Another sunny day

A beautiful sunny day today and I shall vacuum the car later and the trap for the dryer just to really get summer going. Our car is now seven years old and has less than 33,000 kilometres on it (about  20,500 miles) and my husband put the first 10,000 on in just one year, 8,000 the next year and 5,000 kilometres the year following before he became too ill to drive. Then I went to Florida with my children one time and that was another 6000 kilometres. It took another three years to reach 33,000 kilometres so less than 1000 kilometres per year. Amazing really as it looks almost new but a quick glance tells one that this is a nearly seven year old car. 

I was contemplating how one regards Canada in the world scene. We are different from every other country I think. The original inhabitants being the First Nations and they were mobile except perhaps for the Inuit who lived mostly in the north west of Canada I think (they were probably the first new Colonials for thousands of years as even at this time we can not place a time for arrival of the First Nations here). I must admit the archaeological digs become more and more fascinating as they are uncovered. The mobility for the First Nations was a north to south to north to south movement over the year (I believe a number of the First Nations lived constantly in the south of the North American portion of the continent) for the warmer climes during the long winter and returning to the great hunting, fishing and growing areas in the spring, summer and into fall. That has changed with there being a permanent border now across North America (two actually - Canada/United States and United States/Mexico). However Jay's Treaty 1794 guarantees the right of movement to First Nations between Canada and the United States. Canada does not see its history in quite the same way as other countries in the Western Hemisphere. It is a colonial happening with the intent that the colonialists and the First Nations were using the land in a Canadian way. The Treaties following Confederation in 1867 are similar to the system of land holding in the United Kingdom in that payment was made for the use of lands particularly acquired via the transfer of Rupert's Land to the Dominion of Canada as seen in the Treaties (I am not knowledgeable on these treaties to understand completely how they work). These lands continue to be part of Canada although purchasing in the normal way (again like the system of land holding in the United Kingdom) gave one the right to own it under the law, sell it under the law or pass it on to one's rightful heirs but the land always remains Canadian and can not be taken out of Canada as is claimed by separatist groups. If Canada itself and also the First Nations are willing to sell land (and both must be in agreement) then that is a process but the cost will be in the trillions for any provincial land purchase and probably even into the hundreds of trillions as this land is very profitable. The idea of the Founders of Confederation was to maintain the lands that we call Canada and originally was Turtle Island as named by the First Nations in order to benefit all Canadians. Alberta in particular has the highest salaries overall in Canada so they have done well as immigrants to come to a country mostly empty-handed where they end up having the highest salaries but still the sharing of the wealth in every province is the underpinning of Confederation. Looking at it purely in the humanitarian way one would expect that everyone would benefit from the profits of the lands of Canada. Education is the key in all of this and the more education the better (both trade/technical academic - I place academic in third these days because our need for trades and technology is much grreater than pure academia) everyone is able to utilize the best that this country has to offer. 

This idea that conquering a nation leads to a permanent change in the ownership is false really around the world as most countries with their original hunter gatherer populations are still existing some remaining basically in the same areas when one looks at the Y-DNA that has now been tested around the world (lots of movement in Europe and elsewhere but the persistence of older y-DNA continues). y-DNA predicts that Homo sapiens arose in Africa and moved out sequentially to the Middle East and the possibility that it also moved to the Western Hemisphere is being tossed about once again (perhaps this group was swamped by a much larger group arriving from Asia via the Pacific which is becoming better understood). 

We can only roughly predict what the world looked like during the most advanced Ice Ages which bared islands on both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. If Asians could cross the Pacific which is much wider than the Atlantic thousands and thousands of years ago so could the Atlantic have been crossed. After all there has been known fishing in the Grand Banks area off Newfoundland/Nova Scotia (Canada) from Viking days onward (before 1000 CE). I do find it interesting that Neanderthal and Denisovan are absent in the Americas with the First Nations implying that their presence in the Western Hemisphere may be much further back than has been mentioned. My own lines have principally been in the British Isles in all lines except for Huguenot coming in the late 1400s from France to Somerset but yet we carry both Neanderthal and Denisovan in our autosomal DNA suggesting a European connection so perhaps the dividing line between the Western Hemisphere and the Eastern Hemisphere original Hunter Gather populations is much greater than has been suggested although recent archaeological digs are now hinting at more than 100,000 years ago for the first settlements in the Western Hemisphere which takes us way back before the Last Ice Age and only gradually are we learning more and more about earth and how it existed in those earlier times. Yet another reason to listen carefully to our First Nations who carry those early stories in their story telling and they are very very important for everyone's survival. Listening to my grandfather's stories passed to him by his parents and probably other relatives (he appears to be related to half the people in Upper Clatford in the 1800s!) opened my eyes to so many things. At the time I just listened but then internet became available and I discovered this wasn't just a very elderly person talking it was someone passing on to me the stories of the deep past that were shared by many in the British Isles. 

Looking at my own Blake line stretching back into the Western Hunter Gatherer period in the British Isles and they still persist in the British Isles! That is a personal look at yDNA but I can find other Hunter Gatherer results in the various databases showing that Blake is not the only line that traces back so far into the past in that area of Hampshire which is quite fertile and beautiful to behold. Europe itself has not changed a great deal from a y-DNA viewpoint with many results stretching back through the eons of time showing locations of early Hunter Gatherer presence even today. There is also movement but historically people who move because of friction in their native country often return eventually to that native country when peace returns. Already my autosomal contribution to grandchildren down to 25% or less or slightly more and each generation will cut that finer and finer but they carry the autosomal contribution of two Hunter Gather populations from the Western and the Eastern hemisphere and certainly a huge migrant population autosomal presence in the United States from their grandfather Edward commencing in the early 1600s from The Netherlands/Germany and later France, Sweden and the British Isles. 

A fun time looking at Y-DNA but must get back to working on the things I plan to do today. The British Isles is perhaps like Canada in that movement from the continent to the British Isles particularly England was constant through this Common Era so perhaps Canada will retain its very interesting assortment of individuals particularly from the British Isles/France and later Europe and the rest of the world on into the centuries. But history suggests that many recent colonials return to their original countries over time if they have left because of wars/hard times. But it is this mixing of the autosomal DNA that protects Homo sapiens from abrupt decline which is what happened to the earlier Homo species. Nature will always choose the best route most times or it will abort spontaneously a bad combination but if the best route is the best of two weaknesses then that is a disaster for populations which become too close in cousin-ship to maintain a healthy population. Interesting this was well known to many populations in the past as one notes how they chose their partner to create a family. 

Must do the solitaire puzzles. 

 

 

Cleaning accomplished

Thursday is always a calming day although I did wake up early. The cleaning is all done and my research is ahead of me with four days until cleaning begins again. The routine is interesting and keeps me on track. 

The AI will be interesting working away on my large excel file and today I will split it into the four grandparent lines and see what I can note of interest in the Blake file in particular. There are a couple of old lines in there that are interesting and of greater interest are the Living DNA matches that fit in there as well with people living in the British Isles and Australia as most of these lines are in the United States with early English Colonial ancestry. Linking them to the Andover Blake family is possible in some cases but dependent on other people's trees so will be cautious. 

The weather has been beautiful and pretty much no smoke in the air thus far but it is early so will have to wait and see on that. Generally July can be the worst month for smoke from forest fires but hoping for lots of rain to keep them under control. Some fires are just spontaneous and create situations where some plants can only reproduce during fires which is amazing really. It is preventing the careless fires that we aim towards in particular. 

Perhaps a few walks on the beach if weather permits and today is another mostly cloudy day although the possibility of rain has disappeared. We had a very good rain yesterday.  

The Trans Mountain Pipeline is now running at full capacity (upgraded two years ago). I still wonder if just twinning this pipeline would serve very well in getting crude to tidewater and sales around the world.  There is  money to be made in oil for sure. 

I think Canada is very wise to learn more about drone warfare especially with the three evil satanic countries attacking or simulating attacks on other countries namely the co-operating countries of Russia, Iran (as well as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis) and North Korea (the Evil Three). One never knows when such material will be needed in national defense.  The threats that come out of Russia particularly of using nuclear weapons does make one wonder if there is anyone in that country that can put two words together in a sensible way. Always threatening and yet no one threatens them but they mercilessly attack a smaller country namely Ukraine murdering children, women and men because they are so greedy for land and what that land contains. Of course I know there are responsible people in Russia, Iran and North Korea who do not agree with their dictatorship leaders but they are murdered or destroyed in some way for speaking out. 

Almost half way through June and the summer goes amazingly fast. 

Solitaire puzzles next.  

My favourite cookies

 I now have a package of my favourite cookies in my pantry and they tasted very good. Two years without was a long time as I have eaten them as long as I can remember. They used to be Canadian made but are now made in the United States hence the two year break but I am back to buying them again. I do not drink so am not a part of that particular item. 

Yesterday very busy with cleaning and it was the main floor and the hardest floor this week because it includes vacuuming the stairs. Today the top floor and will start around ten this morning. It should be about 2 hours in total with cleaning the larger bathroom taking up some of that time. Then all done for another week although today I also plan to vacuum out the dryer vent outside and the car. We will be already for summer.  I often hang up the clothes inside for the extra moisture but less so in the summer. It would be nice to hang them outside but the flowers that my daughter is allergic to are all over the place and I would be bringing that pollen in so do not do that anymore. That is the first thing we will look for when we scout out a new house in a couple of years. 

We had salmon last night for dinner and the first solid meat that my daughter has eaten since the oral surgery on her one tooth. Liver pate (especially good from Quebec I must say) has filled the bill for the last five days as well as canned tuna so it was nice to have a piece of fresh salmon poached. It was so tender and flaky and easy to remove any residual bones missed during the deboning. Along with that some noodles with cream cheese and fresh asparagus also poached. An excellent meal for sure and greatly enjoyed - yesterday was a shopping for food day. 

Busy once again with her research and I want to get into my DNA data perhaps a bit this afternoon after cleaning. Along with bringing together all the Blake bits from individual Legacy charts into one chart that is my focus at the moment. Soon I will be able to produce the generational chart and then I will move to Pincombe to do the same. I still have another year and a half before I will publish the two books and will ensure that I proofread the index this time. I did forget with the Siderfin book and eventually will do that but do have some new material to put in anyway unless someone beats me to that!

Staying away from the news for the most part. I am ambivalent about the best route for Canada really. I prefer to see us developing our natural resources more completely and creating new industry to replace what has been lost during sixty years of basically free trade. But I do enjoy the trade that we partake in with different items being sold here that we do not make or grow. I think that is true of all of us here but we were terribly hurt by the suddenness and the cruelty of saying that our economy could just be destroyed and then we would have to become a 51st state. Considering the wonderful friendship that was enjoyed between the United States and Canada over the last more than two hundred years it was sad. Canadians went south in preference for vacations spending billions of dollars and some still do but many are not. But we will see how it all flows over the next couple of months. Personally I have many wonderful cousins in the United States and love them dearly. 

Windows open today for some fresh air and that is pleasant early this morning. The hot sun is gone for the day it appears as it is cloudy but will still be a warm day and perhaps with some rain. Rain is always welcomed and then I do not have to rush out and water the tomatoes!

I actually do not see a problem with Chinese EVs being restricted from entering the United States from Canada. I see them primarily as a car for our youth and really we do not want them to wander so far afield from Canada in their young days. When they are into adulthood and beginning families then they would buy the bigger cars made in North America (ours sold in Canada being made in Canada principally but we do realize that they cross the border several times or more during construction).  It is actually a favour to anxious parents to restrict the youth from crossing the border I suspect. Changing from buying cars from the big three under our present agreements - Ford, General Motors and Stellantis - is unlikely given our tremendous preference for these cars which have been built jointly with the United States in Canada and since the mid 1960s and Mexico since the mid 1990s. I agree with our government that less than 50,000 Chinese EVs is just a drop in the bucket of the number of cars that Canada purchases during a year. The price is right for our youth for sure. 

Fourty two million people is a huge market for any country looking at us to do business. Plus we have huge spaces if countries want to develop their industries and work co-operatively with us to increase their market around the world. From Canada one can ship around the world from our east coast, our northern coast or our west coast so a great advantage for industries looking for more space to increase their sales working co-operatively with us. 

Another beautiful rain storm has begun. Perfect weather for growing crops all across Canada.  

Solitaire puzzles to do.  

 

Investitute of the new Governor General, 31st Governor General of Canada

 Tradition is so much a part of people's lives really and losing it can really alters one's space and perception of life I think. Rediscovering one's traditions are important if they are lost to them.  Canada, as a country of ten provinces and three territories, has a lot of traditions that are quite beautiful and these traditions include the First Nations, the French Colonials and the English Colonials (although other than the language English, English traditions have disappeared from Canadian life as far as I can tell). The group of Confederation Founders were in somewhat of a panic at the time wanting to create a country as they viewed the growth of the United States to the south of us. We wanted some items particularly (sea to sea to sea was very important) and it was the French Colonials and the English Colonials who created the differences that one sees between the governance of the United States and the governance of Canada. 

Especially important are the moments in our present governance that are created by The First Nations. They take us back as Canadians to the very roots of this land whether we are a First Generation Canadian or have a very deep longstanding generational past in this country now called Canada but originally was called Turtle Island. We (the First Nations, the French Colonials and the English Colonials) were one together during the 1812-1814 war with the United States and it is important that that oneness always be there now. We have, the United States and Canada, been great friends these last over two hundred years). I especially appreciate it that the First Nations are always part of the ceremonial acts of Canada. More First Nations members in the governance would also be excellent so that consultation is always happening at the time of the initiation of new ideas/projects. The concept of a North American market was not ours but rather presented to Canada by the United States and later included Mexico. It has been very beneficial to all three countries for sure and especially I like the Wisconsin cheeses and milk although it is awhile since I have been there (nine years I think). 

Yesterday was busy and I cleaned the basement. Today is the main floor. We also got in a long walk at the beach which was really very nice. My daughter had a long research meeting with her student as well. Her jaw is recovering very nicely and back to work once again. She really only took two days away from her studies which is typical of her actually!  We lead a very quiet life working on our individual projects and that is pretty much the life we have lived, both of us, since she was a young child and was also true of my husband Edward although he was more of a going out to meetings and such sort of person. 

My daughter felt very sorry for the young couple from Church that came to our door years ago now when she learned that they didn't have any children (she was only five years old!). But I took her for a walk a couple of days later and she saw them with another family that had children so I said look they have lots of friends and that made her happy and we went back to being the quiet family we like to be keeping to ourselves. Edward did continue working with his cousin Gordon Riddle (the husband of the young couple that visited us) on the family tree but both of us, my daughter and I, avoided that. 

We were however at Church together and I being volunteer secretary our paths crossed often but soon they did have their family and we definitely gradually moved apart over the next while although I did babysit their dog and their children when they asked (Edward and Gordon still worked together on the Kipp Family Tree on occasion). 

Babysitting is never my thing actually and I avoid it except when needed (partly because I always pick up whatever cold or flu or illness small children have that were left with me (I never thought of wearing a mask and gloves in those days but it would have been a good idea given my fragile health and determination to help in the schools my children were attending!)). A stroll down Memory Lane once again; it is amazing looking backwards over 81 years of life really. I appear to be very healthy and the fragility of my early adulthood has disappeared although I do feel my 80 plus years. 

For the most part I have lived the quiet life I prefer (but always went to all the historical activities and events that my husband Edward asked me to attend with him as well as going to his Church!). Considering I moved to the attic as a young child separating myself from my then four siblings and eventually six siblings that lifestyle is probably not surprising. We did (my siblings and I) play a lot of card games together and board games but I did like the solitude of the attic for sure! Amazingly I was the middle child in the group of seven. 

I worked away on my Great Grandparent data a little just to play with the file which now has  4377 lines in total. Today I may use AI a little to look at this file a little more intently. I may separate it into the four grandparents since that is basically how I will use it anyway. But the original is still safely stored away in case I ever want to look at the original extraction once again. 

An article on wages paid in Canada was quite interesting to read this morning. It is surprising who is making the most money (just on an average basis within each grouping) on a group level but also a very rewarding look because that is really where you would think the best salaries/wages are and it is in working the natural resources. That is our greatest product really our natural resources. Getting them out of the ground is important and selling them beneficial to our present state. But respecting the land always is an important part of all of that. It may seem cumbersome to people but if we do not respect the land then we condemn earth to an unhealthy future. I think that we can get what is needed out of the natural resources to put us on a path that will make it monetarily feasible to move to protection of the environment as we move along but still maintaining a sufficient income to support the population of Canada. 

I understand the desire to have a perfect utopia now but we have to be able to support that utopia without creating a poverty level that can not be sustained by our current GDP.  Hence we need to listen (and discuss) to the suggestions made by those who know this land well, the First Nations. 

Time to play the solitaire games.  

 

 

Lovely music at Church

 The music was lovely at Church yesterday. I do love the organ music. God would be pleased I think that His Church which He created still sings His praises and thanks him for all of His gifts to mankind. 

With all the rain, the lawns and gardens are looking very nice. I pulled some grass out of the front garden bed so that the iris could have more room. Iris is a beautiful plant. My daughter has cut the lawns thus far although I did contemplate hiring a company to cut the lawns and still might do that as the flowers that inflame her asthma will soon be in full bloom as she has to stay away from the yards most of the time although does go out a little with her mask on. Fortunately Petrie Island doesn't have a lot of flowering plants in the areas that we go to for kayaking and walking. 

My daughter's jaw is healing from the dental surgery and soon back to kayaking once again. She is thinking about her four research projects though and items that need doing. Her student is busy working away with her on these projects as well as the other faculty members who are part of these projects. I am lucky to have her as my caretaker for these research times that she spends here. But we chat every day for an hour or so and I consider her as my caretaker year round actually. 

Worked on the book yesterday and in this case the Excel file for the great grandparents. I have looked at 23 and Me, Living DNA, Ancestry and just a quick glance at My Heritage and FT DNA today to ascertain if there are any new large matches. Then ready to go on the charting using all of this data. There is ancient Blake data in the DNA likely caused by two items. Some of the further back matches are in the Knight family where there is endogamy and others are colonial American Blake descendants. Interesting really that these lengths of DNA would be passed down through nine or ten generations but they are common areas which is a marvelous conduit for DNA material down through the ages. 

I also wrote my letter to my older sister and mailed it off. I am trying to keep to sending it on Sunday each week. I wanted to find boxes of cards that had different pictures on them and we are going to go to the Rideau Centre next and perhaps I will find some there. Right now I just have two different cards. I just thought that would be more fun to receive. I am typing the letters though as my hand writing is somewhat hard to read although I did get a letter from my brother in law saying that my sister had read the letter so that is good news. I did take my time hand writing it. But I will stick to typing the rest - just sent the first one like that. I was a visitor at one of the local old age hospitals when I was a teenager and it is lonely for people in these homes if they do not have people close by. My brother in law goes every day he said but still I wanted to send the letters to break up her long day somewhat.  

 Today cleaning the basement and that will begin soon. I will start the Robot around 9:00 a.m. and it runs for about one hour. Does a great job on the rug for sure. 

Beautiful sun today and the tomato plants will likely need water as it is a hot sun although just 17 degrees celsius this morning at the moment  with a high of 26 degrees celsius promised. 

Solitaire puzzles are next.