Babylon and its King Nebuchadnezzar

 The whole of Judah (except for the farmers it appears) was carried off to Babylon by the end of 2 Kings. But God promised that they would return to the land which He promised to Abraham and He has. Historically the story is well known and not only the Bible tells that story as the time has come when the early great Libraries of the world are now the centers of learning. The libraries before the Common Era (BC) included Ashurpanipal (Nineveh, Assyria now the city of Mosul, northern Iraq) (some tablets are in the British Museum); Alexandria, Egypt and most of this was entirely lost; Celsus (Ephesus, Turkey)   destroyed in an earthquake and a fire that burned the interior and then into the Common Era the Library at Constantinople which was sacked in 1204 Common Era but that accumulation of knowledge stretched far and wide across the known world and the House of Wisdom in Baghdad (Iraq) which was destroyed during the Mongol siege in 1258 Common Era but knowledge had been passed over its five centuries of existence to Islamic centres Basra (Iraq), Kufa (Iraq) and Damascus (Syria). The human desire to understand its past meant that knowledge was passed down from generation to generation although the proofs in permanent copy were destroyed very often. There is always a danger when knowledge and the accumulation of knowledge becomes less important. Knowledge is what brought us out of the caves and into homes and protected the human existence. 

Another good research day as I barely left the house except to mail a letter to my sister. It will take a while to enter 73 matches into my databases though but I am pleased with this gleaning from the databases of the companies. This knowledge of DNA is going to be helpful in the future not so much on an individual level but in understanding the evolution of mankind and how to protect that continuing evolution into the next centuries. 

Lots of exercise as I did my yoga and calisthenics first thing, then my 30 minute run and 15 minute walk later in the morning and in the afternoon a four mile walk and calisthenics. Exercise is the best way to maintain a good life style I think. But at 81 one should consider very carefully starting exercise and a visit with the doctor might show you the way to get back into healthy exercise even at my age. There are lots of good ideas on YouTube for actual exercises and a slow motion into them. 

 Today more of the same and we are promised heavy thunder storms this afternoon. The ground can always use more rain for sure. This is the warmest August that I ever remember actually. Generally it becomes cooler at night as we get into August but that is coming in the next week.  

 Also continuing with the matches into my databases and first my solitaire games. 

 

2 Kings continues the history of Israel and Judah

I listened to the entire episode for nearly two hours on YouTube for 1 Kings. My initial thoughts that the readings do not mention the coming of a Redeemer remains as I am looking for the exact wording which the prophets do use later in the Bible (not that far away now) but listening carefully one does collect the thoughts of the author of these particular You Tube presentations. I think the rules for life that are mentioned in these presentations are quite good actually. The text strongly points out that David's line (including David) have the qualities of leadership that God is looking for in a King. Both Elijah and Elisha were chosen by God as prophets to bring to the people proofs of God in our world to help the people to maintain their adoration of God the Creator who brought them out of slavery in Egypt. There will be more prophets to come as I continue reading. What does baal represent? I am contemplating that the heathen god baal represents the movement away in a society from loving God the Creator with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and does not love their neighbour as themself (perhaps baal was an old word for adoration of money). A society can only prosper if there is a certain amount of sharing of the goods of that society; when that sharing ceases and only a few benefit from the work of a particular society then the people suffer and it breaks down that sharing element of life that has given us so much in this modern century. Continuing to read 2 Kings and Hezekiah is now King of Judah and successfully with the help of Isaiah (now introduced) saves Judah from the King of Assyria. One needs to look at a map of this part of the world when reading the Bible.  Hezekiah, a descendant of David, has followed his ancestor's way and God the Creator is supportive of him. I will listen to 2 Kings on YouTube when I run later. I find these presentations to be most interesting even if I do not entirely agree with the thoughts on how/when the Redeemer Jesus was introduced. But I am not a specialist in the language of these times!

Yesterday was a work day and I completed all of the matches that I will likely do at this time any way. I now need to insert the  70+ new matches into my database and that will be part of my work day today. Lots of interesting matches particularly for Buller and Blake but also some Rawlings and a few Pincombe. The Pincombe though I can mostly place into their line making it rather handy but I do have some really good matches for Pincombe. 

We decided to do weight lifting instead of going to the beach yesterday afternoon after my eye appointment. My eyes have changed very little this past year although the eye doctor did give me a slightly stronger lens which I will do the next time that I change my glasses. These actually suit me very well that I am now using. He suggested Progressive lens but I have now gotten used to not wearing my glasses when I am out of the house. I doubt that I will move back to wearing glasses all the time ever again. Time will tell though on that one. 

It seemed so strange for such a long time but it is like being born again sort of as I recognize virtually no one because my eyes are seeing so differently. Also I have not really spoken to people in my area other than the usual people because I went back to work in the city (a good half to an hour bus trip every day in and then out again back in 1994). Other than going to my children's schools for parent teacher events I really was totally uninvolved in the area especially when Edward decided to go to Dominion Chalmers United Church for a special series of lectures back in the mid 1990s. 

Up until then he was still singing in the Choir and had stepped down as Treasurer  a little before that at his United Church locally. He liked the minister so much at Dominion Chalmers that we continued to go there until that minister retired and then Edward decided to go to my Church and he selected Christ Church Cathedral I think mostly because of the Music and he said it was his turn to go to my church which was very sweet. Then my new eyes so to speak after cataract surgery and everything is different. No one looks the same including my own children. 

It is amazing that my sight became so much clearer and distinct really but it was interesting to hear a young man (maybe in his late teens or early twenties) talk about his first eye being operated on for strabismus and the doctor wanted him to wait six months for the second eye to give the eye a chance to strengthen. He talked about how different items looked now and that was before my first surgery. So I know other people experience this sudden change in their vision but usually people would have been operated on for strabismus in childhood at some point although when I was young I do not think that was done. I was born just after World War II.  

Solitaire puzzles to do next.  

Continuing history in 2 Kings

 Reading word for word through these chapters in the book of 2 Kings and the history of the people of Israel. Generation after generation this history tells the story. I will continue with 2 Kings tomorrow. 

Yesterday I completed the basement cleaning and so these days until Sunday are work days. I hope to finish extracting the rest of the matches that interest me and then I can enter the new matches into the database and once again extract the database into the four family lines. I shall give a longer explanation to the AI before asking for the work to be done although the last extraction was well done as I requested except for the formatting being stripped from the charts and the order not being maintained.   

A lovely walk on the beach yesterday and it was again very busy. A lot of people swimming in the water actually but it was a really warm day. I did the path six times which is about 3 kilometers. Today I will run and again it is about 3 kilometres. I always run on the days that I do not clean the house. I am content to still be running at 81 and hope to run for quite a while yet. No marathons for me; not my sort of running. 

A couple of the matches were very interesting and again with individuals having early American Colonial ancestry and fitting into Blake-Knight. Some of them are Knight family but I do know that many members of the Knight family  went to Newfoundland early on and then moved to the American Colonies when they were first beginning. I only actually know of one Blake family from Andover that went to Massachusetts in the mid 1600s. It was one of Richard Blake's daughters Joanna who married Robert Sedgewick. Her husband died in Jamaica and she returned to London and died there. Her sons remained in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 

The flowers are quite lovely this summer and have done well both front and back - those that survived. I have to judge when I am weeding in the spring and sometimes I am right but sometimes I am wrong and have lost a number of lovely plants I must admit. 

The cat from across the road was over hunting in our yard. Very handy to have a cat do that actually. Right now the cat is letting a visiting dog know that it should not read on its property and the dog has moved on. Amazing how a small cat can manage a large dog. Cats are very intelligent animals. But it lives with a large dog and wouldn't be fazed by one. 

Today my eye doctor appointment. I was thinking every second year myself but will go this time and if all is well and reasonable for an 81 year old then I will start going every two years. For me that is a real treat as I used to go to the ophthalmologist until I was about 52 or 53 at least every year since I can remember and how I hated those eye drops. To be able to go without glasses now at 81 is amazing. A gift of cataract surgery for sure and it was not expected to be absolutely honest. I had no idea what cataract surgery would do to my eyes but this has been a real treat for sure. 

Solitaire puzzles are next.  

 

Elijah is another link between modern Judaism and modern Christianity and Islam

Anti-semitism must disappear from Canada and all of our world. The Jewish people have suffered more than enough in all these centuries. I do have sympathy for the children of Gaza not yet tainted by the hatred of their adults towards Israel. These adults of Gaza (Hamas are Palestinians as far as I can tell if not then why are they in Gaza) attacked Israel, murdered children, women and men just under three years ago. It was ruthless, planned and known to the adults of Gaza and even Palestinians around the world. It was disgusting; it remains a most disgusting event. The children of Israel, surrounded by Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran their supporter and leader, have a right to sleep at night without fear. That is still not possible for them nearly three years later. No one helped the Israelis on that early morning terror which erupted on the quiet kibbutzs and a Music Festival full of young adults really children themselves. Murder was everywhere and the cheering in Canada by Palestinians that we welcomed as immigrants was sick and unacceptable. Hamas continued to threaten and indeed bomb Israel in the days and weeks following (and Palestinians marched here which was disgusting saying they would do that again and again trying to force the Israelis to leave their homeland they have lived in for thousands of years). The Hezbollah in Lebanon attacked from the other side with bombs. The right of Israel is the Bible itself detailing where the Israelis lived from the time of Abraham. No one else has such an historical record in our times. For peace to come in Gaza; the people of Gaza must be peaceful. That so many Palestinians including children have died is sad but they attacked Israel and Israel has a right to defend itself. God said "Love they neighbour as thyself."

Although re-reading the history of the people of Israel (the descendants of Jacob (renamed Israel by God) son of Isaac son of Abraham) in the Bible was a decision that I made looking for why I think that God said we would have peace on our earth if we but followed His commandments - love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbour as ourself. At the same time as I read the chapters I am also listening to YouTube productions that review each book of the Bible. But I am reading word for word and not interpreting anything based on what I know happens later. I think modern religious leaders should not insert into these early readings assumptions that are not there in print; I think it weakens the message that is in the Old Testament. God seems to change somewhat softening towards the plight of the Israeli people through the years from slavery in Egypt to the present I am now reading. He recognizes in King David a faithfulness although he did sin with the adultery and requested murder of Uriah the husband of the woman with whom David had adultery but he paid dearly for that sin. God still demands that only He is God not baal or any other other fake gods and that that must be recognized at all times.That is still true. I have reached the introduction of Elijah; Elijah is important in Jewish faith, in Christian faith and in the Muslim faith (I learned that from the Muslim students I worked with at the hospital). Back to reading 2 Kings and Elijah is taken up to Heaven in a whirlwind and Elisha his faithful student takes up the mantle of Elijah.

Yesterday the cleaning of the main floor was accomplished and today it is the basement. In the evening we went for a walk and kayak on the beach and in the river. It was a lovely evening and the beach was packed. The rains had created a small pond on the back beach where the gulls had settled for the evening. 

I also worked on the matches and I now have over 50 new matches. But there are fewer and fewer new ones as my criteria eliminates more and more. I suspect I will be done by the end of the week and starting to file the new matches into my database. 

Today is collection day and there are two full bags of weeds/cuttings, the black bin and the green bin at the curb waiting for the collection trucks which have arrived. They come much earlier now so my frozen containers in the green bin stay frozen which is nice as I put them out in the morning on purpose. 

More  work on the matches today in between cleaning. It is a lovely day in God's world but we must try harder to protect this world which He has given to us. We were charged with its well being and we are not protecting the things that we can very well at this time. Money isn't meant to be hoarded by the few but rather to support this world that is God's gift to mankind. 

Solitaire puzzles to do.  

 

 

 

 

Continuing 2 Kings and Elijah is introduced

The history of Israel continues in 1 Kings and the peoples of Israel and their kings continue to stray to the right and the left not following the commandments of God but rather those of the gods of the nations around them. Elijah has now entered the story but again I am reading word by word without thinking of what I know comes in the later books of the Bible. I completed 1 Kings and will begin 2 Kings tomorrow. God's punishment continues as He waits for the obedience which he has commanded. We do see elements of it in 1 Kings where obedience to God comes before self on the part of some of the leaders. Elijah is a man of God and very important. 

Cleaning day top floor all accomplished and today it is the main floor and I shall start in a while. Good rain thus far over the past couple of weeks and more to come this week. Unfortunately it may be accompanied by lightning but hopefully the rain will be heavy and put out wild fire started by lightning. Into August now with day 4 and the cooling trend will soon make itself felt although we can have warm days in September.  

More work on the matches and I have completed the first eight pages and will probably look at the next three pages which will take me most of this week probably and then I can enter the new material into my database and September should see me putting more time into the Generational Blake Chart and eventually the Pincombe Chart. I hope to finish by the end of 2028 and look to be on a good schedule. Time will tell. I still have the corrections to the Index of the Siderfin Book on the backplate and will not forget to do that eventually. It may get slotted in as a something different to do as I move along. I also want to continue phasing Edward's grandparents but that is still pretty much on the back burner. Although I have the records of a dozen of his close cousins to help with that. It is hard to believe that he did all of that work thirteen years ago now collecting up the data of his cousins from DNA testing. Only a couple did not do the testing but a dozen is a lot of cousins for sure and on all sides of the family. 

I still did not locate the Allen pictures. I thought they were in the archival box marked Allen but that turned out to be incorrect. I have since found some copies of those originals but not the originals. But there are still about ten boxes of his research to go through. 

I will begin the envelopes in a couple of weeks with the pictures of Edward's birth family namely pictures of his brother, wife, and two children and their children that Edward took through the years beginning in 1961. Since Edward and his brother generally appeared together in pictures I will keep all of those for the early pages of the first binder.  I hope to complete this task in the Fall and send them in December to Edward's nieces. 

At that point I can move on to the collections of information that Edward scanned or photographed and burn them to DVDs and I still have to write to the OGS Ottawa Branch Library to see if they are interested in setting up a Fonds for his research. The section that I sent to Chilliwack Archives dealt with British Columbia Kipp and the material that E Harvey Kipp sent to and brought to Edward back in the 1970s. It seemed appropriate to return it to this area particularly after the correspondence between the Archivist and myself. 

Soon time to start the cleaning and Solitaire puzzles to do.