Husband in hospital

My husband is in hospital once again. It is difficult to let a person be cared for by strangers but it had to be for the moment. He may be able to come home tomorrow or Monday. Time will tell. 

Thanksgiving Day

Although Thanksgiving Day is also a holiday here in Canada, the second Monday in October, the American Thanksgiving Day has gone around the world in particular for the day that follows which has become known as Black Friday everywhere. And why is it Black Friday - an interesting and historic mercantile statement. That is the day that businesses' books go into the black (i.e. start making money) and it continues apace until the end of the year. Although totally an American day until lately one sees Black Friday sales around the Globe including here in Canada. 

Traditionally we as a family have spent Thanksgiving together; we used to make the Great Trek to Southwestern Ontario every year to spend Thanksgiving with our families when our parents were still living. This year we did not do Thanksgiving together in the usual way. We did not do birthday parties together really although we did have a present opening session in the backyard earlier in the year but I do not really call that a Birthday Party! Just part of it; perhaps one of the best parts for the receiver but definitely lacks the finesse of a real Birthday Party. This year our Christmas thoughts are slowly scaling back as we realize that once again we must be strong and do this by Skype. My husband's illness makes it particularly poignant. One hopes that everyone will scale back and beat down this pandemic once again. The vaccine is coming; we just need to be patient for a while longer. 

Happy Thanksgiving to America; may the day be all that is possible.

 

To do - 857 Emails

I have 857 Emails in my Inbox. Through the spring and summer into fall I tend not to be speedy in filing my emails into folders. There are some that I want to pay some attention to and others that I will delete but want to have some time to really think about that action. At least it is less than one thousand but it will take me a couple of weeks to clear them out. If anyone has been waiting for a further response to an email that may be forthcoming in December. December tends to be catch-up month for me. It is incredible how fast the past eight months has flown by considering we were on lockdown for some of it and partial lockdown for another month of that time. I do not have a lot of work to show for all of that time because much of it has been spent in looking after my husband. It is a full time job really being a caretaker for someone with his condition. I would say that he is stable but not being a doctor can not really state that as fact. He has good days and bad days in terms of side effects of his condition. But overall his mental attitude has stabilized which is perhaps the most important part of his health anyway. Physio has not happened for a couple of months now. He does benefit from it but the effort is too much at the moment. We continue to work on his exercises at home. Now that we are into winter likely most of our time will be spent inside the house or out on the patio as we keep that cleared. Having the snow removal company is great and we will think about expanding that to shoveling as well as the scraping done by the larger machines. I am strong enough likely to run the snowblower but I am not going to take that on. I would rather do the small amount of shoveling that is left. 

Another snowfall happening again today so our gradual buildup begins although we could still have a thaw time will tell on that. I like the snow though as it helps to control my day in that one cannot garden outside (which is not really my thing anyway); running outside is not overly practical at my age so I do that inside as I have for a number of years anyway and I am not a sun person in terms of spending hours getting a tan so winter suits me just fine!

Cleaning day again today as I did not accomplish as much as I thought I might have yesterday.

A new cousin from Australia

Although I had found a new cousin in Australia a while ago I had not really looked carefully at the data. It is an interesting match that four of my siblings have with this match - 42 centimorgans in one block (plus two of them have a second match). I do not match at all but it is on a chromosome where I am not matching my siblings on my paternal side at all. It does look like a Rawlings match and a return email leaves us with that thought of working on the new match after the New Year. It is amazing to talk about the New Year. It does hold so much hope for the world with three vaccines coming to fruition. 

Good news from our American neighbours with the transition to a new team moving forward. CDC has been so maligned these past couple of years that their advice not to travel during their Thanksgiving festivities has been ignored by over three million thus far as that many have traveled already and the holiday is still two more days. Prayers that COVID-19 will not increase as much as is suggested by the modeling. It will be so nice to have a President who lets CDC do their job and respects them for it. America deserves better for sure. 

We are of course struggling with growing numbers of cases here as this idea that wearing a mask is something that could ever restrict your freedom. If you do not want to wear a mask then stay home; what right does anyone have to subject the people around them to possibility of COVID-19? It is up to all of us to do our part to slow the spread of this disease; protect our hospital infrastructure and our physicians who have to care for the patients therein. There is no freedom for anyone unless all of us have the freedom to clean air. How can people be so ignorant?

Snow Snow Snow !

A lovely covering of snow this morning and our first snow shoveling done by the group that we hired to do that. Yesterday I actually managed a couple of hours phasing DNA results. 

Our Church has now purchased a camera so that the YouTube production is live including the actual service  with continuous image and dialogue. Far superior sound and the camera kept up with the service the entire time. The music was also greatly improved. I can see myself attending this way for a long time. This way perhaps I will never actually move from the Anglican Church; I like my church service and can live with the Book of Alternative Services although I prefer the Book of Common Prayer. But I do not have to be part of the ongoing discussion that I feel could have been avoided many years ago. Sacramental marriage has not existed since the Divorce Act became final and the Anglican Church accepted it. Marriage is a civil affair as it was in the beginning. 

Today more phasing hopefully but first I need to clean the house. Today the top floor gets cleaned and that takes about three hours to four hours for me to accomplish it.  I am somewhat slower these days and I do take a break every hour to hour and a half for at least half of an hour.

Canada-UK Trade Deal

The new Canada-UK Trade Deal was a surprise yesterday. I never had an opinion on Boris Johnson particularly but having COVID-19 changed him. I have no ideas on whether or not the UK should be in the EU or out although I had gotten used to them being part of the EU. Now we are back to that big family idea of the Commonwealth. It is an interesting happening in the midst of a pandemic. I wonder how my cousins are doing in England as well as in the United States. Having met so many people on line and expanded the knowledge of family relations a thousand fold, this pandemic has made me recall all of the many thousands of cousins that I have met. I think we are a lot alike. We liked to chat for a bit and then move on to the next new cousin. Occasionally I revisit someone I have written to long ago but mostly I just keep plunging forward to a new cousin. The Trade Deal reminded me that we are really just one big family all these countries in the commonwealth.

Planning Christmas just in case

We decided to plan Christmas just in case. Setting up the tree and being ready is a good idea. With vaccines being talked about so much next Christmas will be really enjoyed. 

COVID-19 is on the rise and will we have the will to beat it down once again. I have the will and returned to not leaving the house except for food and essential shopping twice a week. So far so good. Masked, washing frequently and aiming  for two metres away from everyone else not in my bubble. Our bubble is pretty small which is lucky for us. 

Just nine days to come in November and December will come and the end of December 2019 is when we heard about the new coronavirus arising. Pandemic was not in anyone's thoughts a year ago but Mother Nature is indisputably the owner of that type of action. We have to live in unison with Mother Nature or face the consequences. The environment continues to be the most important item in our lives. We must live with it and stop destroying it.

COVID-19 and patience, respect and adherence to the rules

COVID-19 is on the march and we have to be vigilant or we will be looking at the same scenario as the United States. It will take patience, respect and adherence to the rules. Walking outside can be a problem as some young people (anyone under 40 is young to me!) are simply not respecting the six feet distance outside although I have to say that many do do so. My husband has a mobility device and he does not move quickly. My husband should wear a mask when walking outside because he simply does not react fast enough to put one on but that is another story. Vaccines should be here by mid to late spring and then just time to let the antibodies build up and we can move back to a more normal life hopefully. Just a few more months to respect the rights of all people; follow the rules and we will be much happier in the long run. I was young once and it is hard to accept the limitations that are needed to protect the vulnerable. I shudder to think of what might happen again in Long Term Care homes if people are not careful. 

Another day of minimal accomplishment with phasing of the DNA but I do have the car vacuumed! That is great news as there was quite a bit of leaf bits in there. Soon the snow will come and leaf bits will be a thing of the past until next year!

Perhaps tomorrow I will accomplish more. Although I see there is a Bible Study with the Labyrinth Group at the Church coming up which I may attend. I do love a good Bible Study. 

Another day and phasing not even touched!

Sometimes it amazes me how much the Daily Bible Reading can capture where I am at in terms of daily thoughts. Today the reading is from 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28:

Final Instructions and Greetings

My friends, we ask you to be thoughtful of your leaders who work hard and tell you how to live for the Lord. Show them great respect and love because of their work. Try to get along with each other. My friends, we beg you to warn anyone who isn’t living right. Encourage anyone who feels left out, help all who are weak, and be patient with everyone. Don’t be hateful to people, just because they are hateful to you. Rather, be good to each other and to everyone else.

Always be joyful and never stop praying. Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do.

Don’t turn away God’s Spirit or ignore prophecies. Put everything to the test. Accept what is good and don’t have anything to do with evil.

I pray that God, who gives peace, will make you completely holy. And may your spirit, soul, and body be kept healthy and faultless until our Lord Jesus Christ returns. The one who chose you can be trusted, and he will do this.

Friends, please pray for us.

Give the Lord’s followers a warm greeting.

In the name of the Lord I beg you to read this letter to all his followers.

I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you!

Last night was Bible Study once again on the book "The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World's Largest Religion is seeking a better way to be Christian."

We were looking at the third Migration - The Missional Migration. On this reading I did have strong opinions. I am very supportive of the writings of the author Brian D. McLaren. I felt that he had really gotten into this idea in a way that was matching my own thoughts of the past thirty five years and where my Anglican Church was heading. It was a slow movement back into more active Anglican Church life for me. I had moved with my United Church husband to his Church as he wanted his children to have that experience in their lives. Personally I think the more ecumenical you are the better you can see the world and so I agreed. A few years in though and I really did have second thoughts about that and stayed home from the United Church this one particular Sunday just to see if that would work better for me. Certainly I found the quiet time in contemplation reading through my Book of Common Prayer the Morning Prayer was much more satisfying to me. I was busy with a two year old and a ten year old plus I had started working once again at home. I worked at home for about fifteen years proofreading and editing mostly scientific journals. It was a comfortable moment in my life as I had a couple of hours just to myself. However my husband found it difficult to manage our two year old and Church Treasurer so I returned once again to help with that and created a two year old Sunday School Class since the numbers warranted a separate class and they were too busy to be in the nursery. Instead I started to go to early service at the local Anglican Church and followed that path until we started to attend the United Church in downtown Ottawa in the mid 90s as the more academic sermons appealed to us and my husband had completed ten years as Treasurer at the local United Church and his fifteen years of singing in the Choir. We are loners, my husband and I, and we did not fit into our age group at the local United Church. To be honest, I am more of a Bible Study and service person in the Church. I was doing World Day of Prayer (and did do that for about a dozen years) plus I was Treasurer for Camp Bitobi (a United Church Camp in the Gatineau Hills). A lot changed suddenly in the mid 90s as I returned to work outside of the home; stepped down from the area World Day of Prayer Committee and Treasurer for Camp Bitobi. I needed time to come up to scratch in the newly computerized world although we had had a computer for over ten years by then. I had not really done very much on it except word processing and excel spreadsheets usually for my husband's volunteer activities and mine. 

In 1995 I started to use email and joined an Anglican Listserv and I found a place for me in the worldwide Anglican Communion. But back to the Daily Bible Reading. In essence this is what the book is about. It is well written. There are parts that I am not in agreement with; I am not one to throw out the familial traditions of the Anglican Church. I learned the Lord's Prayer from my grandfather who took the time to painstakingly teach me the words when I was quite young. I can remember saying the Lord's Prayer over and over again with him. There are parts of the Church that we must bring forward with us as we march into this new world that COVID-19 has created.

Minus ten degrees celsius and winter is coming

Snow in the air yesterday but no accumulation yet. But definitely winter is coming with minus ten degrees celsius last night and still minus six at 06:30. I find this gradual approach to winter here quite pleasant. No sudden heavy snowfalls just a gradual lowering of the temperature as we reach towards the first real snowfalls and winter settles in. The snow gradually builds up and then April the thawing begins which sometimes takes us into early May but most often the snow leaves us sometime in April. My arthritis hates the cold weather but I love it. I love the views from the windows of all that snow; white and fresh for the most part as far as the eye can see. 

Today I have this hope that I can get back to phasing. I would like to accomplish this task before I start the next review! Perhaps, though, this year of COVID-19 will just be continuous from 2020 to 2021 and quite seamless as we live out two years of our lives waiting for a vaccine to be distributed. It will seem odd to go out without a mask eventually. We will have to retrain ourselves to trust the air in the malls and other enclosed spaces. 

Light dusting of snow

There is a light dusting of snow early this morning. Slowly but surely we march onwards towards my favourite season - Winter. The long nights and short days gives me more time to work on my genealogy. Am I interested in genealogy? I sometimes stop and contemplate that one. I do not enjoy it the same way as my husband who has been deeply immersed in his genealogy for our entire marriage (reaching towards 54 and one half years now). He has enjoyed the hunt and the time spent with those who think in a similar fashion. I do not think that I belong to that particular type of genealogist. When my cousin persuaded me to do a profile on my Pincombe family I had not really thought much beyond that to be honest but as I searched to put that together and took my 42 courses at the National Institute for Genealogical Studies, I found that I liked the methodical tracing back. Retiring during that same time period, I switched from how I thought my retirement days would go to a much more rigorous time schedule of completing my courses and producing a family tree that included DNA information. The DNA information for sure drew me in and continues to do so. I can really prove these people are my ancestors and for me that is the most interesting part. All those years in science not wasted at all!

My husband on the other hand has used his DNA results to link his male line (Kipp) back to the 1630s emigrants to New Amsterdam/New Holland and has been most successful. The paper trail is lost in Dutchess County and may or may not be found. Time will tell. His DNA results at Ancestry have proven his fifty years of research to be rigorous which is a plus for any genealogist. For him too, the science aspect has been rather interesting and in his case he has his PhD in Chemistry plus a MLS in Library Science which certainly was a plus as he worked his way through the holdings of many repositories in a systematic and rigorous fashion. 

So that light dusting of snow is very welcomed. It tells us of time becoming much more available to work away on this never ending task. Always around the corner there are new discoveries and some discards as we progress ever so steadily backwards.

How is America doing?

The health care crisis in America is huge. We watch from Canada wondering when it will all end for them (and us for that matter). Just waiting for a vaccine as President Trump proposes will cost hundreds of thousands of lives between then and now. What a frightening thought actually. Following the CDC guidelines would save lives. CDC is starting to speak up more and one hopes that Americans not wearing masks, practising physical distancing and frequent hand washing will do so and help to prevent deaths. 

I am thinking that we might try going back to the mall for our daily walk now that we are out of the restrictions at Level 2  (it is easier for my husband with his mobility device to be on the smooth floors then the sidewalk). It is getting colder as well.

The Environment and our duty

I love Sunday now (actually I love all the days but Sunday is special) and today I was at Church online once again. The You-Tube service is fabulous. Sometimes the connection is lost or poor but just a quick intervention and back again. As a child I loved Sunday, the activity of going to Church then to Sunday School and even back to Evening Service as I grew older became part of my being. I was a very ecumenical person as a child when it was just becoming the new way. Our (Anglican) priest used to exchange pulpits with the Roman Catholic priest from Holy Rosary Catholic Church nearby us. It changed how I thought about the Roman Catholic Church for sure. I no longer saw it as something strange and different but rather a Church very like my own. I attended a Bible Study at Bethel Chapel (Pentecostal I think but I am not very knowledgeable on Protestant Churches) in the pre teen years. When I stayed with my grandmother, aunt and uncle we went to the United Church. But I would say I was always Anglican in my outlook and thinking. But I liked to hear how other people thought about God and Jesus. 

Reading still for the next Bible Study day and we are now into the Missionary Migration. When I first saw the title I was not keen. I no longer think the Christian Church should be actively interfering in other religions that are held by people. Medical missionaries can be an essential part of the health care system of poor countries and talking about God and Jesus as they see it can provide an academic understanding of Christianity. But I no longer believe we should actively try to displace religions that already exist in a culture. No one should; people have a right to their beliefs without interference unless it is a danger to themselves or their children. But the author brought back memories of my mother who was an environmentalist when I was a child in the fifties. She never wasted in my memory; everything had a place where it could be reused and she did that. 

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, petroleum products have a great use in our society that is beneficial but the burning of fossil fuels is a waste. This precious product should still be here for centuries to come not burned up in huge car and truck engines that roar around the streets. Our next car will be electric I hope if we can afford it. Now retired we are limited in what we can buy for sure. Gas guzzlers are much cheaper for that very reason; there is a gain for the wealthy to continue the burning of fossil fuels; they made their wealth that way and they will continue to do so. Am I free of that; no my few investments probably are dependent on that to a certain extent although I hope that some of that investment return is from wind and solar energy. 

We have a duty to the environment; God told us we have dominion over the earth and all that is in it. But what does dominion mean. I think it means that we must protect the earth and everything in it and not waste it. I think that the Church must move to protection of the environment which Pope Francis has done; it is scary to think of alienating wealthy people from the Church but to survive as a people then we must do that. Pope John Paul II attracted me to the Roman Catholic Church but Pope Francis has convinced me that a Church can bring about great change if they wish to move in that direction.

Family History Federation Really Useful Family History Show

I am attending the online History Show for the FHF today. I did a consult with one of their specialists and it was a most interesting visit. I presented my data on Ellen Taylor (my great grandmother and my mtDNA line) and he actually agreed with my thoughts on her parents. Proving it will need a DNA match though and that hasn't happened but maybe one of these days. I have results in so many pots that I may yet be lucky.

COVID-19 in Canada

Our numbers continue to rise albeit much slower than our neighbour to the South but still so many cases. We have not been back to the mall since we saw that couple walking around, man had his mask on and he was carrying his wife's mask and she was smiling away at people. Can you imagine! There is no excuse for having your face uncovered in a mall. What an insult to everyone there. My husband has to use a puffer to keep his lungs clear of sarcoidosis and he wears a mask. People with lung disease wear a mask. What right did that woman have to wander around the mall smiling at everybody and not wearing a mask. None! My rant for the day. Just back from shopping and everyone was wearing their mask and properly.  

We were restricted and the restrictions have eased; back at Level 3 so restaurants etc open although we have not been to a restaurant since the lockdown in March. We will not go again until at least next spring/summer but my husband has a special diet so maybe not again for quite a while. I am sorry about that as my husband really enjoys going out but it isn't going to happen. Coming from a business family I do realize that this is really hard on them although now a days people really like take out so can switch to that.

Covid-19 cases in Canada 282,577 (increase of 5,516 over yesterday), 10,768 deaths (increase of 83 over yesterday) and 226,775 recovered (increase of 3,576 over yesterday). Worldwide we are now at 52,788,524 cases (increase of 556,473 over yesterday), 1,294,028 deaths (increase of 7,760 over yesterday) and 34,181,795 recovered (increase of 189,185 over yesterday). The numbers are tumbling upward at a rate of 1 million every two days. 

Our American neighbours  have 10,637,421 cases (increase of 163,409 over yesterday), 246,291 deaths (increase of 1,870 over yesterday) and 5,858,772 recovered (increase of 28,371 over yesterday). What an awful time they are having. CDC is starting to exert itself more, fear of President Trump is perhaps receding and soon (68 days) President-elect Biden will be in control and with the help of the American people all wearing masks, physically distancing and frequent hand-washing Americans will bring their numbers down. I think that using masks as a political statement is the most criminal thing I have ever seen happen to be honest. President-elect Biden has now been awarded Arizona giving him 290 Electoral College votes so well ahead of the 270 votes that he needs in the Electoral College. Although he will also be tough with regard to trade it will be nice to see the American president caring about his people and not just himself. We (Canada and the United States) share a long border and it has been closed for awhile. That must be very hard on Americans who are so dependent on Canadians coming down to shop and stay.

I do pray that my second cousins in the United States can survive all of this as they are my age (when we visited my Great Aunt Sarah in Elmira NY she did talk about her grandchildren so feel I knew them a little). We have been corresponding.

Theological Migration

This particular section of the Bible Study book did capture my attention. Partly because I migrated a long time ago. As a child I attended Church and Sunday School at my Anglican Church every Sunday with few exceptions other than when I was at my Grandmother's house where we went to the United Church and when we were at the cottage we went to the Anglican Church there. During the week though when I was eight, nine, ten and perhaps a little longer I used to attend on one of the weekdays (I think it might have been Wednesday) Bethel Chapel which was perhaps Pentecostal. My knowledge of protestant churches is somewhat limited. But this Bible Study designed for children was well attended - perhaps as many as thirty children came. I had a Bible of my own and was very adept at finding verses given the name of the book, chapter and verse. I knew my Bible very well (and still like to think that I do) and could rapidly find the verse requested and I think they were called Bible draws or something like that. The prize for the one who found the most verses over a period of time (lost to me now) was a lovely white zippered Bible which I dearly wanted to win and which indeed I did win the year that I was ten. But here at this Bible Study I heard the interpretation of Bible Stories that I knew well that was somewhat different from the interpretation in my own Sunday School/ Church Sermons. Hence at a young age I learned that one could look differently at verses/stories in the Bible particularly in the Old Testament which can be confusing at times. I gradually came to realize that one must not take the old testament literally. One must put different parts together and see the entire picture and very carefully. Can we know God? I am not really sure that we can. I do not think He has ever wished us to know him. He wanted us to obey him; worship him and follow his commandments. But was the Old Testament written only for the Jewish people? Another question I have never quite answered in my mind. Jesus opened the Bible to all so that question is answered for the time after Jesus but not before. Always the question in my mind is "Can we interpret the God of the Old Testament?". What role does He/should He play in our lives? Jesus came to give us a New Covenant and that Covenant was love which I tend to see as respect. The Theological Migration section gets a big check mark from me but I am not entirely in agreement with all of the author's thoughts. My only disagreement is the idea of throwing everything out; we need continuity to preserve all the good that was passed to us by our parents/grandparents with regard to our service to the Church. The Church is not there to serve us but we are here to serve the good work that Jesus came to tell us about and that we should be doing. 

Remembrance Day in Canada

Today, November 11, is Remembrance Day here in Canada and usually I write about my great Uncle Edwin Denner Buller who was in World War I and my father's first cousin Edward Raymond Blake who was shot down over France in World War II. It is 75 years since the end of World War II and my birth; I was born in September after Victory over Japan day and Victory in Europe Day. Born into peacetime but remembering well the footage shown in the movie theatres in my childhood remember the devastation of World War II and in particular the murder of six million Jewish people. The pictures of the Concentration Camps are forever seared into my childhood mind and everytime I heard about people being put into camps that is what I am reminded of and probably will be to the end of my days. Surely we learned from that cruelty that was dealt to the Jewish people (and anyone else who disagreed with the New Order in Germany). 

It is overcast today but unusually warm for a Remembrance Day in Canada. If we were permitted to go to the Service at the War Memorial in Ottawa it would be extremely crowded but we are not. If we go we will be told to move along and not gather in groups. COVID-19 has changed our entire lives for the moment and likely for another year to come. Perhaps next year at Remembrance Day we can once again gather at the War Memorial and leave our poppies on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

No Blog Post Yesterday

Yesterday was a busy day; I was cleaning and I just never did sit down and write a blog post. I was thinking about tribalism and the causes of the First World War. So many Canadians died in the First World War on the fields of battle in France. And then the Second World War which was started by a dictator who dreamed of that country being the greatest in the World. Somewhat shocking those thoughts. I was born at the very end of World War II. But the fears, hopes, dreams, and suffering were part of my growing up years. As children from a young age in school we walked several blocks to a Church near my public school every Remembrance Day. There we heard stories of heroism, death and destruction all because a dictator (not even from the country that he ended up dominating) who claimed that he wanted revenge against those who had defeated this country in the First World War. In reality he just wanted everything for himself - luxury beyond the dreams of most people in the world. Control and absolute rule; they were his desires not the good of the people. I discovered as I vacuumed that the name of the country does not really matter; it was the act that mattered. Trying to control the press and the government by brute force he worked his way towards Chancellor of that country. I do not mention his name because his name should be forever forgotten. 

All dictators should be forever forgotten; their actions remembered for the sin that they were to the world but not their name. Do not give them that luxury in a world that remembers those who do so much for the world.  Let their name be forever struck from this world.

Entering that new week that will lead us onward

For my entire life until the last couple of years, Canada has lived next door to the greatest neighbour in the world. We didn't always agree on every detail but we were supportive of each other. As a country with enormous natural resources far in excess of what we can utilize ourselves we became especially the last thirty to fourty years the storehouse for the massive industrial complex to the south of us. No one really realized how dependent we were on them in terms of finished products until disaster struck in a double thronged approach - the pandemic COVID-19 and a feeling that the present American President hated Canada. COVID-19 is still with us but there is this wonderful early spring before winter has even struck in the air. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris spoke to the American nation last night with a program that was probably listened to around the world. In terms of numbers I expect it was the most listened to set of speeches ever. Normalcy was re-entering into the world and the world can feel a sigh of relief. I expect the Biden-Harris team will be just as protectionist as the present President-Vice President to be honest. But we have learned our lesson and will produce products here in Canada that are vital to our survival and not be dependent on anyone else. 

Prayers that the CDC will finally be allowed to do what they do so very well. Certainly the President-elect will be most supportive of them doing so. The numbers are so large now of new cases in the United States; the death rate horrific. Here we also have people marching against mask-wearing and shut-downs. But the reality is that these processes work and we will just have to continue with both of these processes until a vaccine has taken hold in the population. 

And it is Sunday. My Sunday Service is in my Inbox and I will be off to Church at 10:30 once again all in my own home. A new normalcy which I rather like.

Covid-19 globally

Now that the yard work is done and we are ready for winter, my thoughts go back to COVID-19. Today we go back into Level 3 following our return to Level 2 modified four weeks ago. We are doing better it is said and certainly the number of cases have definitely declined. 

But how is the rest of the world doing. Shockingly the United States now has more than 120,000 cases per day. We are just going into winter and that is certainly not a good thing to have so many cases. The border between Canada and the United States remains closed except for trade back and forth although Canadians can return to Canada and Americans to the United States so long as they quarantine for two weeks. 

Nationally here in Canada we had 4,461 new cases yesterday, 55 deaths and 3,239 recovered. Globally there were 553,272 new cases, 8,111 deaths and 246,378 recovered. The numbers worldwide are at 49,382,879 worldwide, 1,243,789 deaths worldwide and 32,518,778 recovered worldwide. In the United States there are 9,830,895 cases (increase of 131,473 over yesterday), 239,354 deaths (increase of 838 over yesterday) and 5,694,744 recovered (increase of 22,741 over yesterday). I do always comment on our dear neighbours to the south. We have been friends, neighbours and business colleagues for over two hundred years. It is hard to watch them suffer through this and equally hard to watch ourselves do so. 

I was listening to the presumptive President-Elect Joe Biden and he is certainly doing what he said he would do and that is get right in there and work on the pandemic along with his presumptive Vice President Kamala Harris. God Bless America and help her through these times. God Bless Canada too.

Last day of raking

Yesterday ended up being a good day to finish the raking. The Black Walnut tree finally dropped all of its stems and that task was completed after a walk. Glad to see it all done. The rakes are put away until next year. 

Our signs went up for the snow clearing yesterday afternon. We are ready!

Other accomplishments - cleaning the stove and washing. The day flew by once again. 

Bible Study

I am enjoying this Bible Study; I used to lead Bible Studies but it is much more interesting to be part of the group being lead. I do have some strong ideas on how the Church should go just as the book we are studying does. I still firmly believe in some continuity; I do not worship continuity but it is the ideas that were given to us as children by our parents/grandparents on how they see Church in their lives. I come from a strong Service family. Helping out in Church activities is in my blood so that these last twenty years that I have not attended Church that regularly I have felt this disconnect in my life. I reconnected myself with the service that I did in Transcription of early Church records. I was still supplying a service and serving my Church in a very different way. I still feel that way although my transcription level has for the moment plummeted. It takes a lot of time to do transcription. I need to prepare the time so that I have no interruptions for several hours as concentration on the task at hand is of paramount importance. At the moment a myriad of details that need to be managed occupy my day and I do not get to transcription. I would like to return to a set number of hours per day on my transcriptions. I still have about one thousand microfiche that I have never worked on. 

But what do I really mean by continuity; I mean the ability of people to learn from their elders how best to serve the Church. I think the fundamental error that we have these days is the idea that the Church serves us. We are the Church of Jesus Christ on earth; just as he was the servant to many so are we called to service in the Church. I do tithe but that is different from service; that is simply returning to God 10% of what he has given to me. Jesus explained it well I think when the discussion came up about taxes. He didn't mention tithing in that story but he did mention that one renders unto the government what belongs to the government (our income tax; other taxes) and onto God what belongs to God. The idea of tithing is older than Jesus in that Israel's tithing to take care of the Levites (the historical rabbis of the Jewish faith) was 22% and that the Levites than tithed on the behalf of all their people by bringing 10% of the tithe into the in this case synagogue (this is the biblical tithe).  That is how I understand tithing. 

To me service is how we demonstrate our love towards mankind (I am old so I feel quite free to use the expression mankind to recognize everyone - I grew up thinking how unkind the English language was to use the word man as a general term so that males were deprived of their own word and of course female pertains to my sex and is ours exclusively although I do not want to get into all of that as these days the lines have become somewhat blurred). Loving our neighbours as ourselves was the second commandment that Jesus gave to us. We need to look carefully at what Jesus was saying to us. He was saying, I believe, that respect for our neighbours is paramount just as we respect ourselves. To me Respect means love. Love is a very broad term really I believe and a lot of words can be included under its umbrella. 

Enough for now of my thoughts as I really must get some work done. Although today I have already steam cleaned the oven and blanched cauliflower to freeze which was in excess (i.e. no one was eating it). Since cauliflower is not one of my favourites I wasn't helping either! There is however washing to do and then maybe I can settle into a few hours on phasing.

Back into Stage 3

We return to Stage 3 of the COVID-19 levels on the 7th of November. Only 25 new cases yesterday in Ottawa.  Certainly this is not defeated; we must learn to manage it until the vaccines are available sometime next summer. Hopefully the vaccines will lessen a third wave of COVID-19. 

I started a Bible Study two weeks ago today and the first two weeks have been interesting with four more weeks to go (every Wednesday). Why a Bible Study at this time of year? Why not? I had not heard of the book and yet it copies my thoughts but in a much more thorough and succinct way. Perhaps one of the most profound thoughts that I had was that the Church is no longer walking in lock step with the government. I respect our government very much but handing the Residential Schools to the Churches to manage was the worst thing that we ever took on. Managed properly, it might have given a good education to the children. In reality children were abused; their beliefs and traditions scorned and they were not properly taken care of when they were ill. 

I had a good thought on all of this. Let us give them, once completed, the pipeline. They would manage it very well and they have a 50 year plan for how to move us from dependence on oil to green energy. The oil will always be useful and perhaps in years to come we will see plastic houses that are substantial and require less maintenance and last longer. Let us make better use of this priceless resource instead of burning it up in cars. And yes, I also drive a car that uses gas. When I was filling it up yesterday I thought how wonderful it would be to just plug your car in. It was the first time that I had filled a car in probably twenty years plus. Once I went to work at the Hospital I took the bus; my driving to work days were done. When I got to the pump I wasn't close enough so had to move. Then I had chosen a pump where I couldn't pay there but had to go into the store to pay. The what ifs filled my brain as I filled the gas tank which took me a moment to unlock and then to remember to select the grade of gasoline since nothing came out of the hose. Quick study and I was there but it did give me time to think about how much better usage of oil there is really than burning it up in cars and polluting the environment. Lego for one; this marvelous toy needs to be there for many generations of children to come. The inventiveness of children with a box of miscellaneous lego is something to behold. 

This weeks chapter for the Bible study discusses Migration of Christian Beliefs but it is so much more than that. In a way it is a return to "What Would Jesus Do" which has become the fundamental of my beliefs. Although I am an Anglican and I love the traditional service perhaps because for 75 years I have mostly used that service and it reminds me of my grandparents with their thees and thous, I am devoted to that Traditional Service. But I refused to be on any Worship Committee because my way isn't the way of the future; it is just my way. The way of the future is to follow "What Would Jesus Do." This week's chapter did not fail me in that regard. I look forward to this evening's Online Bible Study.

Snow

I woke up to a blanket of snow all over the ground today. Love Winter; welcome snow and welcome to the blue jays feeding at the bird's nest early this morning. Winter has begun in Eastern Canada and likely to prevail until next April. Lots of work time; I have a lot planned. 

An interesting match on Gedmatch yesterday that looks like my Pincombe line. Entered that into the system just before I get back to looking at the 125 new results that I have added from current matches to completed matches. Complete in that I have painted them on DNA Painter where I have subjectively assigned them to one or another of my grandparents based on their matches within my set. I have entered them into my excel database of all my matches by chromosome number and then start of centimorgan match. I have assigned them either with great confidence or semi-confidence to one of my four great grandparents with a few assigned to Unknown classification even if I have painted them into a particular grandparent on DNA Painter (they are easily changed). This is another excel flat file that contains all of the matches that I have located and been able to put into an Excel file - 730 matches in total from 23 and Me, FT DNA, Ancestry via Gedmatch, and My Heritage. I have not yet done anything with Living DNA as we do not have those matches yet. 

I will review Chromosome 1 once again as I have added a number of matches and that will be my starting point. Since I started this yearly reworking of the phasing in February one hopes that I can complete it before it is time to begin again!

May God Bless America

I wish only the best for our neighbours to the south. May God's love shine down upon them and help them to lift the scourge of COVID-19 that has invaded their land.

H11 Newsletter - Volume 4, Issue 4, 2020

The H11 Newsletter, Volume 4, Issue 4, 2020 has been published to the website at FT DNA. I no longer publish the Newsletter in my blog.

The second wave of COVID-19

We are very much into the second wave of COVID-19 here in Canada. My area is back to a modified second stage and given the number of cases lately unlikely to be reinstated to Stage 3 on the 7th of November. You can see it in the stores and malls that we were frequenting. People not wearing masks - not many - but it only takes one super spreader to infect hundreds in one go. Why do people think they are exempt from the rules. The only exemption is to stay out if you are not wearing a mask. It is disrespectful of the people who are shopping in a store. Totally unacceptable. 

There is my rant for the day. We were walking in the mall a week ago and a woman (her husband was carrying her mask) was walking around the mall not wearing a mask. She actually had the nerve to smile. I do not care what you think is your reason for going maskless but it is unacceptable. Lots of people have lung disorders but they are wearing coverings. 

Another beautiful fall day here. The sunrise was cloudy and quiet, no bright red splotches. I love this time of year with its promise of long nights and lots of DNA work to be done.

All Saints Day

I loved to go to Church on All Saints Day when I was young. I even took the morning off of school in high school to go to Church on All Saints Day when it didn't occur on a Sunday or Saturday. To me it was one of those very important days in the Church Year that one should just be there thanking God for all that he has given to us. 

Today it is dawn as I look out of the window at 6:30 a.m. I love the return to Standard Time as well. Really I would like to just stay at Standard Time year round. I do not need Daylight Savings Time. But it is likely to continue as it permits people to have long evenings in the summer and I have to admit our winters are long, cold and dark so perhaps for some that long bright evening in the summer is a welcome respite. 

It is nice that in the midst of our second semi-lockdown here in Ottawa that All Saints Day is actually on a Sunday. At 10:30 am I shall be on You-Tube being part of the Service at the Church. It is enough for me at the moment. Today especially I will remember my brother Doug at prayer time. His was a life of service for sure especially in the Church.

Our yard work is pretty much complete with just the snowfence to go up and cleaning out the gutter on the lower eavestrough. Perhaps we will have the tree out front removed; time will tell.