The footnoting is taking quite a bit of time although I did consider just taking my footnotes from Legacy but felt that I should give a fresh look to the details and check for any new items as I work my way through. I will never do another Siderfin book for sure. This is a good learning field for me to do books on my parent's surnames God willing. But there will be others in the future who will take up the mantle. That is the thing about history; it is a living being history although not with skin and bones it is in the minds of people and grows with each generation. Recording of one's family is becoming more commonplace now and I suspect it was all word of mouth in the past. My grandfather had many many stories to tell about his Blake family that had been passed on to him.
I am wondering if I will complete this first time through by the end of the month and I think I will adjust my expectations to completing the book by the end of the year if my surgery does not happen otherwise into the New Year once my eyes have adjusted. That does appear to be a more reasonable estimate than I had in the summer. Plus I have some gardening work to do and that eats into my time as well. Certainly this book would have remained on the back burner for quite a while except for Edward's passing. There was just never time to contemplate that although I did write the stories of my parents, grandparents, great grandparents and it keeps going back but gets much shorter. My parent's stories are 300 pages and my grandparents around 100 pages each and there are a lot of photographs.
With that thought in my mind now I think I will feel less rushed. Plus I need to rest my eyes periodically through the day. Thinking back I loved working but the nearly twenty years that I spent working at home do end up being just as productive and happy a time as going out to work. So in my retirement I continue "working" but it is for myself so to speak or at least for my ancestors as I attempt to bring them alive for their descendants. Does anyone really care except me? Fortunately I am not troubled by that aspect and these little tidbits that I find are enjoyed so I would say that yes there is that sort of caring but not the desire to do what I am doing exactly my way. My youngest sister has collected a huge family tree which I do delve into when I am looking for something in particular in the recent past and she enjoys that; so a little bit for everyone perhaps!
Listening to Ian White's Psalms once again. Being reminded constantly of God's presence in our world is a comforting thought but with that comfort comes the responsibility of following His commandments. As the day will soon begin to dawn, I shall have to contemplate what to accomplish today. Edward was a much more organized person for sure and lived his life his way all of his life I think. Since I am what I would label a somewhat wishy-washy person; I just fell into line supporting him in his projects and taking care of what needed to be done - the things he didn't really want to do. But he had a zest for life that stayed with him all of his days and we, his family, still do miss him. He would work away for hours on his projects and then suddenly burst in upon us with something to do - staring through the telescope at the heavens enjoying the astronomical adventures or going canoeing or just a walk around the neighbourhood. Yes he will always be missed. But he is with his father; a person that until he was two years and two months old that he spent his every waking hour with but yet had no conscious memory of his presence. As he learned more about him; his desire to be like him rather increased through time - his father was a farmer and an elder at the local United Church and I would have said he fulfilled both of those through his own gardening adventures and his time (ten years) as treasurer at his local Church. He included the girls in his life where he could and enjoyed life. A perfect life I think for him. His daughters benefited greatly from his well organized and intellectual endeavours listening and sharing with him the love of learning and a true love of nature. He loved his own Church but in the end it was the music that determined where he went as he was not as fond of my Church. It was that protestant versus catholic attitude and he was definitely protestant. I was not surprised that he counted Roger Williams amongst his 10th great grandparents; most of his English ancestors were Dissenters heading to the American Colonies very early on. He just has that sort of temperament! and there were so many of them in his lines as he searched back with me in tow transcribing the many documents that he found difficult to read. It was fun for sure although it amazed him that I would spend hours doing that for him. But I am a lover of learning and God willing that will stay with me to my final breath.
But I think Edward loved to share all of this research with his friends in genealogy with his occasional lecture on his family lines. He was an excellent speaker. I often wonder how much the world lost with his class of PhDs that could not get teaching positions at universities in Canada. Many of them taught High School and that was also good but Science does best when it is unimpeded and really there should have been university jobs for all of them back in the early 70s. They were such an excellent group of researchers.
So today continuing with the Tenth Generation of the Siderfin family. Most of them are still living close together in Somerset around the Minehead area out towards Devon in the west but this generation will see them move out from that area into other parts of England. The name captured my imagination way back when I found it during the writeup of the Pincombe Profile - it doesn't appear there because I followed my usual habit of emailing everything to George and he missed that last email before the final draft of the entire book was submitted. Perhaps that was the inclination that brought me to the one-name study originally. Having discovered the link, I wanted it to be preserved.
Perhaps today I should also continue the shredding project. There are still four large piles of old letters to shred that have been scanned which will probably take me a couple of months to get through - time will tell. I have done so much shredding this past couple of years. It is nearly time to renew the backup of Edward's files so that they are there for some future individual to use. Probably that person is out there and as with most things it is chance that brings them together.
Chicken stew all eaten now and it is a bit lazy of me to cook a meal that last for four days! I am not bothered by eating the same thing for days actually - peanut butter for lunch would suit me for a long time for sure. So perhaps my favourite macaroni and cheese with peppers, onions, peas and spinach plus cheese. I shall have to contemplate that much later today. I am thinking a piece of fresh salmon might be nice one of these days.
Jumping jacks and shoulder stand and then teatime. My day of exercise begins and with it my games of solitaire as I drink my tea. My mother could stand on her head but I was never as accomplished at that and you do need to keep it up or you lose it for sure. It is healthy I think to stand on one's head but shoulder stands work for me.
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