experienced growing up in a large city but listening to the people talking about the children you realize how tightly knit a small community can be. 

I did work on the matches once again and completed the J's. I am about half way through now and some new information did appear which was helpful. The intent is to (and probably I shouldn't use phase because it isn't truly the same as phasing grandparents) break down the grandparent's parents into their contribution to the five siblings DNA and it is working not too badly overall. There will still be a lot of work to do but I will use AI now that the files are organized in a way that I will return what I want and not miscellaneous information that was on the particular files. It is still there but not in the path of the searches. As you use AI you must give it detailed instructions in order to get back the information that you want. 

Another Saturday and it is a lovely day. This is a weightlifting day again and YOGA along with my early morning exercises and running for thirty minutes. I believe that the Fit Bit and I are now more or less in synch with regard to recording my daily exercises. I am getting a good estimate of the amount of cardio for the day although I generally exceed it but it does take a bit to establish a routine for the Fit Bit with these newer Fit Bits. Each one I acquire is a little more complicated than the last. The first one was just basically a step counter with a few extras so it has come a long way. The benefit to owning a FitBit is actually recording your exercise path day after day. When you are older you do forget some items although memory generally brings them back the FitBit is a record keeper and a good one. 

 Today I work on the K's and perhaps the L' s as not that many Ks. Perhaps I will have a sneak preview at what is new in the databases; we will see. Another beautiful quiet uninterrupted day for me working away. I do love Saturdays; it used to be cleaning day when I went back to work outside the  home. Although I loved proofreading at home the scientific literature it was nice to be out in the real world working - the work at first the Medical School for two years and then into the now Ottawa Hospital for a further ten years and then Health Canada for a year and a half I think were very very interesting. In my younger days I had wanted to go to be a doctor in Africa (being a doctor in Canada did not interest me) but I got married at 20 and my husband was not interested in going to Africa he preferred to stay in Canada and did pass up a job in Washington although he did have his regrets in later years on that one as he became so interested in the histories of his families who were primarily early American colonists from The Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden and the British Isles. His earliest were from the Netherlands to New Amsterdam now New York City. It amazed me that my husband did not know his immigration stories; they simply had not been passed down. As he searched and discovered people like Roger Williams his 10th great grandfather and so many others; I was amazed that all of this had been lost during subsequent immigrations north into Canada from New England beginning in 1800 into Ontario and continuing right up into the early 1830s. Land was free and his people mostly came into Niagara where some stayed for a bit and also into Oxford County. All forgotten. When we went to NEHGS for a weekend retreat he worked with Gary Boyd Roberts on  his tree and that was one comment that I heard Gary saying to Edward that many of the descendants of the New Englanders did lose their immigration stories over time. It was a long time I guess as it is now more than 400 years since the Mayflower dipped its anchor into the harbour at Provincetown, Cape Cod where the Pilgrim Monument stands. A site we visited quite a few times. All of his ancestors from England/Scotland (there were not actually that many at the time as most were from Europe) were Dissenters and some of them famous dissenters. It didn't surprise me actually as Edward had strong opinions. He was very Protestant in his views. It wasn't something that we talked about a lot being Catholic in my views but I did promise that I would go to his Church when we had children and we used to go to his Church before children. I generally went to my own as well usually without him as sometimes I would drive over and go to Church with my father at our home church. But the Cathedral was also close by and I would go there although I knew absolutely no one but that has always suited me. I like to go and pray and sing in my Church and I am not an outgoing person (introvert fits me well) but I also didn't mind going to Edward's United Church as I had gone to the United Church with my Grandmother and my Uncle (my mother's brother) and his wife my aunt when I was a child. It wasn't far from their house and we walked there just as we did from my house to our home church. But now I attend my Anglican Church online and at 80 it works very well for me. 

It was beautiful listening to the wonderful words from our Prime Minister at the vigil last evening. They were perfect and as mourner in chief he continues to do a wonderful job in our country. We will struggle and we will move ahead and get everything done but it is very pleasant to have him at the helm at this time in our history. He has a dream for Canada just like the Confederation Fathers and it is of a country that welcomes people (although you must ask to come here and always that has been the case although we did take in thousands of draft dodgers from the United States back fifty years ago now) but our First Nations do have their rights where the land is concerned and we respect that; it is part of our culture and we will defend that right. Listening to Wab Kinew talking about the work forward in Manitoba to bring our economy to absolute success were wonderous. I do very much admire that man; he is a perfect leader for Manitoba in this time of crisis and I suspect at any time really; he has a good head on  his shoulders for sure. His family heritage of thousands of years in this Hemisphere stands him in good stead as a leader in the past, for now and for the future of this country. Tecumseh walked with Brock as the leaders of what was to become Canada and we are now very much in pace with that. The Governor General (of Inuit Heritage) Mary Simon was also at the vigil representing the King of England and the people of Canada and King Charles III expressed his deep sorrow at the loss of all those bright young children and the adults in this sad time in our nation. 

Tea drank and it is 7:00 a.m. and minus six degrees celsius; we are having a warm spell although I think we may still have more cold - the Polar Vortex does it own thing for sure. We have lots of snow though for spring runoff to refresh the dry earth from the drought of last summer. Time for solitaire puzzles and I am now a Champion in the Sudoku puzzles. I still miss doing all my Spider though and will return one of these days. My eyes will eventually get used to the flashing I hope. My eyes continue to amaze me having spent most of my life with basically very little depth of vision and my sight was not really that good as I can now drive without glasses which is truly amazing although I wear sunglasses but still I can actually read the street signs which is stupendous as my children have grown and I do not have them to tell me the names of the streets as we pass them.  

 

 

 

The sadness remains

Sad watching the news today which I just finished doing. The little girl who was shot in the head and the neck remains in critical condition. How cruel for the parents to have raised their daughter to the age of twelve years and seen her be so successful to now have her so injured. Prayers continuing for the souls of the murdered and for all the other injured people from that dreadful day that will go down in history as we remember in particular those little murdered ones just into their teenage years. We quickly forget those who harm us but the ones lost because of that one act we never forget - in our hearts for ever.  Leaders of the parties (Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, Leader of the Green Party, and the others are invited and I do not know where that is at) are going to a vigil in memory of the lost in Tumbler Ridge, BC and praying for the injured. Dear God please keep the little murdered ones especially close wrapped in your loving arms. 

On with the day remembering the loss. I must say that I do find it annoying to have anyone ring my phone that I haven't asked to call  me or arranged to call me. These rude ignorant spammers probably trying to steal people's money should actually get a job and work and stop their ignorance of ringing a telephone randomly with a fake name. My pet peeve of the day. Basically I do not know anyone in the world that I want to talk to on my phone when I haven't arranged it in one way or another. That way is called email and my delete finger works very well. I do occasionally answer the phone when it is a number I recall attached to a name I recognize. But generally I leave it to go to voice mail. It is exhausting doing phone calls perhaps a hangover from my breakdown; no ideas on that. Everything is so much easier when it is written down. It is interesting that we seldom or never hear the names of dictators (except when mentioned with disgust) or tyrants or murderers who care nothing for their people once they have met their fate. If we do it is remembering them with hatred and disgust which they deserve for their sins.  

Good accomplishment yesterday and I am well into the Js now but still more than half to do. I also did the Hunter Gatherer thing and got food.  I had to buy a big plastic jug of white vinegar as I was all out. I am trying to keep these big jugs down though and it looks like vinegar, bleach and floor cleaner are the three left.

A big pile of brochures from restaurants, stores etc was in my mail box yesterday. They will go to the paper waste next week. I dream about having everything paper on line.  This is Collection Day and it is the recyclables. I have very little to put out once again but do try to do it weekly to keep that cleared away since I freeze the recycled food waste in my freezer until I put it out to the street. Keeps any odour down and the animals do not appear to try and get into the container. 

A couple of interesting matches yesterday that fitted so neatly into the Knight family. There are so many Knight matches due to the endogamy in this family in my lines going back. I wonder about these ancient Blake matches (do not appear to be Knight in a couple of lengths) in the Colonial United States descendants but Nicholas likely married his first cousin Margaret (daughter of his uncle Thomas) giving those descendants a double set of Blake and then Richard Blake married Jone Blake (second cousins)    just two generations later again boosting the level of Blake in this line so it is conceivable that particularly common areas might just be amplified by this marriage of cousins frequency. I am suspicious that I would see any sharing with cousins more than seventh cousins apart but having so many in two particular areas is very suspicious especially when their trees are so deep going back into Colonial America where the chances of marrying a closer relative would be much higher. All of these Blake lines would be descendant of Robert Blake of Enham who left his will in 1521. There is a John Blake in earlier records in the Andover area prior to 1521 (1300s actually) so it is finding information to link this earlier line with Robert. Finding a John Blake in the 1300s was rather fascinating as the Doomsday Books do not have a surname for anyone in this area of Andover in the latter part of the 1000s. By 1200 there are records for Blake in England but they tend to be in the London area or into East Anglia. My suspicion is that the John Blake of the 1300s was the first to use the Blake surname and married a daughter of Richard le Blak which would account for the relationship between the Blake family in Speen, Berkshire and Andover, Hampshire in the mid 1500s when no close cousinship is mentioned (the English people tend to recognize 1st cousins as close and 2nd cousins as some what distant according to my cousin Ivan). 

Tea drank and time to do solitaire puzzles. Exercise went very well but it is actually my older daughter that has given me all these new exercise hints as she, like my younger daughter, is very into exercise. It is important to do lots of exercise especially given our tendency to sit about so much. Both are very busy though but I do chat with my older daughter every night for about an hour. It is kind of her to take so much time out of her day but as she is an academic only and we have a lot in common discussing our books and such that we are into and occasionally I do have an idea for her. My younger daughter is very busy and I do not clutter up her phone with my book writing.  

 

 

 

Prayers continuing

Prayers continuing for the souls of the children and adults in Tumbler Ridge BC murdered and prayers for all those fighting for their lives in the hospital as well as those recovering in the hospital and at home from gun shot wounds. God bless and keep close to Him the young children whose lives were taken from them just entering into their teenage years. How heart-wrenching to have such a loss for the families, the community, the province, the country and the world. 

Interesting work on 6000 year old DNA in North Africa

 Reading an interesting post on 6000 year old DNA which was primarily 80% North African and 20% Mesopotamian. It is conjectured that movement out of Africa began 60,000 years ago but the numbers would have been small groups of hunter gatherers probably but we are also looking at a time when agriculture began in Mesopotamia. Fascinating research being done with DNA. I often wonder if the collected samples of Western Hunter Gatherers in the British Isles would get published one day. That being my Blake family line it is rather interesting to me. That my grandfather when he talked about his family described them as having been in the Andover for ever quite fascinating. When one looks at the yDNA in the area from Andover over to Basingstoke the frequency of Western Hunter Gatherer yDNA in the families is apparent. Why they would settle in this area is interesting but on our couple of trips in the area the land is very fertile and somewhat flat with good streams flowing through so one could see the attraction to stop and settle there. If indeed they were one of the Lost Tribes of Israel then there would have been a lot of peace in that area I suspect after all they went through in the south. I still am amazed at how much he talked about is there in writeups and discussed by genealogists regarding the work of Horatio Gates Somerby and the fraudulent histories of families that he produced for his American clients Blake being amongst them. But now in 2026 looking back on my childhood before my grandfather died in 1953 (although my father also, on occasion, did chat about it) and that is a period of 73 years ago that I sat and listened to my grandfather talk about the past. His stories went so far back because his great grandfather Charles Butt was still alive when he was a child and Charles was born in 1800. He talked and he talked and amazingly as I think back his stories do come to me as he repeated them so many times. It is amazing to have a feel for that much history in terms of times past. 

Finished the cleaning yesterday and another work week ahead of me with four days to do research. I did almost complete the matches up to the end of the G's yesterday but I am still scratching the surface. There are a lot of matches. I spent some time looking at my spam just to see if I had missed anything the last couple of weeks but no; no missing messages in there. I actually do not get that much spam compared to the mail that comes into my mailbox.  

Today will be a busy one and the sun is streaming through the window at the moment. I love it when the hot sun in the winter beats down on the back of the house. You can feel the heat that it sends in but it is just minus 9 degrees celsius today at 8:00 a.m. so the deep freeze is gone for a bit but could return; one never knows. The Polar Vortex has a mind of its own. 

I actually have results now for two of the four great grandparent lines in the common area which is good news. It is this common area where as much as one third of the matches sit and I have eliminated a number of them because I did not collect quite enough information when I was downloading from 23 and Me. At the beginning I did not always note the close matches to that match and I can no longer access my two brother's accounts because they are deceased and I just haven't jumped through the hoops to get that set up. It is a process but I should have brought them into my account but didn't realize it at the time so a lesson learned for sure. But mostly I have other matches with siblings that offset that loss. 

I still have to look at all the testing companies as I have not collected any new material for about six months. I have glanced and nothing huge came in but still some of the matches will likely be interesting. I do want to get started on the genealogical charts for the two books though and hope to do that early in April is the plan. 

First set of exercises completed and I must have done a lot of extra walking as the cardio load was 51 and the time 1 hour and four minutes. I will do weight lifting at some point and running for thirty minutes. Back to that normal set of exercises for the rest of the week where the weight lifting is interchanged with rowing generally and hopefully some yoga. The days pass so very quickly. 

Drinking tea and time to do the solitaire puzzles. I am now an Ace in the Sudoku puzzle set up. I wonder what is next.  

And the basement is cleaning day three

Prayers for the souls of the people murdered in Tumbler Ridge, BC. Information still coming. 

 Yesterday the cleaning went very well and was accomplished mostly before lunch which was good as the Fit Bit is now starting to recognize the cleaning and I am receiving reasonable numbers for this work.The duration 3 hours and 12 minutes, the cardio load 92 and the calories burned 1169. My last old Fit Bit had  higher numbers which I never really felt were correct. I am satisfied that this fits the effort that I put in. So today the basement and the robot will begin its task shortly. 

I continue to contemplate how to update Canada Post to virtual mailboxes as I consider Canada Post to be a valuable service which at the moment needs a redo I think in order to take up more of the possible package deliveries in particular (more money being received by the Post Office) and to help offset the cost to the government mailing items to us where there is a cost (all hard copies would have to be paid for both the printing and the cost of delivery). I think it would result in Canada Post being able to support itself. Plus it guarantees package mail delivery all over Canada without exception.  As mentioned yesterday the beginnings of virtual mailboxes are already there with the postal code which is in two parts - the area code the first three items ( a letter a number followed by a letter) and then the location code (a number, a letter, a number) which brings it down to a group of households in an area. This just has to be subdivided into individual units and a particular code chosen by the unit owner can be used for this third category that actually lets you into the mailbox and can be changed regularly to prevent fraud with two factor authentication with your phone and email just for extra layers. That gives it enormous flexibility into the future. Fascinating really but it will take time to implement although we should speed things up so that they are not so slow really. We need to speed ourselves up. I would suggest that the electronic flyers that would be distributed by Canada Post into the virtual mailboxes would carry the same cost as the current distribution of paper flyers by Canada Post. This system will be expensive to setup but the main attributes of the system are consistent across all departments of the Government and everyone will benefit particularly on a mercantile basis and that will help to ensure the Post Office being in the black rather than the red. Enough on the Post Office; just my thoughts at this time for whatever reason; sometimes I am just annoyed about something and being the person I am I begin to think of good solutions. 

Working on Chromosome 1 and yesterday I managed to complete the D's. A few good insights that solved some great grandparent lines and I will continue with that today. It is really the common area (common to Europe and the British Isles (and by extension a lot of the people in the Western Hemisphere except for the First Nations)) that is the most difficult to separate into the great grandparent line very often. But there are still probably 200 matches to go or more. I will count them when there are fewer. 

I have now organized the recycling that has been added to our collecting to put out to the street. I put all the small plastic items into one of the bread bags, another bread bag will hold the large pieces of plastic and I use very few cans and the  number of large plastic containers has almost completely disappeared with the purchase of the boxes of liquid hand cleaner and soap that I bought from a company in Montreal. I replaced the cleaning solution with a paper product that comes in a recyclable cardboard box. The amazing thing is that there is only floss in the garbage and it will takes months and months to fill that plastic bag in the garbage container. Amazing really and a good move forward having a private company take over the recycling collection. 

I want to start on the enormous set of excel files for the photo books so that I have created just the family part of it and then I can begin setting up the photo books. The other way was not working for me as I just felt sad about taking apart the History of his Life that Edward created. It will still be there in the scanned files along with the original indexes. One day a descendant might just pull that up and have a look at it; one never knows. But it was something Edward did not want to happen that he would be forgotten as he always felt his father was. Definitely our daughters will never forget their father; they loved him dearly and still do. 

Time to do the solitaire puzzles and I have forgotten my tea so must go and do that.