Monday was a busy day

Monday was a day of good accomplishment. I thought more about how to work on the Pencombe etc. material and will start that tomorrow as today is yet another cleaning day. Basement cleaned yesterday, COVID booster shot done and the garden soil ordered. I walked up to get my booster shot in the pouring rain but quite enjoyed it. I haven't walked in the rain for awhile it would appear. But my new way is to use the car less and walk outside more when I have time. I know I will not run outside again as I find it very interesting to watch the TV as I run in the basement. Not quite the same as running outside although I do run in a circle for the fourty minutes. This will be the first year that we do not do the Race Weekend. We will still do the 10K but at home. We decided not to register as there are always enough people to fill all the spots and it gives two other people the opportunity to do that. I have enough medals for sure and with the total number running limited it just seems to be a good idea although we have been running virtually since COVID restrictions were first put in place. Last year our medals were delivered at the door and I just felt that that was a lot of work for someone and we are unlikely to run again downtown since it does give two other people a chance to run. 

The garden soil will be welcomed when it arrives. I want to work away on the lawn improving it where the winter is hard on it. The flower beds need some fresh soil and we continue our regenerative gardening by not turning the soil and will just add some on top. Having dug that garden for ten years it does sound like a good idea - 77 is too old to dig a garden really and we gave away the rototiller which I could not use anyway; I am not strong enough. Together, my daughter and I will do regenerative gardening. The little greenhouse has begun to do its task and already there are tiny little white tendrils telling me that growth is happening. They will be ready to be planted by the end of the month. However, I will still buy bedding plants for peppers and tomatoes. But it will be nice to have the sunflowers a good size before we put them out. We need to buy fencing to put around some of the items or the rabbits will eat everything. We will grow a couple of rows of carrots at the back of the garden for the bunnies and some parsley. The racoon has not been back at the back door again. I banged on the door and frightened it away. I am not actually in favour of feeding wild animals but my husband did like to feed the chipmunks. I do not feed them but if they climb up into the bird feeder and risk the crows then they may get some of that feed. I think a lot of them get picked off by the hawks as they have a good swooping path into the yard and they are attentive soaring high in the sky all summer long. 

Made hash on Sunday with a package of extra lean beef and really enjoyed that. A little oil and then garlic and onions browned; add the meat and brown it. Then about half a litre of water and add grated carrot and simmer for five minutes, adding chopped peppers about half way through,  then frozen peas and right at the end chopped spinach. Absolutely delicious; I loved hash as a child. Actually I loved anything that I didn't have to chew and chew for sure. But at best I am not a big meat eater. I will have lovely scallops tomorrow with a sweet potato mashed and some frozen peas and perhaps throw some chopped up spinach into that water at the end as I also love fresh spinach all year round. I wonder when we will start to grow spinach hydroponically or maybe it doesn't work well and the other argument not enough people would buy it. It must be commercially viable to grow it here in Canada in the winter. There is generally only a small amount of freshly picked spinach in the store. It is mostly in plastic containers.

On to the day; the Psalms are playing and the world looks forward one day to peace in our time. The Coronation of King Charles III on Saturday will be a world wide event for sure as the British do such royal events so spectacularly even the most hardened anti-monarchist will be watching I suspect. Pageantry is definitely one of their exports to the world and it is enjoyed by all. On display the ancient relics of the British people through the ages - the Golden State Coach, the Crown Jewels. It will be spectacular to view. The actual Coronation Ceremony at Westminster Abbey celebrated there since 1066 when William, Duke of Normandy became King of England - William I (interesting it was the French overlords who took over England at that time). I wonder in my mind if my Blake line at Andover made the trek to London to see the spectacle. At that time no surname but by the early 1300s the name Blake is in the Manor Books at Andover (Winchester Record Office now has a list of the material for Andover and I see the earliest is 1379-1380 court roll, I must investigate the cost of making scans of some of this material and will look at the images that I have to see if I misread the early 1300s as the date) and their yDNA tells me that their presence in the present day UK is in the 8,000 to 12,000 year range. I have bounced back and forth between the possibility that the Blake line at Andover arrived in the Salisbury area in 1441 from Ireland found in the 1330-1550 Emigrants to England database) until I found this reference (in Latin which I am only just starting to be able to read) and now I need to find those images that I have not looked at for awhile.  Little pockets of that ancient yDNA are found in the British Isles but especially in the Galway area of Eire (present day Republic of Ireland). One can imagine as this small group of hunter gatherers made their way north from the ice refuges along the Mediterranean across Europe and then Doggerland into present day southern England and my line just decided to stop in the now Andover area whilst their companions moved on across southern England into what is now Ireland and all the way to the Atlantic Ocean across Ireland where the largest concentration is found these days of that yDNA. Long live King Charles III and may we continue to have his wisdom as our Head of State and not be thrown to the wolves with yet another political figure. Heads of State are precious really as they represent continuity in our world. In his case he has proven his worth with his early work on the environment every bit of which has proven to be true although he was ridiculed for his ideas way back in his youth. His farsightedness has made the Duchy of Cornwall a very wealthy and progressive area in organic farming long before it was fashionable. 

Breakfast awaits. More rain for the fields (humidity 98%) and it is welcomed. Cold today though just 5 degrees celsius now with a promise of up to 11 degrees. Snow is gently mentioned although we will not likely see that in the city.