Today another cleaning day and it is the basement. I am not yet in the state that I hope to be in by the end of the month although the main floor is fairly settled. Yesterday we cleaned out the pantry having done the large main floor closet the day before as part of the cleaning of that level. There are just the cupboards to work at but that will be done in December. I am steadily downsizing finding new homes for some of the dishes and packing Edward's family dishes into boxes for his niece to have. They should go with someone who knows the family much better than I do.
On the top floor most of the rooms are as I would want them except for my work room which has become a bit of a catch-all for items not yet located anywhere else. I will put some time into clearing all of that away this weekend. The closets in two of the four bedrooms are organized. So we have come a long way with this floor as well.
The basement has had a lot of items given away but there is still a lot there in terms of tools which my son in law will eventually decide upon. He will either keep them or give them to family members. I do not have any need for tools other than a few implements. Eventually that area will be a lot clearer but five of the seven tables are now gone (at least the last one is going in the garbage today as it was too old to be of use to anyone). It is ready for a cleaner to come though now. The cluttering has been minimized but not entirely gone yet.
Looking back we have done so much in the period of COVID-19 shutdown but there is still quite a bit to do. It is unlikely that we will have another shutdown. I am not sure we will need more than sporadic closures when there are outbreaks. If everyone would get vaccinated those outbreaks would be minimal; more like a seasonal flu outbreak. I do not really understand the reluctance to get vaccinated. For some people there may be a need to be cautious but in general the reaction to the vaccine has been good. We have learned a lot giving the vaccine and I am sure the lessons learned will help those who potentially could suffer from reaction.
My mental state is slowly improving; acceptance is starting to come to me. I find I look forward in time more than backwards these days. Memories that flood my mind tend to be of our fun times together - Edward and I. Our traveling proved to be something we both enjoyed and when he got used to being a world traveler he enjoyed it more than I did. I tend to be more of a homebody. Once I had seen the delights of the British Isles and Europe I was ready to not travel so much but did continue to do so. Edward's roots were more Europe than British Isles and traveling gave him a chance to see where all of his ancestors had lived one hundred and even three and four hundred years ago. His roots in North America are so much deeper than mine going back to the 1620s in the American Colonies in his Dutch ancestry. How lucky that we did all of that traveling in Europe/British Isles between 2008 and 2016. Life is so different now. Then there was all that traveling in Canada and the United States and even Mexico for one visit.
I will complete all the powerpoint presentations of our travels. Many of them are now complete but I will finish them all if God grants me that time. The day awaits; off for breakfast. It is 117 years since my father was born at Eastleigh, Hampshire, England today. He lived to be 94 years four months and 22 days old when he died in 1998. When I met my cousins (the children of his first cousin) what struck me the most was how little they looked like him. I would never have known that we shared the same great grandparents just by looking at them. But as we spent time with them I recognized some of the Blake traits that they shared in common with my grandfather (older brother to their grandfather) and father. There was quite a difference between those brothers with my grandfather being taller than my father but not as tall as his brothers. My grandfather looked like his father but his brothers looked more like their mother whose brothers were tall and heavily built.
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