A Wall

Actually I have no problems with the United States building a wall along our mutual border in the west and in the Maritime/Quebec area where it is a land border. The rest is all water. So long as it is on their territory and we do not have to pay for it. Fences do make good neighbours. But we do not consider it needed. Mostly people do not come here that often through non border crossings now that it is illegal. If it deters any illegal activity from Canada to the United States then go for it if you feel that it is needed.  I do wonder about the herds of animals though who travel between the two countries. Perhaps they will design it so that animals could still move through selected spots with special open areas that are patrolled or something like that. Do not want to frighten the animals though; that would need to be well thought out. I believe between Mexico and the United States they have animal corridors though not sure; haven't really paid that much attention. Sounds expensive though and we need other expensive things like more spaces in Medical School for students planning to be family doctors; that should be another criteria when students apply - willingness to agree to be family doctors for a period of ten years would be an absolute asset for sure. Once in few leave that specialty because it simply is the best specialty but it takes special people to take on the entire body as their specialty and to realize when that individual actually does need expert individual attention on any part of their body.

It did remind me of an incident years and years ago when my daughter went to Space Camp in Russia with a Canadian group. When they returned a number of Russian children came back to go to the Space Camp at Algonquin Park and they spent weekends at the homes of Canadians. The young girl that came here had barely come in the door when she said she wanted us to take her to the United States. Being a forthright person myself I said do you have a VISA. You can not go to the United States without a VISA. She replied that I could just lie and say I was her daughter. I did let her know immediately that was not happening. I did not want her to hold up any thoughts on that changing. But it was a continuing refrain the entire time she spent with us. We did travel to Niagara Falls the next weekend and I was surprised that she found it a long drive as Russia is a huge country. When she realized that the United States was just across the Gorge she completely spoiled her entire visit there asking to go to the United States constantly. Whatever we did; wherever she went she could see the United States and just kept asking to go. When we went in the tunnel under the Falls she wondered if she could just walk there. I said no that doesn't happen one has to pass through customs. I said it was a pity that she did not wait until next year to come as that would have been an American-Russian exchange. She did not actually say anything which left me pondering I have to admit. I was glad that she elected to go somewhere else the next weekend. It was simply a relief not to listen to that. The United States is our neighbour; we do not intrude on their privacy. I never repeated that particular type of exchange again.

Our PWRDF service yesterday was very much devoted to Gaza. The presenter was from my original home diocese (Diocese of Huron) and a very interesting speaker. 

The Siderfin book today. Yesterday I did spend time on the 11th generation and it is slowly coming to fruition. I will be glad to finish the Thomas line (soon to begin as I am working on Charlotte's descendants) as it will mean that I have reached the end of this generation.  Then the 12th and the rest of the book is mostly already there just footnoting of the appendices. I am still contemplating the autosomal DNA and what to actually put in there. It was an afterthought to do that chapter but given my avid interest in DNA it would be strange for me not to add in the information that I have in an anonymous fashion. 

My next newsletter is the Pincombe-Pinkham and I look forward to working on that I have the discussion already sorted in my mind just have to put it to pen and paper as one might say. I have been most cautious in reporting DNA in my newsletters so that they are totally anonymized. It would be difficult to look at the spreadsheet in the results and then pull it together with my reporting. Over time one might be able to roughly do that but you could not conclude that any particular individual was linked to particular results. 

My life has certainly been interesting through the years. I have used episodes in my life to enable my hermit tendencies to a far greater extent than could have happened in my home town; I will admit to that. I am freed from the normal family duties that come with a large family as I am not one to intrude but do wait to be approached by family members. I must admit to missing my older brothers but they are with God and our parents/grandparents so I am happy for them. I, of course, miss Edward but he too is with God and the people that he loved especially with his father. I prefer to work away on my projects without a lot of external activities and it was a trait that Edward and I shared at the beginning of our marriage. I think that the loss of adult family around him after we moved here did affect him and he did reach out for friendships. It actually had the opposite effect on me and I relished the family time and the personal time that I had available to me. I continue to do that although do occasionally have close family time (a lot on email but also in person) and do meet with cousins (just the other day actually) but overall I have tasks that I wish to work on and accomplish in the time left to me and that is very much my focus but I do get distracted on occasion. There is an interesting discussion coming up on the new hospital that I was invited to attend towards the end of the month. This new hospital will be state of the art I am sure. It will be a wondrous addition to the City of Ottawa I am sure and listening in on the thoughts will be a fascinating experience.

Just reading through the idea of a maritime corridor put forward by Cyprus to get needed supplies into Gaza. I can see pros and cons. I think the aid needs to go to the south as the people would do better in the south away from the actual war zone. How practical that is I have no idea but it does sound like it would work well especially with the American ships nearby. The British built Mulberry harbours during the Second World war to facilitate off loading. It is a good idea and controlling access to the ships is easier done. It is an exciting idea I think and thousands of tons could be brought in as this is going to be a long war unless Hamas does the right thing; frees the hostages and gets out of Gaza. It would also encourage more of the Gazans to get away from the north and from around the hospital areas where Hamas has dug in in order to make the biggest splashes on the news and create anti-semitism. Their satanic use of the Gazan people as human shields is one of the greatest sins of this century; Hamas is responsible for all these deaths. Hamas attacked Israel a free country and caused this war.  I do have a difficult time understanding why the Arab world doesn't help more in this regard. This is Europe (the EU) which has proposed to fund and manage a maritime corridor. There could be tons of food into Gaza in a matter of days. Where is the Arab help? The Gazan people are Arab and certainly deserve the help of the Arab world. Why help Hamas - they are satanic. Blocking this war of elimination of Hamas from Gaza is helping Hamas to continue to use the Gazan people as human shields.  Palestinians are more than that; they are human beings.

Jumping Jacks and tea next.