The strangest thing

Went for some groceries this morning with my brand new driver's license in tow and no corrective lenses. It was the strangest thing and amazing as I can now read the street signs I haven't been able to read all my life. My girls did that when they were little even. As soon as they started noticing big letters I taught them and soon they were reading the streets signs and it made my driving trips in a strange city much easier. I can tell you where all the big noticeable items are in this city and where I am when I can see them. That is a good thing. 

So good progress on matches yesterday but I came across one that was very very interesting. As it turned out I wasn't reading it quite correctly but the path it sent me down was the interesting part; the match itself fitted perfectly into a grandparent line. But Chromosome 7 has proven to have an interesting short length where two of my siblings match each other but that match doesn't show up in a meaningful way with the other three when I am looking at crossover points. I am busy working away at resolving that. Unfortunately the new match that brings it up is the only match in the small length for the single grandparent. There are lots of matches for the other three so one could say by elimination but I do like a little more than that. So will look at that again today. 

The dogs go home today; I will likely miss them but I have to do a thorough cleaning now as I did wipe their feet but dogs will be dogs and leave their lovely fur here and there so much pick it all  up. I begin that today likely depending on when they go. I could do the basement today. That would spread it out over three days and mean just half of a day of cleaning each day. 

Busy day already but it will continue and there is Church at 10:30 online as always. Another beautiful Sunday. Prayers continuing for the children of Gaza and the children of Israel. That their lives may be free of Hamas sooner rather than later. They are the future and they deserve the best that people can provide. Prayers for the people of Ukraine as they bravely defend their country against the Satanic Russians. 

 

The world's greatest friendship

The friendship between Canada and the United States dates back over 200 years. It has been a beautiful happening throughout my life. Mind you as a child we always felt distant from the United States but we all knew we shared a huge border with them; the longest shared demilitarized border in the world. I still think that there is a great friendship between us but sadly eroded this past six months. For instance I never looked particularly at items in the store to see where they were made but tariff has made that a necessity in our lives here. It is so unfortunate because so many of us have cousins on the other side of the border. But I think even as trade erodes our friendship can go on for ever; we just will have to work at it more. Exciting to think of all the projects in mind to improve our GDP and heal the economy; rebuilding what was lost. Buying what is made in other provinces and finding new markets to buy from and sell to around the world. President Trump did say that he did not need anything/nor want anything from Canada so exploring the world to see where there is a need is something that Prime Minister Carney and his Ministers have been doing around the world. I like it. There is still pain in that statement but we will not let it affect our beautiful friendship with our American neighbours.

 Really the month of August has passed very quickly. I did not actually expect to accomplish much outside and I did not so that works out. In September I intend to do more work outside. It will likely be cooler and that will work better for sure. I want to clean up all the garden beds and will do maybe an hour a day working my way along the yard. I will also pull the weeds in the grass as I pass by it and then cut the grass. It has not been cut but it also hasn't grown. 

More work on the matches yesterday and I continue to work away at the Living DNA material. Some of the matches capture areas where I had very little data so is rather interesting. The big job will be looking at trees on Find My Past, Ancestry, My Heritage and FT DNA. I will just search my two surnames that I am into writing the books on at the moment - Blake and Pincombe - and see what comes out of that. With Ancestry especially but the others as well I can be more exacting working on the Blake/Pincombe couples in my lines and then breaking that down to the 3x great grandparent couples. So that idea is already planned and just needs to be implemented. 

The dogs keep me busy most days and rain yesterday complicated their life a little as they love to just go out there and run in the yard. We will see how today flows as I think rain has also been predicted for today.

Prayers continuing for the souls of the two young children murdered in the School shooting in Milwaukee as well as  prayers for those injured as some are still in hospital in serious condition. Prayers for the children of Gaza and the children of Israel; that their lives may become much easier in the months and years ahead with Hamas gone from both of their lives. Prayers for the people of Ukraine as the Satanic Russians continue to attack and murder them. God in your mercy love the downtrodden and protect the innocent. But I know that God watches He does not act; He waits for us to do the right thing. Love our neighbour as ourself (with love being respect). 

Another Saturday and it will be a clothes washing day likely since the rates are reduced on weekends and holidays. Why not take advantage of that for sure. 

Early today and will do a cleaning up of the desktop. Then tea time, dogs will wake up and breakfast. I did a lot of exercise yesterday but probably will again today although the FitBit says I could take it easy.  

 

 

Prayers in God's World

 Prayers continuing for the two children murdered in the Church shooting in Minnesota and for the injured both critical and non-life threatening in this Church shooting. The safety bounds of children have been violated once again leaving them frightened but none the less they still come out and mourn their fellow students. Their bravery will return and with it a desire to make it better. To eliminate hate and evil from our world. When you look evil in the eye even though you are physically uninjured it brings you closer to God and what He wants for this world. It is not the Satanic evil that swirls around us from the Satanists who live in our world - Iran with its thugs Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, Russia murdering little children in their homes in Kyiv. When you cross into another country with an army without permission we, the United Nations, declared that to be wrong. It is always wrong, excuses are just attempted justification for the murder and rape of a country and its peoples. The punishment can be severe back and its does sadden me especially when children suffer because they are used as cannon fodder by the adults that should love and protect them. Dictators always do that at the end; force children to fight and it is disgusting. Twelve year old boys on the walls of Berlin; Hitler's last violent act against the German people before he committed suicide all because they did not win for him. Such a coward; such a useless homo sapiens; another satanist.

Yesterday it rained; beautiful rain. Thank you God and may it rain so much without lightning all across Canada and quell the fires that burn this summer. They will have left their mark once again on a beautiful land full of people who love Canada in all its enormity. Thank you again to the First Nations for welcoming us to their land so many years ago now. May you always be blessed in your land. 

Some work on the matches and it will continue today. It is a slow process and I am thinking I must do some more work on organizing the cross over points. I have completed two chromosomes but 20 remain since Chromosome 23 isn't displayed in Living DNA results. 

Nearing the end of August; this month passed very quickly. We went from extreme heat to cold (11 degrees celsius this morning at 7:00 a.m.). Another rainy day perhaps but it could rain for a week and the ground would still beg for more rain. 

Solitaire puzzles next and then tea time. The dogs are awake but I told them I would soon be there. They are patient.  

Sadness in our world is overwhelming

Prayers for the souls of the two children killed in Minnesota and for all those injured  in the shooting at the Church yesterday. So much sadness; little ones at mass in their first week of school this year. Their entire life snatched from them in a moment of rage. Why do people not seek help when they feel that way? What drives this murderous attack?

A busy day yesterday but everything accomplished. I also spent time on the matches which was great. The dogs were very good outside and almost no barking which was nice. The little one did bark at the neighbour but a tap on the window and all was quiet once again. The older one recognizes the neighbour and that probably helped to calm the younger one. The little one just reacts mostly without thinking when she barks. But she is a long way from home for sure. They came back pretty quickly as they like to be close to me around strangers. 

Today a work day and a planned exercise day; I have missed those days this summer with so much going on but gradually getting back into my fall work schedule. 

Wab Kinew, Premier of Manitoba, has commented on the refurbishing of the Port at Churchill in Manitoba as he is keen on having an ocean port and getting involved with shipping on the three oceans as the Arctic gives access to both the Atlantic and Pacific out of Hudson Bay going north to the Arctic or east south of Baffin Island to the Atlantic. I think that the trip to Europe would work well from Churchill looking at the map of the earth from the north pole down plus the flow of water in the Atlantic from the lower coast has to deal with the Gulf stream which flows up and then turns in the north towards Europe; you have the benefit of the Gulf Stream not going against you as you enter the Atlantic from the north. Interesting really as it could be very profitable for shipping. If a facility to export LNG could be set up at Churchill that would be a huge gain for the Province of Manitoba and for Europe to have another source of LNG. It is not that far to ship from Alberta to Manitoba and pipelines exist for part of the way. We should think of this as sort of like war time and get things done quicker instead of dawdling; if we do not take advantage of what we have others will try. One is left with the impression that Wab Kinew is in agreement then with the pipeline that Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario were discussing and signing on to. Still need the pipeline through Ontario and Quebec to the Atlantic as Hudson Bay is ice bound for part of the year but also we want to refine all of our own oil and not buy our own oil back at three times the price refined from the United States (they buy it at a discount from us) so need to be able to ship it to the east coast as well. The ice bound period of time is diminishing due to Global Warming created by industrial emissions etc. The return trip from Europe/British Isles could travel to the Arctic Ocean and take advantage of the Gulf Stream once again and travel back to Canada around Greenland and down into Hudson Bay. No sense fighting currents if you can avoid it - ships have lots of power but a waste of fuel if you have to fight the current. Then good train access at Churchill (owned by the First Nations so another profitable venture for them) and can ship products from the port into Canada that come back on the ship from Europe/British Isles. 

Mercusor Trade Deal was a new one for me and the Minister of International Trade has been in Brazil looking to start up a Free Trade Agreement with this group (Argentina, Brazil,  Paraguay and Uruguay and since joined by Venezuela and Bolivia). I rather thought this was a good idea to be investigating this possibility. They grow crops opposite to us since they are south of the Equator. Another source of food as Canada is covered most of the winter by snow and it is too cold to actually farm in the winter here although green houses are providing a lot of fresh items. Good to see this happening. 

The Trade Tour and visit with the troops in Europe by the Prime Minister is now complete. I found it interesting all the possible trade relations being discussed. Still a vast amount of our trade is just between the provinces but external trade is also good. Now that we are nearly into the return of the House of Commons to work, we will see more happening to get pipelines built, the energy corridor created coast to coast to coast. Manitoba already has a project with Nunavut for hydroelectricity. Other projects are being talked about and one of the problems will always be investors. As always we should invest in Canada; all of my investments are in Canadian industry or banking - I do not have any foreign investments. We need to do that to get all of this going. Although each of us is a small investor when the money that is invested is pooled in particular items that are being discussed we should be able to bring on some of this work. Push for more investment in Canada; we need this all to happen as soon as possible. It was good to see the Prime Minister visit the troops in Latvia. Of all the Prime Ministers since Prime Minister Mulroney he has done the most for the troops. 

Raining today and we desperately need a lot of rain in Canada. It could rain for a week here and it would be wonderful. My yard is incredibly dry; I have not watered at all this summer although it still looks green out there but mostly dried out. Soon I will begin my hour a day process around the garden clearing away all the weeds in the barren spots where nothing was planted and add earth over the greenery to help it to rot in the hot sun that will still be with us and it should be good for the earth. Planting barley is better but beyond this old woman for sure. At 80, my limits are showing. 

Solitaire puzzles to play and Tea to drink. Dogs have been out twice and now content to have a nap.  

 

 

 

And laziness crept in or was it just the dogs who hate the vacuum

 So I only accomplished the main floor yesterday but today the basement can be done - not a big issue. The dogs do hate the vacuum; absolutely dread it anywhere near them. And I just said to myself what is another day as the basement is really nothing - the robot vacuums the rug which is happening soon as I need to go out and do my yard run picking up after the dogs. But will wait a little bit until the rest of the world wakes up and is ready for a possible barker. Sometimes no barking at all; all day long but she has decided that the dog two doors down is not her friend and she lets him know it whenever she sees him. That is probably not going to stop no matter how much I chastise her; she just doesn't like him and I am not sure it is actually the size. The older dog doesn't mind him but she is a big dog as is he. 

Still no work done on the matches but time is passing and I will soon have plenty of hours in the day to do that so just set it aside in my mind for another day and winter is definitely coming as fall is showing itself in all its beauty starting already just a slight tinge in some of the trees but more sun and heat into September perhaps; take it as it comes. Since I got rid of the outside swing I am seldom out there but will need to do a yard cleanup this year so that it is ready for planting in the spring. Although my mind continues to think towards selling sooner rather than later. It is too much work for me; I actually do not like gardening - it was something that Edward and I did together in those first eight years before children along with our canoe trips in Northern Ontario and camping a number of weekends every summer. Gradually those memories are replacing his ten years of illness which was on again and off again. It seemed like one was solved and something else cropped up. He was brave though and just kept going until he couldn't keep going. He put together all of the things he did for different groups and gave them to them and I am still looking for his talks to put online. They are in his files for sure and time is mostly the problem. We just found one talk and some of his singing in the Choir at Orleans United Church thus far where he was Treasurer for ten years and sang in the choir for seventeen years. When the girls had moved on in their lives and he was still singing in the Choir I was sitting by myself in the back usually and he decided to sit with me and then the lovely lecture series on the Old Testament Fathers at Dominion Chalmers appeared in our Bulletin and we started going there although the intent was to return eventually it was rare for us to do that. When the new minister came to Dominion Chalmers he was more of a folksy music fan and we moved on to the Cathedral (I am Anglican and generally have attended my own Church for a large part of my life and still do on line and using e-transfer for my collection this is the greatest thing for old people I think). I went to my own Anglican Church usually early mornings here where we live when the girls were young and I stopped being volunteer secretary at Edward's United Church; it didn't seem quite right to do that when I was the volunteer secretary at the United Church. I was working at home in those days doing copyediting and proofreading for one of the local printers (primarily scientific text in English but I also could read  both French and German) so was quite happy when Edward's United Church hired a secretary which they did offer to me but I told them then that I was already working full time. I did continue as a volunteer purchasing supplies for the Sunday School  at Edward's United Church as I did not teach again after the two year old class that I started when my youngest was there. Teaching children is not something that ever interested me although I did substitute teaching in High School when my husband was teaching in Lion's Head for a short period as they needed assistance but I had just suffered a  miscarriage and was mostly taking it easy those days and the substitute teaching was not too much work so took it on plus it paid! I also helped once a week in my children's elementary schools as a volunteer which was quite fascinating as one forgets how much one learns in those early years in school. Working at home did allow me that extra time to do things like that with my children; it was lovely. But it was work designed to be done at home and I was hired in that capacity although eventually I had to chose to go into work part of the time when the proofreader retired at the printer where I was employed but I fitted it into my girls' school hours. Edward loved the music at the Cathedral and we bought a niche in the Columbarium there as a temporary resting place as he wanted to be buried at Beechwood. I have mentioned that and leave it up to our children to re-inter at Beechwood if that is their choice when I pass away but I just wanted him to have that lovely music to keep him company in eternity for the moment. 

Prayers continuing for the children of Gaza and the children of Israel - their lives destroyed by Hamas continues as long as Hamas exists. So long as Hamas exists their creed hurts the children of Israel and the children of Gaza as Hamas uses them as cannon fodder; it is a Satanic Creed they follow and so they must go from this world. Initially I thought they could just be reformed but they are part of Iran and Iran destroyed the lives of all those Canadians when they shot down the airplane bringing them home from Tehran long ago now but the pain is still there - the loss of family members never to be forgotten. Iran is also Satan just like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. Their only creed is destruction. God didn't create this world for that; He sent Satan where he belonged and I believe he wishes the same for the Satanists in Iran, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis their thugs. 

Soon the robot in the basement working on the rugs. Solitaire puzzles all done, Tea drank and on to the day.  

Main floor and the basement today

Debated with myself whether I would do the main floor and basement today or tomorrow but decided to complete it all today and then have five days without cleaning. The dogs hate it when I clean; they hate the vacuum especially. Really it is just the noise and the fact it moves that bothers them not me actually. When I dust they are less frustrated and the vacuum actually doesn't take that long and the robot does the basement. 

Prayers continuing for the children of Gaza and the children of Israel. The terror being felt by the relatives and friends of those still held captive can be absolutely sensed as one watches the huge throngs who gather to protest their captivity as hostages for nearly two years. It is unconscionable that anyone would actually hold hostages in particular children and young people - I can not think often enough of the pain these people have suffered and all their children did was to go to a Music Festival - they happen all the time Music Festivals. As well, children ripped from the arms of their parents in their homes (many of the parents murdered in front of them) held hostage in Palestinians homes where they were shushed and hidden away - who does that. We do need an end to all of that. No one likes to see children suffer - watching as the food is distributed to the young Palestinian children is definitely hard to watch (the mayhem is so great that some is spilled on the ground in the transfer; where are the adults they should collect the food some of the children are very young). But is that actually a reason to upset events in this country; they gained nothing - I wouldn't have attended the parade at all or even watched it later but I do believe in people's rights to be who they are so long as no one else suffers. But to put the entire parade on hold with unacceptable demands which were refused. Another spoiled day in Canada by the Palestinians who did not care enough to bring the children here when the offer was made to protect them. We do not want the sort of happening that occurred in Israel on the 7th October 2023 in any other country - it was indecent, satanic, immoral and deadly and it continues with the hostages still held nearly two years later in inhumane conditions and were exploited in a video which was satanic and indecent in itself. More than anything it goes against everything the United Nations stands for in my mind. The establishment of the United Nations was to protect every nation from attack by exterior forces (Gaza wants to be a country and one wonders how that can ever happen with such an attitude as they have towards the Israeli people - they elected Hamas as their government). Hamas must leave Gaza and all the people of Gaza re-educated by Egypt and other Arab nations as suggested with Egypt setting up an interim government perhaps no ideas on that but I think it was mentioned on the news at some point. Free the hostages Satanic Hamas and leave Gaza. 

Still no news on my blood smear; I am following the normal process where one is notified by one's attending doctor if there is something amiss (I received the email and I saved it before my results were showing that the pathologists' report had been forwarded to the doctor (although marked as pending)). I used to feel more personal about my health reports but when I arrived in this area many years ago everyone I met seemed to know the story of my health which was weird to put it mildly (I am not one to discuss my health personally but somehow it seems appropriate on my blog especially as many people suffer from mental health problems at some point in their life and it is nice probably to know they are not alone in that). I am concerned though that people in their 80s and above are just ignored actually. If a pathologist is asked for a report and he/she prepares one then the thought is that that report will be acted on otherwise a total waste of money and time and they are busy people having worked in the lab at the hospital. As a taxpayer I abhor that type of waste. When I worked in the hospital I loved it so much that I was generally there by 7:30 am and didn't leave much before 6:00 pm although I did run amuck with the union on my hours when I was eventually in a union position. But really if one loves their work what does it matter to them how long I work (I usually preferred contract work where that was not a problem but I decided it would be nice to have a small pension from my working in my later years since I had done contract work for years and there is no pension with contract work). I support the idea of unions so long as they do not interfere with the enjoyment of work by people. Just trying to create more work force in their union by tightening up is a waste to the taxpayers or companies - leave people alone and let them work how they want to work (it isn't like it amounts to an entire position!).  Do not create a two class system of workers and employers - they can actually work together effectively as equal partners.

The dogs are missing their people but soon enough they will be home again as renovations are coming along and as happy as a lark even when they spend more time inside than out. The advantage here is the huge yard where they can run to their heart's delight unless the little one barks but slowly I am convincing by a tap on the window to please stop. She does often enough but she is smaller than the big one and is just a barker I think (some dogs are). 

Time to start cleaning at 9:00. It will take a good part of the day as it is two floors. 

Tea drank. Breakfast done. Solitaire games played.  

 

 

Cleaning day

 Monday is always a return to cleaning and it is the top floor that receives that treatment today. It is much more streamlined these days as the rooms slowly empty out. One of these days I will be ready to sell the house and move. It has been a lovely home for us for more than 47 years. No one would have imagined that we would still be here all these years later. It was brand new when we moved in and the street newly developed. Everyone who was here at the beginning of our life on this street moved on years and years ago. Edward did go to Chapel Hill several times with the girls to look at houses up there but the lots were so small and he loved to garden. The yard always won out I am happy to say as I really did not want to move at any time until now. Now I am ready to move but only because I am getting too old to manage all of it and I do not need a house this big. There are lots of families wanting houses and I am ready to make that possible for someone in the near future now. 

Yesterday was clothes washing day which I often do on Saturday in preference but time just made it be Sunday. All on the racks drying although the dryer actually works very well but I like the smell of freshly washed clothes and so I dry them on the racks for the most part. In the winter it puts lots of good moisture into the dry air. The dryer still gets a lot of use when times are busy. 

Chicken stew last night for dinner and it was excellent. The dogs loved the smell of it cooking as well but they also like their meal that they have which is good. They were busy outside yesterday although got pelted with rain first thing in the morning. But they are principally house dogs spending most of their time running around the house from window to window to see what is out there. 

What interesting news will come into our vision today. There are always surprises like the Prime Minister being in Kyiv yesterday for Independence Day and he will continue his European visits with Poland and Germany. Although I did not vote Liberal (one does vote for the local candidate after all), I am finding that he is heading us towards where we need to be - independent like we used to be with our economy balanced and not having to import in particular a lot of small appliances like dryers, dish washers, washing machine etc etc. We did make all of those things when I was a child. Moving forward with pipelines following appropriate consultation with the First Nations is also part of his agenda. If we do not do it we will be swamped by the money people who just want to take what they can and run with the money and Canada does not benefit enough from all of that. Canada is a good place to invest with huge natural resources and a hard working populace. Canada has twice the population it had when I was a child. We can do this and do it very well. 

So cleaning today and perhaps a look at matches but cleaning tends to occupy most of my time. Still staying away from the news for the most part. 

Teatime soon and solitaire puzzles.  

Comment on CRA and getting through on the call centres

I suspect that an online form for CRA where you fill in what you need to know in sufficient detail could then be responded to much quicker than a long phone conversation where you have to repeat the entire process you may have already been through many many times as you try to get a problem solved (been there/done that). That way there is a "paper electronic trail" that could become attached to your CRA account number making it easier to locate and pull up when there is a need for further information or action.  Government jobs must make better use of the electronic ability that exists in all government offices. It is so much faster to type a reply to requests then to spend time on the phone having to repeat the problem so many times to a different person. Although there will be cases where a phone call is absolutely necessary and that system already exists. 

I know when I want to purchase something I generally go online and find it and then often enough if it needs a person to install it the company will send you a list of companies willing to do the work and you can get the company to purchase it for you if it is large and bulky and bring it with them and set up a time to get that done all on line. We need to move to online requests/messaging in government services I think. 

Yesterday saw me back on matches for a short while and some accomplishment.  Whittling away at the file I am now down to 143 matches to work on. The dogs sat and watched me work and then they were out and running.  But we are in a warm spell again and they are big dogs so tend to keep them inside where it is cool.

Sunday, a welcome day of the week for sure and two Church services online. I will attend as much as I can but the dogs do rather interfere with that somewhat but I am enjoying their company. 

Perhaps next week some work on the gardens/lawn. 

Teatime soon.  

 

I continue to agree with the path that Prime Minister Carney has selected

I do think the random retaliatory tariffs did prove to be an obstacle to discussion with the United States (Prime Minister Trudeau put them on) and Prime Minister Carney has done the right thing getting rid of them on CUSMA trade. Our biggest concentration continues to be on encouraging the return of manufacturing to Canada; it is very important. Along with the energy grid nationwide we will bring ourselves forward in time to being much more self-sufficient as we were in my youth. Time has changed manufacturing so that the hard menial labour can be done by machine giving ingenuity in manufacturing a chance to mature and catch up to the digital age. There is a wide space for new inventions and uncluttering old inventions to fit into this age much better. The trades are very much in the assent these days in my mind. My father had some very novel ideas in his work place I can recall as a child. He lived to be 94 years of age actually having worked in the company he created until he was 88 when he had a stroke that took away the use of his legs. His choice of Master electrician over banking (he did train to be a banking type of person with his Westervelt College degree but his parents supported his becoming a Master Electrician after he did the course work that they asked him to do) may seem strange now but not at all unusual in the 1920s and 1930s in Canada. Trades has sat in the background for too long here and needs to come once again to its proper level of talent seeking that it once had and you do see that with trade job fairs. The value of sitting at a desk doing mundane clerical type things is a waste of youthful vigour even if it is glossed up with fancy titles that really just mean clerk many times. Being a master craftsman is in my mind much more important than minor (or even major if that is your inclination) white collar jobs. 

Parliament soon back in and the two main leaders need to work together to get things done and 85% of Canadians expect that to be happening with all of that support behind these two individuals both of whom bring a lot to the table in terms of worldly knowledge and experience and youth and political experience. 

I see a Montreal shipping firm is looking at setting up Arctic Ocean shipping runs out of the Port of Churchill. There is in reality room for more than one shipping firm as trade moving around the world is in its heyday really with more and more countries looking to ship their products to new areas but still the internal purchase of goods is the most important and we must get manufacturing back into place for many many items that slipped away during free trade. The First Nations have a lot of small companies that produce interesting items that do catch the sight of people around the world and pursuing markets worldwide is the goal of most people in companies it appear now a days. There is always more of a risk in new startups then pursuing existing ones but the benefits are huge if one sees it from the viewpoint of growing Canada; if we do not grow it others will try; bet on Canada (like the Canadian who bought up Toys R Us Canada because he wanted Canadian children to have that store to buy toys at) invest in Canadian companies. Personally I only have Canadian investments. The old who are busy investing their savings need to ensure that an independent Canada continues to be at the forefront of the world.  

Still no work done but perhaps today; I do need to do some work outside and want to get started at that. At 80 I am finding that the heat can get to me eventually. The dogs are still content being with me until they are home again (work being done can complicate life with dogs underfoot) which is good and makes life easier for sure. 

Solitaire puzzles completed and time for tea and breakfast.  

 

Another beautiful sunny day promised

Very busy day yesterday and today will likely be more of the same.  The dogs keep me hopping for sure but they are very good company. No work done on the yard although I did have the thought and perhaps today since it is garbage day I will do that - at least one bag out to the street. I have a pail full thus far. 

Still very dry here and I have not watered and probably will not water. I will pull weeds though if time presents itself. No work done on the matches but lots of time for that; no rush. 

Not sure when the House of Commons and Senate return for the fall but hopefully very soon. There is a lot to do for sure. Must check and see where Manitoba is at with the pipeline extension permissions. I do like the idea of the port on Hudson Bay but one really needs to develop a steamship line for transport at the same time to make it a very profitable venture - we certainly have lots of trade goods to sell around the world and ships are a good method although planes are, of course, faster. But if time is not an important factor than ships carry more in each trip. 

Checking out when I am shopping to see what sort of goodies we will now have on our shelves from other provinces. Restrictions have always been so tight between provinces until now so it will be interesting to explore new products going west to east and east to west that come to Ontario store shelves.  Certainly our many years of the Auto Pact and Free Trade under NAFTA and then CUSMA have been very nice to have; tariff is going to make that very very difficult. 

Our military spending is growing rapidly and will employ many people in Canada; we always were somewhat militaristic in our outlook always ready when needed so it is good to see a return to that attitude. Especially to be on guard and ready when you have the satanic Russians trying to steal Ukrainian land, commit genocide against the Ukrainian peoples and steal in particular the minerals and other wealth in that country. They only out-number the Ukrainians by 3 to 1 and will discover over time that their losses will drastically affect their population as women get tired of having sons and daughters and sending them off  to die in a useless war that was caused by Russia invading a sovereign country namely Ukraine. These days the aggressor is seen by the world as the cause of everything which they are - the Satanic Hamas another example of an aggressor as they have caused all the suffering in Gaza as well because of their barbaric attack on Israel 7 Oct 2023. They still hold Israelis hostage nearly two years later under inhumane conditions. Set them free as ordered by the International Court. 

Mostly I stay away from the news. At 80 years of age I can do nothing about it but watch as these satanists destroy our world with their utter ignorance. 

Still dark as the shorter days move towards us and fall is in our grasp nearly. Warmer this morning at 15 degrees celsius and clear - the stars clearly visible this morning early. 

Teatime soon and solitaire puzzles. 

Yesterday was an efficient day

 Yesterday appeared to be an efficient day with my groceries being purchased and a couple of other items that were needed. The dogs were excited to see us on our return. I will not go out again for a bit now as I have lots to do here and will return to my irregular grocery purchase as I have bought enough chicken to freeze for a number of stews - time for that again. I have missed my stew this summer actually. I do enjoy it. The rich chicken broth, vegetables, the potatoes, the onions and the lovely chicken all chopped up with some garlic usually. Sounds very nice actually. 

A beautiful sunny day and 17 degrees celsius, typical late August weather although we will still have some more hot weather likely. Out for a pickup run in the yard while the dogs have their third run of the day. Their company is good for me for sure as I have been very stressed these past six months and looking forward to a quiet fall once again and back to writing. At the moment I am getting pretty much nothing done in that regard but that is not unusual in the summer. This afternoon will do some yard cleanup and a couple of bags out to the street tomorrow morning. 

Solitaire games all played and my first meal of six of the day as I work my way through a flareup of one of my few medical issues. I am lucky in that regard to have a mostly healthy time of it as I reach 80 especially given the state of my eyes. Yesterday we picked up our new glasses. Mine were reading glasses as I was using bifocals all this past year in order to have them for driving but now I do not need them although will still use them likely most of the time. Although I do very very little driving for sure. My days of driving for two or three hours or more are very much in the past. Edward was certainly the driver of that as he wanted to go everywhere. Having a car about six months after we got married was a huge surprise for him when I suggested it. I had the money to buy it as I seldom spend money; I recognized early on that my husband was a spender and my being an extremely frugal person worked well in our relationship. He always knew when something special was wanted that I would definitely have the money for that; it was something he had not known in his youth particularly because his mother was widowed when he was just two years of age and the only support of that family. She did not have any advanced education although did try to complete some of her high school when he was young but living in a small town with limited opportunities salaries were pretty small. Edward had a paper route from the age of ten years and worked in tobacco from the age of 13 until he went to university. It was a pretty hard life I think but I am a city girl and from a family of nine so also learned to be very careful with money from a young age - I am a chronic saver; the economy does not really gain greatly from me although certainly in our marriage Edward was a big spender for sure. 

Off to do the walk around the yard with the dogs and then my second meal of the day; a break and then exercise. 

Solitaire puzzles completed and another glorious day in God's world with perfect weather. Not much wind in the trees so He is contemplating for sure.  I do not actually believe that God will interfere in the path of the world; we have made choices that lead us down an uncertain path in regards to Global Warming and the response to it. Europe being particularly active in the response perhaps because they suffer a great deal from it although Canada is a polar country with low emissions and also certainly feels the effect of the industrial world. This summer has been particularly fatal in the forests of Canada - fall with its rains and the snowy winter will help. We do need to have priorities world wide to protect our planet. 

 

Maybe today a work day

 Hoping to get a little work done today; time will tell. The girls keep me busy and the younger dog wakes me up earlier even than I get up but she should soon settle or if not they will soon go back home only here for awhile; one or the other. But they are good company for sure. 

Cleaning all accomplished once again and today will be a quiet day as I generally do do my usual exercises but otherwise a quiet day on Wednesdays. Outside if the weather is good and I see it is cloudy and 16 degrees celsius at the moment.  I am now up to running for 15 minutes on my way to 30 minutes which I usually run every day. 

Selling the house does seem to be something I will likely do this year or next year. It is just too much upkeep for me. I do not want to have to deal with repairs and getting that organized and done. But the alternative of living in a condo or apartment is unappealing as well. I do like some space around me. I shall have to contemplate all of this over the next while but definitely I need to continue my downsizing both in furniture contents and boxes. The project for the picture binders will begin in early September as I combine the binders that Edward created of our family story removing the pictures which are not of us but they are all scanned so not a big problem as most things that are looked at are online these days anyway. Plus I have the original slides and a slide viewer still. The original indexes will still give the flow of the pictures. But 40 binders for the period from the mid 1960s to the early 2000s is just too many for anyone to keep. 

So moving forward today with the matches to a certain extent but spending time with the dogs which is good for them. Although I enjoy their company I do not mind the quiet of my usual life. I remember the psychiatrist saying to me at the time of my release from the psychiatric ward when my eldest was just six months and a bit old. He said that I needed to rest and eat whilst enjoying my baby time. Not become involved too much in anything for awhile; no work. My mind and body needed to mend and time would help with that; I had been very ill. I did follow his cautionary note all the time when we first moved here but did get distracted from that by my new family doctor who thought I should welcome people to the street (it was an all new street and we were one of the first few families there). But I did begin to realize after a bit that he had not listened to my story of my health and drew back from all of that but Edward did volunteer me to be Church Secretary at his United Church (I had been at my Anglican Church here but Edward wanted to be a family at his United Church; he did contemplate Dominion Chalmers but I wanted my children to go to Church where they lived as I had). It was more involvement than I really needed as my phone always seemed to be ringing with bulletin notices and the like and I had to call to verify things with people involved. Resting was my most important thing and I gradually withdrew from things so that it was my primary thought although I did help at school one day a week for a number of years whilst my eldest was there but had to give that up when my youngest was born although did go back after a year or so and help out when she was about two and then helped at her school as well. Going back to do my masters was top of mind before I became pregnant with my second child but that didn't happen as I was concerned about her health when she was born and felt I should be with her 100% of the time and gave up on that idea. Edward was busy with his cousin Gordon Riddle going to the OGS meetings before my second pregnancy (can not remember how long they went together). I only have a vague idea of how they were related but it was on the Kipp side as both were researching their Kipp ancestry at the time. For the most part I tried to stay away from everything though and these past six months have proven to be difficult for me once again and I have tried to withdraw as much as possible as the psychiatrist told me to do whenever I feel so pressured. I did find a different walk to do every day all those years ago as well which was helpful as Orleans Boulevard was developed and not just Fortune to walk on easily to make a good walk about.  But I digress. Attending Church online has been the best for me. I love it. 

Weeding is top of mind and I plan to do that whilst the dogs are here. They like me to be outside with them and there is lots to do out there. This year I shall chop everything down and let it rot on the ground. Where it was left fallow this summer I will slowly move some of the extra dirt from the garden on top of the chopped down material. That way in the spring it will be ready to plant although I do not intend to plant a garden here ever again but perhaps I will have sold by then; certainly it is in my mind. 

The front is a little overgrown and will work on that in the fall. Although I have kept it chopped down for the most part. But it has been so very dry; the grass is burned up for the most part. I have not watered. 

Anyway on to the day as it is nearly 6:30 and dogs will soon be up and looking for breakfast. The little one went back to sleep after I told her to come away from the window and go back to sleep as it was too early.  

 

Cleaning continues

 Today the main floor and the basement will be cleaned and I am partway through that process. Dogs keep me busy in the morning so blog doesn't get written any too early. They have had a great time outside already as it is a beautiful day and I gathered up the branches that had come down so they are playing with those carting them about and having a great time. 

No work done yesterday at all but that is not surprising; gradually I will get a little routine going but at the moment I have a lot to do around the house and they enjoy following me about. Still not paying much attention to the news but was very happy to see all the European leaders accompany the President of Ukraine to the meeting with our neighbour to the south.  Pierre Poilievere was elected in his byelection riding yesterday which is good news. He is young but he has good ideas as I said during the election. The ideas put forward by both the Conservatives and the Liberals were very similar and it really was a question between experience and youth and Prime Minister Carney has vast experience in finance and trade management from his years as Governor of the Bank of Canada. But Pierre has youthful vigor and the young people are likely to follow him; the two leaders of the major parties working together will be a fantastic twosome. One anticipates they will disagree on occasion but for the most part their goal is the same - an energy corridor right across Canada and as soon as it is possible. We need it to increase our ability to be an exporter of the products that we manufacture and are needed around the world. I was contemplating the new port that Wab Kinew has put forward as one of his provincial ideas and if it extended to setting up a shipping company by the First Nations in the north of Manitoba it could be an extremely productive business for them. Nothing like taking your products to the world (although they are not seafaring in their background certainly being on the water is something that they have done in vast amounts). They are iced in in the winter so would still need the pipeline to the Atlantic  but will Global Warming be reversed? That is part of the question I think and I suspect we could have fairly open waters in Hudson Bay as time passes until the world finds the stamina to combat Global Warming - some areas are very aggressive like Europe (we have been but we also need to protect our economy which is undergoing huge changes as we work our way through tariff and how it affects our lives here in Canada). 

Well this is my break time so must accomplish a few other things aside from day dreaming on my blog. 

The little dog barks and it is a large bark and she really isn't that little - probably 50 pounds or more. But she does sit at the window upstairs and has a huge view of the street and anything that moves is suspect to dogs for sure if they do not recognize it. I have called her away from the window and she is resting on my bed as she contemplates her punishment for barking. 

Getting used to my new computer although read my mail on the old computer because it will be the workhorse and this will be the writing computer. It is very fast and lots of room although I haven't done any work now for a few days but it will come back soon enough and my mind is having a rest from all of that although I have jotted a few notes down and they are on the desktop ready for my return as I continue collecting and entering the DNA data from all of my cousins around the world. 

A bit of cloud but mostly sunny and warm enough at 18 degrees celsius although last night was  cooler but it is past the middle of August and the nights are longer which is great. I love the winter months in Canada; I just hibernate for most of it. 

Back to dusting and then vacuuming the living room, scrubbing the bathroom and then this floor is complete. The basement rug is vacuumed by the Robot and also completed so just the dusting in the basement and washing the floors and I am done for another week.  

Amazing really

I was checking my lab report (and did note this on the first day it was published day or so after the blood was taken) and discovered that the company testing me had done a blood smear (I do not think it was on the original requisition but I am getting old) which surprised me because the technician did not prepare a blood smear - done a few of those in my past. Just two tubes of blood taken so the smear must have been prepared from the tubes which we never did in my past - blood smears were always done at the point of the actual blood collecting. So is it my blood? No idea on that and it remains a mystery. The smear was sent off to a pathologist and came back with the note on line that they couldn't reveal what the pathologist wrote (pending initially). Somewhat interesting considering the note that I received from the substitute doctor never referred to my results for that. Although I did have a second item that was considered low this time - that was a first for me but looking at the ratio of WBC neutrophils to WBC lymphocytes my untrained eye did not see a problem in terms of chronic but should probably be reviewed and perhaps repeated at some point in the future if I should live so long! I am just a little concerned that as people move towards 80 there is less interest in newly graduated doctors in taking care of them. Not always the case as last year's doctor was most efficient recognizing that my sample taken without fasting as I went from the medical to the blood taking was not high cholesterol and that was my only "high/low" value. Anyway I wait in anticipation that perhaps I will get another note explaining what the pathologist wrote. I did get a note from the office welcoming me to the new clinic (a few days ago) as the clinic had moved from its earlier location. Somewhat of a mystery for sure; life is full of mysteries. It does tend to be cheaper to take care of people living at home who then do not become chronic illnesses using up hospital space and long term care. 

The spurs in my osteo-arthritic knees have acted up in one knee so I am nursing that and slowly bringing it back to run again (30 minutes a day; I am up to 10 and will persevere with that). It is interesting my schedule which revolves around cleaning two days a week (today is the top floor) and working on the books and regular exercise on the non cleaning days although I still tend to run most days. 

Yesterday the chorister was excellent once again at Church and one thing I noticed I can actually tell that this is a different person each week (easy when it is male or female of course but in a robe up front I would never have recognized readily from one week to the next that they were particularly different before cataract surgery). Now I see all the variety in people that I missed before as my depth of vision was lacking.

The dogs are visiting me while a bit of work is being done on their house. So we will have a little time together and that distraction does eat away at the book writing time. They just stay out of my way when I clean and enjoy the backyard maybe ten or fifteen times a day until the little one barks generally for whatever reason (another dog; an unknown person passing by the back of the yard; possibly the next door neighbour) and I bring them in. They actually are mostly house dogs so not a big deal but I do not like the little one to bark at people and if you are not used to dogs they are very large. I am especially strict when the little one barks at a child - that is frightening to them but I generally check to see who is outside before they go out. Or I am out there with them which is often the case. That is why I do not get much work done. 

Time to clean; life is sort of patterned at the moment and will continue in that trend probably to the last of my days. I am still staying away from the news. There are people to manage all of the things that arise in the world without my input although I do still occasionally comment on items. 

Tea drank, working on the solitaire puzzles and then cleaning.  

 

Overwhelmed

 It is unusual for me to be overwhelmed to be honest but yesterday was an overwhelming day. It was a wonderful day as it started out with a visit from my youngest brother, his daughter and her family. We had a lovely long chat. I did not do lunch although really should have but that tends to be something beyond me these days. I look after myself very well but beyond that I have  no idea what people eat and having to plan and prepare that much would totally overwhelm me so I do not do it. But our chat was quite lovely. I have not seen this brother for twelve years. No special reason for that but he has helped to raise his two young grandchildren and that keeps him very busy and my niece is a physician with all those responsibilities. They were returning from a camping vacation and the children were a delight for sure. I love to watch children play; they can do so much with absolutely nothing actually. Last time they came there were toys coming out of the woodwork but I had forgotten to mention that they had moved on to two new cousins of my grandchildren. But with some fresh fruit, ice cold water and crackers and a couple of toys they made themselves at home and had a great time. We chatted and I shared my cataract story that takes me from an infant showing signs of strabismus at three months (my mother told me that as one of their best friends was an ophthalmologist who recognized my turned eyes as a problem especially as my father also had strabismus; my daughter has wondered if I had congenital cataracts perhaps because they were so very large; I have no idea just glad they are gone as this is an interesting way to come to the end of one's life) to an almost 80 year old woman who has had cataract surgery and no longer wears the glasses she has worn since one year of age. Not only that my eyes are better than they ever were  so I shared the story of the picture because my niece is a physician with probably lots of people who are baby boomers coming up to cataract surgery. The pace at which my sight grew better and better was something I mentioned as I still contemplate that that is the way that sight develops in an infant after birth. If I were a sketcher I could draw the changes to that picture through the following year after cataract surgery. By six months following the surgery most of the ability was there; it simply refined even further. Amazing really to have had that journey of an infant in old age!

But the day continued as my brother and his family went on with their day and my daughter and her family arrived with the dogs which was a wonderful treat. Also a physician and we sat and chatted for a while. But I was becoming rapidly overwhelmed with so much going on. As a child I would have headed up to my attic bedroom with my first group of visitors but I am no longer a child and did not do that. I very much enjoyed both visits. 

Overall I did not accomplish any work at all but that is okay, I will work today perhaps. This is grinding work as I dig out the results of all these tests and put them into my databases to use for the production of the genealogical charts down to census time.   

I see that the online news is being handled well by Prime Minister Carney and comments by Pierre Poilievere with regard to trade have also been interesting as well as the work moving forward. There is a pace and we have to wait sometimes; Premier Wab Kinew said it right that he had not yet signed onto the pipeline as it was still being reviewed in his province (perhaps building the port would help to push that to affirmative now). He may have by now I do not know I have not been paying attention to the news. But at some point we do need a consensus to go ahead to the energy grid for Canada and a recovery of lost industries during free trade. My desires are few; my needs also very few so I can live in a world where most of the money goes to make Canada stronger and better for the grandchildren and on into the future. As always it is the children who matter not ourselves. 

Tea drank and solitaire puzzles completed. A nap is next and then exercise and breakfast. I was up at 5:50 today - impatient to get on with the day, it is Sunday and Church online in two places today.  

 

Continuing with the matches

 Yesterday saw another dozen or so matches worked on and filed. Nothing really jumped out as special just here and there filling in spots on the chromosomes not covered by earlier matches although they are few and far between a few do exist. Today is a busy day though and probably not much will get done on the matches. 

I need to work on the weeds outside once the weather cools a bit more and accomplish all of that before winter. I will sign up for the laneway clearing of snow once again as we are actually promised a heavy snow winter. We have been having the company clear the snow now for about seven years I think. It got to be just too much snow for us to clear when the heavy falls happen. 

We are busy diversifying our trade and developing the energy grid. Perhaps the one item that comes out of all of this is Canada's need to work together (all of us need to work for the good of Canada, strikes do not help anyone particularly - does any one ever recover from a lengthy strike - loss in wages is a painful episode in people's lives I suspect not having lived through anything like that). We can not cling to a past that we cannot protect without everyone pulling together. 

All of Canada needs to pull together to bring back our lost industries and create the new ones that will employ everyone. The trade that existed in North America was good over the past fourty years and everyone profited but change happened and we are moving forward to adapt to that change. A home grown car industry could also be the way to the future; we did have homegrown car industries back in the beginning. The more we do internally the better off we will be. We probably all need to buy canola oil instead of imports in order to buy up what would be tariffed. 

Rains are coming as the fall approaches and hopefully wildfires will be put out quickly. 

Tea ready and working on solitaire puzzles. 

 

 

 

New Discovery - Mango Languages

 Yesterday was a busy shopping day but included a trip to the library so that I could renew my library card and sign up for Mango Languages. There is a Latin course on Gallic history to help me with my Latin transcriptions; at least I believe it will! A quick and easy fix as the young woman helping me was able to take my card and quickly update it to the present year. I haven't borrowed a book from the library in many many years; I just tended to buy the ones that I wanted to read and a great deal of my reading has been online since the late 1990s plus I was working and going to baseball games with my youngest in my free time when I wasn't keeping up the house after work hours so reading books from the library just did not happen. But I do think libraries are essential and gladly pay taxes for all these extras. 

So Market Day, Grocery Store day (and I did two grocery stores yesterday for essentials) and then a walk on the beach. It was lovely and I didn't see one smoker actually. People are paying attention to the danger of cigarette butts on the ground in forested areas. I never smoked so I see no value in it really; it is like rolling up a dollar bill (loonies have replaced them) and smoking it really and probably it is worth considerably more than a dollar these days; no idea on that. But I am a workaholic and do not hold things against people; just expect them to absolutely obey the law. 

A beautiful sunny day as I put the frozen green bin contents out to the curb and the goodness of God shines through on a day like this; thank you for this world dear God and prayers that mankind can reverse Climate Change and take care of the world as you commanded. No wind today, He is sitting and waiting for people to do the right thing in his world; will they? Prayers as always for the children of Gaza and the children of Israel (they are the losers in all of this adult happening). Children need food but adults can manage without for periods of time although not a pleasant thought for anyone. Children are growing and they need protein every day. 

Yesterday a little work on the matches - one peculiar one that I put into the bin of did not enter but always there in case something evolves in that regard.  Slow going with 158 matches still to be sorted and the need to go into the other DNA companies and find the latest ones there before I move to re-phasing grandparents and working on phasing the great grandparents. This is fun though working with all this data and coming up with solutions - something you couldn't have done just a mere fifteen years ago. Life has been productive since the Market Crash of 2008 but most of the economic worries have stemmed from that crash although our dollar being low is not necessarily a problem but rather makes us more competitive in a highly competitive world. The more pressure put on us the further down the dollar goes and the more competitive we become. 

I did suggest that we should work with China on this business of the production of EV cars. It does not look like the American car manufacturers are prepared to separate their businesses and produce independently in Canada so one does not know the result of the tariff on Canada in the long run. The Auto Pact is sixty years old now and has made many companies rich. But we need to move forward and I do believe we should take the tariff off of Chinese cars if they are produced in Canada by Canadians with Canadian material (but we could also recreate our home auto industry!). That way we could also deal with the new tariff on canola that will cripple our farmers (but we could also buy canola oil in preference here to weaken that threat).  We will see; Pierre Poilievre has the right idea; we need shovels in the ground and pipelines being built to get that commodity to market the best way we can and at full price. 

Interesting that the Ward Councillor had a kiosk on the corner near the grocery store yesterday. I think too many politicians have too many holidays and we need work done now.  Recall Parliament and lets roll up our sleeves and get things done. 

Another working day and perhaps a walk on the beach; time will tell. Summer is slowly waning away. Just 13 degrees when I took the recycled frozen food out to be collected later. It keeps the racoons away as not much smell in frozen food. 

Tea drank, solitaire puzzles are next.  

 

 

 

 

     

Tribalism

The H11 Newsletter is on the website (forgot to put that up). 

My father always said that tribalism is the biggest cause of trouble in the world. But what is tribalism? Does my 100% English ancestry going back minimum six generations and much further mean that I am a single tribal descendant? Absolutely not as I do have Huguenot ancestry from the late 1400s arriving in Somerset from France. I also have Scot ancestry with my Routledge family arriving in Cumberland around the beginning of the 1400s in the Bewcastle area. My possible Irish ancestry arrived in Lancashire/Warwickshire area in the latter part of the 1700s from Northern  Ireland so even with all that English ancestry I have a lot of British Isles and Northern European ancestry. But I think to him tribalism was more of a mindset where one begins to think of their locale/area as a distinct unit but no one on this earth is of a distinct tribal nature unless you belong to one of the secluded groups that are becoming rarer and rarer in the Amazon and other isolated spots. But they are not truly a tribe but rather just a hermit group of people who have managed to keep civilization away from them. 

The danger lies in thinking that you are unique and that uniqueness gives you some sort of a special footing and to me that is tribalism. At its worst we saw Hitler using brute force and creating a police state that spilled out over its borders in pursuit of land and riches. That is what we always need to prevent and at the moment both Hamas in their barbaric attack on Israel and Russia in their barbaric attack on Ukraine exemplify "tribalism" where they assert causes that they claim gives them a right to do these things. They need to be nipped in the bud and forced back into the area they sprang from with no gains (where does Hamas belong; desert island perhaps with lots of sharks around it). Still the hostages are not released and it is more than 1.5 years since that was demanded by the International Court. All the children stolen from Ukraine not yet returned either by Russia. 

The origins of Hamas are actually unknown to me; I assume they are disgruntled Muslims (they appear to claim to be followers of Islam which is actually hard to believe given the murder/torture of the Israeli people committed by Hamas 7 Oct 2023) who could not make it in their own country; found a commonality with each other; tried to take over Egypt and then thrown out of Egypt they leached onto the Palestinian people and we have the result in front of us - the Palestinian people still being used by Hamas to try to attract the attention of the world and create hate for Israel (but most importantly money and land for themselves because they are just greedy and they decided on this route to satisfy their greed). Russia used the "clearing out Nazis" route to invade Ukraine which is just another big lie; it is Russian greed for land and resources that drives Russia but what have they gained; a lot of deaths of their own youth and a lot of hate from Europe which was actually coming around to like them. They sacrificed the goodwill created by their contribution to the Second World War although their contribution entirely on the Eastern front with the Western Allies being the victors in the west, north and south. 

So tribalism is a mind set having almost nothing to do with your ethnicity which in my case appears to be 100% European with 66% being British/Irish if I look at 23 and Me, going to Living DNA I am 100% British and as I continue the rounds from Ancestry to FT DNA to My Heritage to the Genographic Study the numbers vary here and there but in general the 100% European/British Isles remains as the overall accepted value for my ethnicity. But that only goes back a few thousand years and we all sprang from the south around the equator!

But we need to watch tribalism where some people support one group as being superior; that is a mistake for sure and exceptionalism can happen in any society that is not repressed and encourages education or in a repressive society but with sources (like well educated parents or some other source) that can supply knowledge and create exceptionalism from the gifted children in our world.  

My thoughts for the day and we had a great rain yesterday; much needed and appreciated. Thank you God.  

The heat episode continues

 Coming up on mid August this long heat spell continues and is unusual this time of year as the days shorten and fall is just another month plus away. Not a good sign; global warming is significantly increased this year. Canada suffers along with the other polar countries from global warming more than other areas nearer the equator although I suspect they are rather warm these days. Still avoiding the news and probably will for the rest of August. Must get some work done; The Pincombe-Pinkham newsletter indeed is begun but the Newsletter that is due is the H11 Newsletter and I will likely get that produced today. The Pincombe is due the 1st of September. 

Completed the cleaning yesterday and now into the work week. It would be nice to do some work outside but really too hot to do that and it is meant to rain which would be good; Canada can use all the rain that we can get to help put out the wildfires. We are a heavily forested country below the tree line right to the border with the United States. 

Still sad that our usual trade no longer works but it is also nice to trade around the world and share the products of other countries as we share ours. That is really what trade was meant to be as the early explorers took the treasures of their country around the world and collected up all the goodies that were available in other parts of the world. We were meant to keep our industries intact and that will now happen as we reinvent all those industries lost to free trade and create an energy grid across Canada to serve those industries. The barriers between the provinces receding quickly out of necessity as we trade back and forth between our provincial/territorial neighbours all the way to the Pacific to the Atlantic and to the Arctic Oceans. This is a huge land mass. 

Not much work done on the matches yesterday as I contemplated the next Newsletter. That was the all day cleaning day so pretty much that was my accomplishment. 

Drinking tea and doing solitaire puzzles.  

Cleaning continues

 Yesterday the top floor completed and today it is the main floor and basement. Another humid unusually hot day here as the heat spell continues throughout Canada. Global warming is the problem and the wildfires rage across this country. Rain is in sight and hopefully it will douse many of these wildfires. We were going to go walking/kayaking yesterday but decided against it and settled for a running routine on one of our Wii discs in the cold basement. My hay fever is active for a bit (ragweed and goldenrod about). The hot sun is a blessing to those wild flowers; they flourish. 

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will get some gardening time in as the heat dies down a little. Mostly I just want to chop off the tops and leave them on the ground to rot through the winter to freshen up the land. That was part of the purpose in just letting the weeds grow this year. 

No work done on research but some thinking which is always good. The place that I am at with both books is the genealogical charting of the family coming down from the furtherest back known ancestor. The work that I am doing at the moment is simply to get back into the early baptismal registers and have a look at them. English Parish Registers can go back as far as 1538 and land records will take you back further and so that is my concentration at this moment in time. Early American colonial trees on the Blake family are interesting although one has to avoid Horatio Gates Somerby's work as it was fraudulent in his information on the Andover Blake family (and there is at least one line known by me to be descendant of Andover Blake (namely Sedgwick (marriage with a Blake in the early 1600s).  I do have land records back into the 1400s and 1500s in England/British Isles as well in my set of DVDs. Plus I can access a lot of material on line or pay for it and then transcribe it. When my new glasses come I will spend more time at that. 

Staying away from the news feed and concentrating on getting things done. Canada continues to work hard at trade between the provinces/territories which helped to offset the loss in income from cross border trade. Canadians enjoyed their trade with our American neighbours but history has come between that as a new administration has other ideas on trade. So we are busy setting up trade around the world and internally that is our main aim at the moment. We were the largest importer of American products and Ontario was the third largest importer of American products in the world with nearly 40 states having Canada as their largest customer but that has changed due to tariff. Of course our dollar never recovered from the Stock Market Crash in 2008 and has never come back to par with the American dollar keeping our trade accessibility high actually as our products are cheaper in other currencies as well. 

I would like to see shovels in the ground with pipelines happening but one must be patient plus the fires are raging and the sun very hot this summer so fall does seem like a better time. 

Tea drank and solitaire puzzles done, time for breakfast.  I am realizing I did not do the Pincombe Newsletter this month which was due on the 1st of August. My driving  license renewal distracted me for sure and the relief at passing the vision/cognitive tests kept that distraction going. Must get to that today. 

 

Beautiful service

 Yesterday's service yesterday was quite beautiful, the chorister's chanting of the Psalm particularly well done (and it is wonderful to have that musical support all summer long whilst the choirs are taking a break) and the baptismal service always welcomed in the Church. Being a downtown Church there are few children in the congregation (although I am just looking in online) but that is usual not to find so many small children in a large cathedral Church (although the children's choirs are a good size but they draw from all over the city).  It was a beautiful start to a day that was meant to see us at a hockey game in the evening. But events came together that prevented that lovely family meeting. My daughter had to suddenly cover Emergency because someone else did not arrive to do their time not unusual for her to cover as she was Chief of Emergency in a northern Hospital for ten years plus and did step in because of weather, illness or whatever to cover when a shift was not being covered. Her hospital never closed their emergency and still she does cover emergency there on occasion which is nice for her former patients but the need for a more efficient education for her youngest necessitated the move. But I distract, a shipment not expected until today was listed as arriving and it could not sit out in the hot sun so we waited for it and then by the time it arrived it was just too late to go. I hate to miss events like that; they come to me just sometimes until I move closer to family. At 80 those days are truly numbered but I enjoy the pictures and our infrequent times together. But it was a lovely Sunday anyway with two Church services. We had actually had a planned outing Saturday with family that did happen but the road was so busy that it took us twice as long to get there). We took the long way home around the city but certainly the traffic jam was not in the way. One's time with family always very limited in our busy world; my fault many times as I work away on the books that I want to get written and I do not drive the car on the highway. I can but I have decided to limit myself in my driving. My refresher of going through all the rules of the road actually unnecessary as I was not tested but still it was good to review the rules of the road and it did encourage me somewhat to do highway driving. Perhaps I will go out on the highways once again time will tell. Once the train is in that will be helpful but we are looking at a few years for that to be complete. But we keep in touch daily with notes back and forth; the wonder of the internet. 

Staying away from the news feed for a bit; I can do nothing about the events that swirl around us. I can have opinions because we all can that is our right; this is a democracy. In particular people who march up and down claiming wrong against them (spouting hate language which is a crime in this country) need to be corrected if they are telling lies to our children or threatening children/adults in their rampages. Then there are the truly wronged people the Rohingyas who still  are without a home of their own greatly desiring to grow their own food and build a life but no place to do it. I feel sad for them actually; they have suffered attack after attack on their people with many deaths but very little support. The United Nations does need to re-evaluate their usage of money that supports failing societies and encourage them to do more for themselves (put timelines on support) so that truly needy people like the Rohingyas get proper support. The world's people are not a big piggy bank - available support money is limited. 

But moving on in my work getting the matches done and I have worked through another dozen or so adding them to my databases. A couple were significant as I did not have matches in that particular area before and having matches in an area where 100% of my family lines originated makes a big difference increasing the likelihood of a match one hundred fold. Still wondering if 23 and Me will provide chromosomal information in the near future; their imagery was particularly good as they provided charts that showed with a siblings result the matches on both parental chromosomes adding that extra dimension to the result. 

Today is the first cleaning day and it is the upstairs and will get to that in a couple of hours. The last few days have been extremely warm for this part of the world - temperatures soaring into the high 30s celsius and the Humidex in the 40s. The smoke has dissipated somewhat but the forest fires still rage across Canada (and some in the United States now). But the land is tinder dry here and no fires permitted but still people just cast away a cigarette butt in areas where smoking is not permitted. How foolish and ignorant of them. We saw some when we were last kayaking on the  stones in the parking lot just a couple of feet away from the forested area - the roots of the trees stretch for miles and a root fire is the worst of all and hardest to put out. Pay attention people to what you are doing. 

 

Money promised to the military

Sunday again and two Church Services to attend. 

 I am pleased to see the increase in a private's salary of 20% in the military. This is great training for our young people and many times provides them with a skill that will get them a job in civilian life after a few years in the military. The conditions of work are good if one believes all the literature and really the bases look quite well kept up these days with the extra funding and everything is provided to them if they live on base. A good start in life for sure and I see that our unemployment last month was primarily youth from the ages of 15 to 24 (ideal time to take on a rigorous and healthy lifestyle that exists in the military). Being a female I never thought about going into the military in my teen years perhaps because I was headed to university and then medicine in my mid teens although that direction did change after I married Edward. He had no interest in going to Africa for any reason and wanted to live always in Canada. My interest in Africa likely stemmed back to my friendship with an individual who taught in Africa and wanted to marry me at 16 (I was just into Grade 13 at the time and was 17 when I finished) and I could have gone to Africa and trained in medicine there but my parents refused to even consider that I might marry so young and were not keen on the Africa part. But in my mind from that time forward I had a goal but that goal slipped away on the winds of love for sure. 

 A correction on my concern that children in particular were not receiving ophthalmologist care if they had an eye defect but were being sent to optometrists. My daughter assures me that eye defects (such as my strabismus) were being taken care of by ophthalmologists and that there were sufficient specialists to deal with the current situation. I was pleased to hear that but my concern about individuals being accepted into any medical program without psychological testing to eliminate those with obvious bias remains. 

We especially do not want individuals who have been Hamas in the past (somehow I wonder if one moves past that but will remain on the proactive sideline with that thought) but these individuals only live to cause trouble. And again I say Hamas release the hostages and get out of Gaza; give these people an opportunity to create something since they have not done so for four generations living on this fertile piece of land which should be able to produce more than enough food for them to live on. The Rohingyas would love this land and turn it into a fertile garden much as Israel has done with their land; the United Nations giveth and the United Nations can take away and place people somewhere else. That is something the United Nations is capable of doing in order to bring peace to the world. However, as much land as we have we in Canada do not need any more Palestinians in our midst at this time until a change occurs in their attitude (after all we can remember when the Palestinians in Gaza danced in the streets when the twin towers were taken down in New York on 9/11 by terrorists). It does necessitate of course the need to also filter people who join our military in case of cultural bias. The Palestinians made their bed and now they must lie in it (but they could have saved those children which in itself is a sin beyond mention). Help free the hostages and eliminate Hamas in Gaza. 

God smiles down on the world and welcomes home those whose life is full of pain and discomfort; those children deceived by the people who should protect them and being with God is the wondrous gift that follows life. For those left behind it is the knowledge that their loved ones are safe with God that brings a measure of happiness to them in sad bereaved times as time passes. The only requirement God makes is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbour as ourself (I always think respect is a measure of love) and those who follow the commandments of God will be rewarded. 

But I am staying away from the news cycle these days for a bit; I can do nothing about world affairs except react. But I did miss the notification of more funding for the military so glad that I dipped back in. 

There seems to be doubt on the part of some on our path here in Canada at the moment but the necessity to recreate lost industries and change our pattern of trade from east to west is a first hand necessity. I am disturbed that no pipelines are actually in the construction phase as far as we can see because that is a must in order to help provide good jobs and good money for all the people of Canada. What our taxes pay for belongs to the people of Canada. Invest in Canada for the grandchildren now and to come; it is very important. Diversify our trade to help maintain our level of employment and even increase the employment rate. That is the best path forward which 85% of Canadians voted for in the last election. 

So another good event day at Trenton and it was excellent to read that. 

Drinking tea and solitaire games to play. Lots of work to do as my books continue to congeal in my brain. 

 

 

 

I passed my driver's license renewal

No more X on my driver's license after 59 years of driving I will now be able to drive without glasses. Amazing really and I can read the street name signs which I couldn't do before Cataract Surgery (when my children were young I taught them to read very early so they could tell me the names of the streets we passed as I was driving then when they were off to school I just figured out my trip on a map with the streets counted; it worked very well. Who would have ever thought when I was a child of six and the student ophthalmologist ( no fully trained ophthalmologist ever said that actually; the student was just mistaken likely) said I would be blind by the time I was 20 that I would have cataract surgery and have depth of vision when I am nearly 80 and still be seeing. Absolutely amazing. Every day is a new view of things; even looking at the television it is 3D these days as my eyes get used to the brightness of everything and I can easily watch. When I was child I couldn't watch colour Television as it made my eyes so sore.  It actually took a long time before I would look continuously at a colour TV. The tests (cognitive and vision) are very straightforward and the Ministry person helping me was so clear and precise about what one needed to do. I really appreciate that. At nearly 80 years of age I never imagined all these years that I would ever drive a car without glasses (59 years of driving with no tickets, no demerit points and no accidents on my record). Although likely I will wear them because I can readily see any numbers on the dials at the front with the bifocal portion but one is allowed to wear prescription lens (just not a necessity any longer if they happened to get broken or something and I had to wait three weeks for a replacement I could still go and buy my groceries). The retesting is every two years. 

The last ten years before and these four plus years after my husband Edward passed away I was feeling the strain of nursing him and then recovering myself and my daughter wanted me to go to a doctor for a regular checkup every year (she is a physician but it is always better to have other opinions than your own). I think I will go back to my usual style through my life (every four or five years to the doctor to get blood work done and my current doctor is working with students and new appointments more so is pretty busy and I do not see her anyway). We will have moved by then to wherever my daughter ends up working as she is planning to return from the United States (she will be 55 in a couple of years) to spend some time with me which will be quite wonderful and actually she has a lot to offer her students). She did try to get a job at all of the Canadian Universities way back in 2009 but nothing offered so she took an offer at the university where she is an Associate and has been there for 16 years. Since I am getting older and older she wants to return and be with me so time will tell on that but she has a great CV and huge experience especially on-line teaching and setting up special credit packages and her research in AI.  She works with masters students and PhD primarily but also teaches undergraduate courses. 

I spent a number of years as the Administrative Assistant in the Hematopathology Residency Training Programme which was most interesting working with the residents and medical students and was an interesting learning time although I did work in the hospital laboratory in my younger years so not a lot of intensive learning but rather an update on what I did know so my background does help me.  I just really want a quick visit to get a blood work requisition (I did discover that you can actually order one yourself now at the testing company so may just do that yearly). That would free up a spot for a new patient who doesn't have a doctor. The reality is that at 80 years of age one is looking at a short period not a long period in one's life and concentrating on doing the things you want to do is more important. Like all old people one does have issues; I have arthritis and do have to watch my diet but I do not want to sit and chat about it; I just want to care for myself with the knowledge already gleaned from doctor's visits and move on. I think what we need is some sort of a way to just go in and order things that need to be done at our local clinic for the  masses of old people in the system (who know what they need) and free up physician time to do all the work that they  have to do. There could be a review at the end of the day when items could be approved by them and such clerical work should be paid for under a code. That might make it easier to cover the millions of baby boomers struggling to keep finding a doctor. When I worked in the Urinanalysis Lab years ago people with diabetes came in once a month on a designated day and got the necessary testing requisitions for their care as I vaguely recall. We do have to be smart about this and create an easy way for people to receive care that they know they need and the worry about having an actual family doctor would perhaps be alleviated somewhat. As this large group of people move through the system we need to be clever to keep the costs down. 

Avoiding the news cycle once again so as not to get distracted as I want to move ahead working on the matches (about 170 left to place) and then into the re-phasing of my grandparents and actual phasing of my great grandparents. It does involve a lot of work looking at what other people have done in my family lines back three and four generations. Then checking the original documents to see if that agrees with what I find and then I can get to the work of doing the generational charts in these books I am writing. Back to my latin translations as well once I get my new reading glasses as these bifocals are great for some things but definitely not a work horse if you want to spend long hours decoding old documents. 

Prayers for the children of Gaza and the children of Israel - they suffer the most in all of this especially thinking of those little children taken hostage by the Satanic Hamas (who does that to small children, two little ones were actually murdered) and the little ones now free continue to recover from that horrific ordeal. Some do recount being held by Palestinians in their homes and not permitted to make any noise when they were told to be quiet but what kind of a people would hold small children hostage like that. I am still in disbelief on that. That there are sick people who kidnap children but 2 million people who would permit that is unbelievable but we saw it happen; we in the world on the newsreels. Free the rest of the hostages Satanic Hamas; what you are doing to them is criminal and unacceptable in a human world. Why do two million Palestinian people not help them escape?; I do not understand that. Given that the Palestinians here marched up and down the streets cheering Hamas (a hate crime and no one charged) and then set up encampments at our universities making a huge mess there which they did not clean up (a cost to the taxpayers) I feel free to write what I do since I had to listen to them ever since the assault on Israel. I especially do not want to see Palestinians working with our children as they lied to them. 

My experience now getting everything fixed up as a result of this amazing cataract surgery has been a long year but I look at that picture in my living room and marvel at what I can see - it is like magic really to go from such a plain world as I lived in although I did know I lacked depth of vision to what I see now. A treat of one's old age I guess. I do not think even one face that I see is the same in those people that I know well and anyone else that I knew through the years I simply am not recognizing them. But one forms new images and gradually the world just comes to look like that and you forget how plain it was before. 

Tea time and solitaire games.  

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to the Canadian Services Border Agency for halting the shipment of $52M in cocaine coming to Ontario from the United States (Michigan)

Congratulations to CBSA for halting the killer cocaine ($52M was the value) shipping to Canada from Michigan. CBSA are doing a great job of halting shipments of illegal and murderous drugs. 

I continue to agree with the Prime Minister that the process he has set in place (along with his cabinet, the First Nations and the Premiers of the Provinces/Territories) is best for Canada. It is a while since we have had such a good working relationship all across the country as we pull together to recreate our industries lost to free trade over the last fourty plus years. We will do it and do it well and set ourselves on a path that will protect this country well into the future. We have lots to sell both inside the country and outside of the country and rapidly we are diversifying our trade around the world. Up until the beginning of tariffs by the United States we were the largest purchasers of goods from the United States and Ontario was the third largest purchaser of goods from the United States. But now we buy from all the different provinces/territories instead of buying south to north (the Canadian dollar is worth even less and it saves us a lot of money to buy Canadian) but we do have to increase our supply routes east to west to really be efficient (both highways and energy pipelines). The natural process always tended to be from south to north and north to south from the earliest known days in North America when the First Nations had their trade routes on the same paths. But life changes, tariffs were added to the mix and so to protect our economy and grow our economy more effectively we have moved to an east to west pattern in our purchasing. The stores here have been very obliging by marking products as Canadian - very helpful for sure. 

Yesterday shopping for groceries everything we bought was Canadian except for the oranges and a few other items from Europe. Since the President of the United States said they did not need our products we have found many customers around the world - no sense in paying tariffs if we do not have to. Plus we have lots of new customers for Ontario all across Canada and the same for all the other provinces. The main highway across Northern Ontario is finally going to be four lane after all these years and that will also make a huge difference trucking goods from east to west across Canada. The natural flow was always from southwestern Ontario into the United States and across the northern States and back into Canada once again but now we are going to do a purely Canadian route. 

Vacation time in Canada used to see millions of Canadians head south to the lovely beaches and vacation spots in the United States but that too has changed as we explore all of Canada. We simply can not afford to do all that American vacationing because our dollar is even less against the American dollar making such trips prohibitive for most Canadians whereas we can travel here at nearly half the cost. The tariffs  are eating into our livelihoods and so we must buy only Canadian to boost our economy. 

The tariffs were so painful to us here in Canada that the need to eliminate that pain caused us to stop buying American and it shows as our purchases of American products is less than a year ago. I feel sad for my American cousins who are struggling and it could be that worse times are ahead as the tariffs have now come on for all around the world on products going into the United States. One would think that with all that money Americans will have a much better life with the money from the tariffs going to help to care for them and pay for all the damages from storms. God bless the world and help us to heal Climate Change. 

Prayers for the children of Gaza and the children of Israel - they both deserve peace. Hamas is responsible for all the deaths and all the destruction resulting in the war that they started. Hamas are evil satanists  who only care about themselves, use the Palestinians as cannon fodder and are trying to destroy a people (the Israelis) who have every right to live and be happy in this world. Release the Israeli hostages and get out of Gaza Satanists Hamas - the video of the hostages shows just how satanic, criminal and ignorant you are. 

Up early and will have an early breakfast and then a nap.  

We must be very cautious of the people who are permitted to train to be medical doctors/registered clinicians here

 I continue in my belief that one of the prime requirements for people entering into our medical professions is their ability to see beyond their cultural heritage and treat patients without bias. I received an extremely weird medical note after my visit with a replacement for my usual doctor. Last year's doctor was also a replacement for my usual doctor for my yearly checkup and when my blood results were reported she quickly recognized that the value chosen by the testing company for Total Cholesterol was not standard - my Total Cholesterol was normal. I do work on keeping my total cholesterol low and was very successful bringing the cholesterol down a measurable amount from last year - one could easily have checked my record from last year (all computerized and I myself pay to see those results) and seen that the doctor last year viewed the cholesterol result from the testing company as not abiding by the accepted value in the medical profession for total cholesterol. However, she did not and I received the weird note telling me to watch my high cholesterol (0.08 above the maximum of the testing company but actually well below the maximum accepted by the medical profession) and a recommendation to do exercise which is helpful of course if one isn't already doing exercise. The appointment lasted maybe ten minutes in total (no complaint I like efficiency) with a resident doing my blood pressure prior to the doctor coming into the room. The resident was very efficient and his information quite accurate and well said. 

Regarding optometry it does not replace ophthalmology. A recent happening has shown me that having optometrists providing the main service for eyes is poor value for tax money. We pay a lot of taxes for our medical system and everyone with an eye defect (my strabismus is gone so I am free of that) should be able to have an ophthalmologist as their physician and not have to be forced to use an optometrist as their regular eye doctor. The optometrist telling me last year that I could drive without glasses was incorrect and he disagreed with me on making up new bifocals following my cataract surgery (however they were made I insisted and of course he works for a private company which is always on the side of the consumer; there are plenty of optometrists). One cannot drive without corrective lens if there is a note on your driver's license. He told me I could just tell them that he has said I didn't need glasses but that is false; you are required to bring a letter from the optometrist stating that.  There should be psychological testing to determine there are no cultural biases before students enter into the course of training for optometry as well; this service is funded by our taxes when it is used for acceptable medical testing.

I may or may not get my driver's license that remains to be seen and if there is a doubt then I accept that my driving days after 59 years (no tickets, no demerit points and no accidents on my record) are finished. I will continue wearing my bifocal glasses to drive until then. Of note the letter from the optometrist for which I paid $50 to take to the License Renewal appointment omits the line "she does not need prescription lens to drive" although he kept saying it to me last year two months after surgery and this year at the one year appointment. The Ministry website clearly states what has to be in the letter concerning corrective lenses which I mentioned in the discussion with him but does state my vision ability which is fundamental to the test of course but one would expect that to be in the letter obviously! 

Yesterday another good day of exercise and I worked on the matches but mostly a quiet day which ended with a walk at the beach - lovely evening.