Friday was another severe smoke day; the forest fires in Quebec and Ontario are still raging. June is usually a rainy month so hopefully the danger will soon pass but we are getting lots of help with our forest fires. Can we blame it on Climate Change; I have no idea really as I grew up in southwestern Ontario where I can never actually remember a day that was in the extreme level of smog but we have lived here for 48 years so in my mind this has probably become home. It was a slow happening though as I still thought of my home as southwestern Ontario until both of my parents died. Going home always rejuvenated me and grounded me in my roots. It was a wondrous feeling actually. But now eastern Ontario is my home and where my roots are sort of not quite the same as childhood when my roots were definitely in southwestern Ontario although my grandfather sent those roots much deeper back into the roots that he felt from the Andover area of Hampshire, England. That was home for him. He could trace back in his mind many many grandparents ago and did share that with me although I was just a little over eight years of age when he died. I should have written it all down but I was also one to keep everything in my head and as the years passed it did become somewhat tumbled - but I did know back to Joseph Blake and Joanna his wife. Before that it was a mixture of names - Thomas, William, John and others but especially Nicholas - Nicholas I did retain but did not remember where he was located in the line back. Nicholas lived at Old Hall - so said my grandfather and my father actually. It was a story that was important to them and so I did retain that from ancient times as it turned out for Nicholas Blake left his will naming Old Hall as his home on the 31st of May 1547 and probated not long after on the 20th Jun 1547. Not a long will but a perfect will naming all of his living children, his wife and a good deal on where he lived. This excellent will in English was amongst one of the first that I transcribed way back during my paleography lessons in my package from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies.
Next set of exercises coming up - weight lifting. Having osteoporosis weight lifting is a must at my age - all weight bearing exercises help with bone health. I probably get inspired because I do sit at my desk on the computer for about eight hours of the day between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. I break up the time with lots of exercises and walking, important if you are young but especially important as you age for sure. It is tempting though to just sit there hour after hour working on my research.
Garden looking good but will have to start watering if we soon do not have rain. This has been a rather dry June actually. The rain which does fall is basically evaporated within a day or so. That to me is Climate Change and something we need to manage much better than we are.
Blake Newsletter due 1st of July started today and there is once again a guest article. A very lucky happening for me as it saves me a bit of research time. I do have some material for this issue from the Devon Lay Subsidies which I purchased earlier for the Pincombe family. There are a few Blake entries which is again more support for the idea that the Blake family in Devon is not descendant of the Blake family of Knights Enham. Since this has been theorized in print a few times I would like to at least add my thoughts on the idea which indeed I have done.
We were off to a cottage and Saturday sped by with us arriving home late and now it is Sunday. Eaten alive by black flies.
Busy day today and the air quality index is good. Church on You-Tube. May garden if that works out today.
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