Moving on to the Camera hobby

We are moving on to the camera hobby having taken another van full of items to the Salvation Army. Edward was taking them items the last couple of years when he decided to start downsizing. We had this new rule that if anything comes in that is new than something of a comparable size has to leave and we pretty much kept to that. Actually we had to there wasn't any more room for anything without taking something out. Now I am downsizing so that I have only items that I need/want and I can downsize house wise whenever that happens in the next three to four years or sooner if that need arises. 

Fortunately Edward decided to give the vast part of his camera collection to the Princeton Museum a couple of years ago. But there is still a kitchen table which is covered with camera equipment in the basement. That is going out into the now emptied garage along with all the camera equipment and will be the next big trip to Salvation Army where he actually purchased some of that equipment in the last twenty years so likely they will be able to once again sell it all. 

The large bookcases are going to go likely within a week along with eight boxes of National Geographic Books. I am going to get a mover to do that since the bookcases are so very large and heavy. 

The next big item is 40 boxes of books for the Ontario Genealogical Society Ottawa Branch and the Friends of the Archives of Ottawa for their book sale. Two thirds of the boxes are for OGS and the rest for the Archives book sale. Once these items are gone I can begin to organize the house. 

I actually grew up in a house that was full of books and furniture so I never really thought much about all of this accumulation other than it was a lot of cleaning but I used to pay my two daughters to clean the house and wash the clothes when I went back to work so I guess it didn't really strike me very much until I started cleaning it all when they completed their training for their careers and went to work. Suddenly all of that cleaning was mine again although Ed used to vacuum which was wonderful but the cleaning became an enormous chore. Once all of this donating is completed the cleaning will be easier although this house is still much too large for me. 

I am a one-room person really but I guess a smaller house would also suit. Time will tell on that as I reach towards 80 one room is very appealing. My computer in one corner and my bookcase and my plastic bin of records and my fiche reader would complete the working area of the room. I have some favourite wall hangings; my favourite drapes and I bought the twin bed that matched our queen size as a guest bed and that would become my bed and would occupy just a part of the room leaving lots of room for me to make paper trees on the floor if I had a mind or whatever. Eventually I want to redo the trees that were done by the earlier researchers where I am able. I have kept my memberships with the Guild and the Society of Genealogists so that I can place deposit copies of my research with them. 

Other than that one tiny line known well to me all of my ancestors were born, married and mostly died in England. Only my mother, her father and his mother were born here. All of my grandparents died here; only one set married here. Only one set of my great grandparents married here and only two of my great grandparents died here (just one was born here). Of my 2x great grandparents only four died here and of my 3x great grandparents only 2 died here (none were born here). So my Canadian research is very very little in actual fact. Plus I do know everyone of them in terms of their history, what they did, where they lived and where they are buried.