Door bell

The weirdest thing yesterday was my door bell ringing. I never answer it unless I have asked someone to come. I glanced out the window and saw that there was what looked like a chemical fire extinguisher sitting on my porch (since it is hazardous waste I decided to check). I did not particularly want that sitting on my porch. So I opened the door and the individual was standing way back where the tree blocked my view.  I thought  he was asking to cut my lawn but my daughter thought he was asking to collect insects around the outside of the house. I just said no thank you especially as there are three boys across the road that I could ask to cut my lawn. In terms of insects the same ones are around everyone's houses so a weird request actually.  I have no idea who that child was actually. Strange really. 

Another busy cleaning day and all accomplished including four loads of wash. Life can be very busy. One of these days I will get back to my research and I am now two days behind for the Pincombe Newsletter so must work on that today. 

Today the basement cleaning and that will begin soon with the Robot doing its chore on the rugs down there. Looking forward to moving in three years as that appears to be the sort of time line I am looking at these days. I will be 84 and that seems long enough for me to own a house. Especially one that is too big for me with so many people wanting to buy houses that are less expensive. 

The tomatoes plants are growing nicely and as well as the transplanted Iris. Still more weeding to do and certainly not my favourite task to do. Actually I am coming to actually dislike it. 

CUSMA talks are beginning. Minister LeBlanc is very knowledgeable along with the rest of the team. In general our aims at the moment are heading towards making ourselves tariff proof which we are currently under CUSMA items although tariffs have crept in here and there. As we diversify our trade around the world we will be less incapacitated by tariff which is slowly coming to fruition. It will take time of course since there was very little warning for the tariffs and especially the size of the tariffs.  

Time will tell how long tariff lasts. Will it bring industry back to the United States? No ideas on that. It takes money to set up new businesses and trickle down economics has not worked these past few generations as it was hinted in the 1980s that it would be a great boon for the population (the opposite has occurred with the Stock Market being more important than individual industries as trading in stocks became the way to become rich). But in reality the up and down in the stock market which results in the huge accumulation of wealth by a few mostly in the stock market because of panic selling rather than in the everyday actual work of business. American businesses have reduced production in the United States (blaming the unions for strikes looking for higher wages) and quite a few American businesses went offshore and still are. If the American car industries are crippled in Canada (the solution is really to incorporate here and split from the American company) by tariff and the idea is to try to sell all-American made cars in Canada it will not work. We didn't propose the original car deals and they were presented as a win-win for all three with a North American market but tariffing the cars as they move back and forth in production is no longer a win for Canada as it was presented and will hurt the American car companies in Canada where they have had a monopoly really for the last sixty years. We will buy non-American cars produced here (unless there is an advantage to letting in cars with a tariff imposed supporting other industries in Canada like the 49,000 EVs coming in supporting Saskatchewan exports to the same country) because it employs our people which is really unfortunate as the North American idea was a good one. 

One doesn't need to be part of a huge conglomerate but rather an economic union (the EU is very effective) is much solider and less affected by political differences. We like Canada just as it is actually. We love our First Nations and in reality a lot of us always have; just the people who created the problems in the Residential Schools and probably because they were criminals if they hurt the children in any way and have hopefully all been prosecuted. Greed is a large part of that as well I think and one can see it raising its ugly head in Alberta where a few want all the riches without paying the price for that (Imagine that group in control!). Alberta must be worth at least 30 trillion to buy it and extremely unlikely that the First Nations are interested in being outside of Canada! The ownership is unquestionably the First Nations as established by the Crown (British) and  the United Nations. We (Canada) acquired Rupert's Land with all the treaty rights belonging to the First Nations and we will defend those treaty rights in our courts. The First Nations willingly share with us but quite rightly object when their rights are infringed.

The reality from the trade deals of the last sixty years pointed to a North American market (Mexico, the United States and Canada). If we are then the supply chains created in all three countries  will profit and not be damaged by tariff as is presently happening. The supply chains could convert to non-American car companies that now exist in our country and are slowly coming into our country. Eventually we will move to hybrid cars in general; one can see that coming for sure. Certainly we will continue diversifying our trade around the world because we do not wish to become economically injured by tariff; the logic in that is pretty clear. At 40+ million people we are a huge market. In terms of growth our country continues to grow with births outnumbering deaths and likely to continue that way as we have a large youth population. Proximity plays a big part as well as shipping back and forth across a land border is much cheaper and easier than any other method. Our population comes from all over the world these days so that trading around the world works very well for us as there will be people who want to buy the goods from the areas that they grew up in. As a country our green houses have become big business and supplying ourselves with some fresh food in the winter is now a reality whereas when I was a child 80 years ago all of the fresh food came across the border from the United States for the most part. We have a huge ability to produce electricity making self-sufficiency very doable for Canada.  Trade is a wonderful extra but we can produce what we need in our country. Our NATO partners have been very good to us and we are fortifying the Arctic rapidly to protect our rights in that Arctic zone as it melts. 

Beautiful sun today and just a whisper of wind as God moves through the world watching and waiting for us to do the right thing - love our neighbour as ourself. The sky is absolutely blue and no clouds out of my window. 

Breakfast completed and Solitaire Puzzles to do.  

 

 

 

 

Greed must not predominate in this world

I am not a believer in handing everything to people; they should work hard as it is good for them. I do believe though that greed must disappear from our world for us to reach that higher plain of peace where all survive and people are happy. In the early 1990s life suddenly changed and we welcomed it; many many millions in the world. The Iron Curtain was gone and people could be free once again after fourty five years of being held in bondage. A buffer zone claimed by the country that had maintained that Iron Curtain but buffered against what; no aggression against them appeared during those 45 years or since. The only aggressor was that very country which held the peoples in bondage. When does it end? When does the bombing of innocents in Ukraine stop? Right now it is just hateful revenge because Russia the aggressor can not win the war as they bomb Ukraine day after day. It must stop for peace to come to our world. 

The world is now divided into countries - some large and some smaller and both sizes can live together easily (the European Union is an example of that). That was why we created the United Nations in 1945 and all those freed countries in the 1990s came into the United Nations and now we are settled. The steps to peace are fraught with danger because of greed - greed for land and greed for opinion. We must find that middle plain where all are happy. 

God had a brilliant idea way back in time and we are the result of that brilliance but we must use all of that brain power given to us to create the "Garden of Eden" that once existed at that beginning of this world. Where peace predominates and war disappears. We have no idea how much time has passed on this earth really; just thoughts uncovered by archaeological digs. We do need though to continue being ready to defend ourselves as we have no idea what is out there in the universe; being ready is very important. 

Yesterday a busy cleaning day and it took most of the day as it turned out as windows were washed as well. A thorough cleaning as we enter into summer. The trees are in full leaf now and the canopy above us blocks the stars which is always sad actually but also tells us that summer is coming. 

Today another cleaning day and it is the main floor and likely the windows once again so a long cleaning day but once done we are ready for the long hazy days of summer soon to arrive. 

Thank you God for another beautiful day as my years stretch towards 81. Amazing really; I continue to be surprised to be here to see the 2020s. When I was a child a lot of discussion on the 1920s was still ongoing with older relatives and following that the Great Depression and then the Second World War. I wonder if they thought about the 1920s because it was the last happy moment in their lives until the Second World War was won. I was born just after the Second World War was won and the news reels at the movie theatres showed me the horror of that war but people still thrived and did what they had to do to survive you could see that in the news reels. But what saddened me was the faces on the Jewish children aboard the boats that were turned away. We must never do that to children again. They are not checkers on a board to be moved about to satisfy the horrors like we have been made to watch in Gaza and that was the responsibility of those parents - they could have sent them to safety. How does a baby freeze to death when there are parents there to hold them close and keep them warm (I can never understand that); children are the future and we must protect them for the future.  

Solitaire puzzles are next. The morning moves quickly.  

God in our lives

 Yesterday the winds of God were blowing strongly last night as we walked on the beach. It was wondrous how the clouds turned and the winds flowed forth from the universe pushing us along our path around the beach. We started the path with bright sun on our faces and finished it with the wind at our backs. With such power one imagines that all the world will find their path to follow the words of God - love they neighbour as theyself. We must move forward onto that higher plain of living where love predominates and cruelty disappears from our world. 

Woke in the night and just felt like it was time to write about the experience walking on the beach. It was wondrous after a long heavy day working away cleaning in the kitchen and then gardening outside which all seemed like the kind of things that God would want us to do. We must follow God's teachings to have a better life for all the world. 

If there is only love and not hate then this world could flourish and find paths away from destroying the world to healing the world so that the grandchildren of tomorrow will play on the beaches and run in the grassy fields breathing the fresh air of our youths. 

The Premier of Manitoba, Wab Kinew, brings so much knowledge and good ideas to any discussion. I am happy to see that he and the Premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith, are talking together on how to resolve differences when really it is just a desire on both of their parts to make both their provinces as effective within Confederation as possible. The discussion by the Western half of Canada on so many issues was wonderful to listen to and absorb. Thank you especially to Wab Kinew who always brings very insightful comments to any discussion.  

Back to bed. I am sleepy once again.  

My daughter (and caretaker) has a bit of surgery this week that will mean a quiet week to follow. She is busy with four research projects but has a student who does some of the work and the student is excellent in her work and completed the ongoing task very well. Training is very very important and one sees it most prominently in the university setting and in the health care setting. Absolutely necessary in these two areas but also in all work really (it would save time if one didn't have to be teaching all the time but the knowledge base needs to be solidified, added to and passed on). One must always be training the new co-workers so that their transition into a job is easier. One should avoid seeing them as competition but rather as a co-manager of the system that is being worked on. Those in the job for a while have good hints to offer and those who are new have newer knowledge from their more recent education to share. AI adds enormously to this task because of the memory banks and recall that AI is able to perform with perfection but does require that managerial hand to keep it on track and doing the work requested without varying from the protocol. When decisions have to be made because of ambiguity then AI must learn to immediately come back for assistance so that garbage in the output is avoided. AI can not judge well between what is pertinent and necessary and correct and what is simply a blimp to be ignored and not collected as part of the output

Haven't looked at the news for a few days other than noting what the Premier of Manitoba and the Premier of Alberta had discussed. I think the meeting of the Western Canadian premiers was an excellent idea. They share the Pacific and the Arctic Oceans and trade routes are opening up making the north so much more feasible for shipping to both Asia and Europe (why does it take so long to get shovels in the ground; pipelines built and sales booming). The Eastern part of Canada from Ontario to the Atlantic and including Nunavut (which has access to the Arctic and the Atlantic). In general the Eastern part of Canada  does not have the reach to the Pacific other than by the Arctic Ocean (no ports on the Pacific). Ontario is particular, although not land-locked by any means as the St Lawrence Seaway runs along the southern border and includes the Great Lakes - Ontario, Erie, Huron and Superior as well as the St Lawrence River and to the west the Ottawa River on the Eastern boundary with Quebec and in the North James Bay and Hudson Bay. The road in Ontario (417 namely (i.e. the Trans Canada Highway)) needs widening from just before Renfrew (unless they have actually moved that along - it took ten years to go from Arnprior nearly to Renfrew! not enough money provided to employ the size of workforce needed to be faster) and mostly to the Manitoba border although there are sections that have been widened. In particular the military widened the road from Pembroke to Petawawa and did a great job and speedy. I rather wonder if the money should be given to the military to do the widening of the Highway all the way to the Manitoba border personally. One could certainly ascribe military activities being enhanced by this road and they have lots of engineers and workers to build the road. I feel as if we wait forever to get that road widened to four lanes because it doesn't go to the Greater Toronto Area. The all  for the Greater Toronto Area mindset must disappear from the minds of the government of Ontario in order for Ontario to flourish. All areas are important and all areas pay taxes. 

Today is cleaning day and it is the top floor and I shall soon do the bathroom and then the vacuuming. The days move quickly especially in the summer months as there is so much to do both inside and out. 

Solitaire games to play.  

 

Sunday and cloudy

 The slight breeze in the trees always makes me think of God all around us watching and waiting for us to do the right thing. To love our neighbour as ourself. Seventeen degrees celsius today and cloudy is the promise of the day thus far. 

Lots to do. Kitchen is slowly getting all washed up from one end to the other. The last of the cupboards are now washed and just have to wash all the dishes that were in those cupboards. They are old style cupboards. Came with the house nearly fifty years ago now. My husband and daughter repainted them a few years ago (like maybe twenty actually or more years ago. They are slowly showing signs of wear here and there. I should paint and perhaps I will. Time will tell. At nearly 81 I find that my time spent on such activities is less and less. I just keep it clean. I will be glad to move as it is too big for me. 

Yesterday I mostly worked at cleaning so not much work done on the genealogical tables. I also need to do some outside work and will try for that today maybe. The FitBit continues to be interesting and Google has pretty much taken over that name as it is their property but I have been using the AI on it a certain amount. I know more about my health and ability than the AI but it has interesting comments that I am thinking about on occasion. I like the FitBit as it tells me how many steps a day that I do which I consider important. We always have to move about; we are meant to do that for our health and welfare. 

Sunday and Church is very soon. The last day of May and it is Trinity Sunday. That begins the Ordinary time that follows until Christ the King Sunday and Advent to follow the next Sunday. It is cyclical the Church Year and as a child it pretty much was how I thought of the year as it passed through each special time.  

The sermon today was timely and captured my thoughts partially. The many names of God on this earth. When the first explorers arrived in what is now Canada they learned that God to the First Nations (Huron Nation) was Gitchi Manitou (Great Spirit in several Algonquian languages). For the First Nations it referred to the Supreme Creator, the Giver of Life  and the Great Mystery which formed the world we live in and all that is in it. As a child I found it extremely exciting to learn about Gitchi Manitou and still do find learning about the First Nations to be a fascinating set of knowledge. Our cultures (mine descendant of many of the ancient peoples of the British Isles (both England, Scotland and Ireland as my DNA shows) went all the way back to the Western Hunter Gatherers who first populated these Isles (8,000 and perhaps as much as 12,000 years earlier than the Common Era we now live in as the ice slowly withdrew from the lands and the First Nations dating back even further in time on this Continent of the Western Hemisphere dating back 13,000 or more years. I felt akin as I learned more and more about the First Nations as my brother's yDNA clearly led us back to those Western Hunter Gatherers. My grandfather Blake always said they had lived in the Andover area for ever because it was so very very long ago. But DNA does tells us we arose in the African Continent (all Homo sapiens) and so we spread out around the world from there. My 3% Denisovan and 2% Neanderthal tell me that in the far past my blood line led back to these earlier Homo species. But the written record only extends so far back and Blake was in Andover in the 1300s but the people of England did not have surnames and so they had to adapt to surnames after the Norman Conquest. The reason for choosing Blake tantalizes me very often; why would one chose a name that so many people carried in Europe and in the British Isles. The reason never to be known by me probably but the logic points to taking the surname of a wife way back in the 1300s and the benefit of doing so huge if I am correct that it was the le Blak family of Rouen, Normandy which came to England in 1274 with permission to set up a market in England (Patent Roll). Such a family exists and are first seen along the coast of Hampshire and later the same name appears on the Pipe Rolls of the Bishopric of Winchester 1301. I must explore the earlier Pipe Rolls which begin in 1208. 

Still cloudy and Church has finished. I was restless but I am like that sometimes. I have a lot of thoughts in my mind these days. 

As a country I remain convinced that we are on the right path. We want to be independent and in charge of our own natural resources. I think it was very cruel at the time when it was suggested that we could be taken over just by ruining our economy. We must not let that happen as we slip into a technical recession (apparently Federal government spending has decreased which is a factor in the lower GDP so not really a recession but rather it is a correction as the Trudeau era saw far too much federal money spent overall). We are diversifying our trade around the world but it will take time.  We must create new industry in Canada. PEI said they need workers because their industries are increasing. Quebec has different customers for their aluminium from around the world. New deals with Quebec in a number of industries. British Columbia is humming with new deals. Manitoba is busy with the upgrading of Port Churchill and other items. Saskatchewan has contracts for so many items. The same with New Brunswick and inklings of ideas for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. In Alberta why not twin the Trans Mountain pipeline as that is a thoroughfare already created and goes directly to tidewater and owned by the people of Canada. But we do need private money to do that. The Territories are actively pursuing new ideas. Ontario needs to do more to create industry but again that is happening here and there but still there is too much time spent on useless items like an airport on Toronto Island. I see no value in that for 90% of people in Ontario. Time for a change but no party/individual is providing us with their concrete ideas to improve the economy in Ontario. Stellantis is developing a number of new models as we await more information on that. 

Time is in our favour and plenty of youth to take up any jobs that are forthcoming. 

Time for lunch; the morning was interesting and always lovely to go to Church.  

Saturday and Sun

 A beautiful day out there and will likely observe mostly from the inside as lots of work to do. Yesterday we cleaned the entire set of kitchen cupboards and re-arranged them. Eliminated a whole lot of plastic dishes that were for the grandchildren but they eat off of regular dishes these days. Slowly down sizing and getting rid of items that I never use anymore. 

Completed the matches and glanced at 23 and Me and My Heritage for new matches that would be interesting for my great grandparent phasing file. Will do Ancestry, Gedmatch, FT DNA  today. 

Tonight is a full moon so can plant next week. The lettuce roots that we planted have new lettuces forming which is always very interesting, the ability of the roots of a lettuce plant being able to recreate the lettuce plant itself is quite fascinating. The bunnies will enjoy the lettuces likely if they let them grow. Weeding to do out there and must put aside some time for that. 

Emptied the pantry and will wash the shelves with bleach and soap to get them ready for another year. I expect to be in this house for just another three years although earlier would be interesting but not practical. Moving twice in three years is too much trouble. 

It will be a time for hard work and re-calibration for Canada as we continue forward into the life that the Fathers of Confederation planned for Canada walking hand in hand with our First Nations. They know the land so much better than we do and we need to listen to their thoughts. Greed must disappear from this land if we all want to be successful in this life (greed destroys; it does not build). The Prime Minister has good plans for Canada and we must help support his ideas as we move forward slowly but surely. Nothing will be fast; it never is. The Conservatives need to concentrate on working with the youth and get them situated into jobs that are needed or they could become entrepreneurs and make me a vacuum cleaner that doesn't sound like a jet engine! After all it is the youth that will still be here voting in the  next election and the ones that follow on into this remarkable century marred by violence which is just greed once again - greed for land and greed for opinion. Every person gets to live unobstructed in this world whether you agree with the opinions that they hold. When opinions do not match God's laws - love they neighbour as thyself - then those people are wrong. God will probably not destroy them as in the Bible times but they rot from within eventually; it does seem to take a long time though. You must live for the good of the many not for the good of the few; the few can not maintain Homo sapiens - look back at what has preceded us and you can see that. No Neanderthals walk the face of this earth, no Denisovans walk the face of this earth and the many that preceded these early peoples known to us by their DNA left behind. 

Moving forward though is the aim as we are now one quarter of the way through this century. I did not expect to even see this century so every day/month/year is a gift of God Almighty and I thank Him for that everyday. At twenty eight years of age, quite ill, I could feel the winds of God pushing me forward and I continue to feel those winds of God swirling around this world as He watches and waits for us to live the life He commanded. 

Antisemitism must disappear from Canada in all its ugly forms. If you cannot live within the laws of this country then go back to where you came from and take your ugly antisemitism with you.  Our Jewish neighbours have every right to live at peace in this country. 

Must get some work done the day moves quickly and just twelve hours to bed time once again!