Rainy today

I have been working away at a project that finally came to partial fruition yesterday. My oldest daughter returned home from the United States. A little earlier than usual but with her asthma it seemed prudent to make her move at this time before businesses started to open up where she lives. Two flights, physical distancing on both and she was back. She is now in quarantine for two weeks. Getting a place ready for her to quarantine in was the biggest part of the project that we were involved in.

It is nice to have her home again. I have never been uncomfortable with her working in the States until COVID-19 and my initial feeling was that this is something that the United States could handle very well. With all their normal checks and balances in place they certainly would have. Since I do not live there I will not comment on their politics but I am praying for the best outcome for them. Their leaders have always been responsible people who cared deeply about the United States putting aside their own business interests for the good of the country in order to lead the entire country. Time will certainly tell how all of this plays out.

My accomplishment level has been rather low but will hopefully improve now. My husband has me rather concerned. He needs to have his hernia operation. He also needs to follow a stricter diet to help with his sarcoidosis. We will see how that goes today as he has an appointment with his specialist.

Seeds and bedding plants

Today we will try to find some seeds to plant. Still too early to plant but want to have them at hand. The bedding plants we should be able to order from our usual purchase place and they have seeds as well. But it would be nice to have the packages at hand of seeds.

I am thinking not seeing them everywhere could mean a lot of people are thinking of planting vegetables. On our walks we do see more people around their homes outside. The snow is all gone; not likely to have more than flurries now. Today looks to be a warm sunny day (i.e. perhaps mid teens celsius if we are lucky). Not beach weather by any means but then there are not that many really hot days in Canada. It may seem like there are in July and August but that warm period passes quickly.

It would be nice to sit out on the swing in the heat for a couple of hours. Great for arthritis for sure.

Last week in April

I have to say that the time has passed quickly since the lockdown here. I have not accomplished nearly as much as I thought I might in terms of research but I have been investigating new thoughts on how to look at the data.

There are now 2,990,559 confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide (increase of 73,486 over yesterday), there are 207,446 deaths (increase of 3,901 over yesterday) and 875,497 recovered (increase of 47,238 over yesterday). In Canada there are 47,308 confirmed cases (increase of 1,530 over yesterday), there are 2,617 deaths (increase of 128 over yesterday) and 17,321 recovered (increase of 896 over yesterday). The curve is definitely flattening in all of Canada and on its way down in most parts of Canada. However, there are still many people dying on the other side of the curve. The biggest worry is flu in the fall and winter along with COVID-19. Last year seniors had to go to their doctor's offices to get the flu shot but I am rather keen to see being able to get the shot at the pharmacy as before if you had no difficulty with last year's shot. We waited an hour and a half for the nurse to give us the shot which I found to be rather odd given that the walk in clinic did not begin until afternoon and we had come in the morning.

We went to the Riverside Campus this morning for Ed's ultrasound. I can not go in as only the patient is permitted in; no visitors although I imagine if he had needed someone to help him I might have been asked to do that. Hard to say; I just walked around the area for the thirty minutes. I used to do that walk every lunch hour when I worked there. The lot was nearly empty when we got there which is very unusual. I had thought that clinics were mostly as usual but perhaps that is not the case. Certainly a good time to go as generally that parking lot is packed full.

I am continuing to look at Chromosome 3 results today. I will soon paint all of the new files that I created. There is a mystery in that chromosome for sure and working up more of the results may help me to see why I am having difficulty plotting the results to give me phasing for my grandparents. The paternal grandparents look fine but the maternal just do not seem to fall into place and still I do not have a lot of results for my maternal lines on chromosome 3.

We are starting to plan our bedding plants and seeds. The grass is greening up nicely and the raking is all finished. The spring flowers are lovely this year. It is such a welcoming sight to see all of the colours of spring.

Hope springs eternal

Hope is the byword of the human race; we live on hope that another day will be better. Jesus brought hope to the world and He continues to do so. God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is our Guide in Life and is always with us. Growing up in the shadow of the Second World War I can still remember the pain that the elders felt from that war. But as the fourth child in a family with two brothers and a sister older than me, I can also remember the fun that those siblings had in spite of hardship that the war had wrought. Life was brighter in the early 50s but there was so much to do. One of my earliest memories was of my brothers pretending to be airplanes flying as we all sat around listening to the radio. I believe it was probably the blockade of Berlin and the Americans flying relief supplies into the city. That was a touch and go situation that I do not really remember; I just remember them pretending to be airplanes flying around the living room whilst the adults listened to the radio. The adults included my parents and my paternal grandfather who lived with us. Children remember the fun things; the hard parts are tucked away in their memories but the good things remain in the foreground enabling them to help pick up the pieces and move forward when the adults are stumbling. We must adopt that adult as we move forward I suspect. This is not going to be easy to go from lock-down to economic renewal.

From the World Health Organization website, there are 2,899,830 confirmed cases of COVID-19 today (an increase of 108,844 over yesterday), there are 203,044 deaths (an increase of 7,124 over yesterday) and there are 822,676 recovered (an increase of 41,294 over yesterday). In Canada there are 45,354 confirmed cases (an increase of 1,466 over yesterday), 2,465 deaths (an increase of 163 over yesterday) and 16,425 recovered (an increase of 884 over yesterday). The numbers are increasing so much faster as the pandemic stretches into the nations of the world. The G-20 countries are reaching their peaks and moving beyond them into the plateau which hopefully will lead to the downward side of the curve. I would love to think it was coming to an end but we must prepare for the next peak. This virus will not give up that easily I suspect.

Today is a busy day; they all are. I have a couple of projects on the go other than Chromosome 3. I think that Chromosome 3 will also get some work done on it as well. Using the aggregate results of three of us I want to thoroughly look at all the matches over 15 cM for each of us (I can add in the fourth sibling as I work my way through).

Working in the garden changes my exercise routine somewhat although I tend to start off the day with my usual one hour of walking, running and calisthenics. That gets rid of the arthritis that I wake up with and was the complaint of my grandparents and then parents as they aged. I always knew I would get arthritis and so I have tried to always stay quite active through the years; especially walking.

The Children

The children next door were out playing yesterday afternoon. It is good to see them out; being inside so much and the weather is finally beautiful is hard on them. They shouldn't fear this virus. There were pictures of the children in Sweden going to school, playing and carrying on as if life had not changed and for them it has not. The children are always the future and they will have to manage this world. they shouldn't be hindered by fear of a disease which is not attacking them. It is of course problematic to have school ongoing; I do realize that but it probably isn't problematic for them. It is perhaps for the teachers/administrators/custodians. Then there are the grandparents/great grandparents who are separated from the children and probably will be for a while yet.

I have been out and about quite a bit the last few days. My husband needed blood work and the car needed to have the snow tires off. I did the driving and walking for the tires. It was good to feel the sidewalk under me as I walked the 1.5 kilometres back from leaving the car and then back again to pick it up. I do love to walk. Plus walking is so good for you. I did wear my mask and probably will do that whenever I am out. We bought a big pack of masks for sanding and they are good enough for this particular task.

I was thinking as I walked about the children and there weren't any playing in their yards (at least I could not hear them) as I walked back and forth. None of them were riding their bikes but I was walking on the main road so not surprising actually that they were not out there on their bikes. When they are going to school we might see them on their bikes but otherwise they keep to the subdivision streets away from the main road.

I worked away on my aggregate matches and discovered a couple of new ones that I had missed when I was working my way through them as they arrived in my 23 and Me account. One in particular was rather interesting and I did write to him. That is unusual for me these days; I seldom write to matches any more. I can usually figure out which line they are but these matches on Chromosome 3 are quite precious as I have not yet definitively separated out my maternal grandparents. I have a good hypothesis but a good match would be better.

I am back at work again finally with my volunteerism as a Patient Partner. Looking forward to working on that project.

There will be a lot of studies I suspect when COVID-19 has finally been put to rest. It is seventeen years since SARS and we did at the time learn all those lessons but we have been lucky and complacency crept in; stored supplies aged and were not renewed and the old supplies used up. We must not let that happen again. We must always be ready for viruses that break out; cross that barrier between avian into mammalia. Our very existence depends on vigilance. Our very existence also depends on having the tools to take care of ourselves and we need to ensure that those industries become essential to Canada and do not get taken over by multinationals. I will never be able to look at an N95 mask again without checking to see where it was made. We need to make those vital pieces here in Canada where we have immediate access to them. International trade is a good thing; I do believe that. It helps all peoples to a better existence and brings such interesting things into our part of the world. But in reality we can live entirely without international trade and should always be able to revert back to that status when we need to do so.

The Children are the most important part of our world though; they are the future. Our species survives because of the children. We must do our best for them; make their world a better place so that they in turn grow up respecting the world and our place in it. What we have received from our ancestors we must constantly be on guard to be improving on it so that our children can do an even better job.

Last Friday in April

The last Friday in April and we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The garden preparation is just about on schedule and today we will move a few more plants. That is pretty normal and we are thinking of planting our vegetables along the side instead of in the larger plot in the middle. The walnut tree has pretty much destroyed most of that plot in terms of good growth so we will plant more of the annual flowers in there this year and fewer along the side which can then have the peppers, tomatoes, carrots and beans. Onions seem to do well in the main garden and I think we should grow a hill of cucumber even if I do not eat it. Surplus we can always make into pickle and have a big container in the refrigerator to enjoy into the fall.

We will buy baskets of beans and peas to freeze ourselves this winter from local farmers. Tomatoes as well, they freeze very well actually. That was the way that we used to live until I went back to work full time away from the house. When I went back to work away from home (I did do contract proofreading and copyediting for about 15 years at home) I stopped doing all sorts of things around the house; I paid my daughters to wash clothes and clean the house. They did very well at their tasks and I did pay them minimum wage for all that work (the youngest was just eight when she started doing the washing) and I had already been paying my eldest for cleaning and babysitting.

Today's numbers, globally there are 2,732,445 cases of COVID-19 (increase of 82,765 over yesterday), 191,962 deaths (increase of 7,319 over yesterday) and 750,997 recovered (increase of 29,648 over yesterday). What I still cannot believe is that 1/3 of all cases are in the United States (1/4 of the deaths). By far they have one of the best medical systems in the world, they should have managed this pandemic in their usual efficient fashion with CDC and their massive Public Health system leading the way. One of the saddest parts of all of this is what has happened in the United States; we are after all their neighbour and good friend. Of course, we have sadness here as well especially with our long term care homes.

In Canada we have 42,110 confirmed cases (increase of 1,920 over yesterday), 2,147 deaths (increase of 173 over yesterday) and 14,761 recovered (increase of 775 over yesterday). The hardest part is seeing the downward slope of the curve. You really can not see it until you are a few days into it. I think we are on a plateau and we need to continue self-distancing. I am hoping that when the back to work happens that it is a very disciplined plan with a controlled re-entry using the existing busing/light rail service with self-distancing and masks to bring people to their places of work. The testing ramped up so that we have tested 10% of Canadians in each area before regular work begins.

Worked on Chromosome 3 yesterday and decided to redo the cross-over points and reconstruct the powerpoint chart. Today I will work on that again. There are mysteries in this chromosome for sure. I also downloaded the 23 and Me Aggregate Charts to examine them closely for each length between crossovers.

I must get back to some transcription soon but this time of year I find the spring sun hard on my eyes and always take a few weeks to get used to the brightness.

Spring's back

As always, our ever fluctuating weather back and forth between winter and spring has turned the corner to spring once again. A beautiful sunny morning greeted us today although it is minus five degrees celsius this day has the look of getting warmer. Time will tell!

Finally finished painting all the matches for Chromosome 3 and found just a couple of discrepancies which I will review today. Overall the painting resembles the phasing that I have done in Powerpoint. This chromosome had a couple of changes that were larger than usual. But the fit is much better for all of the results. I will probably spend the day on it today once again working my way through any discrepancies and reviewing the crossovers. Still a good Pincombe or Buller match eludes me but one of these days perhaps. I have one full second cousin who tested at Ancestry and perhaps one of these days she will take her result into FT DNA or My Heritage.

COVID-19 is on all of our minds these days I expect. I can hardly believe what has happened to the long term care homes here in Ontario; so many deaths of unsuspecting people. So many grandparents/great grandparents to mourn. The military has been called in to help with some of these homes.

Mother Nature looks so beautiful today. The trees are budding now and soon will be in leaf. All the bushes are budding; a heavy frost doesn't bother them too much these days; the days can warm up and push away all that cold. That is the power of Mother Nature and we too are a product of Mother Nature. She has built us to withstand a lot but we need to live in unison with her. It is nice to hear European countries talking about limiting traffic in their major cities. The clean air is much enjoyed there these days I suspect. I would like to see us do the same here. Now that the smell of traffic is gone; perhaps we can find a way to limit it so that it doesn't come back.

Testing a vaccine in Germany and perhaps that will be the answer to COVID-19. In the meantime the march to death continues for so many. The light at the end of the tunnel is shinning but the way through that tunnel is still pretty rough. Worldwide there are 2,639,243 cases (increase of 66,109 over yesterday), there are 183,820 deaths (increase of 6,218 over yesterday) and recovered 715,734 (increase of 27,605 over yesterday). Here in Canada we are at 40,190 (increase of 1,768 over yesterday), deaths 1,974 (increase of 140 over yesterday) and 13,986 recovered (increase of 798 over yesterday). We have peaked here in Ontario and are looking to be on the downward curve. But we are physically distancing here and I seldom see people together when we are out. There is a long way to go yet in this crisis I suspect.

Typhus

A light dusting of snow greeted me this morning when I awoke. It is Canada after all; snow comes is the usual comment that many of us make when that happens. It looks like snow again today but light dustings are not really a problem.

A lengthy article on the persistence of coronavirus in some people. Reminds me that some people can be typhus carriers. Probably such people could just wear a mask and not be a problem. We are into a whole new range of possibilities with this coronavirus I suspect. It will take a while to understand it and learn to live with it. Probably the only silver lining is that the youth is not overly affected.

Today I shall complete the Chromosome 3 study. I forgot I had not yet checked to see if I had painted all the results that I had found. DNA Painter has become one of my favourite tools. I did a little of that yesterday and discovered that I actually had another interesting match to one of my known cousins. The match does not triangulate with the known cousin but is sizeable and I have her tree. It is coinciding with another known cousin who also descends from the same set of ancestors whose match is somewhat small. A slight verification of the data but a really good match would certainly be an asset.

Using the treadmill again after a five month pause whilst my knee healed. There is hardly enough time in the day with my doing 180 minutes of exercise most days and then four hours or so on the computer (I have brought that down from eight hours as it was too much time on the computer). Soon it will be time to garden in earnest. I am not an enthusiastic gardener in my past but I am actually looking forward to working up the ground. I do like to see the earth flow through my fingers as we plant the seeds and seedlings.

Today is Earth Day, 22nd April 2020, and I wonder if the world will take note of that or are we too deeply into COVID-19? It is a winter sunrise today, the bright light of the sun is obscured by the possibility of snow showers. 

Surprise - Its Snowing

The one thing about the weather in Canada is that snow can come at any time here although it does not normally snow in July and August in the southern parts of Canada. It was just a light dusting which actually did cover the ground for a short time but busy melting now.

Chromosome 3 occupied me this morning. I finally have a result that looks good but still the question of assurance around the assignment of maternal grandparents is a bit light in terms of a match. The only definitive known to me match is a 4th cousin and the length very short (around 10 cM). I will once again assign that one to my maternal grandmother's line and the rest to my maternal grandfather but dearly wish I had a good result for Chromosome 3 on the maternal side. I actually have very few results (a total of four with three being unknown but possibly fitting into the pattern mentioned above). Time to move forward onto Chromosome 4. It takes me longer and longer each time it seems to add in all the new matches since last August. For the most part I am not making spectacular changes; just a little revision here and there which gives a better fit and eliminates my comments from last time questioning the placement. That is a move forward at least!

My husband has had a rough week with his illness although feeling stronger today. He is 77 years old now and I really do not know all that much of his family history. I do know some but not all. It would be helpful probably to know more. Finding that information from far away though is not an easy proposition. Overall he is much healthier than his brother who died at 61 years of age. His father died at 43 years of age but that was the result of a fall (he was a farmer and working in the barn he unfortunately suffered an epileptic seizure and hit his head on a cement floor). His mother though lived to be 93 years of age and his mother's father was 89 years of age. Good aging genes there for both of them. I think he is a lot like his mother and it is just a matter of resolving his chronic illness which I think came down from his mother's father's side of the family. He needs a quiet life unfortunately as he enjoys getting out and about. Praying for him as always.

COVID-19 has sort of moved to the back of my mind this week. I see that there is ongoing discussion of the origin of the virus. The creation of the virus I have no doubt at all that Mother Nature created this virus as she has created all such things from time immemorial. She will continue to create such things and the reason why I have no idea really but we do need to live with Mother Nature and not in opposition to her. Is it just DNA expressing itself as a living organism and seeking new hosts; simple as that? After all we have had smallpox, bubonic plague, poliomyelitis, and SARS.

Poliomyelitis was a dreadful disease and London had a particularly difficult period with it during the mid 1950s. It was truly scary I can remember as a child. I can hardly imagine anyone bringing up a child and not vaccinating them for poliomyelitis. The damage is horrific in a child.

But what of COVID-19 and its origins? Can we really in the midst of all of this pinpoint the actual location where this disease leapt from its animal host to a human host? It is something that time will provide more clues on for sure. The responsibility and the ability for the World Health Organization to thoroughly research and study COVID-19 once the disease has been harnessed is an absolute. No one should stand in the way of discovering and understanding this pandemic's causes and effects. But right now all of our mind must concentrate on a vaccine and treating COVID-19. WHO has said we are at the beginning of this pandemic. The numbers today globally 2,501,156 (increase of 85,021 over yesterday), with 171,810 deaths (increase of 5,871 over yesterday) and recovered 659,732 (increase of 26,749 over yesterday). The population of the world is estimated at 7.8 billion and so COVID-19 has affected 0.0003% of the world's population thus far. It's effect on the G-20 countries thus far is the vast majority of the cases. But the rest of the world is increasing steadily according to the WHO site.

In Canada we have 37,398 cases (increase of 1736 over yesterday), 1,729 deaths (increase of 111 over yesterday) and recovered 12,915 (increase of 766 over yesterday). But we have only tested as of Tuesday (today) morning 559,500 which is only 0.01 % of our population. We need to do a lot more testing especially antibody testing to see who has had the disease and recovered. Once we know that then we can go back to work. Well I guess not me; I am retired. But I keep busy with projects even health care projects that I have been invited to share in as a Patient Partner. These projects have been so rewarding intellectually and mentally. I miss being part of the Health Care System; I didn't realize it until I suddenly became part of a project.

Phasing my grandparents DNA

Yesterday I worked on Chromosome 3 and it has always been just a little bit difficult. I do not have a good maternal match on Chromosome 3. I have lots of matches for the paternal side which has readily let me separate out those two grandparents. But there is a tiny hitch between two of my siblings where they should just be a half match but are a full match over just a 10 centimorgan stretch otherwise perfect. I will continue looking at that today. I can hardly imagine that my mind has tracked back once again to work! I have been very abstract these past couple of weeks.

Another beautiful sunrise not so deep in colour but just a lovely soft light coming up through the stark trees. Soon we will see budding in earnest and then leafing. I am enjoying every day of watching the earth bring forth its beauty. The grass is greening and the garden slowly turning from mud into workable earth. It is pleasant to feel the soft earth flowing through my fingers. I still love that feel.

A project is ongoing which I am working away at praying that it works out very well. I am not quite voicing it because the parts to put it together are just now slowly coming together.

Laportes is going to do home delivery of bedding plants which is great news. I really wondered how that was going to happen this year. We plant quite a few trays of annuals in the yards. I always liked flowers but these last few years I have grown to quite lovely the soft colours and watching as the bees come and work the yard. Next we have to prune the raspberries. I generally help with that. I am becoming more adept at such things. Mostly I do a lot of raking because that is a good consistent job that requires strength and hard work and is something that I do know how to do well! We take down the storm fences today. Winter is truly gone; we may still get wisps of snow but for the most part we can now conclude that winter has finally come to an end.

So today some time outside; the fresh air and clear skies do beckon us outside. The swing is awaiting and I do so love that swing. It is the second one that we have had for the back patio. We spend hours out there in the summer. It gets the morning sun which really warms that cubicle from the cold of the night and then by noon the sun has stretched across the sky and gives us shade there but still warmth especially in the spring. A good spot to rest between gardening endeavours.

My husband loves to work out in the gardens and it is good for him. The winter is now long for him. That happens as people age; the winters lengthen and the summer shortens but he has a lot of projects that keep him busy in the winter months. Luckily we have a sort of gym in the basement with a recumbent bicycle, treadmill, weights and a WII giving us lots of exercise choices all day long.

Flat Tire

Amazingly such things happen during a pandemic. Our snow tire was flat in our laneway. CAA came very quickly actually and replaced the tire and tomorrow we will go in and get the rest of the snow tires replaced with our summer tires. Luckily we had our summer tires with us as they are sometimes stored at our local maintenance garage.

It did make life seem a little more real to have a flat tire actually. That is our first flat in many many years. Changing cars every three years and replaced summer tires with snow tires every six months or so the tires do not get that badly worn. However, this set of snow tires did two cars.

Usual April day, rainy and overcast all day. The ground is soaking up the moisture very well now so all the freezing is likely gone and soon we can really get busy working up the flower beds. The daffodils are poking up in the back bed which was covered pretty well the last with heavy ice and snow. The rhubarb is also poking through the ground. I saw the racoon out there so expect that he might just get a lot of that rhubarb! I wonder if he eats daffodils?

The wildlife is out and about more in the days with most people staying inside. I am usually out in the backyard. But today I had taken all the garbage to the curb for the Sanitation trucks when I suddenly remembered I forgot a couple of jars and ran in to get them. I was very nearly late as they arrived quicker than I thought so I did toss the jars in but next time I will just leave it until next week. I came close to the two metre limit and certainly do not want to pass anything on although we have been inside so much and wearing a mask whenever we go anywhere I am sure I have not yet acquired COVID-19. I am reaching a point where I probably wish I would just have it and get it over with but in spite of my good health and vigorous exercise programme I would not be immune to a severe case necessarily.

What day of the week is it anyway?

I managed to accidentally publish this as a blank post yesterday. The computer does keep me up to date on the actual day but the navigation bar on the bottom doesn't say the day of the week. Normally I run by laundry days which are generally Wednesday and Saturday. Hence I know by the size of the laundry hamper that this is a laundry day. Looking outside I cannot tell it is Saturday anymore because every day of the week when I look out the window and can see the main road behind us it is pretty much empty. The buses roll by regularly but few cars are speeding about particularly at 7:00 a.m.

Do I need to know the day of the week? From a simple mental health perspective I think it is important to know the day of the week. It keeps you grounded. Just like knowing it was Easter Sunday last Sunday and that Mother's Day is coming up. I tend to think of my mother and my grandmother particularly on that day. I am now also thinking of my other grandmother that I never knew because I have learned so much about her now. My father seldom talked about his mother but occasionally there were glimpses of her; she was a Cook at the Manor House (he did call it the Bishop's Palace) but I think it was the Manor House where her mother actually worked before she was born. This family, in England, still continues I suspect in much the same way all of them knowing each other; visiting back and forth at least before COVID-19. They let me in a little and sent me pictures and I in turn sent them the pictures which we has and some of them they did not have which was quite nice. But a couple of years ago when I suggested DNA testing they closed that little opening and I have not heard from them since. I was wanting to see what I could discover about my grandmother's father I guess was in the back of my mind. Luckily a couple of full 3rd cousins have kindly tested and given me a little help with that but a test by a half second cousin could be more revealing. My grandparents only had my father so no first cousins to help reveal that hidden line. Perhaps it is being in seclusion like this that I have thought more about my paternal grandmother in terms of her father. I could write the people that are matching me on that likely side but I am not ready to do that yet.

I have veered away from the important of knowing the day of the week. I always did like to know the day of the week. It was a sort of grounding point; different things happened on different days of the week and I am a sort of orderly person who likes routines but breaks them just as easily at spontaneous points. Mentally speaking I think it is probably good in the present circumstances to get up, turned on your computer, and note that it is Saturday, the 18th of April and God in His goodness has let us live another day and try to work out how we can get back to what will be the new normal.

Bird Seed and who eats it

This may seem somewhat mundane as a topic but we put bird seed out every day technically for the birds. However we have many visitors to our bird feeder. Squirrels are quite adept at climbing up onto the platform and feast to their hearts delight on the bird seed. The local chipmunk can also be seen there having his fill. The local racoon has been seen to climb up to try and sit on the bird feeder but it is not quite solid enough for his/her weight and has contented himself/herself with eating the leavings that fall down when the other above mentioned animals feed there.

Our real purpose for putting seed out does gratify us with visions of cardinals, blue jays, gulls (lately, I wonder if they are not getting enough to eat downtown these days), crows, robins and hopefully some more interesting birds as summer comes closer.

Our recent light snow fall made us wonder if we are going to wait a little longer for that nice warm season. However, warmer weather towards the end of the month is promised.

I was out early to pick up medication for my husband at the local Drug Store; not very many people out and about at 8:10 a.m. Being an early morning person does have its advantages. I think it was my first time driving the car in a couple of years. I actually used to drive to work every day in my younger years before I became an OC Transpo customer going to work at the Ottawa Hospital. It was nice to feel the steering wheel in my hands once again as I drove the few short blocks to the Drug Store. I considered walking actually but decided that I would drive after all just to get the feel of wheels under me once again! I should keep up with my driving actually; it is a good skill to have.

Finally some sun, it was snowing lightly a little earlier. Winter can last a long time here on occasion and then suddenly it is summer it almost appears. It can go like that. Below zero one week and the next week 20 degrees. Not complaining; it is wonderful to feel the heat on my arthritic bones and has been for quite a while.

I have heard from several cousins the past couple of days. All of us busy isolating in our homes; probably thanking God that He saw fit to keep us in this good state of health that let us thus far age in our homes. Long Term Care has been such a bonus for people who have medical difficulties and it is sad to see that many of these homes are suffering from COVID-19.

Should we return to normalcy for the sake of the children?

During the Bubonic Plagues it has been said that an English Nursery Rhyme was created:

Ring around the rosie
A pocket full of posies
A-tisha A-tisha
We all fall down

That is the way that I learned it as a child.

The meaning was said to be that the ring around the rosie referred to the rosy rash of the Plague. The posies were carried by people for protection. The A-tisha, a coughing sound, was a fatal symptom which resulted in "falling down."

Although folklore scholars dismiss this idea, thinking about it makes one wonder just what did children think about the Great Plague which killed off over several waves half of the people of England and many other places. I tend to refer to England because every one of my known relatives going back even as far as 16 generations was born in England except for myself, my mother, her father and his mother. My father was born in England and all of his relatives as far as I can determine were also born there and it appears his furtherest back relative was a Robert Blake born near Andover, Hampshire likely in the 1440s to 1460s (with the widespread range created because he was quite elderly when he left his will in 1521 which could mean that he was 60 to 80 or perhaps even older). No way of telling that yet. Mind you the occupation of England only dates from the end of the Last Glacial Maximum which occurred roughly 15,000 years ago and it would have taken a while to come out of the Ice Age Refuges and cross the European continent to the present day British Isles.

So what do children think of all of this? would they be happier just going to school? As it turns out it isn't just the children that we need to think about. There are the teachers, the cleaners, the administrators and the school bus drivers who must be given consideration as well. These adults may or may not be in a much more vulnerable group.

But we need to be cautious that we do not imprint on their minds the tragedy unfolding in front of us. They need to understand the cause and effect though in order to make their enforced self-isolation have meaning for them. They are affording protection to those who are vulnerable.

I have not been particularly supportive in many of the things that Premier Ford had done since he was elected but he has done a complete change over in my opinion. He is doing a great job of handling this crisis both as a leader, an innovator and worker. He is there every day with ideas and thoughts for those who are suffering. He has not hesitated for one moment to roll up his sleeves and put himself to physical work if that was needed. He has proven himself to be a "hero" that the children of Ontario can look up to and admire. I will certainly always give him credit for helping Ontario to move forward in this crisis in a positive way. He has not made any weird claims about drugs or treatments but has left that to the medical profession. He now understands medicine a whole lot better. Those who have worked in medicine whether doctor, nurse, clerk, cleaner all know that hospitals exist just in case. They have to be maintained and supplied just in case. This was the "in case" that happened. Pandemics are rare these days; much commoner in the days of the Bubonic Plague. But we always need to be somewhat ready for a breakout of disease.

The title "Should we return to normalcy for the sake of the children" and I would say the answer is no. Children can weather many crises and will likely in their lives. The worst is still ahead in some ways. The earth is suffering from our abuse; the abuse of 200 years of industrialization. We need to take stock of what really is important in my humble opinion. Fresh air has to be a priority; animals likely prefer fresh air and our lungs cry out for it. Especially the case if you are an asthmatic. More and more people are asthmatic; some of us have never smoked but the world has smoked for us and weakened our lungs. We need to progress and there is an opportunity here to clean up the world so that it is truly a better place in which to live and stop people from polluting the world.

How long will I blog about COVID-19 and its effects on me

Grocery shopping did not happen yesterday; it happened today along with a visit to the medical laboratory for tests for my husband. Somehow yesterday flew by after an initial slow start which did not include going out the door other than a quick walk around two blocks on my part.

I chose the above title yesterday when I finished my daily blog; I sometimes do that. It is something I have been thinking about. My blog is going into my life story just for these few weeks/months as it is perhaps the most intensive time of my life in some ways. It is also the most relaxing time of my life, I do not have to talk to anybody outside. It is a very comfortable feeling. I actually love it. I could go through the rest of my life actually like this.

I do not in general dislike people outside of my small nuclear family. I just do not want to talk to people or be with people. It is just my way. Yet my life has been lived very much around people; I grew up in a large family. The classrooms of my childhood had 48 children in them. There was just one class for most years because I went ahead of the baby boomers. So as many children as there were in that grade; they were all in there. There were some split classes and I was often in the lower year of a split class. Generally it was maybe a dozen of the lower grade and the rest for the upper grade. That was how I went from Grade 3 to Grade 5 when I did that. There was only one Grade 8 though and that was 48 children. The principal actually taught Grade 8 in those days. We had a lot of time when he was not there but he would leave us with work to do. It actually worked out very well perhaps because his office was right next door and he often left the door open. In those days they still used a strap in schools and so most people behaved.

But how long will I blog about COVID-19; perhaps until it becomes part of history. That can happen sooner or later. It is one of those things that we can not predict. If it is like the Spanish Flu than it keeps coming back until there is a "herd" immunity and it just sort of disappears. However it is a coronavirus; we have no immunity to the common cold another coronavirus. But that is perhaps no one has ever really bothered to discover one since it is just an annoying illness that passes quickly for most people. This coronavirus though is much more destructive; cutting a rather large swatch through the 60 and older population here in Canada at the moment. Other than ourselves and my siblings we do not have any close relatives in that over 85 age bracket. None of us are in a nursing/long term care at this time. We either live alone or with our partner.  It is actually a huge shock to see COVID-19 decimate these homes.

Grocery Shopping

For the most part our neighbours have taken our shopping list and picked up groceries for us since the start of the shutdown. We did one day of major shopping two weeks ago just to augment our last big shopping trip. Today we will go early again and pick up another load of groceries although we are actually in good shape grocery wise. It is just to keep it that way so that we are not having to ask anyone to rush out and get us anything. Neither of our children live close by and our one daughter is pretty busy with her small town hospital so do not like to ask her to do anything. However, she has made us masks. I gave her my sewing machine about ten years ago when I discovered that my hands just do not want to sew any longer. It was mostly arthritis in my fingers but I think that sixty years of sewing left me with a lack of desire to sew any longer and I was busy with genealogy.

My husband also needs to have blood work done as he is on a special medication that needs monthly monitoring. We will try to do both things today. Then back to our isolation so that we do not become seniors needing hospital care although I still think that I would be fine but you do see perfectly healthy people end up with COVID-19 and complications so do not like to push my luck too far.

We will do the usual. Buy our groceries and clean them all off with our lysol wipes or wash them. Then spray down the area where we did all of that and wash all of our clothes. We were lucky to find a spray bottle of lysol. One always wonders if this will be the time that God sees fit to call us home and so my mind is at peace. I still have lots to do with the genealogy of my family and my one-name studies but one can never know the time or the place.

There is talk again of COVID-19 and its origins. Only Mother Nature can create life and this is a living organism although always needs a host to survive. Life will return to normal much faster if we respect Mother Nature (Are God and Mother Nature one in the same?) and try to live with her and not constantly be in abrasion with her. In some ways it seems hard to believe that Mother Nature would create an organism that attacks mammalia because there are so many creatures on earth that could be injured besides ourselves but so far the crossover to other members of our species does not appear to have occurred in any great numbers and does not appear to be detrimental when it does cross. Although I have not heard anything further on the one zoo animal that was affected thus far.

Understanding Supply Chains

I must admit I am learning a lot about supply chains. Our new Ambassador to China is an expert and he has put that to good use very quickly it appears. I am still hoping that our local industries though can eventually take over our needs with regard to vital supplies. Once they are established then we should use them in preference going outside only when they can not supply. Our hospital system in Ontario and the hospital system in Quebec are huge though so time will tell on that. We do need to have PPE for our front line workers and that includes all hospitals with ERs. COVID-19 doesn't just live in the cities, it can go anywhere and will.

A rather sad sight on the News Channel was rows and rows of cars lined up waiting for food baskets (I believe it was Virginia). Likely that doesn't happen normally; these are unusual times even bordering on Depression Level. I think if we lived in an area with two growing seasons we would definitely grow a lot of our own food. Living in Canada where the snow covers our gardens for at a minimum of five months of the year (or else the frost is so hard that the ground is frozen and that for six to seven months of the year), growing food is a challenge. Digging the gardens up is hard manual labour which I have actually done for quite a while but approaching 75 I will do less of that labour but perhaps this is when we really should get back to growing more. However, it is not likely to happen. But as a country many are dependent on food stuffs coming from particularly the United States and Mexico. We do not necessarily have to be as we could live on stored and frozen vegetables and fruits. We did a lot of that when we were children. Coming from a large family we did buy oranges in a crate around Christmas time which lasted for a bit; but we ate a lot of apples which grow here and store well. Our meat was mostly local but we have now, seventy years later, gotten used to fresh seafood in particular although much of that does come from our maritime areas. It is the raw vegetables though that comes across the borders; the fresh fruit especially and for some the products of food grown and manufactured in the United States.

Another couple of months and our farmers will have plenty of fresh food for us but this in between time is perhaps worrying for many.

Easter Day 2020

Blessed Easter. Another bright sunny day to start and it is Easter Sunday. The most important day in the Christian Calendar and follows by two days the saddest day in the Christian Calendar. Thus it has been for over two thousand years and God willing will be for thousands more. Mankind was meant to survive; we have no idea how long our founder species has survived with Homo erectus appearing about 2 million years ago. I feel honoured that in our family we are showing 1.9% Neanderthal and 3.5% Denisovan. That we carry so much of past human species is amazing. The average carried by most people alive is 2.1% Neanderthal and 2.1% Denisovan. Perhaps our mitochondrial DNA is the reason that our genetic complement of 3.5% Denisovan is higher than average. Our mtDNA (H11a2a1) is known to have wintered during the Last Glacial Maximum at Ukraina to the west of the Black Sea but probably along its shores. Still today many many people in Russia, Ukraine and other places in Eastern Europe carry the same mitochondrial DNA. My ancient ancestor though moved away from that area probably as long ago as 8 to 12 thousand years following the retreat of the ice sheets likely across the Scandinavian Peninsula as matches to me (at a distance of 1 or 2 steps) still live in this area. Eventually she came to Scotland and probably lived in Ayrshire/Argyllshire for thousands of years moving between Northern Ireland and Scotland as again this is the commonest location for that mtDNA.

I do not know a great deal about Ellen Taylor my great grandmother who passed on her interesting mitochondrial to all of us. I know that she died at the age of 37 years on the 27th February 1897 of pneumonia. She was buried at Witton Cemetery in Birmingham, England on the 5th of March 1897. My grandmother was almost eleven years of age when her mother died. She could remember her very well. She sang Irish lullabies and had dark auburn hair as she recalled. I think I know her parents as my grandmother went back to England in 1939 for a visit and the places she visited may tell me a story. She showed me all of her brochures so many times. I know where she stayed in Birmingham and she visited Coventry and Ashton under Lyne. Some of her first cousins lived in Coventry but Ashton under Lyne was always somewhat of a mystery. I did ask her whom she saw there but I realize that she never did tell me. I think Ellen probably was 37 when she died which meant she was born between the 27th of February 1859 and the 26th of February 1860. I purchased all the Ellen Taylor births in Birmingham between 1858 and 1862 and traced them back and forward. I only really found one candidate to be our Ellen and that was the daughter of Thomas Taylor and Ellen Roberts. That Ellen was born 9 Oct 1859 in Birmingham. Her parents married 29 Jun 1857 at St Martin Birmingham. They had seven children known to me from the records. However I have not had any luck tracing them down. None of the daughters (there were three) have descendants who tested their mitochondrial DNA as we have a private mutation and so far only my siblings are known to have tested although I do have sisters of my grandmother who had daughters and grand daughters who would carry this specific mutation likely (would be nice to prove that!). So I remain in thought on Ellen Taylor and her ancestry. Was she the descendant of Scottish Planters coming to Northern Ireland in the 1600s? There are matches that take me back to both Argyllshire/Ayrshire and County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

As it turns out both our mtDNA and our yDNA become extinct in this generation as my brothers do not have any sons and in our children's generation as my sisters and I do not have a daughter who has had a daughter. That was part of the incentive that set me on my DNA chase testing one of my brothers and myself at every company. Several more of my siblings also tested at one or more companies giving me a huge amount of data to look at and more importantly phase my grandparents. It has worked out reasonably well. I have now rephased the data several times and each time there is a little tweaking here and there but not any big changes. I have a lot more close matches (3rd and 4th cousins and even some 5th and 6th) but we personally do not have any first cousins which has limited me somewhat (it is a lot more work to determine which side a match is on unless known to you) but really what you need are your second cousins to test. They actually provide the best information with long running lengths of centimorgans. You can often look closely at their trees as they are close to your own and see if the only match that you share with them in the one that you know the most about. I have pedigree collapse in several of my lines making 4th cousins look like second cousins which has also been helpful but they are matching me on two or three and occasionally four lines going back so makes separating beyond the grandparent level more challenging.

Yesterday I worked a little on Chromosome 2 and discovering another interesting match on My Heritage. I tend to only use My Heritage matches that are 20 centimorgans or higher. I prefer higher, i.e. two segments around 40 centimorgans are the preferred. I am the same though with FT DNA and they do the testing for My Heritage as well. I have had some good matches at My Heritage. One of my Buller 3rd cousins (her Buller line goes back to a sister of my great grandfather) has provided a lot of good matches for this line.

Isolation Day 7 second stage and it will be broken this week as my husband needs to have blood work done. The usual process is to wear a mask and probably more people will be doing that now. When we get home wash our clothes and spray our shoes with lysol. It reminds me of visiting nursing homes with my grandmother and she would tell me with a whisper not to go near that person or this person (she knew the disease that they had and was suspicious that you could catch anything!). We may go back to that type of society wary of people when they cough.

What a beautiful day

The sun is shining, the temperature is 1 degree celsius with a high projected at 6 degrees celsius. A lovely spring day here with the temperature about normal for the season. This should help to dry up the back yard so that I can start walking and running around the yard. It will be like a track except I am sure my husband is hoping that I do not wear a track in the grass!

Yesterday I managed to complete the Blake Newsletter, 9th volume, 2nd issue for 2020. When I started the Blake Newsletter it was strictly two pages. It was just to keep the members of the Blake Study at FT DNA up to date. However as time passed I decided I would publish some of my transcriptions of parish registers and so it grew. Then I added in new information that I found at the Blake Museum in Bridgwater (namely the Blake Pedigree Chart that they had put on line) with the new information referring to what I had found regarding entries in the chart in the parish records. Then I also added in the information that I had acquired from wills and other documents. The Pedigree Chart itself is impressive in its detail. The few spots where I have added in corrections do not affect the Chart very much but hopefully add to it. So I did expand the Newsletter (this one is over 90 pages) because I wanted to summarize the work that I have done on the Blake one-name study over the past nine years and I will likely continue with these newsletters for quite a while. Although I mention them in my profile of the one-name study at the Guild of one-name studies they are not necessarily part of that project but rather are meant to be a stand alone for the day when I may step down as the researcher for the Blake study at some future date.

I also thought a lot about COVID-19 and the DNA work that has been done on it. With more and more people recovering, the presence of antibodies in their blood will help to determine how soon our countries can return to work. That along with contact tracing of infected people will, hopefully, reduce any recurrence after this flare-up of COVID-19 except in areas where it can be controlled. Looking at the images of the earth minus the pollution has been an inviting picture. Perhaps we can find a way to keep it that way; one can only hope for such an outcome from so much death, 100,000 people have died from this virus. We really need a fitting memorial to them.

Here in Ottawa, we could consider restricting traffic in our downtown area so that the new train would be the only means of passing through the downtown. I assume that the back to work will be a gradual process making it much easier to adapt to more and more people using the train. Then our air would be much fresher without all the cars in the small downtown area here. It would be a wonderful start. Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver all have subways or other public means of transportation so that they too could do the same. It would also make it easier to put people through a checkpoint before entering the downtown area giving us a COVID-19 free zone.

Today I return to phasing. I am now satisfied with Chromosome 1 and have done a little tweaking of Chromosome 2 and will work away at that today. A couple of new matches opened up a little more of the information on Chromosome 2 because they match known people and were slightly larger matches. Perhaps I will even try to get back to my wills transcription project.

So Isolation Day 7, phase 2 since we did have a shopping day, and I suspect this phase will be short lived as my husband has a medical appointment which has not been cancelled.

Blake Newsletter Volume 9, Issue 2, 2020

As mentioned this issue will be published only on the website as I have already published the parts that make it up on my blog in January and February with the lead name BLAKE - xxxxx.

I am now into my ninth year of publishing this Newsletter. I have no idea how many people read it although I can occasionally see that it is read by more than a handful. I now have a story from a Blake member of the YDNA study and some updated information on the family line of a Blake member also of the YDNA study which I will consider publishing in the next issue.

I did open up the study to Family Finder but I do not do anything with that information. It would be an invasion of people's privacy to publish any of it.

Good Friday

April 10, Good Friday and memories of many many Good Fridays flow through my mind. As a child we would be going to Church as a family, walking down the street and around the corner. Growing up Anglican in a City where the Anglican Churches dominated the landscape I probably thought everybody was Anglican. In reality, Protestant Churches like the United Church, the Presbyterian Church and others exceeded the number of Anglicans. The Roman Catholic Church was not as large as the Anglican Church in numbers but in total the Anglicans were not the largest group I would suspect. During Lent our priest would usually exchange pulpits with the priest at Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church. It was ecumenical long before Vatican II. Looking back the Anglican Church in London was perhaps "High Church" in many parts of the City but coming to Ottawa twenty five years later I found that Ottawa was also "High Church." At least the Churches that we attended in those early years. It made my husband more conscious of his United Church upbringing and he wanted to share that with our daughter. I was in this in-between moment in time. After divorce was legalized I thought through the idea and decided that Churches should really get out of the marriage business. Leave it to the Civil authorities and it would certainly have saved the Church a lot of grief in the years since. But I was young and my method of expression was just to not be part of something that I believed was straying from "What Would Jesus Do." Then the decision was made to ordain women and I was not so sure of that either although I have come to believe that gender should not determine who should lead a congregation but that would take many years. Hence, my husband's thought that he would take our daughter to the United Church came at a time when I was quite ambivalent with regard to Church attendance and I simply went along with them. Our eldest daughter to that point had been baptized Anglican, attended the Anglican Church every week and had been attending Roman Catholic Schools. Nevertheless she fitted in perfectly at the United Church. She found it quite folksy I believe and quickly made friends with all the children that she was now at school with in the Public School system. I considered keeping her in the Roman Catholic system but they actually did not have spare room for tuition paying students at the local school although did not give a firm no wanting to wait until Fall to decide. Instead I did make the decision and enrolled her in the local public school in French Immersion. The United Church was small and I, coming from a large city Church, stayed on the fringes as much as I was able letting my husband lead the way; after all it was his Church. I was simply occupying a spot in the pew of a Church that I really did not know and, to be honest, did not really want to become overly involved in. I became a closet Anglican and would eventually return for early morning service to my own local Anglican Church before attending the United Church later in the day as a family. My husband and daughters became part of the Church Choir and very much enjoyed their part in his United Church.

But I digress, this is another Good Friday and we will not attend a Service. There aren't any and it would not be a good idea to have a service. COVID-19 is amongst us and pulling us away from all the most meaningful parts of our lives. The Church which has been the source of strength through the eons has had to exist without its flock. Except we are still here and still tithing (those of us who do). I have been writing about the possibility that Mother Nature has inflicted COVID-19 upon us and I actually do believe that. After all only Mother Nature or God (and are they one in the same?) can really create life although we occasionally work away at that in a scientific way but we are simply creating a shortcut between two elements that did not come together naturally when we do create life. When the Pope decided that COVID-19 was an act of Mother Nature I decided in my heart that perhaps the time has come for me to realize that my Anglicanism has really evolved into Roman Catholicism; I share so much of my beliefs with the Roman Catholic Church and my Anglicanism just doesn't quite fit in with the Anglican Church that I currently tithe to. But will I ever, at 74 years of age, move beyond that as a thought. Time will tell.

Another Good Friday and we remember Our Lord and His death upon the Cross but soon in just two days we will experience the joy of His resurrection. I feel these thoughts so much more deeply even than I did as a child and young adult. Fifteen years now of reading the wills of my ancestors and indeed the Blake wills of many people's ancestors has given me a sense of the depth of faith of people even just fifty years ago. It is this faith that brought them through so much and it will bring us through COVID-19. The knowledge that the earth is ours and we have dominion over it should be tempered with respect for the earth; respect for Mother Nature. Let us hope that as the world opens up once again to the free movement of people that our first thoughts are for how to keep the fresh skies that we are being treated with once again.

Blake Newsletter Volume 9, Issue 2, 2020

The Blake Newsletter Volume 9, Issue 2, 2020 will be posted to the website tomorrow. I will not be republishing it to my blog as it consists of just the 10 Blogs that I produced in January and February with the title BLAKE - XXXXXXX.

Rainy Gloomy April brings May flowers

I love the old rhyme of my childhood, January cold brings February snows brings March winds brings April showers brings May flowers. I used to hop and skip to school singing that rhyme when I was a young child. My grandmother used to say it that way. My mother liked me to walk all the way down High Street to the policed crossing at Tecumseh Avenue but I liked to cross at Windsor Ave and go that way. There were large apartment buildings the other way and strange people so I avoided it. The other way was houses with wide boulevards and gardens at the front. It appealed to me more for its openness. Why ever was I walking alone when I think back (my three older siblings were all with their friends and I was a really odd child; bookish and wore these round glasses with huge lenses)? After my younger brother went to school I did walk him there so it was just that couple of years when I was first at school that I did that until my brother was older and he found his own way. Even as a child I was a loner. People would call me to walk with them and I did; some would ask me to stop at their house and knock on the door for them and I did that too but I tired of it quickly and walked alone mostly. That way I could think without being disturbed by all the talking.

I do not think that people change much from what they are like as a child. If you liked being alone as a child then probably you like it as an adult.

COVID-19 continues apace around the world. Am I right that it is Mother Nature? At the moment it is the large industrialized countries that are most under attack by the virus. It would seem that that thought makes sense. Mother Nature is tired of the clogged skies of the large cities. Mother Nature does not like to have the waters polluted. How will it end? We must live in union with nature. We must find a way that works. Mankind has come a long way in these six thousand years of recorded history (the Bible shows us that). Many of our advancements are useful and not abrasive to Mother Nature. We need to keep all the good and modify the harmful.

Today doesn't look promising for gardening. Yesterday we raked the upper part of the back yard near the house. We cleaned out the upper flower beds but it is still too wet to work further down in the yard. That always comes gradually. April is usually a busy month of garden preparation. I like to work the earth. I used to help my grandmother. It is wondrous to plant bulbs and want them grow and seeds as well. Watching as the seedlings work their way to stretch their first leaves in the sun is an experience like no other. It is like the budding of trees; wondrous and God given.

Today I must work on the Blake newsletter. I am very far behind for this Issue. Much of it will be the Facebook posts which I made on controversies in the Blake family so mostly prepared. I had decided to do that when we had our 10 blog post challenge with the Guild of one-name Studies.

Isolation Day 5 on the new count; I expect I will stay isolated until early May now. My husband has a couple of appointments but I think I will just go with him in the car and he will go in alone with his mask on.

Raking again today

Yesterday we raked the front lawn except in the area where there is still snow which is close to the house. Today we will rake the top of the back yard; it is still too wet to go further back than that. It is nice to be outside again enjoying the fresh air. It was warm enough to sit on the garden swing for half of an hour. I have also finally noticed that I did not do the Blake Newsletter so will try to do that today.

I haven't done a coronoavirus update for a while and Canada has 17,883 cases with 381 deaths and 4,050 recovered. Globally there are 1,447,466 cases with 83,471 deaths and 308,215 recovered. I noted yesterday that Finland is going to start to test for the present of COVID-19 antibodies and that is such a good idea. I hope that we soon to do that here. Testing for COVID-19 is helpful but much more helpful is discovering how many people have built up antibodies again COVID-19 since many people could have had the disease without symptoms. That is the really important number when we are looking back at COVID-19's first run through the global population. The greater percentage of people who test positive for the presence of COVID-19 antibodies the more likely we can start up our economy again and have the children return to school.

Starting up the economy again though does bring the thought to mind that we could now, with all of the G-7 economies shut down consider the idea of controlling pollution before starting up once again. Get rid of those heavily polluting items like too many cars on the road and really push public transportation especially in big cities. There are whole new industries that could be created out of such changes. Managed parking buildings far from the city centre but close to people's homes in urban areas. Along with that stores that cater to people coming off of those trains and wanting to pick up items quickly from drug stores, restaurants, clothing stores and novelty stores. We need to rethink how we live to ensure that we are living in harmony with nature not grating up against nature.

There is a huge market for plastics in our lives. They are easy to clean and sterilize and can function as so many items. We do not have to worry about oil disappearing anytime soon. But getting those cars off of the large city streets would be such a boon to the environment and people's health.

Since I live in a large urban area near a large city with light rail soon to be available, I can see a lot of pluses in revising how people live so that we are in harmony with the world. The birds are finally back and in greater abundance it would appear. The great harbinger of spring, the Canada Goose, is winging its way to the north and their nesting grounds. Their honking fills the skies and lifts the heart. They have survived another harrowing migration south and then north again.

But living where I do in a large city area surrounded by trees our particular city is not heavily polluted although it is the capital city of Canada. Driving through Toronto on a hot summer day is not a pleasant experience and it really can not get better without drastic change. Everyone who immigrates here wants to live in the big cities - Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver. All they do is add to this problem of pollution. Most of Canada outside of the cities is farming of one kind or another and where it is not that then it is tundra covered by snow for six to eight months of the year. But even these areas suffer from acid rain because of the industrialization that exists on the North American continent.

Must get back to work; want to work on Chromosome 2 today. In the years ahead when I may look back on this time period, it will be interesting to see what I wrote about COVID-19. I remember what my relatives said about the Spanish Flu which had been 30 years earlier when I was a young child. Dubious that I will be thinking back from 30 years hence at my age of 74 years but I guess what I write down might still be in my files!

I was looking back at my couple of posts during the NAFTA negotiations and actually suggested that if they failed then we would get back to making our own things and it would be a boon for our economy. Weird really that I wrote that at that time as indeed making our own things may dictate our survival through all of this pandemic!

Are we at the crossroad

Looking back January was a long time ago. We were just hearing about the coronavirus in China and its slow movement into other countries in Asia and its appearance in various places (one at a time) around the world. The time since then has been an eon although in reality it is not quite three months. I started wearing my mask (we bought 60 dust masks because anything that covers your nose and mouth is good enough actually) in early March because I do have mild asthma. I had renewed my prescription for my puffer in late January. I always like to have a spare one at hand.

At that time I hadn't thought deeply about the coronavirus (now COVID-19); I went into Isolation with my husband on the 14th of March as mentioned by Dr Tam that seniors should isolate as much as possible which would prevent us from being a burden on the Health Care system as more of us would require care than younger people. Keeping us out of the health care system freed it up for younger people who would recover more quickly and that was a really good decision on her part. She said it every day and she was and is so right.

But what of COVID-19? It remains just as powerful as ever as it constantly creeps over all of the land surface of the world. Why did it happen? I have thought it was an act of Mother Nature. I remain convinced of that. Mother Nature is the world; is the world capable of fighting back against homo sapiens? Is it a ridiculous thought? Do we need to change our habits? Well we have changed them for sure. The world is a cleaner place; the skies are clearer. But the relentless speed of COVID-19 continues apace. Mother Nature is not yet satisfied. I have no idea how this story will end. I do not actually think anyone knows.

Today I begin my day as always with a glass of cranberry juice (my favourite beverage) and then do my hour of exercise. Soon I will be walking and running outside. The fresh air beckons me from the window as the bright sun warms the cold earth. Respect for Mother Nature; our ancestors had it; they worshiped Mother Nature. For many God the Creator and Mother Nature are one in the same. Perhaps they are for me as well.

Another isolation period likely longer than the last

Day 2 of Isolation but it is a different look outside. The snow is melting. No new snow on the horizon but still early in April. We could have more snow but less likely to stay; more likely to melt quickly. The ground is sodden; the spring flowers have pushed their way up through the now thawing ground. Spring or better known as Mud season has begun in good earnest. Frost on the grass this morning but the sunrise is promising. The trees are still silent but soon the budding will start. They stand stark against the sky this morning which is a lovely blue as the sun casts light so slowly ; it is sunrise and another half hour we may have a beautiful sunny day.

Last night we had our third meal from the beef, noodle, tomato casserole we made four days ago. In between we enjoyed some bratwurst sausage with beans. Meals are plain and simple and hot. I love hot meals. Tonight we will do beef patties and cooked mushrooms with potatoes and brussel sprouts for me and corn for my husband. We were going to do our tuna fish casserole but it lasts for three days and we will do that next and intersperse it a little with something different perhaps macaroni and cheese. I make my own and it is lovely. When I was a child coming home for lunch every day from school my mother used to make homemade macaroni and cheese until Kraft Dinner suddenly appeared. My siblings preferred Kraft Dinner but I prefer the homemade macaroni and cheese. Rich and creamy made with sharp cheddar (preferably two year old at least). Pair that up with brussel sprouts and you have a lovely meal (at least to me and I am the only one in this household that agrees with that).

Yesterday was fun; we didn't go anywhere and I think this stay-at-home order really suits me. I am a hermit by nature and staying at home is really a treat still for me. No shopping; no time spent in hardware stores looking at wood etc. Just hours and hours at home organizing my day around exercise, computer time for phasing DNA and watching the news on TV. Then there are the moments that we have with our children and grand children. It is a while now since we have been with any of our children or grandchildren (several months actually).

The rakes are at the ready and probably we can start raking the top of the back yard any day now. It is fairly dry. Then digging up all the flower beds and preparing them for bedding plants. Now that will be a challenge getting bedding plants; perhaps they can be delivered. Clearing away the snow fences and pruning the fruit bushes ready for their summer growth.

This will be a cleaning week as well. Usually we clean every other week but it takes three days to do; one floor at a time. Our house is not really all that big but the cleaning does take a lot of work. I only know one way to clean. Take it all apart and put it together; that way you get rid of all the dust.

Mother Nature at her best in the morning; the sunrise is beautiful and gradually spilling across the sky, I can see the sun now trying to peep above the houses. Will we ever understand Mother Nature. The First Nations people understand Mother Nature; they work in unison with Nature but their lives are very difficult because they can not control what happens on their own land. They should be able to do that. If they could I think they would be more amenable to having these oil and gas projects. It provides jobs for them and money for their children's future. But it does need to be on their terms and I am still very much in favour of them managing the pipeline projects. They will do it right and they have long term plans not affected by changes in government. Energy that is green is better but still there will be a need for oil and gas. It needs to be managed by people who care about the environment.

The world on the other side of COVID-19 needs to be a different place. We need to live in tune with Mother Nature or she will do it again. All things in Nature come from nature; all things are created in nature following evolutionary patterns. We need to appreciate that and live in tune with it.

And the count begins once again

A new round of isolation and this is Day one. It is somewhat overcast today and was raining already but it is nearly 7 degrees celsius. The snow is melting rapidly now. Around the front of the house it will likely last until early May but the back yard is nearly free of snow. The snowdrops have been blooming for a week and the crocuses came out in bloom day before yesterday. Life has been almost too busy to notice that but we will enjoy the beauty of these tiny flowers sitting on the swing once it stops raining. The tulips are trying to come through the soggy ground and there is water everywhere. It is finally Spring in Canada better known as Mud Season/Flood Season. Our Canadian Army is at the ready for both the Floods and COVID-19. Last year was quite difficult in terms of flooding, time will tell how that goes this year.

Our Health Care system is straining but holding as COVID-19 takes over our lives and the lives of every Canadian. We will struggle through this together. Praying for the N96 masks soon to come. Spread out as we are in Canada within 100 miles of the border between the United States and Canada, distance has proven to be the biggest benefactor to the slow growth of the virus here. Where the big cities are so is COVID-19 and the nursing homes are bearing the brunt of the deaths.

We will try to stay isolated now for six more weeks having replenished our food somewhat. Not so much that we fear COVID-19 but rather that we are flattening the curve. Eventually I assume that we will get COVID-19 but at a time when it will not be a burden on the Health Care system. We do treasure our system here in Canada; just like we treasure Employment Insurance and all the other measures that help to keep people afloat during a crisis in their lives.

I must get back to working on the phasing project that I undertake once a year. It generally takes me several months to get through everything.

I see India has now banned the export of  hydroxychloroquine sulfate (a malaria and lupus drug that President Trump is convinced will defeat COVID-19). When and where will it all end?

Mother Nature created COVID-19 as all things have been and are created over time through the eons. I am a deeply religious person but testing my own DNA convinced me that evolution exists and is part of our history. It is Mother Nature who will in the long run control how we live; we need to always be aware of our effect on the world.

Warm and Sunny - Definitely spring is here

Not counting isolation days again yet as we have one more order to pick up at the grocery store. This time we just drive in, open the trunk and in goes our order. We will see how that works out as it may well be the method by which we obtain food for the next eight weeks. We are in good shape with food; not oodles and I have rather peculiar tastes - love brussel sprouts, fish, cranberry juice, oatmeal and rye crispbread as well as multigrain bread. Not a great lover of a lot of meat but do eat some. But we actually found a tray of V8 juice with good sized cans (each one good for a glass each) that we picked up the other day. I prefer to eat the citrus fruits; including lemons. We seldom buy citrus fruit juice but we do buy a lot of oranges, lemons and limes. All of the imported food I can do without if the need arises. I do not mind eating frozen fruit, frozen vegetables and we produce all of that in great quantities. The food that crosses the border into Canada during the winter months is enormous; we help to keep the economies of many American states booming. Then the snowbirds going south to Florida, the south west and California number in the hundreds of thousands; keeping the economies of those states booming (think of all their money being spent here in Canada). Then we ship raw materials south and keep their factories operating. We really should encourage more native industry here; much more and hopefully that will be the gain of COVID-19; we will become self-sufficient so that we never again are faced with deficiencies in any of our needed goods.

I will always remember 9/11 as I was working at the hospital and we went to Disaster footing just in case we were needed to help New Yorkers. It is just a short airlift to get here and all of our hospitals along the border were more than willing to help if we could. We kept our airports open so that thousands of returning Americans had a place to land. Those planes were all beyond their point of return; they had to land somewhere and land here they did occupying all of our airports and the Maritimers took them into their homes because there simply was not enough room in the hotels for all of them.

Yesterday was a quiet day and not a great deal accomplished. I want to get back to Chromosome 2 once again. One wonderful piece of news; my parents now have a new great grandson. That makes eight great grandsons and one great granddaughter. I can see where they will likely have an even dozen great grandchildren or perhaps even more one never knows that answer for sure until it happens. I have heard or seen on Facebook all of my siblings except one over the last week or so. We range in age from 64 to 80 and so are in that vulnerable age subject to the whims of COVID-19. I last got together with all but one in 2018. It is a long trip to see any of them; one the one hand we have to go through Montreal or on the other hand we have to go through Toronto. We are enjoying those trips less and less as we grow older. Of course we could fly but we haven't given that any thought yet.

I will miss seeing family at Easter. Easter was always a big time in my family when I was a child and as an adult. It is usually around my husband's birthday so we tend to get together to celebrate then. This year though it will all be online.

Still managing 18,000 to 21,000 steps per day and most days doing 180 minutes of medium or high activity. It seems like a lot but my knee is certainly a lot better. It is doing well with all the exercises and now the running. Soon I will run around the backyard which will be a nice change from the basement.

We bought a Pokemon reader for our grandson but trying now to figure out how to print out a label online and put it in the mailbox to go to him. Not sure if that is doable or not.

Sunday we begin the calendar of Isolation again with Day 1. We will likely stay in Isolation now until mid May. I do not particularly want to have COVID-19 but I am not afraid to have it which is actually good. But I do want to be one of those people who is helping to flatten the curve. So we have kept ourselves at home except for a walk around the block and our trip to the grocery stores day before yesterday and again today except this is solely a pickup; we will wear our masks and do our usual of wiping down all the groceries when we get them home. Then that is it for our trips out and about except for walking although we may just walk around the yard once mud season is past as there will be a lot of work to do in the yards. This time of year tends to pass quickly for us as we are busy doing yard work.

Shopping Day

Yesterday I missed doing my post. It was a big shopping day. We decided to break our Isolation for one day and go shopping at 7:00 am. Two grocery stores later and we are stocked up once again. Not in a big way but the extras that make our life feel content. Frozen blueberries from Nova Scotia is one treat that we especially enjoy and we have two good sized boxes of frozen blueberries. They are an essential part of my cooked oatmeal that I have for breakfast every morning and my husband has a bowl of yoghurt with frozen blueberries which he enjoys every morning. When we discovered them a year or so ago they completely changed our breakfast. I switched to oatmeal every day and he had yoghurt with blueberries.

When we got home and everything cleaned up and put away we were watching TV and Ed decided to pick up something in the kitchen. I heard him fall and was out there as quick as I could. Only damage was to his glasses and a small scratch where they had dug in. How fortunate we were. I thought maybe he got too tired but a caution for those of us in this older age range. He turned too quickly in his slippers and they did not move with him and threw him off balance. Very scary I must admit and the rest of the day flew by and I did not post.

Yesterday was Day 19 of Isolation and today becomes Day 1 except we will go and get his glasses repaired so Day 1 will have to begin after tomorrow as we have an order of groceries to pick up at Walmart. That was what got us started. We realized that we could get groceries at Walmart (our neighbours have been wonderful picking up things for us but it is a lot of work for them) so booked an order with them (by the way they are booked up quite a bit and we had to wait four days). Then we decided maybe we would take advantage of the 7 am to 8 am seniors time at Farm Boy and that worked out so we then went to Super Store between 8 am and 9 am and that also worked out very well.

Day 1 will begin again on Sunday and likely we will not go out again until early May. That way we will not be part of the problem hopefully as the Health Care System gears up for what will be a long month in all likelihood. The crest is definitely coming by the numbers here in Ontario.

Brilliant Sun and birds in abundance

I was greeted with brilliant sun today and that is always a treat at any time. More snow will be gone but especially the ice will melt. That underlayer of ice was particularly thick this year and will be the last to go.

April 1st and Day 19 of isolation as we head towards the end of April and then mid-May. Mid-May will be the touchstone for the moment. That will be two months since we began this isolation and perhaps we see a slight lightening of the need to isolate. Not likely that the world as we know it will return quickly but perhaps slowly. People can get back to work and the schools re-open. That seems optimistic but has a good feel to hear it said. I like the idea that children might do June and July in school. It is perhaps better that we have a normalcy for a couple of months and see if the virus can be held at bay.

There are crops to be planted; we will want to purchase our plants for our garden. We got the rakes out yesterday and as soon as mud season moves on we will rake the lawns in preparation for fertilizing them. That is usually how we start the season with raking. Then we will dig up the flower beds and prepare them for bedding plants. Perhaps we will grow a little lettuce this year along with tomatoes and peppers.

The news is not good from our health authorities; the worst is still ahead of us. Once we are in the midst of the worst then each day that passes moving us into and further away from the crisis point is actually easier to manage.

Yesterday I accomplished a little on Chromosome 2. It is an interesting chromosome in that I have a few good matches that are known to me on both sides paternal and maternal. A couple of them are over 30 centimorgans and shared by more than one sibling which is also very helpful.

Busy day today and perhaps a swing on the garden swing since it is going to be warm on the patio.