The Eleventh Generation

 Slowly but surely the generations move forward and I am now into the Eleventh Generation. My interest is primarily in the Siderfin surname and unless it was fairly easy to follow down the lines of Siderfin daughters these will now disappear. For one thing I can not be absolutely sure that I have the right line unless the surname of the mother appears on the birth record. The spelling of Siderfin does become a bit erratic as we move into Census time and harder to find. Although I am not on a clock really I would like to reach the end of my work on the book by the end of this year. The freedom of revision is with the book so others can pick up the challenge and carry forward but I will have accomplished what I set out to do. First of all link the line of Robert Siderfin married to Elizabeth Question back to the earlier Siderfin family which James Sanders did not do. He merely hinted at it. Second expand some of the lines that James Sanders had listed to bring them up to the early 1900s where it is generally easier to then work one's way back from the present to the 1800s and hence back to the 1500s when this family appears in the records. Linking them back to the 1200s will be more of a challenge as they do not yet appear in the databases beyond one reference. I am not doing that!

My it is nice to have the front lawn raked. The back yard is a much larger chore but will spread it out over one week once all the leaves are down. That is slowly happening. The Black Walnut just suddenly loses its leaves. One day it just looks like a yellow leaf downfall and they come down more or less in a short six hour period and the tree is empty. The maple tree drops its leaves over a period of about two or three weeks. On to late fall and still the promise of a few warm days here and there but winter will soon arrive and with it skiing season. I shall get out once the snow falls and ski in the backyard just to hone my skills once again. It is interesting being 78 because one loses muscle skill sets very quickly if they are not constantly reinforced. I started noticing that around 70. Hence I walk a minimum of 12,000 steps per day but generally closer to 15,000 (down from my 18,000 in the summer) all year around. 

Chicken stew tonight; I do love chicken stew and it will make three dinners. Then an egg dinner of some sort followed by macaroni and cheese. I haven't planned beyond that but still have shrimp and scallops to use up. 

Jumping Jacks time and then tea and my solitaire games. The day begins. Listening to Ian White's Psalms and the repetition day after day mind relaxing. My mind has been working overtime for sure the last nearly three weeks. The world is full of turmoil at the moment - why generate turmoil when we do best as an inventive people when the world is vibrant and aware. The human brain is one of the greatest products of human growth. There is a reason that human babies must learn to support their head as babies more than any other being on earth. We were meant to be brain users; to be able to care for the earth and not destroy it. Looking back over 78 years is a fascinating feature of life actually. Thank you God for the world that you made for us and be ever with us as we journey forward in your world. The forces of good must always overpower the forces of evil for that to happen. The trucks have finally made it through to Gaza - only 20 though.The release of two hostages is not adequate; release all of them. You are holding children; keeping them from their parents/relatives that is a sin beyond belief. Let the children go.