The choosing of Matthias

The Bible Reading today is the choosing of Matthias (there is actually more than one reading a day as I am sure is well known but this was the selected passage sent to me by the Canadian Bible Society). I could just go and find all the readings of the day but this is the way that my life has flowed - receiving the reading from the Canadian Bible Society. 

I have always seen this as a significant turning point for the Church; the followers of Jesus, the Apostles as they have come to be known, have now moved to do the work of Jesus in the world as he asked. Bringing their numbers back up to twelve was a step forward in that work. Leaving the position empty would be a forever reminder of Judas who had betrayed Jesus for money. It was a lesson in time how greed can destroy a person. It is a lesson taught to us (if we happen to be Anglican or likely any religion but I was raised Anglican) from early childhood how Judas betrayed Jesus. Betrayal happens as the followers of Jesus learned to their sorrow but time passed and they moved forward to do the work Jesus left for them to do. They supported each other those eleven and it made it possible for them to progress forward; Jesus knew that their numbers must be sufficient to support the cause that God sent him to earth to create - the Christian Church. But also the new commandments that have resonated down through the ages Love God with all your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbour as yourself. Following those commandments could bring us to that uplifted plain where peace is if only greed and lust for power could disappear from our world.

Yesterday I once again managed to do two images and I now have nearly 600 records a good many of which are from the 1500s (40 thus far although I have a lot of them but the new ones are most interesting) and 1600s (218 and I noted that I do not have some of these) which is my area of interest at the moment. I am now half way through the month and in another week must prepare the Pincombe-Pinkham Newsletter. I still believe I will work on the third-fourth generation if only to share some of the results with the readers. But I hope to work in the wills/land records/subsidies into the new data and see what can be forthcoming. Although the general rule is to work backwards since much is known about this very early family now with the various records there is a positive feeling on my part about moving forward from likely John Pencombe coming to North Molton with Lord de la Zouch in the latter part of the 1480s following the Battle of Bosworth Field which saw Richard III defeated (and Lord de la Zouch had supported him for which he was attainted) and King Henry VII is now King of England bringing the people together by marrying Elizabeth of York a daughter of King Edward IV. Although tragedy stalked in the wings, the marriage of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York united the country and once again the Royal House moved forward in time to their destiny. John Pencombe is but a small part of that story of success out of a brutal civil war. No ideas yet on his possible relationship to the Pencombe family of Herefordshire but time may reveal many things of interest as has already been seen in the records collected. The Pencombe family was still in Herefordshire in the 1600s. On Free BMD there are six records for Pencombe and all of them are in Devon with this spelling of the name being fairly rare it would appear. There are 0 records for the spelling Pencomb. It has occurred to me that individual members in the 1500s that I can not place could have come from Herefordshire to Devonshire so attention to Herefordshire as well in the 1500s continues to be important.

The Psalms CD by Ian White is playing as usual - I do hope it lasts a while with all of this use. Edward preferred Gregorian Chants although I would have said he gave any music a chance and had a broad listening range. I have hundreds of music CDs that I will not likely ever listen to but will keep a little longer. Since I have the space it is not necessary for me to downsize them at the moment.

Finishing up my cleaning today and otherwise a quiet day. I shall start pulling dandelions this week as they have flowered well but it is time to start to prepare the land for the summer flowering and gardening. Mostly I will try to just break them off at the ground level so that the roots remain to rot in the ground. The bees can not do anything with seed heads of dandelion and I do not need an entire yard of them but helping the bees has become a new project. The other day I could see and hear them working the dandelions in the backyard. It was a good sound and I listened for a bit. Their life is busy for sure as is  mine. I am very self-centered these days but include family in my thinking and prayers. I have much I might accomplish or it may be others who do that time will tell. But for the moment I do have time.

We are promised sun again and it is 7 degrees celsius at 6:30 a.m. Rain is coming tomorrow and it is very needed already. Mud season did not last a long time but June can be pretty wet as well but July is always dry.

I had to discontinue my 325 mg of coated aspirin a day and my ocular migraines which can lead to a full debilitating migraine are starting to re-appear although nothing substantial yet. I have had these migraines since I was eleven years of age and have used aspirin for most of my life to control them (I stopped taking them when we were thinking of having children and when we were expecting but the price is a little expensive as they do limit my lifestyle for sure). I am a great believer in acetylsalicyclic acid - it is a simple drug that has been around for millennia as the precursor to aspirin found in the bark of the willow tree. Charles Gerhardt (Chemist) created the modern drug in 1853 by reacting sodium salicylate with acetyl chloride and new formulations are created in an even more efficient pattern but aspirin must be used with caution. I never take it without a substantial meal in my stomach! Not taking aspirin will take a little will power on my part to abstain for long enough until I am ready to begin once again. I expect to use it all of my days or my ocular migraines will control my day and my work output diminishes.

On to the day. There is much to do.