In the vein of research

Today I continue contemplating the Research Boxes; Edward had so much material collected. A large portion dates back to the mid 1960s when he first began his task of looking for his Kipp ancestry. I found the discussion interesting because history has always interested me; not enough to get inspired to look at my own mostly because I did think I pretty much knew my history plus I am not that interested in "collecting" people but Edward just loved to organize all of his known relatives (and he had a lot in the Princeton, Ontario area). After we bought a car, we visited with many of them which was a novel pursuit for me as I am not really into visiting people. But we met some quite elderly people whose lives stretched way back into the 1800s and like the child who listened at her grandparent's knee I did find their rendition of events in their lifetime quite interesting. Being an efficient note taker, I would often do that for Edward making full notes of their conversations for his later perusal and then being a touch typist I rapidly put them into print for storage (that is some of what I have to sort through now - notes from over fifty years ago). I look at it and I can scarcely remember all of that but it is my typing for sure. It just seemed like something nice that we shared in those early years of our marriage. When the science and laboratory aspect of our life disappeared as Edward moved on from being a scientist to being a Librarian Specialist this sort of thing kept us together and still linked by common interests with mine being interest in the historical reflections and his finding family members. Interesting to reflect on that actually. We did have other interests particularly Astronomy. Edward liked to attend his United Church (we went to Metropolitan United in London) but I continued, once we had a car, to go back to my own church early Sunday morning service when my dad would always be there as well. It was a nice father-daughter moment around people who knew me and I did feel safe there. Learning to drive was a good thing for me; no one in my family had been willing to teach me back in my teen years with my poor eyesight so I took lessons and the instructor was very good. I always remember the first lesson sitting behind the wheel and the instructor said we are not going anywhere unless you take your foot off the brake! I did (he also had a brake!) and it was an incredible day for ever ingrained in my memory, I was just 21 years of age and suddenly here was freedom; I could manage for myself in a car where I felt safe and it was a freeing moment in time for me. Edward never really thought I would be able to drive either although he didn't say it (I could sense it); but he soon saw that I could see more than well enough to take this on although the road signs were a challenge for me and being considered blind in one eye made judging distance difficult but I soon came up with a trick using the poles along the side of the road and gradually that system improved so that I didn't need the poles but just the feel and look of the road. And I passed amazingly to all of my family for sure. But now I do stick to known familiar routes unless I have someone with me.

The Bible Reading today ends with "Don't let evil defeat you, but defeat evil with good." coming from Romans 12: 21 (the entire reading Romans 12:9-21 is a treasure considering the times we find ourselves in). What is being done by the so-called West in Ukraine is a good thing; the Ukrainians have a right to self-determination; their own sovereign nation guaranteed under the UN Charter  - especially Ukraina was one of the ice retreats during the last glacial maximum 15,000 years ago. It is an ancient place and any other statement about Ukraine is a lie fabricated for greed and nothing else. That the combatants share the same blood is even worse and undeniably a great sin. In spite of the hardships on the Ukrainian people they are thinking of the poor of this world who eat their grain and struggle to keep the grain flowing to these many countries through the Black Sea. Being enslaved by the Russians for years should not be their lot; that has already been done to them; the Russians tried to starve them to death even as recently as the 1930s. God's people. Glory to Ukraine.

Tomorrow I have my eye appointment to look at my cataracts. Both of my parents had cataract surgery and in my father's case he found it gave him the opportunity to do all sorts of things, especially cross word puzzles which he had never had time for in his working days. It was fun watching him work away at the puzzles. My mother never really commented on her eye surgery and my days with her were less frequent due to work commitments. Her letters to me continue though until shortly before she died. I have scanned those twenty seven years of memories for my children since they grew up far from grandparents and all that love was missed by them on a regular daily basis. Grandparents enrich children's lives I think but children are busy nowadays and unless you live close to them they do not get that flooding love that grandparents impart to their grandchildren.

Today I will post the Pincombe-Pinkham Newsletter so that it is online on the 1st. It does take a day or so to get that onto the FT DNA study website for Pincombe-Pinkham. Sometimes I wonder if I have solved a mystery finding Philip Pynkeham on the 1545 subsidy as an individual not readily linked to the North Molton branch of the Pencombe/Pincombe family but then  I find Edward Pencombe in the same place (Tawstock) on the 1581 subsidy. One day perhaps I will solve the mystery or perhaps someone else will do that but I want to leave everything readily available that I have put together so that it can be examined/refuted/revised/proven in the future by another avid surname researcher!

Basement to clean today and will begin soon. Breakfast is next. A new month is coming and June has a reputation for being rather wet which would be nice. The ground is so very dry considering the water level in the rivers is so high still. My daughter went kayaking night before last and the bridge is not yet put in at the take-off point the water is so high. She said it was glorious, beavers in abundance and one came over to look at her in the kayak. Not too close but curious none the less. You can get into spots not available when the water is lower so an interesting trip. Must get back to looking at kayaks but I want a simple one; not expensive, and a youth size as I want to be able to manage it easily. 

Cucumbers planted yesterday; we forgot them. Although we would also eat them, the racoon seems to enjoy them as well. Time will tell; we have not seen him/her for a while. 

On to breakfast. Another beautiful day  at 13 degrees celsius with a high predicted at 27 degrees celsius. There is a weather alert with the high temperature to be cautious to keep hydrated. Will water tonight if the beds are dry. A typical May day for sure.