Sorting continues

We are working on projects these days as we sort through Edward's research boxes. He scanned an enormous amount of his material in the last couple of years before he passed away making it much easier to shred that material. He would likely have shredded it himself but he found the dust from shredding was bothering him. I have another box of shredding to do over the next little while. But we are reaching the end of that I rather think. Most of what is left are original family pictures and we need to find homes for them closer to where the bulk of the people live who descend from these people. Already thinking of two projects for next summer - accumulating the Kipp material of original images and checking to see whether the BC Archives (most of the material is for the Kipp family of Chilliwack who were amongst the early settlers in that area from Upper Canada) and the Folkins, Parlee, Allen families who were from New Brunswick so will prepare that set of original images for the NB  Archives to see if they would like to have that material. Gradually we are doing the work that he wanted done with his material. Found more material for the Princeton Museum. This again is original material and it was in a box labeled Princeton Museum but that was inside another box so only just now unearthed. 

Lovely service yesterday although I again missed the Sermon as it is not on YouTube in the summer. I could have sought out other channels but did not do so. Perhaps next summer I will do that but I am enjoying the trip down memory lane as I relive those early days of the Pandemic shutdown when we received the Sunday Bulletin in our email and just read and sang the service by myself. 

Cleaning day today and decided to do the work on the research boxes to take advantage then of the regular cleaning on Monday to eliminate the dust that results from going through old papers. We did the closet in my workroom yesterday as Edward had gradually filled that with boxes of his research. I continue with just one large box of paper as I have tried to stick to electronic only if that is possible but I have accumulated some paper which I shall gradually eliminate over the next few years. It is all scanned so easily done actually. George DeKay who managed to get me to do the Pincombe Profile for the Western Township History Book had so much material in his house when I was first there that I made that decision early on to have electronic and for the most part that has been possible. Edward already had so much material and my interest was really in the surname itself and working my way backwards in time as far as I could reach and as it turns out with an English surname one can get back quite aways especially if you have verbal family stories to help in the trek backwards. Plus my people came late compared to Edward's people who were here from 1620s on and mostly all here by the early 1700s. He has only a few emigrant ancestors after the early 1700s. My earliest arrivals were 1818 and then the next 1832ish, then 1850, followed by 1908 and then my father and his parents in 1913. So I am a newbie (first generation Canadian on my father's side) and fourth generation on my mother's side going back from her father to his mother. All the rest were born in England.

No work on Siderfin yesterday other than a sort spate which completed the eighth generation in terms of compacting the text from my Legacy file. I need to go in and reference everything now and add in details that James Sanders had in his book along with details that I have acquired. Will finish off the seventh generation when I acquire the document from the National Archives of the UK (likely by the middle of the month). For the most part the seventh generation is complete. I suspect that I will move quickly through the next three generations - 9th to 12th. It will end with the 12th as that is my mother's generation and she was born in the early 1900s. I will keep up the 100 year anonymity rule that we practise in Canada. Most people do know their grandparents and it will be easy to work oneself back to that in the book. It was my 3x great grandmother that was in James Sanders book but with the will of the husband of my 3x great grandmother I was able to link to my 2x great grandmother known to me as my mother had all of that research. 

Looking forward to peace as it does seem once again to be within the grasp of the United Nations. The slow methodical clawback by Ukraine of their territory is resulting in fewer deaths it would appear all around although injuries are still horrific - Russia has mined the fields - a barbaric act for sure. But God will judge not man and we will move back towards that uplifted plain of peace where all peoples of the earth walk as equals. Russia's threats of nuclear bombs reminds me that this is God's world and we but one species upon it. We must not permit imperialistic bullies to take away people's freedom; the right of a sovereign nation to exist. We are a God-loving, God-fearing people in the Western Hemisphere; God's love is always there but God's retribution can be very fierce and final. 

6:00 a.m. and it is humid and 14 degrees celsius. Rain again today and the greenery is lovely even if some of it is weeds. As a child I loved our backyard with its abundant dandelions, daisies and other wild flowers. That was after my grandfather passed away as he gardened a large part of that yard when he was living. Whenever I was out there I could sense his presence in that yard where he spent so much time when I was a child and he was living with us. When the clouds rolled over I would remember that they kept rolling on and on towards Upper Clatford where he lived as a boy. The memories that grandparents pass to grandchildren can be quite wonderful when one is young. My grandfather died when I was just eight years of age but I do have all those years of memories enjoyed. 

Tea time and Jumping Jacks. Unplugged one of my ears that had a mosquito in it which then filled with wax. Pumped that out this morning. I do hate it when mosquitoes go into the ears. Lovely walk on the beach yesterday early evening. The parking lot was only about 1/5 full so lots of room; no need to crowd. The dog days of August approach and the nights continue to shorten.

Copyright or not to copyright

If I copyright the Siderfin Book revision and update that I am doing then technically no one can rewrite it until 75 years after my death. For me that goes against the very idea that I am supporting; that a personal generational book on a family be up to date. It is really of interest only to family members. A number of them read my blog and perhaps the best way to disseminate the book is by serializing it and publishing it on my blog over a period of time. That way as long as my blog exists so does the book. I can also ask if Family Search, Guild of one name-studies (I am member #4600), and the local repositories at the Registry Offices in the pertinent counties in England and the National Archives of the UK have a copy if they want one. I could donate a copy to Ancestry since they do have books on line and that would reach a large population at no cost to them other than uploading it and putting it into their system. I am not sure if Find My Past has such a system of books on their site and will investigate. I am beginning to see a clearer path. Technically it is under my copyright when I put it on my blog but I would have to complain about it and that also defeats the purpose of the work that I am doing. Plus I am informing, as I come across changes that I believe are valid and changes that are proven valid by me, on my blog on a daily basis. So yes I think I may have a process which I shall begin to investigate in the Fall since I hope to complete the book in November. Once I have such a method in place then publishing the Pencombe etc, Andover Blake family and any other book that comes to mind will be a straightforward method. 

Slept in today, too much thinking I always say and it keeps my mind active. There is another method to publish and will look into that something about property and then do not need to think about copyright which I would already have since I have created the work. I do like the idea of publishing it on the blog though although it will take quite a while to publish it as some of the chapters are long although do lend themselves to being broken up because I have created them as generational chapters but with the three lines William-Line, Robert-Line and Thomas-Line. As I am now reaching the line coming down from Robert Siderfin and Elizabeth Question and the remainder of the Siderfin male lines daughtering out it will be possible to do this same break in a different way. So I shall consider that idea as well. 

I could print the book in a few copies for family and that is also a consideration. But would not go beyond my siblings. When George DeKay published his book and I think he did three hundred copies, he did sell them to the family but it was the 1970s and it just is a different time now. One doesn't need to have a hardcover book and if one wants that it can easily be printed at Staples or another store that offers such a service. After all how valuable is such a book; only of interest to the descendant family actually. 

Another beautiful Sunday and soon time for Church once again using the bulletin and saying and singing the service. Although it is not what Jesus planned that we would do on a Sunday; the idea was to gather with like minded individuals and celebrate God. The Church was to be the fountain by which the children of God would help the peoples of the world who could not help themselves. You can see that in the briefs of contributions/donations prepared by the Churches in England over the centuries. I transcribed one for Knights Enham and it was amazing. There are perhaps ten pages of transcription but this rather caught my eye:

August 1703

Collected for the Chepstow Breif    1    9    0
Collected for Lutterworth    1    6    0
Collected for the Breif for St Giles Church    0    1    4
Collected for Gusford Breif    0    2    3
Collected for the Breif for Moxky Kisly Church    0    1    3
Collected for the Breif for Spittlefeilds    0    1    6
Collected for Farringdon Breif    0    0    11

All these entered together
According to order
Jo: Feilder (signed) Curate
Edward Dowling (signed) Church Warden

Collected for the French protestant
Refugees of the Principality of Orange
fourteen shillings

Collected for the sufferers by fire
at Wapping two shillings ten pence

Jo: Feilder (signed) Curate
Edward Dowling (signed) Church Warden

Collected for W[es]t Brompton sufferers
by fire in the County of Salop two shillings    0    2    0

Jo: Feilder (signed)

But there were also briefs for the redemption of Slaves under the Holy Roman Emperor in September 1700. As well for the Redemption of Slaves in Turkey. This one even older before 1700:

The collection for the distressed Protestants in Poland the lesser
in the Diocess of Cracow, registred according to order
            s   
Richard    Pyle Esq[ui]re    0    0    6
Mrs.    Kingsmill    0    1    0
Mrs.     Pitman    0    0    6
Laur.    Smith Rector    0    1    0
Mrs.    Blake    0    0    4
Farmer    Hawkins    0    0    4
John    James    0    0    3
Mary    Fedges    0    0    2
William    Wescott    0    0    1
Phillip    Waglin    0    0    1
John    Moor    0    0    1
George    Noys    0    0    1
William    Huett    0    1    1
Farmer    Tredgold    0    0    2
    In all    0    4    8

Laur: Smith (signed) Rector

John Treadgold (signed)

Amazing really the reach of this small village church around the world back before 1700. 

I do love the Church very much and the new commandments which Jesus gave to us from God himself - love the Lord Gord with all they heart, soul, mind and strength and love thy neighbour as ourself. 

The African leaders have returned home from their meeting in Moscow. They tried to help Ukraine and that is wondrous to support Ukraine in their hour of need. To actually suggest not helping Ukraine is a sin I think. They have done nothing wrong; they were invaded for greed and we as a people of the world must help them to throw out the imperialistic nazis Putin and his enablers. These Russian people are truly a manifestation of the Devil and destroying life for the people of Russia as well who can not escape their devil leader and his enablers.

It is late but onto the day, jumping jacks and a cup of tea. Soon breakfast and the clock is ticking towards 9:00 a.m.

Thank you African countries

Thank you to the many African leaders who have told President Putin that he needs to let the grain deal recommence and that his war against Ukraine should end. As the cradle of humanity, Africa is playing such a huge part in making this world a better place. No country can be permitted to do what Russia did and continues doing; attacking a sovereign country; murdering that country's children, men and women; destroying their history and their culture and making their land unusable by mining it. Get out of Ukraine as established by the United Nations and let the path to peace begin once again.The United Nations is our place to discuss and with words; not the battlefield with weapons. 

What a storm that was yesterday. We did not get any hail that I noticed but the rain was heavy for a bit. Today there is a glorious golden sky in the east which has gradually filled the horizon. The winds are quiet although a slight breeze now and then in the trees. We have so much to worry about making sure there is a world for the children and grandchildren to be that climate change should be what we are striving to fix in this world. Not the foolish war that Russia has started and continues against the Ukrainian nation and its people. 

More work on the Siderfin book yesterday as the seventh and eighth generations are slowly coming together. Thinking about how to publish this book so that it is available to the Siderfin family members and a few suggestions thrown around included publishing it on my blog as a serial item. Sending the completed copy to any site that holds electronic books of this type - how to do this? Does one request permission to send this book to libraries? The value in the revision and updated version is the corrections which have become somewhat larger than I had initially imagined primarily because of the ability to glean records from the indexes of the repositories and then purchase the records. The cost to me remains somewhat minimal because I would have purchased the items anyway. So how to make it available with the least amount of work for me is the discussion I have been having. How does one make deposit copies of a book so that it is available where it can be useful? Hopefully over the next couple of months I can find answers to these thoughts. The initial run of the book does appear to be less than 200 copies but being available on Internet Archive and a couple of other places has made a difference in the viewability of the original book. Hence the need to revise and update it since it was published in 1912 and directed really at a small number of the descendant lines in the Robert Siderfin/Elizabeth Question family. 

Today must be a gardening day of some sort. I have found that my lack of interest in gardening has rather increased the amount of weed in my backyard; flowers from the yard on either side are moving in and I will probably let that happen since I do like the colour but next year I must look more carefully at this regenerative gardening. I do think that you need to weed before the top layer of soil is added. I did do that in the small area behind the raspberries and that worked well until just lately when the weeds are now more noticeable. I think one must probably weed. The smoke and the heat have complicated gardening this year as I have avoided being out in that. 

Last night we made Thai larb and it was quite delicious. The resultant meat/vegetable mix was at the perfect state of moistness that we were able to place it into lettuce cups and then eat it in a taco type holder. Really quite delicious along with a broccoli/raisin/sunflower seed salad. We enjoy that recipe. Again the recipe makes enough for two meals and perhaps a small third one. Tomorrow it will be a Fritata with a Focaccia - wheat and rye flours plus a mixture of tiny tomatoes sliced, green onion, garlic, sesame seeds on top and a romaine/purple lettuce salad on the side. 

Just 16 degrees celsius outside so a welcome change from the heat spell of the last few days. The dog days of August are coming as the nights lengthen once again. All that research time ahead; must buckle down and get some more gardening done! But first jumping jacks, my tea and then an hour or so on the computer with my favourite solitaire games. and perhaps some latin on duolingo to start the day off.

Another day of heat with thunderstorms predicted

Twenty degrees celsius at 5:00 a.m. and 28 expected high and air quality already at 63 so not a good day outside for sure. I hadn't planned an outside day so that works for me. 

Continuing to work on the Siderfin book and the seventh and eighth generations. I heard back from the National Archives and the page check did work out and I will get a copy of the answer by Robert and Ursula Siderfin and John Siderfin by the middle of the month. Looking forward to that and anticipate that it will support my theory that this Robert had just one grandchild - Robert Siderfin married to Elizabeth Question and nine great grandchildren. His line will end up being the only Siderfin male line to survive into the 1800s and continue to the present day. Interesting how life flows. The matches that my four siblings and myself have with Siderfin descendants are rather interesting. In particular on Ancestry where some of the matches are large considering the separation. We have Siderfin matches on 23 & Me, Ancestry, FT DNA, Living DNA, and My Heritage. Thus far, I have not found any Siderfin-Siderfin marriages up to the eighth generation; a feature that does concentrate the DNA in interesting ways. 

A lovely walk on the beach yesterday although it was pretty warm being out in the air was pleasant. Having spent most of my childhood time at the beach on Lake Huron, a river beach does seem rather tame but there was a bit of a breeze with subsequent waving into the beach which gave an interesting sound to a usually quiet body of water. 

Beginning to think about the Pencombe/Pincombe/Pinkham book and looking forward to beginning that particular project next year. I have quite a bit of material on hand now and will continue to check out possibilities for early research. Again I will use the indexes of the National Archives, Herefordshire, Somerset and Devon to locate early documents and acquire them if I feel they will add to the substance of the Pencombe etc book. It will also be only electronic. I am not into publishing other than electronic. Again I anticipate and do hope that in the future as more material becomes available that revisions will happen. I do not see my children taking on these projects; their interest is minimal and mostly being polite to their aging mother! Preservation of the past is in the interest of the world as we learn much from the lessons of the past. Being a competitive person by nature I do understand the desire to be competitive but in our world's present state it is more important that we work together to ensure the best future for the descendants in a world that can repair and regenerate itself. 

Interesting article on the people of Beringia and that the present day First Peoples of the Western Hemisphere may represent at least three sets of migration including the peoples of Beringia whose actual ancestry is indeterminate other than Eastern Europe/Asia. Presumably all of the three sets of migration are from Eastern Europe/Asia with all groups originating in Africa - the cradle of Homo sapiens civilization. I think the most interesting work other than the work on the First Peoples of the Western Hemisphere is the work on the Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA and the proportions which show up in our own genes. Homo erectus is also an interesting DNA search as the earliest specimens located were on the Island of Java (Indonesia) but it is now known that Homo erectus lived in both Europe and Asia with the origin still being a mystery whether it was Africa or Europe where Homo erectus first arose. There is so much to do to understand our past as the only surviving human species on the planet and so much to do to repair the planet that competitiveness and imperialism do need to disappear in order that we do the best for our world. 

COVID-19 showed us just how vulnerable we, Homo sapiens, are to nature. Nature does always find a way to survive and we are but one species on the planet. 

Jumping Jacks and tea soon just to wake up the brain for another day of learning. My latin on duolingo is going well and reading through the Probatum the other day I was surprised at how much I have picked up in just two months. Solitaire games do also wake up the brain and then on to breakfast, more research, weight lifting, research again, running, lunch and so the day progresses in God's world. Daylight now at 6:00 a.m. but the wind is silent for the moment.

Transcribed and updated

This morning is grey and rainy and we have had another good rain overnight. The wind is blowing gently in the trees and the shorter day is making itself felt now. We are approaching August and the end of the summer and gardening mostly thank goodness. Gardening is not really my thing although the produce is very nice for sure. My daughter has found the gardening perhaps too busy this summer working on her research. 

I transcribed the five pages yesterday received from the Somerset Archives and it flowed pretty much as I had developed my theory of just who Robert Siderfin leaving his will in 1688 was. That part has now been revised in the book and today I received a verification of the page that I requested from the National Archives. The answer is just one page and may or may not have many details but mostly it will let me see that the Robert Siderfin alive in 1653 with wife Ursula was the Robert Siderfin born in 1587 and not his son born in 1616. I had thought that Robert died in 1636 but it does appear that it was his eldest son who has died and John Siderfin is still living. Why I do not see this John Siderfin in the records is somewhat peculiar but I will look again just to see if I have missed anything. But in general this John lived at Selworthy, likely married Thomasine unknown and was the father of Robert Siderfin baptized in 1658 at Selworthy and the only Siderfin male in the Robert-Line coming down from Robert 4 (Robert 3, William 2, John 1). He may possibly be the only descendant of that line with both his older sister Wilmot and his older brother Robert not leaving any descendants as far as I can tell at this point in time. 

Today I continue the Seventh Generation as there is a little rewriting to do there and once I have the new document I can close the chapter and on to Generation Eight although it is already begun and if I have time may work on it as well today.

I must remember to post the Kip-Kipp Newsletter on the 1st of August. This will likely be the last longish one as I have completed the children of the emigrant Hendrick Hendricksen  known as Hendrick Hendricksen Kip in New Amsterdam. 

The wind is still in the trees moving softly outside of my window. God is in the Heavens ever watching and ever waiting for mankind to do the right thing. Find peace; follow the new commandments - Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbour as ourself. That is the path to peace and Russia has broken that path with their illegal invasion of Ukraine. The school yard bully and Nazi Putin and his enablers are spoiling the world for everyone actually; one can no longer close the drawbridge and ignore the world. Their greed knows no bounds as they destroy the peace brought to us by the United Nations. Greed does lurk everywhere though and we must find a way to put greed into the past and make this a better world for the grandchildren and great grandchildren to be. They deserve a better world than we are handing them.

Tea is ready and solitaire games to be played. On to the day.  

Interesting article on Ancient courtship: DNA reveals how Stone Age women left home for love. by Joseph Brean. He refers to a recent paper published in Nature: "Extensive pedigrees reveal the social organization of a Neolithic community." These graves will yield much material I rather think. It is one of the things I really like about Ancestry DNA. Although no actual data is available it is the Shared Matches that lead on backwards in time to the Common ancestors and surprisingly in the Siderfin family I have many many matches all around the globe. I think there are some lengths of chromosome that simply survive generation after generation giving unexpected larger matches than anticipated. Although this is in recent time one wonders if these ancient graves will eventually yield up lengths of chromosome that exist and remain intact through the centuries. Time will tell and it is good to see more and more articles on DNA and ancient graves. But the sheer size of the database at Ancestry does let one investigate into those matches and have a good look at how this DNA has moved through the family and around the world. Having the DNA of four of my six siblings on Ancestry has been an eye opener. 

Must get breakfast, the morning is passing already 9:25 a.m.

 

Research days again

Going to have a humid spell so for sure research days once again for a little while. There is so much work to do in the garden but I am too old to do all that and my daughter is busy with her research. Amazingly everything keeps on growing including the weeds but the tomatoes, onions, lettuces, beans, radishes have all been lovely. The cucumbers are in full flower now but I am allergic to them so they will all be consumed by my daughter or the racoon whichever gets to them first. I saw a skunk this morning out the front window about 6:00 a.m. Just slinking about through the front garden and then left the way that it came back around the house next door. Lovely white stripe; amazing how it is always so white even though he/she wanders about in the garden. I guess they are very tidy animals. No sign of the racoon family in the early morning hours since I clapped them out of the yard. The sun is trying to work its way through and the air quality was 61 earlier. I think perhaps this is really an indoors day. 

Off to the doctor yesterday for my as it turns out 1.5 yearly checkup/consultation. I needed to get a blood work requisition since I am having my cataract surgery sometime this fall and learn about my colonoscopy results. No further workup needed apparently but at 78 nearly I have to die of something and so I try to keep in touch with the doctor so as not to encumber the system with a whole lot of sudden illness on my part. 

God is in the Heavens as always but no wind in the trees today to signal His presence but always watching and waiting our God to see if we can actually follow the commandments as given. Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbour as yourself. There could be peace all over the world if people would just do that. We would still need to be prepared to do war as we have no idea what awaits us in the Heavens or here on earth. But peace is what we wanted after the Second World War and for the most part other than fractional disputes over the years we have had peace until Russia invaded Ukraine with their lust for land and property. Their pretense for doing so is laughable; they have been attacking Ukraine for nearly 100 years in one way or another. They are jealous that the Ukrainian peoples are more ancient than they are to the area and that is also part of all of this and so they maliciously kill their children along with the men and women of Ukraine as they have been doing for nearly 100 years and more. Glory to Ukraine as they take back the other 50% of their territory. I would pray for Death to the Russian Invaders but truly I would like to see the Russian people have a better life than the one given to them by the psychopathic Nazi Putin and his enablers. Go back to the borders established by the United Nations Russians and leave the Ukrainians to live their lives and help to feed the world with their abundant harvest - your war is spoiling life for so many far beyond the borders of Ukraine.

Today I write in to the revised book of James Sanders what I discovered in the documents which were sent to me by the Somerset Research Archives service. The five pages clearly point to the accuracy of my supposition that Robert Siderfin the Elder of East Linch (and he was the son of Robert Siderfin the Elder of Linch and Timberscombe) had two sons Robert and William with Robert being at East Linch and William being at Minehead.  Neither of these lines produced a male heir who continued the line and so were daughtered out in the 1700s. Now for the document from the National Archives concerning Robert Siderfin and Ursula, along with John Siderfin, which refers to Timberscombe. It will be an interesting one and is the other part of my supposition which may prove to be accurate. Time will tell and it is the 28th of July when they may respond to me in that regard. I may yet complete the 7th generation by the end of July and then on to the 8th and 9th in August. 

Yesterday we cooked in the air fryer - lovely chicken thighs, small potatoes, green onions, peppers, carrots and broccoli and with a side salad entirely from our garden except for the lemon dressing (just lemon juice absolutely delicious). But now I am hungry so must make my breakfast. On to the day.

Earthquake and Fukushima

 Watching a new series called "The Days" which details the time from the earthquake and resultant tsunami on the 11th March 2011 which caused a nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma Japan. The precision with which nuclear accidents are handled is extremely important for the ultimate outcome. I am just at the beginning of the series but already the series is depicting the preciseness of the shutdown to contain any possible damage. 

Contrast that with the carelessness of the Russians in Zaporizhzhia Ukraine. Refusing to let the International Atomic Energy Agency control the plant which continues to this day although they did eventually permit members of the IAEA in to inspect. The Russians need to get out of Zaporizhzhia and all of  Ukraine as defined by the United Nations as quickly as possible; Russia is destroying our world; the peace bought so dearly during the Second World War when millions were killed including many many civilians. Remembering that the Russians signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with the Nazis to divide Poland in half but also defining "spheres of influence" for the Nazis and Russians in Northern and Eastern Europe, we did put that in the back of our minds when the Nazis did attack Russia; we helped the Russians. But with total lack of respect for the rest of the world which had developed the United Nations to end war, Russia attacked Ukraine over 500 days ago now. And they continue their barbarism to this day. Russia get out of Ukraine; go back to the borders as established by the United Nations in the 1990s. Russia is a terrorist nation with no respect for anyone but themselves. 

This will be an interesting series when one contrasts the care that was taken during the disaster in Japan with Russia at Zaporizhzhia where they created the disaster in waiting and continue to permit the possibility of a disaster actually happening because Russia does not get out and let the IAEA take the steps needed to prevent any disaster.

Downpour and the rains came down once again

We had another good rain yesterday and today it is still this morning; no wind in the trees. The rain still dripping just a little from the trees. This has actually been a good July for rain; usually it is rather dry. I have not watered even once. Cloudy today and 18 degrees celsius at 6:30 a.m. Basement to clean today. Then cleaning finished for another week. This slow but busy way that my life moves is productive for me. I have time for working, cleaning, cooking, and just watching the television. Thank you God for our beautiful earth; may the years ahead see us heal the damage that has caused Climate Change and we become more supportive of all the beings and produce of the earth; instead of its usurper.

Ukraine has recovered 50% of what the Russians took from them; Glory to Ukraine. The mess the Russians have left behind will plague the Ukrainians for a generation as they must check each foot of earth occupied by the imperialistic invaders for mines before they will be able to work the fields and produce food for the billions of the world. Russia has committed a lot of sins in Ukraine but this sin against the world is disgusting and continues as they refuse to extend the agreement letting ships pick up grain from Ukrainian ports. Russia is disturbing the trade of the world with their illegal imperialistic march into Ukraine that has cost them thousands of Russian lives as their soldiers die on foreign battlefields created by them but mostly it has upset the trade patterns of the world. I do pray that Ukraine can rid the other 50% of their territory of the Russians soon. Glory to Ukraine.

Time for tea and letting the robot clean the rug in the basement before I begin the task of cleaning that area. The day passes quickly and I hope to get some research done today as well. I will enter in the gist of the documents that I received from the Somerset Archives. I still have not decided if I will transcribe the material and put it in. Likely not as it is fairly centered on passing land to Robert Siderfin the elder of East Linch's younger son William. Robert his elder son is not mentioned in the will but does appear on the inventory. Awaiting the document from the National Archives to complete this seventh generation work but for the most part I am following my hypothesis as I move the text about that I created to understand this particular generation. It can be easily changed if it turns out that Robert 4 (Robert 3, William 2, John 1) did indeed live beyond 1636 and that this death was his eldest son Robert. Since I do not actually find any material that pertains to this eldest son Robert but only to the younger son John I am somewhat confident in what this document will say. But do need to see it!

On with the day and tea is next. 

Amazing email in inbox today

The Somerset Archives was able to work on the will and inventory of Robert Siderfin 1688 at East Linch, Timberscombe and provide me with five pages from those two items that were attached to the property documents. In that will Robert Siderfin of East Linch mentions his son William and an addendum to the Inventory mentions Robert Siderfin and William Siderfin and was dated 1692. The document from the National Archives will now assist me in understanding this will/probate/inventory with regard to Robert Siderfin and his wife Ursula and the John Siderfin mentioned with him and was an answer to a claim made by Alexander Franke. Together the two documents may provide solid proof on the line which I have postulated to be at East Linch and Timberscombe. Amazing I had not thought to have this information at hand before another little while so am most appreciative of their efforts. 

Yesterday I continued to work on the seventh generation placing text where it was most meaningful for each of the generations. I continue to go back between the sixth, seventh and eighth generations. When I wrote my rather lengthy theory concerning the Siderfin lines at Minehead, Selworthy, Timberscombe and East Linch it was a two page document. But now, with the information gleaned from the parish records - baptisms, marriages and burials I can now break down that proposal into likely scenarios and bring the relevant data to the individual concerned. 

Today is cleaning day so will probably not get a lot done but will continue through this week to complete the seventh generation so that next week I begin the eighth generation which leads the Siderfin family into the 1700s although the sixth generation does take me nearly to the half way point of that century already. Definitely by the ninth generation I am well into parish registers that are very complete and the census of the 1800s. I feel as if I have given myself lots of time with still another five months to go in the year when I have proposed to complete the revision and additions to James Sanders: History of the Siderfin Family of West Somerset. 

I hope to send off some material to my "cousins" descendant of individual Siderfin lines just to have them take a look and see if I have missed/mixed up anything in their line/lines. Possibly I will be able to do that by September. I am feeling hopeful in that regard. I have the page run out already for these generations but would like to have it in a more complete form before sending it off for their perusal. 

We had a lovely walk at the beach last evening. I read and sang the Church Service in the morning. The Bible Readings was something that rather heartened me in that it was the story that Jesus told about sowing wheat and evil sowing weeds and the disciples asked Jesus what should they do - should they weed the wheat field. He said no; let them all grow up together and when the wheat was ripe to separate the weeds from the wheat and burn them and store up the wheat for their use in the future. I have so many weeds in my gardens this year. The weather has been very hot and I have not tried to weed very thoroughly. Yet when I pulled green onions the other day they are filling out very nicely and fewer are needed to make a meal. Last night we had scallops in a tomato sauce with some of those lovely fresh onions. It was quite lovely with grated parmesan cheese on top. A very simple meal that took perhaps fifteen minutes to prepare and served with pumpernickel bread. Then off for our walk on the beach. It was busy but very pleasant and the sun was just coasting in for sunset when we completed our walk. 

We also spent the afternoon working on all the correspondence that Edward had with many of his "cousins" on different family lines. We checked to make sure that all of it was scanned and now we will shred it. The correspondence is very old for the most part and very dusty. That is a great advantage to computers now. There were no original documents just copies of copies so an electronic serves just as well as the paper copies which he scanned over the past ten years and the paper is decaying somewhat and yellowing. There was a bankers box worth of shredding from yesterday's efforts. We are trying to collect up all the Schultz material for Edward's cousins when they come and working through the research boxes that remain - more than 25 remain. 

On to the day, breakfast greatly desired as I always wake up hungry not being a very big eater at the evening meal. 

Misinterpretation on my part

I misinterpreted page number  for age on the Taunton Wills database on Find My Past. That has straightened up the information for William Siderfin and Mary Terrell. Working my way through the Seventh Generation adding in the footnotes and text that fits into this generation. I should be finished by the end of July with the Seventh Generation. I am past 1750 now with text that is being added. A couple of the large text items from James Sanders book will be in appendices as I have thought about how to add in his text. Initially I did consider just adding the entire book as an appendix but I think I will just add in the large text blocks that are stories about the Siderfin family members as appendices. 

With the volleyball day at Petrie Island, we stayed home and cut the grass; finding a parking spot was impossible for going kayaking. I liked to play in sports (in my younger days) but not much of a spectator. I do not have the patience to sit there and watch. Petrie is a great place to go for walking and kayaking. 

I am starting to watch for the 28th of July when the document for Robert and Ursula Siderfin will be reviewed and they will let me know if I can purchase it. It should be very interesting as it is an answer to a complaint so should have lots of details. Robert and Ursula Siderfin pretty much disappear on James Sander's Pedigree chart. He only lists John (incorrectly as 1614) as he was baptized 1619 at Minehead and omits Robert and Wilmot who were born in 1616 and 1614 respectively. There is a John Siderfin mention with Robert and Ursula in the 1653 document. By then Robert would be 66 years of age having been baptized in 1587. 

Another beautiful sunny morning in July. Probably kayaking and walking today. Time will tell. Grass all cut for another week or so but so much weeding to do. The trees are still today; no wind. Birds at the bird feeder. Last night we could hear the Whippoorwill calling. Also saw a small downy woodpecker. Lots of different birds at the feeder this past week. 

Church today said and sung by me; six more weeks and back on YouTube. I really could look for a service on YouTube but it is very meaningful to me to say the service myself and sing the hymns. The Sermon would always be interesting to go along with the readings. I do miss that. 

Today we work on the Schultz material and get that organized for Edward's cousins coming the end of August. There are a lot of lovely old pictures which will be enjoyed by far more descendants with the cousins than staying here with us. It does seem neat and tidy to do that plus they will not be lost. 

The dog days of August approach and with them the longer nights as we sail into Fall. I am looking forward to all that research time. I would like to complete the Siderfin book and be into thinking about the Pencombe book by the time of my cataract surgery; how to label it? The study has been titled Pincombe-Pinkham with the two earlier researchers both being Pinkham descendants having thus labelled it. In theory the family name was Pencombe when they were first in North Molton so perhaps The Pencombe Family of North Molton and their Pincombe and Pinkham descendants with reference to the Pencombe Family of Pencombe, Herefordshire. Seems a bit long but does capture all the commonest surnames and the intent  including the surnames that eventually flowed forward with this family. Still a few more documents on the Pencombe family of Herefordshire to acquire. Not sure if there is value in looking at the archives for the de la Zouch family. It could just be a moment in time when these two families were associated. 

Jumping Jacks, tea and a bit of organizing work and then on to breakfast. The day is reaching forward. It is God's World and we are but passengers in it for a limited time. We must do our best to take care of the world and its many occupiers. Convincing people not to do wrong is difficult. The United Nations has done well and continues to try and keep peace in the world.

Generation Seven - Siderfin Book

Doing the charting by hand was a good idea. I have it mostly in my head but it is better to see it visually. Spending the morning sorting seven and eight as that works well towards my next goal plus the members of eight are + in seven being the children of the seventh generation. It is amazing how much I have gathered up these last couple of months on the seventh generation and having the two items ordered on hand will be a welcome sight as well just to continue with verifying what appears to be the case or revising to fit that scenario. Personally I think that I have it right; it makes the most sense although having Robert and Ursula Siderfin, plus John Siderfin, in an answer to a case about Timberscombe did give me pause for thought and I await that particular item. It will be reviewed by an individual at the National Archives by the 28th of July and then generally takes a couple of weeks to obtain the scanned copy. That should see me into the eighth generation and preparing the ninth. The Eighth generation though does bring me into the time of census taking in England plus the civil registration. So somewhat easier to organize and look at for sure. The Commonwealth period in England caused a loss in records which is sad but often enough when a system is changed by drastic means the tools of the prior time are neglected (in this case the priests were told not to enter data into the parish registers) and a return to normalcy often brings about restoration but it does take time to re-establish the networks.

Yesterday ended up being somewhat sunny in the morning and the rain caught in the leaves lent a sparkle to the trees with the wind gently rustling through the trees. It always makes me think that God is there with us enjoying the beauty of His creation but likely wishing we would learn much more quickly how to live with nature and not destroy it. Waiting and watching; that I believe is God. He no longer walks or talks with man nor does he interfere. One must consider that we represent just one species in this world and at the moment we are not particularly beneficial to the world or its many inhabitants both flora and fauna. It has taken us decades to realize that we are destroying the fish life and take steps to improve on that and yet we have one country which lobs bombs into the ocean destroying ecosystems around that area. I can hardly believe that China permits North Korea to do that; after all it is also their fishery. Why does North Korea feel threatened anyway; they only say that to keep their people in fear and make them easier to manipulate. It is a farce and if the reality wasn't so apparent it would be amusing to idle television watchers - sort of a comic act throwing bombs into an ocean but the reality of destruction of fish ecosystems is all too real. 

Continuing on with Siderfin today as I reorganize the text that James Sanders collected. The stories do add a certain zest to the life of the Siderfin family although one might not want to reflect on the bankruptcies which parts of this family endured through the years although in the long run the lines that suffered bankruptcy daughtered out and the daughters were successful in their marriages and produced other lines. So in the long run not that important but rather just add to the story of this rather interesting family. When I first found the Siderfin family it was because George DeKay wanted me to write a profile on my Pincombe family for the Westminster Township History Book. In searching back I could not initially find a mother's maiden surname for Elizabeth (Rew) Pincombe my 2x great grandmother. It was my first experience with serendipity in genealogy. I just thought about where Elizabeth could be as she was missing from the 1841 census with her eldest son. Then by a major stroke of luck I found the will of Elizabeth's father and that took me back to Selworthy where he wanted to be buried beside his wife in the Churchyard there (he was living with his son Thomas at Sheepwash near Bishops Nympton). It was quite a bit of sleuthing to put the Rew family together but I have gained quite a few correspondents through the years as we rediscovered our links to the Siderfin family. Quite amazing really and then the cream of the crop was finding James Sanders book "History of the Siderfin Family of West Somerset." Although there were errors in his genealogy chart; his collection of family material is quite excellent and I have now added in quite a few other records which I think is great and I hope that one hundred years from now some one will do the same to my revision. If there is one thing that keeps people alive in one's mind it is the writing of a book putting down all those names that then stretch far into the future. 

Knowledge is both a curse and a gift. The curse is the damage done to our environment by such knowledge or lack of paying attention to it since the First Nations were already into preserving the environment long before our time in the Western Hemisphere. We must look to the First Nations for their ideas on how to preserve and improve the environment to battle Climate Change. 

 Another beautiful day in God's world and I am blessed to be able to enjoy the wind in the trees this morning and the fresh early morning air at just 16 degrees celsius. August is approaching and with it the first whispers of Fall as the mornings will be cooler likely and the nights grow longer. The squirrels are busy collecting the walnuts off the Black Walnut tree but there are so many that we are also busy picking them up although I am tempted to make a pile at the back with them so that the squirrels will carry them away. The squirrels wait patiently for the Sunflower plants to produce their flowers and then the seeds which they love so much. It is a treat watching them climb the plants and cut off the flower head with their teeth to carry it away to their winter nest. The song birds continue to collect every morning just after dawn to get their share of the feed on the bird feeder. We have had a goodly number this year. The cardinal family have come back year after year as do the morning doves and so many others. I have not seen the raccoons since I clapped them away a week or so ago. They probably found a place where no one bothers them. I do not begrudge them the food but they are too big to live in my yard for sure. 

It does look like the Volleyball Tournament will be successful at Petrie Island. So will avoid that this weekend as the parking will be difficult for sure. Our parking pass has been really great. It means that we can just drive in, park and go kayaking or walking both of which I do enjoy. The weekdays are pretty quiet there and I/we have had quite a few good walks around the beach walkway. 

The morning passes, jumping jacks done, tea drunk, solitaire games played and the news read on the CBC website. I do not generally look at Facebook so am not troubled by the news missing from there. I mostly correspond with my children or my siblings on Facebook and it is a great site. I have less than 20 friends and they are pretty much all related to me! Every once in a while I hear of the passing of another of the students from my school days and I missed the big Reunion due to my finally having a colonoscopy twenty five years after asking. Mind you I only asked once twenty five years ago; I am a bit like that. I suppose I should be more desperate but life flows as it flows. Seventy eight is approaching this fall and I am amazed to still be alive actually. At thirty I was so very very ill. 

On to the day, hungry for my breakfast as always. My favourite meal of the day.

 

Another lovely walk on the beach

Yesterday late afternoon another lovely walk on the beach. The weather looks like rain a good deal but the walk on the beach was lovely. A breeze off the river with lots of wind in the trees as I walked along the about 1 km path around the beach and back into the woods and then back to the beach again (managed four circuits). The most activity yesterday was getting the beach organized for a beach volley ball day on the weekend. Yesterday the walk along the beach was most pleasant. The gulls covered the main beach area as there were very few people there. Gulls are interesting; they are not afraid of people and will occupy any piece of beach that they please although do fly away when we come too close. 

A few hours on the Siderfin book yesterday. Working on the seventh generation and I am going to do some hand charting just to keep everybody straight as I work my way through all of this bit of text. It would be nice to have the seventh generation complete by the end of July. It has been a different July with so much heat but also a lot of rain. Usually it just gets drier and drier. 

The next few weekends that we spend working on Edward's research boxes we will extract all of the Schultz material. It has all been scanned and we do want to see the originals back in the area where most of the Schultz family still lives. They have held a yearly picnic for over fifty years now and they will have all those wonderful pictures and other items to display. They are all double cousins as they descend (as did Edward and our children) from Isaac Kipp and Hannah Mead and from Wilhelm Schultz and Rachel Neumann/Nieman. It is a mixture of Kipp (Dutch), Mead (English), Schultz (German) and Neumann/Niemann (German) with the most recent common ancestors being born between 1811 and 1835. Edward was a second cousin and second cousin once removed to the Schultz members in his age group. All of the ancestors were farmers in the same general area Burford/Blenheim townships in Brant/Oxford counties. 

The sky is slowly lightening this morning and it looks like we had a lot of rain in the night and more promised today. The birds were busy at the feeder yesterday so they knew it was coming and feeding up to be ready for the heavy rain today. Animal life is clever; they do establish their borders but are respectful of the other birds waiting their turn in the trees around the feeders. The chipmunks remind me of warring nations - they leap into the feeder when ever they want trying to scare the birds away. The birds do move back but at the first sign of weakness they are back to take ownership of what really is theirs - after all it is a bird feeder! Interesting really how much nature can teach us.

Jumping jacks, tea time and then a bit of work before breakfast. 

Bible Reading Romans 8: 18-39

The Church was struggling when these words were written and hope was needed to help the Church to grow and become the strength for a better world for all. I believe that nothing can separate us from God's love but we must follow the commandments which Jesus brought to us - Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbour as ourself. That does include protecting them from the evil that enters into our world at various times through the centuries. We are at that moment in time when Nazism has reared its ugly head once again and threatens our society both in the language used and in acts. It is laced with all sorts of justifications but it is pure Nazism - greed for land, property, possessions. At the end of the last war we formed the United Nations and it is the duty of that organization (and they are trying) to eliminate Nazism where ever it arises. The Imperialistic war which Russia has created against Ukraine is Nazism. Russia has been, during the past one hundred years especially, trying to murder the Ukrainian people and it continues today. The sickness of the Russian leader Putin and his enablers is Nazism - wanting to steal land and denigrate a people in order to convince some countries that they are justified. Do not be persuaded - this is imperialism; Death to imperialism. Ukraine is not an imperialistic country and should be able to count on countries that suffered from imperialism in earlier times to help them. Countries have a right to exist governed by their own people. We must all band together and stop any Russian breakout. NATO was formed for that defensive purpose and when Russia has been corralled once again into their borders as established at the Fall of the Soviet Union (which Russia caused by attacking Afghanistan and going into bankruptcy) then once again that border should be reestablished and enforced by the United Nations. NO one has the right to steal another countries' land, children or property or murder the inhabitants of that country. Ukraine has every right to defend itself and we maintain the right to help them as we helped both Russia and China (and other countries endangered by Nazism) to fight off the Nazis in the Second World War. One makes better friends with kindness, attention and support; enemies are made when one country attacks another country for pure imperialism. Imperialism is wrong.  

More work done on the Siderfin book and I extracted about fifteen pages of documents from the Somerset Archives which I shall have a look at. I did not see any mention of wills though so likely I have located the only will attached to land documents unless the document set has not listed one. I will think about that as there are people who live much closer than I do who could check out some of these documents sets for me and are interested in a revision of the Siderfin book.

An email today was interesting from a descendant of one of the Blake families in Hampshire - namely Minstead. I replied: 

Thank you for your interesting email. I doubt that the Blake family at Andover and the Blake family at Minstead are related. Mostly because you are taking yourself back to an Edward Blake in the mid 1700s when the Blake family at Andover had dwindled pretty much to a rather small family. Most Blake lines daughtered out in the early 1700s that were descendant of the earlier Blake family at Knights Enham/Andover or they have moved to Surrey/London in the 1600s. That being said you could look at Thomas Blake at Finkley who is descendant of the Andover Blake line (left his will naming his three sons) but again I think this family has daughtered out in the 1700s.

I would look more to the Calne Blake family as it moved out of Calne to the south. Although charts show a relationship in the 1400s/1500s between the Calne Blake family and the Andover/Eastontown Blake family it is, I believe, a daughter of the Calne Blake family that married into the Andover Blake family in the early 1600s. But I am only in the early stages of constructing a book on the Andover Blake line and will not start actually writing anything for another four years. I am nearly 78.

A number of people in the yDNA study feel that they trace back to the Calne Blake family which is likely descendant of Richard leBlac of Normandy who arrived in the 1270s and was found initially in the Berkshire area before descendants moved south into the Calne Wiltshire area.

My thoughts to the blog: The best way to connect with Blake is finding a male carrying the Blake surname to test for your line. Although the yDNA study at FT DNA does not have anyone who can prove on paper that they are descendant of the Blake family at Calne a number of them do have interesting trees that take them back quite aways. The Blake family of Wiltshire left a lot of wills in the 1500s/1600s which I have put together but have not yet really linked them all. It is perhaps a task I will take on one of these winter months before I become too old. These wills are readily available for purchase from the Wiltshire Record Office. 

 On to the day. I am late today as it is already 10:00 a.m. and I have not yet eaten my breakfast. I became interested in a couple of items and the morning has flown by but I am definitely hungry.

Lovely walk on the beach

By evening yesterday it was possible to have a lovely walk on the beach; I chose that over kayaking. The wet suit which was kindly delivered and a surprise as I had thought it probably lost is a  little large and bulky but will be nice when it is cooler - like low 20s. I think it is too heavy and very black to go out in the heat. I have enjoyed the kayaking though but I have missed all the nice walking that I did last year. 

I also accomplished all the cleaning in good time. It is worthwhile to clean like that every week as there is never anything daunting to do then. 

I also worked away on the Siderfin book transferring some of the work that I did earlier from the notes I put into the original text of James Sanders; adding the references and will try to keep that up now although gardening is always beckoning. The time does pass very quickly in the summer. 

So today, the Siderfin Book primarily and researching the Somerset archives to see if there are any more hidden items in their very extensive notes for each entry. Finding more Siderfin wills would be a charm for sure. That last one was purely accidental. It will be nice to be inside once again and not outside so much!

Possibly kayaking today; time will tell or I will walk once again. Definitely some gardening to do and picking of vegetables. The tomatoes are ripening as well and the peppers are now into growing. The cucumbers are coming into flower. 

Our next big project is the Schultz material as we had decided to ship all of it but one of Edward's cousins is thinking of coming this way and if that actually happens then we can also send the teapots to Edward's niece that she wanted to have along with pictures of her parents, herself and her sister. That actually is four boxes or so of the remaining 30 plus boxes. Slowly we are working through all of Edward's collection of material. Edward did collect every piece of paper that he ever handled though I do believe. He even saved items that I had thrown away! I am not a keeper; tending to be somewhat of a dreamer lost in thought many times staring into the distance. That may be why I enjoy canoeing and kayaking. Just the opportunity to let the mind unravel as one looks ahead seeing the beauty that surrounds us every day. Living in God's world has been a treat all of these years; with all of His growing plants, animals, etc that live on the planet with us. Strange to think that Homo sapiens has been on the planet for such a short time when one regards the trees, the flowers, the animals that have had a much longer life span that that of Homo sapiens.We are a fragile people I suspect actually and still have not lived as long as the Neanderthals that walked the face of the earth. 

But onto the day; it is already 7:30 a.m. and I need my cup of tea. 

Tea in hand and looking at an article on hunter-gatherer societies which stressed that both men and women were hunters. Watching other mammals in the wild taking care of their children and it is the mother who feeds and raises her young primarily but not always but probably it is she that decides when she will be pregnant. An interesting thought in these days of attempted gender assignment of activities! Personally, I think that women have always been able to do any job that their strength would let them do. After all it was extremely important in a society that women could take over any jobs that men did. The only definite job that belongs solely to women is the reproduction of the human race and thus far nothing has replaced that. Women always have been and will continue to be the only way for the human society to reproduce; it is best actually to always keep women happy in a society so that they will be willing to carry the next generation. But a world without men would truly be a sad place; having four brothers and two sisters was a treat when I was young. Men and women are equal partners in this world and when they are not the result is unpleasant. It does and will take a lot of work to convince individuals who do not see them as equal. They are a hindrance to the advancement of our society and always have been.

Back to smoke in the air again

 Our air quality at 7:00 a.m. is 103 so back to smoke in the air again although we are expecting rain so that will help to clear the air. Not as bad as before but still smoke in the air isn't good for anyone actually. Cleaning all accomplished yesterday and just the basement to do today. I do not go out very much; just shopping and any appointments which I might have. Mostly I do not drive on side streets unless I know them very well. However, that being said my vision is actually quite good still given that I have worn heavy lenses my entire life. The way my mind works I tend to recognize by particular markers like most people probably but not perhaps as spontaneous as most people. I have to sift through all the markers for people that I know before I recognize people that I probably should know on sight but need those markers to let me know that is who it is. So I tend to keep to myself very much and that is easy now that I am nearly 78 because I do not go out to work; I only shop for groceries and at least I am not blind yet anyway. Is it my eyes or is it my brain; as a child I was tested for my hearing when I was five because I didn't seem to follow instructions and now as I watch my grandson grow up I realize that probably I do have autism but it was hidden in a large family although I was always regarded as somewhat strange as a child. That didn't bother me actually; it kept people away from me most of the time. 

Kayaking has been fun this summer for sure and my daughter ordered me a wet suit to make it easier for me since my kayak has drain holes in it; that way I do not get wet. It was supposed to come on Friday but still has not arrived. That is really weird as my daughter could see that it never left Vars and we are assuming it is lost. After all Amazon has been delivering to us for years and never missed even once to get an item to us unless it just wasn't available after all. I have my cheap plastic wet suit and use that but this item looked interesting although I think it will probably be too large anyway but it never arrived so will never know I guess. I am still using my usual wet suit when I go kayaking. 

Waiting now for my two ordered items for Siderfin; one from Somerset Record Office and one from the National Archives. The National Archives will likely come first which is great as it is the more meaningful of the two items as I thought that Robert Siderfin married to Ursula had died in 1636 but there they are as a couple in 1653 in a record. So I will wait patiently for that item; I am sure they are very busy although promise a response by the 28th of July. I will carry on though with transferring information to the revised book. My daughter suggested just having the original book as an appendix and then I can just link to the various items once I have completed the book and remove some of that heavy text from the revised book within the revision and just have hyperlinks to James Sanders text. It will reduce the size of the revision although the overall result will be pretty much the same in terms of page length. Finding the item at the Somerset Record Office though does make me think I need to have a deeper look at the index for Siderfin in case there are other wills attached to land documents. I had thought I found everything years ago before I gave up the study but I was a newbie then and was forgetting that. Ten more years has quite ripened up my skills and knowledge. The courses are great but actual practise gives one much more breadth of research. My daughter is busy with her research most of the time. She doesn't get much research time during the teaching year - that time pretty much goes to her students so treasures these long weeks of research in the summer.

The Pencombe book is starting to revolve around in my mind as I develop my thoughts on that next book due to begin next January hopefully or whenever my eyes have adjusted to the cataract surgery. I will not have a book to revise as there has never been a published book on the Pencombe family beginning with their roots in Herefordshire back in the 1300s. The latest record that I acquired from the National Archives is quite interesting and I will, when I want a change, continue transcribing it from the Latin. My mother would actually be quite thrilled with all of the information that I have acquired on her Pincombe line through the years. She did talk about her family quite a bit the twenty years that I lived at home from birth to marriage and then in her letters to me after we moved to Ottawa. Her father died when she was eight but she did have her Father's first cousin right next door (he married my maternal grandmother's sister so ended up being her uncle) and he liked to talk about his family so she did have that continuation as he lived until I was six years of age so my mother was 35 when he died and we did visit them very often and always when we went my mother and uncle would talk about the Pincombe family so I do trust her memory of all those details and they do bear witness when one checks the records of the family in Bishops Nympton, Devon, England. 

Occasionally I think about the Blake book which will follow but there are a number of items that I must acquire from the Hampshire Record Office and will start doing that once the Pincombe book is underway so that I have them at hand. Each book will probably take the same amount of time as the Siderfin book which is about two years. Although I did have a book for Siderfin to revise it doesn't actually make it easier as one must check all of that information and given that the format was unusual (really a collection of facts from documents that James Sanders located and found interesting) not the usual surname study type book. It was not very helpful in the actual evolution of this final book. 

The poor air has been helpful in terms of working on the book although I would not wish that as the air quality is bad for every living thing around me. However, it has been nice to have the extra time for research this summer. 

The day advances and must accomplish the rest of the cleaning after breakfast; the next event of the day. 

I must say there is so much spam in the email these days and also in texting online and on my home phone I receive spam calls. I actually do not order things from Amazon to come here as they are mostly gifts that I am sending and I ship them to the relevant address. I do buy everything in the stores for myself most of the time; good for the economy. But Amazon is very handy when you can not get something easily which may be more the case for me as the years pass by; the grocery stores/drug stores deliver as well. Still no wet suit but they are not showing it shipping from Vars so must be lost or delayed so will let them know. I guess the old purple cheap plastic wet suit will just have to do. It was a sort of spontaneous thought but the size wasn't quite right anyway.

And very kindly the person to whom the wet suit was delivered has dropped it off (and it is a bit big but will likely do for the little bit of kayaking that I do - it was the smallest size and it has a lovely pink racing stripe!). Most kind of her to bring it around. My daughter said that we used to get parcels for our same number but actually should have been Fortune Drive that she used to drop off at that house. I guess it happens, I never remember that but once I went back to work I really did not notice what went on in that way. Hopefully I do not get any parcels when I am on my own probably my neighbours would drop it off though for me; they are most helpful. I would not be comfortable driving other than my route up to the grocery store and back when I am on my own which isn't many streets for sure. Other than food my only reason to leave would be if I had an accident and then an ambulance would take me away.

Kip-Kipp Newsletter completed, return to Siderfin Book

I did complete the next issue of the Kip-Kipp Newsletter, Volume 2, Issue 3, 2023 and will publish it on the 1st of August. It did end up writing itself which was handy as I have reached an end to useful information that I can write into the newsletter from my memory. I could go back through and read everything but it was taking me too long and I do not have Edward's thoughts with regard to each and every individual item. The mantle must be taken up by another eventually but for the moment it will likely become reduced in size and simply contain any information on the DNA study. 

I also returned to the Siderfin Book and asked to have a check on one of the records which concern Robert Siderfin and his wife Ursula and included John Siderfin. This is an answer to a complaint by Alexander Francke about land in Timberscombe. Robert Siderfin married to Ursula in Timberscombe is interesting in 1653 so must investigate this record. There are a number of possibilities for this Robert Siderfin and I anticipate that this item will clarify the individual represented in the complaint and this is the answer to the complaint. I now have two documents on order which may make changes or simply confirm what I have been putting together with relevant records.

Sunday began with heavy rain and then some sun but has now returned to cloudy although the air quality is 42 which is good news.

The Church Service yesterday with the Bible Readings did encourage me in my mind to be there to hear the sermon but the sermons will return to YouTube along with the service in the Fall. My summer days pass by me very quickly and it is time with my daughter. There is a danger of the kinds of flowers so it isn't possible for her to accompany me as she would just have to leave me and come back after the service. At nearly 78 my Church attendance was very good until Edward became ill and just found it difficult to attend. I could have gone on my own but I did not instead choosing to read the service at home so the addition of the Bulletin to mailings from the Church in my inbox was a blessing which COVID did bring. COVID also showed us how to clear the air and help the planet to recover. I think we can still do it and have a productive life; time will tell how the world moves in the next generation. It will be sad if all we get is wars such as Russia started purely for greed - one of the many reasons that Nazism arises. 

The Bible Reading today is interesting in that the tithe of 10% is mentioned with regard to Jacob's promise to God if he helped him to travel, find a wife amongst his mother's people and bring them home again. I do find the Old Testament very interesting. It was a time when God talked with certain individuals and was part of the daily life of mankind. It lasted for a long time if one can date individual times in the Old Testament and personally I think that it was possible. But life changed forever for Homo sapiens when Jesus was sent to earth to fulfill the prophecies. Jesus brought with him God's new commandments and they were simple and straightforward. We must live by these commandments if we want peace. Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbour as ourself. Until we can reach that pinnacle of life then we are plagued by wars such as Russia is now pursuing against the Ukrainian people and their lands. When it ends then we can go back to the paths of peace. For it is only when the world is at peace that great progress is made that benefits mankind in the long run. War destroys.

Cleaning day once again and it is the top floor and main floor. Fortunately my house is small but tall and I can still accomplish the cleaning. Looks like rain again today but none in the forecast and the air quality is 39 and humidity 95%. Likely it will be very humid with rain tonight if we are lucky. Rain is always needed this time of year as we are in the dry spell period. 

Jumping jacks next and tea, my Latin lessons and preparing the top floor for vacuuming. Life is very busy for sure.

The trees in our lives

The Bible Reading for today talked about the trees as a lasting witness to the glory of the Lord. Rain again today and the trees are soaking it up; this has been a dry summer in comparison to others but the last week we have had a lot of rain and it shows in the trees. A small quiet wind is blowing in those trees today and the Black Walnut mostly covers the one side of my window now with just a little blue sky showing. The wind is beautiful; God is ever near. Today is Sunday and Church by bulletin for the rest of the summer. I will read and sing the service starting at the usual time of 10:30 a.m. 

As we try to manage the world with Climate Change ever rearing its dangerous head with extreme heat being experienced around the world yet again we hear from the psychopathic Nazi Putin who always has to have a word in to create grief as he is unwilling to accept that we are tired of war but not willing to let Nazism break out once again (the cost is too high to the human race). Nazism is a sickness of the mind where individuals afflicted see themselves as being righteous in their cause. But there is no righteousness in killing children.  Remember what Jesus told us that we must love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbour as ourself. Russia does not love their neighbours; dominating is not loving; killing their children is not loving and invading their sovereign land is not loving. Go home Russia and wait for God's forgiveness. You have no right to Crimea; you have no right to Ukraine.You are continuing to destroy the environment with your bombing; the rich fields of Ukraine (and that is what your nazi imperialism is all about) have been the bread basket of the world and you deny that to the peoples that Ukraine was feeding with the produce of their rich earth. You think you can frustrate us Russia but God is all powerful and we are a God-loving; God-fearing people. You do not frighten us. 

 Today we put together all the journals that were received to give to the Ontario Ancestors Ottawa Branch/BIFHSGO Library to go with the runs of journals that Edward collected through the years. Hopefully visitors to the library are finding lots of information from all of his genealogical efforts. He did love doing genealogy. He loved helping other people do their genealogy. The desire to learn more about his family was already part of him when I first met him but a very minor part but it would come to dominate his free time once we had a car. But interestingly enough he never became involved with the Ontario Genealogical Society now Ontario Ancestors until he went to that first meeting he ever attended with Gordon Riddle back in the early 1980s here in Ottawa. There was an active group in London, Ontario but as a couple we spent our time doing Astronomy in our spare time which was a shared interest. He and Ed Phelps at Western University used to talk about the early history of the area and when we went to farm auctions (after we bought a car) then Edward would buy up boxes of books and what he did not want he gave to Ed Phelps if he wanted them. I wasn't really part of that although Ed Phelps did remind me way back then that I was related to Sir John Carling through my maternal great grandmother Grace (Gray) Pincombe. But my mother was into genealogy and my interest level was mostly in my surnames - Blake and Pincombe although I never really got into that until much much later in my life and definitely I was not going to go to the Ottawa Branch meetings (I was doing copyediting and proofreading in my spare time when my children did not need me). But actually Edward, once he got to know everyone, liked going on his own to the Ottawa Branch meetings. Although once I had gotten into working with images and text (that was part of my copy-editing that I did at work) he did draft me to set up a display at the Gene-O-Rama meetings. But I liked my time with my children before they grew up and moved on since my work kept me pretty busy. It did take George DeKay to get me to return once again to my interest in surname studies in 2003 and when he first contacted me and then a couple of months later again he contacted me to do the Pincombe Profile - a little arm twisting and I did it mostly in memory of my mother who had passed away recently at that time. So in a way Gordon Riddle was entirely responsible for Edward getting into genealogy in such a big way as it did come to be his entire life after he retired. He loved every minute including the United Empire Loyalist trips down into New York State with George Anderson and his wife. He finally drafted me to help with that as well and I did go as I do like to see historic things and that was something we did together those ten years or so while I was still working and he was retired but then I finally persuaded him to go to Europe/The British Isles and then I was in for sure. I retired and we were off on the journeys of our life as we flew back and forth/back and forth across the Atlantic seeing everything there was to see in our bucket list. It was great fun. 

The list of items we will prepare today and then can move all of that on to a new owner/new location where it will be useful to lots of people. Anything in there I have already gleaned for my one name studies in BLAKE and PINCOMBE. Although BLAKE is a big item in the United States with many researchers PINCOMBE is very much less so. But I can always go and look things up at the library if I want to acquire material on BLAKE but I mostly leave the American Blake family to other members of the group - they know it so much better than I do. 

Rain again and it is lovely; the trees are glorying in it as you can measure with your eyes the uplift in the branches as the rain comes down. For God all is well in His world; we are but a small portion of the living life on the planet and we need to be much more careful how we manage our living with the other living items on the planet. Climate Change is real and threatening mostly to Homo sapiens I think; the animal and plant life just migrates to where it is safe for them. 

On to breakfast; the best meal of the day awaits me.

On to the day

Being an early riser, I do note the change in light level as July progresses and today was no exception as it was still not daylight at 5:00 a.m. but it was also because it is cloudy that one notes this change that has been creeping up on us the last nearly month since the longest day. Not being a summer person; I am quite gleeful as the fall approaches. There will still be summer but as August rolls in there is less of it to come. Summer reminds me of gardening my least favourite item and so I love to relish the thought of long research days possible in the days ahead. 

Kayaking and walking yesterday was very pleasant and one of the benefits of summer for sure. Yesterday was spent on Latin once again - I had a free three day session of access and so did do that as I wanted to see if I would use the entire app and make membership worthwhile and I did.  

Today I should start the Kip-Kipp Newsletter and will likely do that. I have a plan for this issue and some good comments from another researchers on the results of the Y-700 which were most interesting. 

We made falafel yesterday in the air fryer and it was an interesting meal. Lots of herbs from the garden along with green onions and dried chick peas soaked overnight. The food processor worked up the mixture and then cooked in the air fryer and put them into pita with greek yoghurt, humus, sliced cherry tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, grated carrot and cheese. It was a very interesting meal and I have not eaten that before. 

Looking out the window around 6:30 a.m. I saw a mother racoon and her three young walking up the yard towards the bird feeders and the fruit bushes. I did scare them off as the mother quickly gathered up her young ones and rushed them away from all the clapping. I do not like to make any animal feel at home in the yard as they need to be wild and take care of themselves. I do not care if they eat in the yard but I do chase them off. 

On to the day and the Bible Reading was the story of Esau and Jacob and their rivalry over being first born. Being the middle child in a family of seven children, I was neither the youngest or the oldest and the middle is a great place to be actually. One gets to watch how life flows for the older siblings and learns a lot of life lessons from helping the younger siblings. Even now at 77 I find that the habits of watching and learning that I acquired as a child make it easier to work my way through what life passes to me on my way through. God is in the Heavens watching and waiting to see if Homo sapiens can find that peace that we have been searching for this past century. He gave us the rule book and now we must follow it to attain happiness - Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbour as yourself. Peace depends on that. That peace will let us work on Climate Change and giving to the children and grandchildren of this world a better place to live than what is now hovering ahead.

Bastille Day - France

This is the day in history when people power was born - the French people were tired of their monarchy which wasn't helping them and they toppled them and replaced them with a Republic which respected the rights of the people of France. For a short brief period Napoleon became the King of France but it did not last - he involved the French in foreign wars and they tired of their youth dying on foreign battle fields and so deposed him and won again their Republic and freedom. That is a perhaps too short a capsule of French History (and perhaps a bit biased) but the essence is there - people power. 

No work on Siderfin yesterday but perhaps today. Heavy storms here and a tornado in south west Ottawa which did some damage. The rain was heavy but the ground quickly absorbed all of it and when I went out to look at the raspberries you could see that the grass would love more rain! We were recovering from our 18 holes of golf but did manage a lovely 3 kilometre walk in the evening. 

This weekend we will put together all the journals that came in the past two years to give to the Ottawa Ancestors/BIFHSGO Library. My I am slow getting all this done. The days fly by for sure. 

Up early and have a number of items to work on to get myself organized for next week. Dawn is here but we are now working towards the longest night in December and the change is noticeable now nearly one month after the longest day. 

My Latin Lessons are a daily event and I am quite enjoying the time spent. It is surprising how well you can learn a language on duolingo. The many ancient documents in Latin are the goal of all this language learning.

On to the day, jumping jacks, solitaire and the day begins.

Golfing - 18 holes

If anyone had told me that at nearly 78 I would go to a golf course and play 18 holes (not that well actually) and finish I would have had a good laugh over that. But there we were playing golf yesterday. By the 9th hole I always start to wonder what I am doing there although being out on a pleasant day with all the green grass and beautiful wild flowers along with Canada Geese in abundance (their goslings now nearly as large as they are) does turn out to be a lovely experience. But the other half of the course is effort on my part to keep going although not so much effort that in the long term it is too much. I finish up the 18th hole and I can still walk and talk quite well albeit I am tired. I love the golf carts though; big tires, easy to push and lots of room for water bottles. The people behind us are always very polite and when we are a bit slow on some of the holes they just wait patiently for us to move on. We finished in just three hours which is not too bad either. I did put the golf ball into every finish hole this time and I do set my limit at 10 shots to a hole so I am actually improving. Probably if I practised I would get better but I do not go golfing that often and time is just really limited. So in memory of Edward (certainly my daughter enjoyed her golfing days with her dad) we go golfing a few times a year remembering how much he did like to golf. 

Another rainy day and we can always use rain. Must check the raspberries a little later although the bushes do not yet look red which is the best sign that there is a good picking out there. Perhaps the birds are eating them which is also fine; I am not an enthusiastic fruit eater although do eat fruit; I like vegetables better actually other than my fruit at breakfast. 

No wind today, the world seems silent as if waiting for something. The Bible reading today was about the teachings of Jesus especially the sowing of seed. All of the stories of Jesus are interesting but his biggest truth from God himself is the new commandments - Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbour as yourself. We could have such a beautiful world if everyone would follow those rules. Hatred, envy, greed, and all the other sins would disappear. Respect would replace all those grievous sins and war would be no more. Walking the military graveyards and memorials in France are a constant reminder of just how horrible war is - the ages of the people who died in the dreadful wars of the 1900s. It seems long ago now; we have been in the 2000s now far into the 23rd year. For those who died, we must carry the torch of freedom in their memory so that world war never darkens our world again. The only way to have that is to be prepared to win any wars that are attempted. Plus we do not know if danger lies out in the universe and we must always be prepared to defend our planet. 

Finished up my ancestry DNA project yesterday. I now know the 38 matches from my earlier test around 2011 I think and my later test around 2018. I had 38 more matches at the 4th to 6th cousin level in the earlier test. I will look at them just out of curiosity but there are so many matches in Ancestry that a few here and there do not mean a lot and probably they are 5th to 8th matches anyway. I do find the Ancestry matches interesting mostly because there are so many and grouping them has proven to be quite interesting. Because I also have so many matches on the other databases as well I do not miss having the chromosomal value. A number of ancestry members have transferred their results as well which is also helpful. With five siblings tested the amount of data is overwhelming and all chromosomes are covered and I have created a good set of records for the DNA that passed from the four grandparents to my parents and thence to the five of us (just two siblings have not tested). 

I also spent some time on my Latin lessons yesterday. I received a three day pass to the full language learning app and worked away at that yesterday. It is interesting and perhaps I will let my daughter give me that for my birthday. I am slowly building up a vocabulary of usual words (most of the latin that I know is genealogical/legal) and especially the declensions of words which makes it easier to read the genealogical/legal documents which is my intent anyway. I do have a lot of images of documents from the 1400s and 1500s that are in latin. 

I will spend some time on Siderfin today I rather think as well as continuing to look at the full app for the Latin language learning. 

Breakfast awaits and I am hungry for sure. Yesterday was a big day and I must say these power drinks are a good item to have along on a golfing day; one could feel the energy seeping quickly into ones arms and legs as one consumed some of this liquid!

A New World Beckons

The consensus reached at the NATO meeting is the New World beckoning to all the countries of the world to find peace. To work together and eliminate imperialism which destroys the existing structure in a country and dominates it with very negative repercussions for that country (the enlarged Soviet Union following World War II is an example). We are past war; we said that in 1945 that wars must end as they destroy our world. Anyone endangering the world deserves to be corralled into their own country until they find a way to stop themselves from attacking other countries - that is the case with Russia attacking Ukraine - a free and independent nation. Threatening us with nuclear weapons and a Third World War is just ignorant (you destroy the world; no one benefits). Get out of Ukraine Russia; you have no right to be there. It is sad that you can have at least 50,000 young Russians killed in Ukraine but you still do not get out. You murder Ukrainian men, women and children; you destroy their land with bombing and mining and keep doing that; it is disgusting. 

Cleaning accomplished and on to the Research Week. I need to decide what to work on for these days before I start on the Kip-Kipp Newsletter. This Newsletter will mostly write itself because it will mostly be about the Y-700 test done on the Y-DNA of my husband. It is interesting and perhaps will lay to rest all stories about the ancestry of the Hendricksen-Kip line in Europe. There was truth in some of those early stories with matches going back deep into Norwegian then Viking times which was alluded to by earlier Kip family writers. But now proven; this Viking link gives a different look to the early story of this family which at some point moved from Norway to The Netherlands. But more on that in the Newsletter. I also need to get back to publishing the material which Edward purchased and we scanned. I got away from that at some point in the past year and will continue publishing that material on his blog. So perhaps I can see how this week might just flow. 

Beautiful rain last night; you could hear it pounding down and the world looks a rich green once again. July has been a kinder month than usual with all this rain. The trees are glistening with the dust washed away from their leaves. There is a rustle in the leaves today; perhaps these long-living flora can feel peace in the air. One hopes so. There are still many trees on our earth that were there before any of us were born and will be there long after we die. Harnessing the knowledge in a tree would be an interesting feat and one wonders what the future holds for us in that regard. Can Homo sapiens survive the tumult of imperialistic war? It can if imperialism stops today and forever. The lines are drawn and we need to move with the United Nations and create a war free world where all can prosper. God watches I am sure of that but does not interfere; we passed the Armageddon of the Bible when we survived the Second World War and now we need to continue to build a war free world and do our best to alter Climate Change so that the children of tomorrow and their grandchildren will have a rich and abundant earth to live on. I tend to think of Revelations as a warning rather than a conclusion.

On to the day; breakfast awaits as always. My favourite meal of the day and it never changes particularly - milk, oats, cranberries, raisins all cooked together and then add in wheat germ, wheat bran, cocoa and blueberries. A delicious hot meal summer, fall, winter and spring to begin the day. 

There are two paths open to me - the one is a retirement living apartment/room whatever where my one-room concept comes into play - I write books and do exercise (and eat) but basically continue my hermit existence on a smaller scale and the other is continuing to be a hermit with my research/publishing and trying to maintain Edwards's research until another picks that up which involves staying where I am because there is still too much stuff. I sent all the Princeton material to the museum there and they may try to interest a student in writing up the Horner material - Ed did write up one article in the Ayr News years ago on Horner. He found the story of Thomas Horner intriguing and collected a lot of material on the Horner family. It would be nice to see his work continue in the hands of another.

Looks like rain

 Definitely looks like rain today but is meant to be somewhat sunny this morning. Middle of July already (in four days) and the month has passed quickly. I always find July to be tiring for the heavy work in the outside but I look forward to those long nights and the research time so it keeps me pulling weeds; I love Canada with all its varied seasons but then my roots are deep into the soil for sure as I reach towards 78. My grandmother was still busy in her garden at this age; not quite so much walking as she did when she was just a couple of years younger. Too much garden work but that was her love - her garden was the centre of her life along with all the beautiful baby sets she knitted and crocheted to send to the hospitals in the north for newborn First Nations babies. The colours were lovely, I can remember them spread out on the bed before they were packed. Each set separately in its own papers. An equal number for boys an equal number for girls (pink and blue) and then the same number in yellow and green. All carefully knitted in beautiful patterns. I copied that when my own were born knitting them lovely little sweaters. But I have never done knitting to give away except once. A chosen child and none the less a new member of a family. My paternal grandmother was half chosen I always thought as her step-father was not her own father but when her mother married she left her grandparent's home and became part of her mother's new family. It is a lovely story but no one told it to me until just a few years ago when I met (online) some of my father's cousins descendants. If she had lived we would have all loved her dearly I am sure - there is a picture of her when she was perhaps in her mid 40s holding the daughter of her brother-in-law. She looks so happy and the little girl has been brought from Toronto to London to protect her from an epidemic of polio. 

A brief glance at Siderfin yesterday but most of the day was spent cleaning the top floor and main floor of the house. Luckily it is small and I have now lived here for over fourty five years. There were no trees first of all and now we are shrouded by trees; I love it actually but for many of those early years there were just the young saplings in the front and the trees we planted in the back as did a lot of other people. Now the trees are huge and the shade is pleasant although not really friendly to growing gardens but that is okay; I am not a gardener. I would be quite happy with just lawn out there. But the lettuce, onions and radishes have been nice and the tomatoes, peppers, beans are busy setting and the carrots are growing rapidly now. It is more fun than anything else - watching them grow but also a lot of work. But as we stretch towards the middle of July then August comes closer and that signals the look forward to Fall and all that research time. I love the winter. This year if the snow comes early then we will be out there skiing. 

We completed another of our list of ten things to accomplish this year (year ends in December) and that makes two items; we will probably get another three or four done in the summer and then we work at that again in December but I will have time to organize that look from September to November. I do need to downsize; the need most apparent when I see the dust in the closets. Less dust is good. 

Sweden into NATO at last and hope for Ukraine - more munitions to assist them in their rightful pursuit of freedom from imperialistic aggression. Take your time; time is on your side. You have also lost so many brave young soldiers in the cause. We wanted no war; that was why we created the United Nations. We want no war; that is why we created NATO and NORAD for our defense. Imperialism is dead it doesn't belong in a modern world. Only one country has broken that rule of no-imperialism since then and one wonders why. Certainly the world has tried to bring Russia out of that archaic imperialism of centuries past - greed for land that is not theirs; helping them develop industries and inviting them to be part of everything. Nazis though just want and will do whatever it takes to get it so containing Russia is the necessary but sad step for sure. Are all the Russians left in the country Nazis? one wonders. The acts of Hitler and his enablers loom large in our  minds - the chaos, the death, the destruction caused and occurring during the Second World War. The graves of our Canadian heroes dot the landscapes of France and here in Canada. The graveyards of France so neatly maintained but there is an echoing sadness as one reads the stones - so young, so young. Forever emblazoned in my memory are the rows and rows of stones for those heroes that we saw in our travels in France; our youth.

On to the day, breakfast next and then cleaning the basement. I really do have a clean basement and it is so much emptier than it was. Probably only one third of the floor space is occupied. I do like a basement that can be utilized - it is an excellent exercise room with a treadmill, weights, a circle for running and lots of other exercise equipment; the exercise bicycle is on the main floor by the television. My FitBit is always on my arm and I try to do a minimum of 12 thousand steps per day but generally I am well in excess of that. In the winter I tend to get closer to twenty thousand per day but the summer is complicated and I do get fewer steps but probably work harder in the long run but a lot of it is on my hands and knees in the garden so no steps.