Chromosome 15 completed as well as Chromosome 14

It was a good research day yesterday as I completed Chromosome 15 and with a surprise ending as I came across a match that locks in the beginning of the Chromosome for me as Buller and not Taylor so not an Irish length of DNA for me. The match that does this is two lengths at each end of the chromosome totaling 54 centimorgans with the beginning length 48.3 centimorgans and a shorter one at the end. This is an early American Colonial match in a pile-up area (most of the matches tend to be early Colonial American) and certainly the Buller family was a very large one in Cornwall which traveled about the world in those early years of exploration although my knowledge of the Buller family in this time frame is limited (eventually I may investigate this line as well for a book). Interesting really how that transpired. Chromosome 14 has my Jewish matches which show up as 4th or even 3rd cousin but are actually likely twice that (i.e. 8th or 6th cousin) because of endogamy in the lines. Chromosome 14 has very long lengths of Rawlings/Cotterill with known Rawlings which is helpful. The same with the Pincombe/Gray where a number of Pincombe cousins (3rd) are matching all of us on this chromosome. Some Knight matches and again Buller/Taylor not yet separated by any of the matches on Chromosome 14. I even started Chromosome 13 so an extremely good research day. 

Mid morning I cleared away the couple of centimetres snow fall and noted that everyone had their paper recycling out so put mine out as well - I forgot the night before.  The collection was late, after dark actually, but I put out two big cardboard boxes full of paper so did not have to go out again to bring the bin in. That was handy for sure. 

Sunday today and the last service of the year. I will attend on YouTube as usual. The week flew by quickly and I did not check for the sermon online since the service cut off just at that time last week. We will see how that goes this week. Having the service bulletin already at hand I can read it on my own but it is nice to attend online when it works. 

I heard from my Buller cousin off in New Zealand and I hope to collaborate with her on this family as we trace it back in England. I have been able to trace back to Christopher Buller born circa 1763 according to his death registration in 1832 and he attended St Olave Bermondsey Parish Church which was demolished to make way for the ramping up to London Bridge. His Slop Shop was on Tooley Street in Bermondsey just as you cross over the London Bridge into Bermondsey on the south side of the Thames. Christopher married Mary Beard 30 Dec 1794 at All Hallows Barking by the Tower and I think it was an elopement although Mary was 27 years old and Christopher would have been  around 31 years of age. The couple had seven children with their eldest Elizabeth Jane dying as an infant in 1797 and a second infant death Henry Christy Buller in 1803 but Martha Sarah was born in 1797, Elizabeth Jane in 1799, Emma Hemsley in 1800, Henry Christopher (our ancestor) in 1805 and Robert Hucksley in 1806 although he too died as an infant in 1807. Mary was buried 14 Dec 1806 at St Olave Bermondsey Parish Church and the graves for all of this Buller family were moved to Bunhills when the Church was demolished later in the 1800s for the Bridge approaches.  It is possible that Christopher remarried by 1813 although the actual registration I have not located as there are two more possible sons namely Thomas Christopher in 1813 and John Christopher in 1819 who died as an infant in 1819. Interesting family really and the parentage of Christopher remains a mystery but I must admit I have hundreds of Buller matches in England that I have barely glanced at so the answer may well be there. There was a Buller family in Bermondsey and they had moved from Somerset to Bermondsey at some point in the 1700s. 

Skiing today if it works out and hopefully the freezing rain predicted is not as bad as mentioned. Time will tell. 

Must make my tea the day  moves onward and the solitaire puzzles are already completed.  

Discovery under Antarctica - robots come into their own

I found this interesting experiment on line headed up by Sweden investigating the "vital statistics" of the areas under the glaciers in Antarctica.  The robot managed immersible traveled under the glaciers in two areas and discovered the one area was still as anticipated but the second area has a warming trend underneath it. The loss of glaciers is huge and in this case the possibility of a melting glacier in the near future (hard to predict in actual years) is 1.7 metre rise in ocean levels which floods many low lying areas in the entire world. The impact far from the melting is huge. A rise of 1.7 metres is just slightly above my height before I shrunk 1.5 centimetres since I was at my full  height in my 60s years of age (not too bad I guess) but I digress. It is this height that I am standing at that would be the amount of rise in the ocean level around all the lands of the world. One can go and stand at the edge of any land mass that faces the ocean (if they are my height) and see the impact in real time although the ocean will rise somewhat slowly over a period of time (unknown to me) but the impact on my thought process was large actually. We need to control the outflow of heat from the continents one is left to surmise perhaps. It is good to see that oceanographers are into this sort of thinking well in advance of the rise for sure. I wonder if my keeping my house at 20 degrees celsius in the winter helps with that. I actually do not like it warmer than that and did consider going to 19 but haven't done it yet. Perhaps if the whole world kept their house just a little cooler we can fend off the increase in the ocean warming. No ideas on that; there are people much more knowledgeable than I who are into it for sure. 

Yesterday a little work on Chromosome 15 and I continue to view all of these matches to me at the beginning of the chromosome in this common or pile-up area and I only collected perhaps as little as ten percent of them (generally if they had a second match I would collect it or if there was something about the surname that was interesting or the location). Will I ever find that elusive line of my grandmother's mother as I become more and more suspicious that this is Ellen (Taylor) Buller's impact on our DNA and in particular mine since I am the only one matching all these people. But bearing in mind that this is a pile-up area  and I finally looked at the updating in 23 and Me which lists the remainder of Chromsome 15 (away from the pile up area) as English (not a surprise) and in total I am listed as 94.9% English with 0.6% Irish, 0.4% Scot and 0.2% Welsh. The remaining 4.5 % includes 2.8% North Western European, 1.7% Central, Eastern and Southern Europe. The easy answer would have been for that area to be Irish but my Irish is not separated out from the English so interesting. Looking at Ancestry a deeper look with 67% Southeastern England and Northwestern Europe, 12% Northeast England, 5% Devon and Somerset. Now that is amazing really as I have these known area that my different lines came from which include north east England, Devon and Somerset, and southeastern England. I apparently have 2% Western Europe (Germans in Russia) and 1% Central and Eastern Europe (Estonia and Latvia) and another interesting section listing me as Celtic and Gaelic with 8% Central Scotland and Northern Ireland (planters perhaps which matches the mitochondrial matches to our line that went to the Carolinas from Antrim, Northern Ireland in 1772 (having been sent to Northern Ireland by Cromwell in the mid 1600s from Ayrshire/Argyllshire), 3% North East Scotland (Routledge were Highlanders as per my cousin's very intense research of this past twenty years) and 2% from Leinster, Ireland which is fascinating (this is the area around Dublin and the closest match to our yDNA comes from the Dublin area). Celtic and Gaelic being particularly ancient to the British Isles. When you get so many parts of a related family looking at their lines and knowing we do have common ancestry in the last thousand years these ethnicity predictions become more and more interesting. I still have Living DNA, My Heritage and FT DNA to look at and might do that another day. This update at Ancestry was October 2025 and once again I have not looked at it until now.  At Ancestry I did find it possible to tentatively separate my parents and name the half circles as Maternal and Paternal. Interestingly enough the Leinster, Ireland is in my mother's half circle (Buller/Taylor belongs on this side) as does North East Scotland (Routledge also my mother's side). An interesting review to add to my thinking of Chromosome 15 and my singleton matches at the beginning of the Chromosome. 

Plans for today include working on Chromosome 15 and perhaps skiing depending on just how cold it is out there - I might stick to the back yard. My new exercise is improving my balance and will keep that up for sure. We are making Thai larb for dinner which is a really interesting meat salad using ground pork and cooking it with lots and lots of grated carrot, peppers, onions, and ginger. It is quite delicious and served over rice if you so choose (which we do tend to do). It is a favourite dinner actually.  It is also excellent in a wrap with lettuce. Just a nice easy meal that cooks up quickly and is very tasty. We add a set of herbs and spices to it as well. I like to add molasses and red wine vinegar to give it just that very generous taste and sweetness. 

New Year is approaching quickly and one hopes for peace in our world sooner rather than later. God did not mean for us to be doing battle around the world but rather to have peace and we know that because Jesus told us that the two commandments which His father wanted us to have were: we would love God His Father and Creator of this world with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and love our neighbour as ourself. Two simple commandments to lead to a peaceful and productive life instead of this constant murder of people in order to steal their land and riches from them.  

Solitaire puzzles done and tea drank so on to the day, setting up to begin my matches work on Chromosome 15 and exercise sprinkled in through the day. God bless the world and all who live in it and make us the best people that is Your desire and commandment.  

Boxing Day and the year is slowly coming to a New Year 2026

 I found the Editorial by Kelly Geraldine Malone on The Canadian Press to be a nice sum-up of where we are at as this year comes to a close. We started out the year somewhat in trepidation of what was perhaps in store for us as the change in government was about to begin in the United States. Canada has not in the past three radical changes in how business is done here made the necessary steps to become the great producing nation it can be - in the mid 1960s we allowed ourselves to be tied closer to the United States with the Auto Pact - everyone profited on both sides of the border but we were sinking from a much stronger position to a big brother little brother relationship. That continued and again in the early 1990s the pullback of American companies particularly in southern Ontario following NAFTA was a wakeup call which we answered with non-purchase of items that had been produced here under the Auto-Pact and other associated companies and the American Branch Plants returned to maintain that cohesive effect created in the mid1960s (realizing that their profits would dwindle very quickly if we did not purchase their products) but we were definitely on that track of much bigger brother and weaker little brother instead of creating our own industries which we could have done but did not. Now it is the mid 2020s and we are finally doing it, creating industries that have not happened because of government red tape; Ontario still dragging its feet somewhat as the leadership still dreams of this perfect relationship as they see it with our great friend and neighbour to the south. They remain our great friend and neighbour but the terms of friendship will change as we become much more capable of managing internally all of our ability to harness the land in the best way possible always looking for better ways to protect the environment but none the less creating a much stronger economic position for our industries. Quebec has been more independent creating new industry that is much more export intended around the world and we do need to get with that here in Ontario. I can not offer an opinion on other provinces because I do not live there but the need for our exports to increase around the world is huge. That and getting rid of the trade barriers between provinces that we created in order to make trade with the United States much smoother and easier to fit into our Management Systems. Although there was a slight contraction 0.3% of GDP in October it too is a wake up call to be cautious that we are buying Canadian or taking advantage of Free Trade deals that we have around the world in order to protect our much smaller Canadian industries and attract new capital because we are increasing our purchase of Canadian made products and industry likes to make money! However we continue, whilst the tariff rate is zero on CUSMA approved goods, to buy from our American friends and neighbours and in my case hundreds of cousins many of whom work in these industries. The New Year will bring a lot of attention to this Trade Deal reworked in 2019 and our increasing exports around the world to offset the current tariffs leveled against us and they are 35% or higher and one notes that our dollar still sits at 0.73 cents in American dollars which continues to benefit us around the world but not with tariffs where they are on some of our products - these tariffs are some of the largest against any country in the world but we will not buckle as we rework our exports to protect ourselves from these tariffs - the big aim of 2026 is to continue making ourself Tariff Proof.  

A wonderful Christmas day with family and skiing was on the agenda - I had thought to skate although I have not skated in 20 years but the skates would have required us to unload the storage shed and that wasn't going to happen considering the first thing was digging our way through the snow that is piled in front of it. So skiing was what happened and it was great. I am trying a new balance exercise to help me to stay up on my feet at all times and I did yesterday. One stands on one foot and make circular motions with the other foot forward and back and you actually get the feel of skiing as you do that and I am close to the pillar that I can hang onto if I need to but I am up to 25 sets of back and forth (so 50 times) and will continue with that exercise which my daughter recommended. I was just standing on one foot for the count of one minute on each leg and I continue doing that as well. I also added in another exercise where I rise up on my toes and toss my arms straight up above me for a count of 40. I was already doing the toss up of my arms when I touch my toes 30 ties each morning but this is another new exercise and I am now up to 28 items on my early morning AM exercise (before breakfast) which includes 8x of walking for 200 steps between a number of the exercises. That registers as good exercise on my FitBit and I got a new one for Christmas so moving on from Charge 5 to Charge 6. I may actually activate the 6 month free premium membership to try it out. I will decide on that the next couple of days. I have eliminated NetFlix simply because I was never watching it and no one else was either so time to move on as that was something my husband really enjoyed and we would sit together and watch various programs that he enjoyed. 

Today I may get some work done on Chromosome 15 and I spent a little time yesterday morning reviewing the matches between siblings to really look at these matches that I have at the beginning of Chromosome 15 in the common area. I believe that the small length that is calculated by most of the companies for one of my brothers matching me is likely too short to show up on the matches except occasionally. So that solves that particular item. Why I have so many early American colonial ancestors there is a mystery as this is a Buller/Taylor match. But I am perhaps concentrating in my mind too much on Buller and not enough on the Taylor which continues to likely be Irish and from Eire (the Irish Free State) as there was heavy immigration from Ireland to the American Colonies. I do have one significant Buller/Taylor match with a known Irish family that I may just start using in my mind to look at these matches. That match happens to be on Chromosome 1 but it gives me a picture of this match which is known to me on this First Chromosome. So not a lot accomplished with respect to that yesterday; but a good deal of thinking and reviewing the various databases crossover points. 

Probably not shopping today because it will be incredibly busy although we might ski; time will tell. 

Tea drank and solitaire puzzles completed. I noticed that my Word is an unlicensed product on this new computer although I purchased Microsoft Word/Excel/Powerpoint 2016 and when I set up this new computer it appeared to accept that I had that particular item so not actually sure what that refers to although I am considering moving to their product which has a yearly price tag. As I get more and more into using AI in my data work I think moving to Microsoft 365 sounds like a good plan as I move forward with my publishing. The New Year should see me back at doing some writing.  

 

Merry Christmas

Another beautiful Christmas and the celebration of the birth of the Christ Child once again enters into our life. At 80 one tends to reflect backwards to a certain extent on the 80 Christmases already celebrated in one's life. Coming from a large family Christmas was a busy time and a room full of children opening presents is an amazing sight for anyone who has never seen seven children doing that. Now my Christmases are small but equally wonderful. But my strongest memories of Christmas remain going to Church on Christmas Day as a family and sometimes we had not yet opened presents as we awaited the arrival of grandparent and aunt and uncle to celebrate with us. But the Christmas Service always was most beautiful and some years I was singing in the Choir (from about nine years to thirteen years as I vaguely recall). Merry Christmas to all and to all a wonderful day of memories. 

I have particularly found the Advent Reflections to be extremely meaningful to me. During this time of Reconciliation between the First Peoples and the Colonials we, the Colonials, are receiving from the First Peoples their thoughts and they are most welcome to my mind. Like the Reflector, I came from a large family (four boys and three girls) but with a difference in that I am first generation Canadian on my Father's side (he was born in England coming to Canada with his parents as a child of nine and his father was a blacksmith on the Railway) and I am fourth generation Canadian on my mother's side with herself, her father and his mother being my only Canadian born ancestors. My little line back into history in Canada is not that similar to other colonials and yet there are likely many who have a somewhat similar background in that all of my known ancestors were born in different parts of England (six in total - Devon, Somerset, Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Surrey, London, East Riding of Yorkshire, Cumberland, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Leicestershire and probably other areas - my first Canadian emigrants were the Routledges coming from Cumberland to London Township in 1818 followed by Robert Gray arriving in the early 1830s to London Township from the Eastern Riding of Yorkshire as well. Then my Pincombe family arriving in March 1851 in Westminster Township, Middlesex, Ontario from Devon followed by my maternal grandmother Ellen Buller in 1908 from Warwickshire to London, Ontario and the last my Blake family in 1913 from Hampshire to London, Ontario. Each one of these individuals married someone from England (or eventually someone born here who had only English ancestry) giving me 100% ancestry from England. Amazing really. 

Canada continues on its path of making itself Tariff Proof for the future. There is a lot of work and it will be a struggle to get there but the endpoint is worth having and we must continue to strive towards that for the future of Canada as an independent country. One of the many reasons for doing so is to thank the First Nations for their aid and support during difficult times in our history over the past hundreds of years. This is their country for thousands of years and accepting us and helping us has been wondrous through the years. There was a lack of understanding between us created by differences but we do see Turtle Island/Canada as worth all of the work that we can put into it - the land of our birth and that of the generations that follow us and we must pass it on to them as prosperous as we can.  

Not much done on the matches yesterday but the cleaning completely accomplished and now the research time has its place in my life. Chromosome 15 will be a challenge and I hope to separate out more of the great grandparent lines as I go through the matches. Some of these matches I have not regarded since I collected them so is a first look at them in a number of years in some cases. There have been surprises as I recognized the individuals and can readily fit them into family lines now. There are puzzles; why so many singleton Buller matches to me (should include one brother partially) at the beginning of Chromosome 15. Today though is a busy day already planned and just have to take those plans to fruition. That will happen eventually. 

In the meantime I shall go to Church online if not my Church here there is one in England that is online as well. Breakfast too will have its moments and I need to make my tea, finish my early morning exercises and do my solitaire puzzles.  

Last Cleaning day and on to Research

 Today the top floor and then a return to Research well once the Christmas festivities are past that is. Lots of snow yesterday and our White Christmas is for sure. Even the trees are coated with lovely white snow all along the branches. quite beautiful looking out the window and it is just minus 5 degrees celsius but feels like minus 13 degrees celsius. 

Contraction of GDP by 0.3% in October will be offset by all the Christmas spending in November and December hopefully. Winter is upon us and we are importing a lot these days because there is not much growing in Canada although our green house business has grown a lot in the last decade. 

Continued working on Chromosome 15 which I started yesterday. The beginning of this Chromosome is interesting as I have a lot of matches in this area (which should also include one of my brothers but they tend not to do so and they are large matches in the 30 to 40 centimorgan range. They look like Buller rather than Rawlings which are my choices. Most of them are American colonials dating back into the at least 1700s some with lengthy trees and the traceback is generally to the south eastern colonies. This is a pile up area or common area so I do tend to ignore it as I do have a couple of known matches in this area. Interesting though to have so many and they number in the 100s. I am still in the beginning stages of looking at this chromosome from a great grandparent basis. The suspicion that it could be Irish or  Scot Planters to Northern Ireland (mid 1600s) in ethnicity remains (particularly because the pile-up area does trace back into the Carolinas, Georgia and the states that many of these individuals moved to as they fanned out across into the Appalachians in the late 1700s and early 1800s).  There are 84 matches now and six in the "too small" file which also includes matches that I do not feel will be useful in my quest. There are still 73 to do. 

 Chromosome 15 has always been somewhat of an enigma - every grandparent fairly well represented although Rawlings does predominate in the paternal descent with Pincombe doing the same in the maternal descent. Just the way that DNA was passed with that chromosome. Mostly 2 or 3 crossovers for every sibling on this chromosome. Known cousins number eight in total and the Rawlings in the common area is a 3rd cousin so quite helpful. The end of the Chromosome very well known with two fourth cousins and it is Buller. No known Pincombe on this chromosome although that may change as I work my way through. Blake also well known at the end of the chromosome and it is the Knight family. So all in all I may learn a lot as the Buller is that and not Taylor. Taylor has proven to be the hardest one to locate and that line remains Taylor going back several generations with Ellen (Taylor) Buller's father likely being Thomas Taylor back to Samuel Taylor and then another Samuel Taylor - if the family is Irish they have been in England since the 1700s. The mother of Ellen (Taylor) Buller likely Ellen (Roberts) Taylor also in England back into the mid 1700s. It is one of my weakest lines actually. 

I still have to check for new matches and must put that on my agenda to do. 

Time to make tea, I am late today for sure.  

 

 

Forgot my blog this morning

Finished the cleaning of the main floor and realized I did not write my blog today. I completed Chromosome 16 and it was interesting as I put  24 of the matches into my Too Small folder and did not enter them into the great grandparent database. They had served a useful purpose at the time of collection but were inadequate to really show very much. 

Knight, Blake, Pincombe, Gray, Buller were all well represented with both known and not known cousins, a number of Rawlings/Cotterill matches as well as Buller/Taylor. One of my Rawlings cousin did add some knowledge to the chromosome length but all of the Rawlings/Cotterill I will investigate. The Buller/Taylor is more of a challenge. Family lore tells me that Ellen Taylor had Irish heritage and certainly some of us show Irish Ethnicity but from the Republic of Ireland although some also from Northern Ireland but in a smaller amount and I suspect further back in the family line as I do know that I have distant cousins who were part of the 1772 Carolina group from Antrim, Northern Ireland. We share our mitochondrial DNA with them so is probably fairly distant but surprisingly does show up in the Ethnicity results.  A number of the Buller/Taylor matches have quite distinct Irish surnames so an interesting time ahead looking at that. 

Snowing again today and we are meant to get 5 to 10 centimetres and it does look to be gradually increasing. The more the merrier as a White Christmas is so lovely. 

I will begin the 15th Chromosome later today and there are 85 matches with a few known matches, primarily at the end of the Chromosome. In this Chromosome I have the only length of Buller/Taylor from the beginning to 63 centimorgans. On this chromosome I have literally hundreds of matches over all the databases. They are large matches because there is a common area at the beginning of this chromosome. They tend to be Buller and live all over the world including a number in Europe in many different countries. I have not contacted any of these matches and in fact I seldom do contact matches unless they are close cousins. The lack of a lot of good cousin matches did not affect the phasing of the grandparents particularly; it seemed to be pretty straight forward and heavily on the Pincombe and Rawlings sides with very little Blake and mostly my length of Buller and one other but at the other end of the Chromosome. Interesting really how these chromosome flow in a family. I did ask my sister in law if I could test my niece in order to have half of my brother but she did not wish to do that. But five siblings tested is a huge amount of data and I must admit after asking her I was not sad that she didn't want to do that although it would have been nice to have that memory of my oldest brother for sure. 

Not watching the news much although did notice that our GDP had decreased 0.3% in October. It will be a struggle to diversify our trading and increase that trade around the world and especially within Canada. We are starting to see products from the other provinces that we have never seen before. The canned salmon from British Columbia was excellent - a bit more expensive but can live with that; we need to become Tariff Proof and as soon as possible. 

Time for lunch; the cleaning done once again. Always on Thursday I contemplate selling this house and I think the time will come sooner rather than later actually. I could manage a one floor much easier.  

 

First day of cleaning completed

 Somewhere towards the end of washing the basement floor I realized that I had not published my blog; I hadn't actually written it. There are lots of thoughts in my head but I just never sat there and wrote the blog.

I did my solitaire puzzles first thing actually when my tea was ready. Then I moved right into Chromosome 16 and worked away at that until the Robot had done its job on the rug and that was completed. It sent me the usual message and I went down and finished the basement. The time just passed so quickly. 

I did go to Church yesterday on YouTube but the service published just as the sermon was about to begin. Once published the service did not come back and so I read the rest of the service on my own and if the sermon is published will read that as well. Advent Four Service is generally low key as everyone is in a Christmas thought mood. I am still shopping and hope to get some more completed tomorrow.   

Lovely light snow is falling today onto that icy mess with a snow pack on top. Perhaps skiing in a couple of days; time will tell. But it looks so much like Christmas with the snow falling lightly to the ground also covered with snow. We have our White Christmas back for this year at least. 

I listened to the Prime Minister's discussion on the past year with one of the CBC directors and found it most interesting. I continue to support him as his aim is very much what I would like to see happen in Canada. We have so much that we can do and we just need to get it done. A Conservative at heart but I very often fail to see good Conservative language coming out of the Conservative party - I hate it when the "attack-approach" is used. It is ridiculous. Get with what needs to be done and save your discussion for items that are truly worth discussing. In the meantime we need to work together and get this done; Canada needs to diversify the exports to countries all around the globe and there isn't time to waste. The Conservative Party needs to get international experience; they do not have it and perhaps their Economy Critics could get themselves going around the world helping to sell the products that are in their areas. That would give them a little international experience but I continue to believe that coming out of a political science degree/background at the university is inadequate to take on the demands of a parliamentary seat. Work first and then bring your skills to parliament; there is plenty of time. 

Chromosome 16 going well although not a lot of separation into great-grandparents however a number of the matches I have selected have Ancestry trees or other and will need to work on that. There are some areas though that are known to me particularly Blake, Pincombe, Knight and to come still are a number of known matches. 

Lunch soon; I am hungry after all that work.  

Sunday in God's World

 We are back to Sunday once again in God's World. The week passed quickly and was very busy. The weather non-typical for December in many ways but not that unusual to have a spell of rain in the winter. The snow base is still intact and more snow fell yesterday and more this week. Soon back skiing again and enjoying all of that wonderful winter that Canada has. But Sunday is special; Church today on YouTube if that works out. It is the fourth Sunday in Advent and Christmas comes on Thursday. But most especially once again in a tradition that stretches back over two thousand years we will celebrate, those of the Christian faith, the coming of the Christ Child - Jesus Christ - into our world so briefly but his birth was a history changing event that was to change the European/Asian Continent in enormous ways. Those simple words - love they neighbour as thyself - would become the body of a faith that grew out of the Celtic Faith of Europe into the Christian faith which is still with us today. My Anglicanism dates back into that ancient Celtic Faith that flowered in the British Isles and has its roots perhaps in one of the Lost Tribes of Israel. That is unknown and simply a tale handed down generation after generation it would appear since my grandfather passed it to me (as did my father). Now in this quiet time when we are covered by winter snow we await the coming once again of the Christ Child into our lives. 

Made large strides with Chromosome 17 but many of the matches are for the very beginning of the chromosome and shared by my elder brother and a younger brother only and date back centuries with many of the matches being from Georgia and Alabama and the Carolinas. I do know that this is Routledge/Rutledge and that any connection with probably 80% of them dates back centuries. My Routledge lines came to Canada in 1818 - Thomas Routledge and his wife Elizabeth (Routledge) Routledge (2nd cousins once removed) came to Canada with their large family from Bewcastle, Cumberland, England and took up land in London Township which was deeded to them by Colonel Thomas Talbot. The eldest daughter Margaret Routledge married  Thomas Carling and their son was Sir John Carling. My 2x great grandmother was their youngest daughter Elizabeth Mary Ann (sister to Margaret) who married Robert Gray and their daughter Grace married William Robert Pincombe with their only surviving to adulthood child was John Routledge Pincombe, my maternal grandfather. But already on this continent there was a large group of Routledge/Rutledge living in the southern states and it is descendants of that group who match my two brothers on Chromosome 17 with matches in the 30 centimorgan length and that connection is a long way back. Edward Rutledge (I suspect this is his line) was born 23 Nov 1749 at Charleston, South Carolina and is an American Founding Father who signed the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. His family had come from Ireland to the American Colonies. They were in Ireland because some of the Rutledge/Routledge families fled there way back in the 1400s and later from the Highlands of Scotland and that is a long story for another time but my lines came to Bewcastle from the Highlands of Scotland which is a story better known to me. My line were known as the Oakshaw/Yakeshaw Routledge Family of Bewcastle with both Thomas and Elizabeth being members of the Oakshaw/Yakeshaw Routledge Family lines. This was the border lands and heavily contested at various times in British History going back into the 1400s. My mother always said that the Routledge family came to Canada because of turmoil in the Border Lands - no ideas on that I suspect that they just wanted a better life for their six sons as the eldest would have inherited the property on which they lived there and the other five would have to make their way in other ways and in Canada they all had land which was an enticement at that time. So they sold their property rights to a cousin Routledge and they came to Canada. My grandfather talked a lot about his mother's first cousin Sir John Carling and indeed learned a great deal about Parliament and debating from him as a child which he passed on to his son my uncle William Edwin Pincombe. I also was able to separate out Buller and Rawlings but this Chromosome is heavily Pincombe/Gray as my two great grandparent lines (it is at the 3x great grandparent line that my Thomas and Elizabeth (Routledge) Routledge appear) and heavily inherited by all of us siblings. The other lengths do not appear to lead back in time to the Rutledge family in the United States in the same way as that first length (56 matches in total have been collected that are shared by these two brothers in this first length and I have not listed all of them in my chart sticking primarily to those between 20 to 30 centimorgans in length). It does not show up as a pile-up or common area so is just simply a common area for this family. I do find it interesting that the Rutledge family of the southern states was so involved in politics as was my great grandmother's first cousin Sir John Carling. These matches went very quickly and I have completed them in the one day surprisingly. Mind you there is still a lot of work to do looking at the trees for the lines I can not readily separate into each great grandparent line. But that will be later once I draw out all of the matches back to the First Chromosome. So today, if there is time, I will work on the 16th Chromosome which has 62 matches and six are known to me as various levels of cousinship. 

Must complete my morning exercises, make tea and do my solitaire puzzles.  

 

Finally shopping

 Yesterday did end up being a shopping day and I am nearly finished; one more trip out for a couple of items that I could not get yesterday. I must do it earlier next year. Time will tell. 

I completed chromosome 18 yesterday and I am fairly happy with the results. Good lengths of Buller on this one and most are actually Buller with a few Buller/Taylor and likely Taylor. There were also good lengths of Pincombe and mostly Pincombe with a couple of Pincombe/Gray. I do not know many Gray cousins and so I do not have a good handle on this line of the family yet. The Blake and Knight separated out well because of good known matches with these two groups. Rawlings for a couple but mostly Rawlings/Cotterill but lots of trees to look at and so I move now to Chromosome 17 which has  107 matches. This Chromosome does not have a lot of known matches so eyes open on this one and good attention. I have always glossed over this one knowing the four grandparent lines fairly well but moving back to great grandparent will be difficult. There are six cousins known to me - two each in Pincombe, Rawlings and Buller. The lengths of the matches are good and will be helpful but I imagine this Chromosome will take a few days to accomplish. 

Yesterdays rain did clear the streets and walkways and we still have a snow base. Light snow last night gave it a new clean look. More snow is expected all this week. It is minus 11 degrees celsius and feels like minus 17 so will be a cold one today. The snow not likely fit to do much skiing but work to do and these are my research days. Generally we do not go out on the weekends shopping as it will definitely be very busy these days as people rush to do their Christmas shopping. It was fairly busy yesterday afternoon. 

Avoiding the news once again but did note that January will see negotiations begin on the three way trade deal between the United States, Mexico and Canada. Changes to Farm Management are at the top of the agenda for the United States. We love our small farms in Canada and do not want produce from Factory Farms. Certainly the milk and cheeses coming from Wisconsin are very good and there is a good market for them here. Perhaps individual trade deals between provinces/states are the way to go really and 39 of the States have Canada as their largest customer. Given our peculiar situation of being snow bound six months of the year and a much shorter growing season we will always be importing foodstuffs and so a good market for these states who do have a longer growing season. No ideas on that our negotiating team will have it all at hand and the process begins. 

The Creator is always with us and as the wind rushed through the trees yesterday during the heavy rain I am ever reminded that God is in control of the heavens. We must try harder to follow his commandments and they are simple - love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and love our neighbour as ourself. If everyone followed these commands the world would be the perfect peaceful haven that our youth lying in their graves in France died for 80 plus years ago. We must carry the torch they passed and work for peace and especially reconciliation amongst the First Nations here and ourselves. The Advent Readings every day have given me many thoughts on how we can be more receptive to the Land especially. The First Nations peoples are ancient to this land and have much to tell us about this land. 

Time to make my tea, finish my exercises and then solitaire puzzles to do.  

An agreement signed between the Government of Canada and Ontario

 The new agreement signed by the Prime Minister and the Premier Ontario is aggressive and should be helpful in speeding up, finally, the mining in Northern Ontario. It is more than thirteen years since we were at Moosonee and they were telling us about the mine that they wanted to develop in Northern Ontario. We were on a trip to go to the Eco Lodge on the Island (which was marvelous) and a boat ride up the Moosonee River to James Bay. A wonderful trip which we all enjoyed as my eldest daughter had joined us on the trip at the time that Edward was first ill before the pacemaker. He wanted to go very much but I did not feel I was strong enough to help him for that period of time without some help and so my daughter volunteered to go and she had a great time. She has always wanted to learn some of the First Nations languages since childhood and it was a wonderful adventure for her during her research time that summer. I feel blessed to have my daughter with me during her research times and she has found the quiet helpful and I am a very efficient person really so that she has very little to do here when she stays whereas she has to manage everything where she lives. Plus the air pollution is greater where she spends her teaching part of the year and it tends to be good here for her. That has always been a problem for her since she was a very young child with a chronic asthmatic condition aggravated by particular items which abound in our world unfortunately. But she has managed in spite of that very well. I remember when Dr Katz first designed her allergy needles meant to reduce her allergic response to some of the items and some items were reduced but overall her allergic response to some items is large and requires medication. She started her allergy shots when we moved to where we are now about six months later I think it was. Our doctor at the time was certainly liked by her initially but the allergy shots quickly changed her mind. Personally I wasn't worried about that and on our first day at Edward's Church her response to seeing him was to run away across the room and I went with her but Edward stayed to chat with his cousin. The allergy shots lasted such a long time and we were there every couple of weeks it seemed in the doctor's office but finally a break after a few years and tried it without the shots but it was monitored which also required doctor visits. But now it is in maintenance mode most of the time. I worry about her somewhat especially during forest fires as the smoke is very dangerous for her and we are set up here (as is she at her home where she works) for the smoke as well. But here I can go out and get items whereas there it is more difficult. But so far so good. Retirement is coming though although she would like to work beyond first retirement possibility so we will see how that goes. The AI grant that she and another academic received is under way and that is wonderful (they have been doing work for a while now even before application for the grant). AI is such a marvelous tool but needs a great deal of managing and organizing to make it productive. The other researcher is one of the students she worked with during the student's PhD training and then her student went on to get an academic position at another university. My daughter has worked with a lot of PhD students in her career. Having taken French Immersion and then French classes in her chosen path at University her entire time in the school system she always hoped to work in French as well as English (whatever was needed) and has kept up her French as much as she can plus she has also learned Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Italian, Russian through the years and uses some of these languages in her work with students from around the world who have come to her University to do their PhD. She is really good at languages for sure and I think still in her mind is this interest in becoming more knowledgeable on First Nations languages - time will tell for sure. 

Pouring with rain here but I finally bought the large recycling bags for food waste and have unloaded my freezer now of all the food that I did not feel was good after the hydro was off here for ten hours when the new hydro system was set up. It is difficult to get rid of large amounts of food for sure in a proper way as I did not want to throw it into the regular garbage. Hopefully the snow base is not completely destroyed by this heavy rain - at least it is not freezing rain but is heavy. It will clear the roads and sidewalks of any adherent ice though probably. 

 A little work done on Chromosome 18 as I smoothed out the difficulty with a few of the matches and actually proving them to be Buller or Blake great grandparents with a large chunk of Buller coming down from my 2x great grandparents in the middle of Chromosome 18. The other sections that show as Buller at the grandparent level remain Buller/Taylor so unknown for the great grandparents but I do have some trees to look at.  There is one length of the Chromosome 18 where they do not test many spots and that was part of the conflict once I figured that out. 

So maybe complete Chromosome 18 today  with just 21 matches to review and about six of them are known cousins which is helpful although one has to be a bit wary of any small matches with cousins as they could be a match with another line so always check that carefully. This is quite fascinating though working on the great grandparents. 

I think the rain is slowing down finally and it is 8 degrees celsius which is warm for us here in the winter. But there is still snow on the ground but a quick freeze is coming so will be icy for a bit. No bare spots thus far in the back yard where we skied. 

Must get some work done and my breakfast. Tea drank and solitaire puzzles all completed.  

 

Cleaning accomplished for the week

 Another busy day of cleaning yesterday but all accomplished and the rest of the week is mine pretty much although I do need to do something about Christmas as to date I have done absolutely nothing except contemplate what I could do. The weather is meant to warm up although at the moment it is minus 8 degrees celsius and there is a prediction of eventual rain tomorrow which will wreck the snow for skiing but will clear the streets. Winter is always a trade off in Canada - it can be desperately cold for days on end and lots of snow for winter sport pleasure and then along comes the ice storms which can leave us somewhat on tenderhooks for a couple of days whilst it melts or is sucked back into the cold air - either way does eventually work to eliminate the ice. 

No work on the chromosomes particularly. I have this one group of matches that have been difficult to place and now I am seeing them once again in the 18th chromosome with a nice match length and working diligently to determine exactly which great grandparent line that they are - they come from several different testing companies and not a lot of actual family information to help with that. I do have one known length which is Buller but that kit has now been withdrawn although I did collect many many matches with it. It was slightly shorter than the others which are in conflict  with each other somewhat. Will continue pondering that today and sorting it out. It has a couple of possibilities - Taylor (the other half of the Buller-Taylor great grandparent set) and Blake (either Blake or Rawlings although does not really appear to be Rawlings so have mostly eliminated that in my mind and it would be Blake or Knight). Endogamy in the Knight line can give me surprises and it is the one that I watch for mostly - some of the matches are definitely in the Knight line and can place them which is handy and now just have to check these unassigned matches and see where I can place them or just not use them for this particular task - I do not need them necessarily. 

Not watching the news again for a bit overly and it is good to see that in most cases the individuals who brought violence to the forefront all over the world in the past couple of days have been brought to justice with one exception and hopefully the individual who attacked Brown's University will be apprehended - not so much for fear of a continuation of violence but more because those young people deserve to be defended to the utmost of our ability; they had their entire lives to live and it has been taken from them. 

Must make my tea and finish my morning exercise routine.  

Gaza and the future

I find myself thinking about Gaza and its future. On the one hand Israel has to be secure and protected from errant Hamas supporters and Hamas itself; that is a non negotiable security protection for them. No country should live in fear of being attacked in the night; their citizens murdered in cold blood including infant children, young children, young men and women and the old. Their right to security is iron clad. 

On the other hand we have a ruined Gaza because Hamas would not lay down its arms and get out of Gaza. Hamas has caused all of this difficulty and yet they are there still and armed. They are still involved in Gaza and the vote in the United Nations clearly stated that Hamas could have no part in the government of a future Gaza; that they would disarm. Obviously this satanic organization funded by Iran has no morals or respect for anyone but themselves (they  have no respect for the Palestinians - these people (and particularly the children) are simply a tool that they use to support their war against Israel and the Jewish people world-wide) and Hamas must go. On the other hand where will they go; definitely I do not want to see any of them here in Canada and I am concerned that in recruiting of thousands of doctors from other countries that we could acquire Hamas supporters or Hamas members itself. We must protect ourselves from such ignorant people and be very security conscious where such recruitment is concerned. 

It is sad to see the children of Gaza suffering considering the billions and billions of dollars that have been poured into that country. Any future monies/products going into Gaza need to be monitored by external administrators at all times and Egypt continues to be the best idea given their similarity in terms of religious devotion and as a country they have dealt with Hamas in the past and removed them from their governance. Their support of Gaza would help the Palestinians to develop this area and make it productive. The world through the United Nations can not continue to bankroll a country that is decadent and refuses to create an industrial/farming structure to support the lives of the people who live there. We, the United Nations, can not support generation after generation of Palestinians,  millions of people holding out their hands for free food and other necessities of life when they have land that they could be working to produce a livelihood for themselves.  The answer is obvious to simply give the land to someone else who would care for it, nurture it and make it produce a life for them like the Rohingyas with the Palestinians finding somewhere else to live but the obvious is not always the path that is followed. This is for the Palestinians an opportunity to make something of Gaza finally after four generations of opportunity which they shunned spending their time whining and if countries like Egypt and the other Muslim states around them  are willing to take it on but security guarantees for Israel must be in place permanently all around their borders. That Gaza itself is capable of such production one needs to simply look at the past when Israeli farmers were working the land and left it as it was when they were forced out of Gaza in 1948 but the Palestinians destroyed everything that was left to them - who does that; education is as always the key and definitely Egypt can help with that as well. No schools can have Hamas involved in any way; Hamas does not know how to live in a world that supports all peoples not just them. Generally when animals in the wild become errant and unable to live with the pack they are forced out and left to die. But we are humans and Hamas can go to Iran which supports such ignorance. 

Amazing how one comes to such good thinking after a good night's sleep. I have watched my entire life as Palestinians have murdered Israeli children in their school yard, on the street and in their homes. It has to stop; we the people of the United Nations need to stand up and say that. It doesn't mean that we condemn the Palestinian people to an uncertain future which is where they are now; its means that we want the immoral attitude towards the Jewish peoples both living in Israel and worldwide to stop and that all peoples should be able to flourish in a world where peace is the absolute and any transgression is punished immediately - we need a permanent armed force to manage such events and punish/incarcerate those who are incapable of peace. In a way we had that in the 1800s when Napoleon was incarcerated at Elba Island but now we need a worldwide solution.

Not much done on Chromosome 18 perhaps today but all the cleaning of the main floor completed which was great. Stocked up on basic supplies as well so a good day overall yesterday. Today another cleaning day and it is the top floor. Lucky my house is small as at 80 one does find that so much work leaves one somewhat tired at the end of the day.  

 

Flu Vaccination

 How sad that three children have died in Ontario from flu complications. Certainly the flu that I had early in November was very dissipating and took several weeks to really get over it. It was fourty eight hours before I could really eat and I lost several pounds but did stay hydrated. I am also lucky to have medical advice by internet although 60 kilometres away (moving closer to family is still top in my mind for sure) and my other daughter chatted to me as usual.  I took it easy and just kept myself hydrated for the two days and I was soon eating my favourite cooked oatmeal once again to fatten me up. Mostly I am very healthy for which I do feel rather lucky although have had my share of poor health years ago. But getting the vaccinations for flu and COVID is very important I think. But the weakness caused by the flu does take a couple of weeks to really eliminate when you are 80 so get vaccinated and take it easy if you do get the flu since there is an errant flu making the rounds but better to protect yourself as much as you can with the vaccinations. 

Interesting that a Conservative MP has suggested that he could get involved with getting the trade talks restarted once again with our friend and neighbour the United States (I think that working together is important and I do see this as a national emergency which needs a somewhat more unified support across the parties - I like that when you see it happening in the United States (it is an asset of their system)). We have certainly seen parties work together in Canada during national emergencies many times and it does need to happen. I do not see this as a party issue but rather an item that is inherent to the entire well being of Canada and its ability to make itself tariff proof. To me that is really the important item here that we be in fact tariff proof and not readily reduced to difficult circumstances by external tariff. That has been the concern of the Prime Minister from day one when he took on the position and he has my full support in the ideas that he has brought forth and the constant movement towards a more diversified trade relationship both internally and externally. The Conservative Party needs to learn how to be in Opposition and yet supportive when a national emergency arises - this is not the time for "attacking" every single solitary item. We need 100% support from parliament for this process of becoming tariff proof. 

I do not always agree with the Prime Minister on everything. I certainly do not agree with a group of Liberal MPs and an NDP MP going to the Middle East especially at this time given the horrific attack against the Jewish people in Australia at the start of Hanukkah. It was a poor choice given the time chosen and should have been changed even at the last minute. The reason that the Prime Minister supported the eventual State of Palestine is conditional on Hamas not being involved and disarming - this has not happened and Hamas continues with their rhetoric which is the source of the problem as long as they have been involved in Gaza. The Palestinian people themselves do not appear to understand how Gaza was created and it was by the United Nations which is the people of the world (it had nothing to do with Israel who likewise were turfed off their farms and made to move to the present location of Israel (they did not sit around in that swamp that they were given and whine for four generations as the Palestinians have done but created a country; a very wealthy country). If the United States had not supported Israel in the early days their transition to wealth and a stable country would have been much slower but they did much to their credit and they continue to support Israel. Billions and billions of dollars have been poured into Gaza by the United Nations since 1948 (Israel did not receive such support from the world via the United Nations); a huge amount of money by the world and we can no longer bankroll Gaza in that way. They have to get to work and do something with that land (make it produce to support themselves, 600 trucks a day is ridiculous and needed elsewhere in the world) - the Rohingyas would love to have a land they could call home and they would work to make it beautiful like Israel has become. It is up to the Palestinians to create a country and that means respecting the borders of the countries around you. It is up to the Palestinians to disarm and eliminate Hamas as far as I am concerned although an International Force to do so is still a method that I support. It is up to the Palestinians to get rid of the rhetoric that permeates their culture and destroys them really - they destroy themselves no one else is responsible for the state that they are in - Hamas is responsible for all the deaths and the destruction of this past couple of years - they attacked Israel. It is possible to separate Palestinian from Hamas; they just have to have the will to do it and to become good neighbours to their Israeli neighbours (that is what is required - the rhetoric against Israel has to go it just creates more generations of hate (anti-semitism has to disappear world-wide)). Education is the key and I do hope that Egypt does become a sort of mentor to Gaza and help them to move forward. They need to have better education in Gaza and not be taught a bunch of lies about Israel. That ISIS appears to be behind the attack in Australia does not change my opinion on this visit to the West Bank. 

Yesterday was a cleaning day and the basement is done. I feel lucky that I can still do that at 80. I was also out skiing about 2 kms in total so amazing really that I did both. But I was pretty tired and slept 8.5 hours. But today is the main floor to clean and I shall start in a bit. I often think about the Psychiatrist who looked after me when I was just 28 years old and gave me his piece of advice - eat when you are hungry, sleep when you are tired and look after your little baby; enjoy life and don't work it away right now. Mind you I still did pick up the proofreading/copyediting that I did at home a few years later but I tried to be as wise as possible (I am a workaholic I know that) and avoid over-tiring myself. Perhaps I should have let him refer me to a psychiatrist here but we both agreed that I was doing well and listening well so I did not. My getting there for appointments when I first moved would have been difficult as I had to learn the streets and comparing my eyes now with what I had then does amaze on occasion that I managed to get anywhere really as I counted the streets from the chart I would produce to go anywhere years ago. As my daughters grew they told me the streets that we passed which was so very helpful; they were quick learners and knew their letters very early on and then read very early on as well. As soon as they turned 16 they always drove as they knew my limitations!

No work on the great grandparent phasing but perhaps today; no skiing today a rest is a good idea in between such bouts for sure. The new skis though are terrific and the ski boots are so flexible - I am glad that I decided to buy a new set. This idea of them being selected by weight to decide on length is a good idea I think as these skis are shorter and when I fall down I can easily get up without taking them off and I did go down at least three times into the soft snow and then up I got and on my way again. I need to get my balance once again for skiing. It will come over the winter. The fresh air is lovely. 

Another beautiful day in God's world - the Creator must wonder when will we learn to love our neighbour as ourself. We are still waiting for some countries to get there.  

 

 

Good accomplishment yesterday

The service at Church yesterday was for Advent III. The singing by the Choir was lovely as always. One often forgets how much it costs to run a Cathedral and the reminder did bring that home to me once again. Actually a new Church building was built while I was a child (the original retained as the Parish Hall) and the first Confirmation in the new Church was the year that I was confirmed. I was just eleven years of age so actually quite young compared to many in the class. I also remember burning the mortgage not even ten years later but times were different and certainly our Church was always full with chairs in the aisles and at the back to accommodate people. It was also just after the Second World War and I think people felt more strongly about Church attendance. 

I completed Chromosome 19 yesterday and it was most successful. I managed a good list of great grandparents including Blake, Knight, Rawlings, Pincombe, and Buller. There were a few with both great grandparents and I need to review their trees to see if that assists me. Rawlins in particular has quite a few known cousins (from 3rd to 5th cousins), the Knight also a few cousins (from 2nd to 5th cousin), Buller from 2nd to 4th cousins and Pincombe 3rd to 5th cousins. There were a number of Rawlings/Cotterill matches from Ancestry so need to check out those trees. Pincombe/Gray as well and I again have matches with trees to check. No Buller/Taylor for this chromosome  although there are fewer lengths of Buller on this chromosome (one deceased sibling in particular provides most of the material with he and I providing the length at the beginning which is verified as Buller; interesting a sort of repeat on Chromosome 23). 

Cleaning day today and it begins with the basement. It is a slow introduction to cleaning for the week with the heavier days to come. I shall soon start the robot doing its work on the rugs. Today I will work on Chromosome 18 which has six known lengths primarily from 3rd cousins which relates very nicely to the great grandparents.  That one generation back takes me quickly to the great grandparent of interest in each cross. 

Tea completed and solitaire puzzles to do.  

Sunday in God's World

 What a sad weekend this will be in the history books - murder at Brown's University; murder on a beach in far off Australia and I have probably missed some but these are satanist attacks and one is left to ponder is it always Hamas/Hezbollah/Houthis paid by Iran to do what they do; dragged into an emotional quagmire where they believe they are doing what the Creator demanded but they missed the storyline where God said to "love your neighbour as yourself" and the whole world is in reality your neighbour. We created the United Nations to help us to find peace - that uplifted plain where all can live their life as God wanted. Gaza is a result of the decision of the United Nations but Hamas destroyed that because they were permitted to indoctrinate an entire area of people into dying so that they would live at least the ones who survived would retake land that was never 100% their land ever. Why are people so mislead? this is the age where so many have gone to school for years but yet the word of God does not seem to mean the same to everyone - it was simple "love your neighbour as yourself." When will it start? one wonders all of her life and now she is 80. When does God's world take place where everyone gets to keep their beliefs and yet form a government that helps everyone? Today on Sunday I shall contemplate that as I go to Church on YouTube and that isn't anyone's fault but it is a way that works for me and I do not interfere with anyone else celebrating their way of life. 

The Advent message today was particularly poignant after the Prayer Session with Alongside Hope (PWRDF) on Thursday. Our reflector told us a great deal about her community where she is  suffragan bishop of the South Baffin deanery of the Diocese of the Arctic and I have to admit I find all the history of the First Peoples that I have learned to be absolutely fascinating (not so much the mistakes made by colonials who felt their way was better and I have no idea why they felt that way to be honest; the residential schools were a bad idea although bringing the knowledge we had gained to them was perhaps of value only they could say but the residential schools were a failure (for too many they were criminal and anyone that was part of it should have been punished if they were not)). But it was my grandfather who was descendant (as I now know) of the ancient peoples of the British Isles and he used to talk about the British Isles and listening to the First Nations I am often reminded of his stories of the little people who cleaned your boots at night (actually he did it) and all sorts of such items. But it was his way of talking and it was beautiful and I learned so much and especially it was actually what a lot of people thought like the idea that the early peoples of the British Isles were a lost Tribe of Israel. I feel like we have finally reached the point that we were at so very long ago when Tecumseh and Brock walked together to defend this country of ours and they did it well. Mutual admiration for each other's ability to help defend this country. 

I did complete the Pincombe-Pinkham Newsletter yesterday and sent it in for review. I do like it that they review it in case I have missed something as that can happen. I am now into Volume 11, Issue 1 for this journal. It is amazing. I started all of this publication, initially with the Blake Newsletter back in 2011 I think (would have to check) and then gradually introduced them into the Pincombe/Pinkham and the H11 Haplogroup studies. They helped to keep me ontrack as I moved forward with my research not really having a direction that I was heading in until I decided to review James Sander's book on the Siderfin Family and update it. That seemed to invigorate memories of my grandfather in particular and my mother as to their desires on putting down on paper their families in my grandfather's case that was correcting the mistakes in the Blake Line of Andover and in my mother's case that was simply producing a book on the Pincombe family with what she remembered her father telling her as a child about his family. John Routledge Pincombe (her father) was my second born Canadian ancestor (his mother being first - Grace Gray daughter of immigrants Robert Gray and Mary Elizabeth Ann Routledge)). John Routledge Pincombe was the son of William Robert Pincombe and Grace Gray. Both Mary Routledge and William Robert Pincombe came to Canada as young children in their early teens with their families. This tendency to marry an immigrant from the British Isles persisted even into my mother's generation as my father was born in England. But it was these memories coming to the surface as I slowly took on the new role in life as a widow and I was searching for something meaningful to continue working on since Edward and I had worked together on many many projects through our 54.5 year marriage. That was one of the strengths perhaps of our marriage. We tended to be project people who simply took on items because they interested us and we liked to work on projects together for the most part. Possibly because he knew 100% that I would always have his back and help him. I am like that but now as a widow I have just myself to lead forward in life and carry out these commitments I have made to myself and to my memories of my family.  At 80 the years ahead are short but will be full of my working on my commitments until I cannot. 

We can all live to do the work of the Creator and follow His commands and for me that has always been the best choice and that will continue until the end of my time. I remember standing in the Coliseum in Rome and thinking about all those Christian being sent to die for their faith and it is a constant reminder in my mind that life can be strange sometimes and not predictable. But following the Creator's words we can live our lives in as peaceful a way as possible. We just need to get everyone on board and the United Nations is still the best way. We must talk; we the people of the world have a voice and we must use it to counteract the satanists in our midst. Turkiye has spoken out against the terror to shipping in the Black Sea and I applaud them and we should all be against that and all terror. 

I completed Chromosome 20 (63 cM long) yesterday and was pleased at the result; still a lot to do as not all of the matches lead me to a single great grandparent but I did manage Blake 24-46 cM, Knight 0-8 cM, Rawlings 0-23 cM, 32-36 cM, 46-58 cM, Cotterill 51-63 cM (I always qualify these results in my mind that they could be coming down from marriages between Rawlins and Cotterell earlier in the family history (a couple of generations back)), Pincombe 0-6 cM, 55-58 cM,  Buller 12-45 cM. This is just knowing the cousins whom I match. There are a number that I now have to look at their trees and see what I can learn (six that I have selected that I feel would be helpful). But I can always go back into the matches and see if there is anything that I have missed as they are all coded by grandparent match. The Cotterill are always somewhat difficult because the suggested (by the testing companies) George Cotterill and his two wives had six daughters and two sons so that the daughters inherited their X chromosome from George's mother Jane (Sherwood) Cotterill. It does make it a difficult case for sure but I will keep an eye out to see if I can somewhat solve the mystery. My grandmother was exceedingly happy in her childhood with her mother (natural mother) and her step-father and her half-siblings so the trek back is more one of being scientifically accurate with the recording of the DNA of the family since the world is moving in that direction. The need to workaround any medical tendencies that appear in a family is important - some people should not consume alcohol to any great extent for whatever reason and others should not smoke. But the world is also moving somewhat in that direction of leading healthier life styles - Europe is a very good example. 

Perhaps time to work on Chromosome 19 today and it is  59 cM in length with nine known cousins and just a couple of gaps not covered. Taking it back to the great grandparents though is not a simple jump back unless the cousins are all 3rd cousins or greater. We will see; a number of them are 3rd cousins or greater. 

Nearly time for Church and I have forgotten my tea. It has gone cold but that doesn't bother me I mostly drink it for the caffeine as I have discovered in my old age that I am not quite so much of a "bouncing off the walls person that I was as a child and youth."

Tea drank and solitaire puzzles completed. Time for Church.  

Skiing and it was a challenge

 Back on skis but just in the back yard thus far. I did stay on my feet first of all but the going was slow although towards the end I was speeding up somewhat. Today I will go again as it may be a little warmer; time will tell. But it was nice to actually be out on my skis again. 

I worked on Chromosome 20 and it was very slow going actually. I do have good cousins matches which is very helpful but separating out a couple of the matches proved to be just a bit difficult and one not resolved. There should be two siblings matching this individual but only one does and that always makes me suspicious. It is not that important a match and I did move on and will continue with Chromosome 20 today but I think first I will complete the Pincombe Newsletter and get that off of my plate. I just have to enter in the transcriptions. Like all the newsletters for the next two years there will be a discussion on where I am going with the books since two of the Newsletters are directly related to two of the studies - namely Pincombe and Blake that have a Newsletter. The yearly Kipp Newsletter will only look at the yDNA study which I am really just maintaining at this time until I do find someone within the family who will take it on. But not a rush I want it to be a successful venture this study. 

We also went shopping and I found the perfect socks for regular wear and bought ten exactly the same (I like that as you never run out of a match that way!). Already washed up and ready to go and I have to decide what to do with the socks that have small holes in them. It does seem disgraceful to throw them out and I will use them as rags for a while as they are cotton primarily and good for scrubbing and things like that. But I have always loathed darned socks since the days that we no longer knit our own socks and can readily repair a hole when they are hand knitted. 

Still more shopping to do as I am out of laundry detergent (although do have a powder which I am considering switching to actually so as not to have that plastic container to throw out). I am out of my big container of liquid detergent for dish washing and cleaning and wish there was an alternative as that is another big plastic container. I also need a cleaner (I always used to use Mr Clean but will have a look around to see what I can find that isn't a big plastic container). I go through each of these perhaps 1.5 containers per year. Then a little more shopping on top of that of items that I always buy in bulk and they are running out. 

Getting ready for Christmas as well and my preferred way of shopping once the children were old enough was just to take them with me and buy what they wanted, wrap it up and then everybody is happy on Christmas Day because they got what they wanted. Surprises are nice but I really hate shopping so taking anything back is just something I avoid if that is at all possible. 

Nice to have all the snow and with it one must accept the cold and it is minus 12 degrees celsius and the snow is coming; as the snow increases the temperature is going to rise somewhat perhaps to minus 5 degrees celsius but it will be lovely skiing weather. Another lovely winter in Canada and it is my favourite season. 

The snow tires are doing their job and glad that I finally got them on (the two week delay was my flu bug that incapacitated me for a few days), It remains an interesting experience mostly because I did manage although someone bringing me food would have been nice I must admit but perhaps it is good to get up and get it yourself. The flu shot is such a wonderful gift and hopefully that was my first and last time with flu for a while since there are always different strains about and being protected from at least some of them is very helpful. The car is six years old now but looks fairly new except one knows it is older looking at it. It only has 32,210 kilometres on it and will be lucky to see 40,000 kilometres even in ten years if it remains with us for such a long time. That is dubious actually but one never knows. When it is really cold I always wonder if the engine will turn over when I start it but it is in the garage protected from the really cold winds but still the garage is unheated except for what leaks from the house into the garage and I can honestly say not too much as it is really cold in there. But turn over it does even after minus 20+ degrees this winter. Surprises actually and just a quick warmup for five minutes or less and the needle is moving up to show the engine warming up nicely. 

Tea drank and must do my solitaire puzzles. The world moves on around me and I am not watching the news very much these days although I do read articles online most days but in my little corner of the world I can only read and contemplate how much God's words ring true day after day. Love thy neighbour as thyself and then war will end all over the world. 

The way to the future

Perhaps it is a return to winter as we are used to with lots of snow about us these days but I feel as if the momentum has really started and Canada is finding its feet in the world. We always were in the world very much part of everything going on but we tended to not be the leader so much as a follower. But circumstances, particularly the need to be tariff proof, has lead us to a slightly different path. That path is being formed by our Prime Minister who has come out of his much quieter life to take on the leadership of Canada in a crisis moment (but he shares that moment with his cabinet supporting him all along the way and doesn't take personal credit for everything). One feels that there is a team at the top working hard on each of their projects bringing it all together and this Prime Minister is a great director. Thank you to him. Another Conservative has crossed the floor to give the Liberals a movement towards majority - just one seat short now. I think he has shown great commitment to the Conservative ideals that many of us have and our politics are such that he had to cross the floor in order to express those feelings. I do see that value in the American system where individual groups in either party will form with the other party a relationship which leads to change that is desired by the American people. Here they have to cross the floor and face that criticism but I feel he has done the right thing; we need to move forward and we can not move forward unless all parties accept that this is the best path to make us tariff proof. I do not see an alternative really that works for Canada. Go Canada Go and bring us to a position where we are able to manage and be tariff proof. That is the aim in all of this effort on our part to travel within Canada, to buy Canadian (and I paid several dollars more for items in the store yesterday so as to ensure that I was buying Canadian (canned salmon from British Columbia was one I particularly noticed)). We look at all the labels to make sure they are made in Canada. I am sad to give up my favourite cookies (American made) but must for the moment but I can think about how lovely it will be to buy a package of them once we are tariff proof. It has become a dream for all Canadians. 

I did manage to get to the Prayer meeting yesterday for Alongside Hope (was PWRDF) and it was to be special because of our reflector the Right Rev. Ann Martha Keenainak who was elected suffragan bishop of the South Baffin deanery of the Diocese of the Arctic and it was so exciting to learn so much about her Diocese. I get up and walk about during the meetings but I can hear all that is said very well; I am a restless person but that is a feature I have had all of my life! Activity and myself always have gone hand in hand. She painted a wonderful picture of life that I greatly appreciated. Another meeting following and I had to leave this one a little early just after the reflector completed her part of the prayer session. Thank you to her for sharing so much with us. Our First Nations brothers and sisters know so much about this great land called Turtle Island by them; it is an interesting name and the idea of the protective shell of the Turtle is very very interesting actually. That has only just occurred to me and we have so much to learn about this great land which stretches back way into the eons of time. 

I completed Chromosome 21 yesterday and was rewarded with good lengths of known Blake from 10 cM to 42 cM, Rawlings from 1 to 42 cM, Buller from 1 to 33 cM, I have four cousins known to me on that chromosome which is 48 cM long. There are another 8 matches that fit into various places yielding a fully known chromosome (and this is the case for all of them actually with the exception of one tiny length (2 cM) at the beginning of one chromosome for just one sibling. On this chromosome all of the sections can be identified to one of two great grandparents but I am only listing the ones in general that lead me back to a singleton great grandparent.  Chromosome 22 was not quite so obliging and I will have to review trees and matches in common to see if I can improve on that. Today I will do some work on Chromosome 20 with regard to phasing great grandparents (I have six known cousins on this chromosome). 

I did complete the H11 Newsletter and it is has been sent in for review. It is very short but that is normal for three of the four issues a year. When I do searches to see if anything new has arisen I tend to only find my newsletter but once again I did locate one interesting item which I passed along in the newsletter.

 I am working on the Pincombe Newsletter and just have to add in the transcriptions which I have done (most are available on Find My Past these days and I am considering halting that but I am also reaching the end of some of it as well). 

Groceries all bought and it was a catch up week with two of us now and my cupboards I tend to run down quite low as we do eat slightly differently and I just follow the lead and make whatever suits both of us. After a busy day we treated ourselves to a Canadian made pizza which was delicious and a lovely fresh lettuce salad (hydroponic lettuce from nearby). Life was much easier when you did not have to spend all that time checking to help make Canada tariff proof and perhaps those days will come to an end and we can go back somewhat to enjoying life as it was although the new foods that are coming in from around the world we do try because it does make us tariff proof. But we still buy a lot of American products simply because it is winter and the growing season is several months in the past now. 

Another busy day ahead but mostly research. I do enjoy the research days although the cleaning is also fine as I get lots of exercise. Cleared the snow yesterday off the porch, patio and the very top of the laneway. There was a huge pile at the end of the laneway after the municipal plow went through but the company quickly cleared that away; a well spent addition to my life for sure. 

Drinking my tea and on to solitaire puzzles.  

 

 

Snow Snow Snow and it is still falling

 Beautiful white snow all around us and still falling. The company has cleared the laneway so we are free to go where ever we want as clearing the end of the laneway is not the easiest job in the world. Canada gets a lot of snow - some years more than others but a lot of snow. I cleared the porch and patio and the top of the laneway later in the afternoon yesterday and will do that again today. But we are now officially covered with snow and hopefully it will stay now until spring. I do love the snow. It is so comforting watching it coming down snowflake by snowflake year after year. It tells the story of Canada; we are the land of ice and snow covered most times six months of the year. It shapes everything about us although we have come up with unique ways to get Mother Nature to work with us using greenhouses and growing summer vegetables in the winter. Often we get enough sun to really make that viable in some areas of the country. We do really enjoy all the fruits and vegetables that come north to us from our friend and neighbour the United States but necessity has determined that we need to be tariff proof and so we are on our trek about the world finding new customers for our goods and buying theirs and so the food on our shelves may just have a different look and it will help us to be tariff proof. 

Yesterday was a washing day and I spent a few hours at that as my washing machine is very efficient but has an extremely strong spin and I like to be on hand just in case it decides that the items within its drum are not arranged exactly to its liking. I can then halt it and re-arrange which I do. It is a very effective machine though I must admit. We bought the new washer and dryer just after the COVID shutdown and had to wait for delivery perhaps two months during which time we mimicked our ancestors and washed clothes by hand. It was a very interesting experience actually. 

I also worked on Chromosome 22 for the phasing of the great grandparents and completed that chromosome and again I was able to separate out quite a bit of the Knight family (Maria Jane (Knight) Blake was my great grandmother) and a length for Cotterell/Cotterill which was very interesting. A few of the others appear obvious but need to do a little more work on the trees to say one or the other. But I will move forward to Chromosome 21 as I want to complete this table quickly and then move to the more difficult work of separating the two lines at each grandparent level. Having the data in a neat display works very well for me. These are the short chromosomes that I am working with and perhaps one a day but I do need to think more about the Newsletters - H11 and Pincombe - that are past due and I am also getting back into the two books I am writing. Sometimes in variety I get more done as I do not get bogged down in one thought. 

A research day primarily but I have a meeting at 1:00 which I do want to attend (a prayer group) and groceries as it is that time of the week once again so must prepare my menu thoughts and my list. The skis are also ready to go and we may give that a try as well although it is meant to be a wind chill of -19 degrees celsius so perhaps a short run which might be good for this 80 year old. But I do love skiing. 

The bargaining chips begin to pile up as we head into discussion on USMCA/MUSCA and CUSMA this next year. One wonders where the United States will move to on this one although our main effort at this time continues to be making ourselves tariff proof and that has a tremendous effect on our old traveling/buying/spending habits as we move to increase our internal purchases between provinces to support everyone's production of goods and services. It is good for us actually but we were not unhappy with the system as it existed but times change and so must we. Some of us drag our feet but the forward momentum can be felt and we are seeing good results with the unemployment rate decreasing slowly and the GDP going up slowly. It will benefit Canada in the long run in a huge way as we diversify and start to incorporate some of the items that we have just not taken advantage of (minerals, oil, gas and others) and increase our GDP (which increases how much we can spend on the military). I had a thought on the F-35 and I do think we should continue with buying the 88 myself but we need planes in the Arctic specific for that area and why not the Swedish Griffin as it is a very effective plane especially in the Arctic and there is the bonus of increased production here in Canada if we buy their planes as well. Having two different kinds - I do not see it as a problem since we are a huge country and having two different sets of military planes happened often during World War II. It just makes our military ever more versatile and that is a good thing. Then there is the need to make ourselves tariff proof for sure. The Prime Minister is doing a great job (I didn't vote for him but could see that he has the background that is working very well for Canada) and the discussion on why he does not make deals with the other parties very obvious really. In an election he would win far more seats because the other parties constantly prove how inadequate they are unfortunately. We need discussion in Parliament not throwing about ridiculous ideas and actually wasting time voting on them. We also do not need an election - a perfect waste of money if there ever was one. Get with it; the Liberals won the last election. The Prime Minister has earned his spurs and he is getting this show moving on to make us tariff proof in as gentle a way as is possible. 

The Conservative leader let the last Prime Minister bait him constantly and he fell for it every time and what happened so much money wasted and expenditures over the roof although I do not begrudge children their school lunches or their day care, people their dental care but the weakness of the Conservative Party is very concerning to me as it used to be the party of economy and trade (social issues are dead in the water in Canada and belong at the provincial level really). You can not fight tariff you must become tariff proof. You can not dictate at the federal level what each province must permit; that is an internal issue that each province must deal with - the province that wants something needs to convince the province that has it to come in and be part of whatever which includes a pipeline (stop trying to create tension where none existed; the MOU was a good idea). We need to be tariff proof and that should be the 100% goal of this government which Canadians elected just a few months ago. Having support with an MOU between the feds and the province simply opens the beginning path of the discussion knowing that there is support for aspects mentioned in the MOU. Get with it Conservative party and lets get this show on the road that will make us tariff proof. I nevertheless expect the Conservative Party to continue being very attentive to how money is spent and to encourage the building of roads (Ontario needs to widen the Trans Canada continuously from Quebec to Manitoba and sooner rather than later). There are many ways that the Conservatives could be pushing to help make us tariff free and we will notice that you are helping; we do not need waste in the Commons arguing over trivialities when there is work to be done that is needed. 

  

The variety of DNA that exists in populations

 Both my husband and I have done a lot of DNA testing but we have never found a common ancestor primarily because Edward is 30% German/30% Dutch/10% French/10% Polish/10% Scandinavian/5% English and other smaller European portions and I am virtually 100% British Isles (with known Huguenot in the late 1400s coming to Somerset). So we do not find one common ancestor although there is one possibility (in a somewhat circular case) but still being researched. Edward shares common ancestry with the American Work family, Eleanor Work (seventh cousin twice removed) married James Burke Roche in 1880 and their great great grandaughter was Diana, Princess of Wales (Edward's ninth cousin once removed) and the possibility that Diana, Princess of Wales is descendant of the Andover Blake family would amazingly see us both related to Diana (I would be 12th cousin once removed to Diana (the published book of the ancestry of Diana, Princess of Wales refers to the Andover Blake family (Richard K. Evans, NEHGS, 2007))  which was sort of amazing when we discovered that in our trip back through time. It struck me as I write this that when I attended a weekend activity at NEHGS where one could work with Gary Boyd Roberts and others Edward really benefited greatly from his time and when Gary asked me what I would like to discuss as my time had come up I said that I was from the Andover Blake family but I was not really into genealogy which surprised him since I had paid to come but I suggested that he continue working with Edward as they were making really great progress into his ancestry and they did that although he did speak to me once again but I really didn't want to discuss my ancestry since my knowledge of it was pretty ancient and I was not into Blake genealogy at that time although I was writing this Pincombe Profile but did not want to discuss that either really. I had a handle on it already but I am like that. I also didn't want to get into a discussion on the Pinkham family as I was about to take on the Pincombe study at the Guild of one-name Studies and did know that the two names were often found together (I was certainly still that person with no actual interest in genealogy beyond getting this profile written at that point in time (after all I couldn't find my paternal grandmother in the records back in 1988 when I was trying to do that for my parent's 60th wedding anniversary book!). But DNA was about to radically change my thoughts and it was coming for sure in 2005 and I was taking my courses at the National Institute for Genealogical Studies but still in the beginnings really of that work! Edward purchased the book on Diana perhaps in 2008 or so but I didn't really look at it until I took on the Blake one-name study at the Guild in 2011. And it was sort of an absent minded look in actual fact and may have been prompted by Edward commenting on Blake being in the index. That particular time Edward was ill and my concentration was poor so my memory of some items perhaps not quite as good as usual! By then I knew that my Blake line had an ancient haplogroup which was dubbed Deer-Hunters by Ethnoancestry so their surname had been acquired at the time of surname useage beginning in England after the Norman Conquest. Although it did sort of make me think because why would anyone choose a surname that was already in use by several known Blake lines. Interesting letting the mind roll back sometimes. 

Since we look at different record sets it was difficult for us to work together once I got inspired to do genealogy in 2003 and DNA certainly became a strong part of that draw. He was looking at records that I did not look at although over time eventually he did get back into his English Ancestry when we traveled to the British Isles. But all of that was a very long way back for him in the 1600s except for one 3x great grandmother who came with her family to Canada in the 1830s from the Norfolk area (Mary Ann Abbs) and he learned a great deal about her and  his line in Norfolk at Kew. So it can be very difficult to work on your lines in repositories when you are so divergent for sure. 

Just before COVID isolation time Edward was corresponding back and forth with Dutch and German investigators and we had a trip planned to both countries but COVID 19 interrupted that and those trips did not happen but he recorded everything he learned in his blog and in his tree. The gene pool  in Europe is enormous perhaps because of the constant movement of populations. Europeans are very healthy people. They follow regimens that contribute to their great life style and they were clever to come together and argue in the EU parliament instead of the battle field (and they do fight on occasion having to be separated but they have made God's words a reality - love your neighbour as yourself and they will enforce that as time progresses). They become stronger and stronger as the days pass. Edward was very proud of his European/British Isles lineage and of his lengthy Colonial American ancestry (he had 9th and 10th great grandparents in his tree with a large number from The Netherlands as well as from the British Isles). His being Canadian was more of a fluke than anything else as people moved west or in his case north into Ontario (siblings of his 2x great grandmother Hannah (Mead) Kipp went west to Wisconsin and further. Canada in 1800 was lightly settled by colonials and there were then as now many many First Nations all over Canada or Turtle Island as its original name accidentally changed to Canada by the first Explorers from Europe to the St Lawrence River (as far as we know they were the first to come along the St Lawrence but there is still much to know of the early history perhaps embedded in the stories of the many First Nations that we haven't heard yet). I look forward to learning many things from our First Nations brothers and sisters now that I am retired and just working away on my books. 

I still have not yet produced the two  missing Newsletters and yesterday I worked away in my available time on phasing the great grandparents working on Chromsome 22 which is mostly finished and I have achieved good lengths for the Knight family. This Chromosome is 51 cM long and primarily the Knight line is verified from 17 to 51 cM with several known cousins. There is an interesting Cottrell match from 37 cM to 47 cM. I do not anticipate that this will be easy. Some of the matches I have looked at do point to a particular great grandparent but I want to have more substance to that with proof in the census since all of these great grandparents appear in the census of England during the needed time period and there are many many trees on the various databases. There are 15 matches still to review and a couple of them are known to me as cousins. Finding the Cottrell was interesting and I will pay attention to these matches and also see if I can trace that particular line back in the British Isles (remembering that I do have cousins who are surnamed or descendant of Cottrell/Cotterill/Cotterell (the spelling still variable in those early census). 

A little more work to do around the house today but it is primarily a research type of day. Perhaps those Newsletters will happen over this time period. I do not have anything to write really in the H11 as there isn't any new news on that subsclade. For the Pincombe again I have not really spent very much time with Pincombe over the past couple of months as I have concentrated on all the lines working on the rephasing of my grandparents now completed although I still need to annotate the charts sufficiently into journal ready items without actually even considering that sort of activity but rather that I put into these items everything that I have found to pass on to the next individual who wants to have an interesting retirement project (namely one of my relatives!). 

Tea all drank and must do my solitaire puzzles to keep the brain sharp. Yesterdays puzzles were amazingly straight forward or my mind was just totally concentrated. We will see today's puzzles. I see Microsoft has announced a 19B plan for AI and data centers in Canada which has been welcomed by the Prime Minister.  Patience is what is always needed and if a western pipeline is to happen there must be a lot of that. The MOU simply sets into motion a methodology to explore but there is a lot of work to do to convince British Columbia that there is a win-win for everybody in this particular item and the Premier of Alberta is prepared to go to the parties affected and discuss. Canada is the best compromising country in the world which I discovered when my eldest daughter and I went to Italy (Rome actually for an invited event; I was invited and she was accompanying me as I had never flown before nor had I ever traveled to Europe). Staying at the organized retreat sort of in a monastery in Rome I discovered that we were the only ones who learned Italian to come (we spent four months learning Italian - mine somewhat spotty as I interjected French when I couldn't remember the Italian word - but my daughter on our first taxi ride (as the metro was on strike) revealed just how well she was doing although she did ask him to go a little slower which he did; she amazed me when on a tour by ourselves she spoke easily with a couple of people from Spain who were speaking Spanish - children are amazing really). That is what Canadians do we compromise until it works for everybody. I prefer an eastern pipeline that is for sure so that we stop paying 3x what we sell the oil for to the United States where it is refined and sold back to especially Ontario - the biggest gas guzzler in Canada and Quebec also uses a lot of gas but it can be shipped there alternatively; no one has to have a pipeline. But the jobs are needed in order to make us more tariff proof. It is by and large the safest way to transport across land compared to water routes but with caution those routes can also be safe. We just have to demand that shippers use transport that is safe and cautious at all times paying strict attention to the weather. 

I do think though listening to comments that we, Canada, must be very circumspect reporting on the content in items sold (any foreign material right down to the smallest screw needs to be identified). But our preference is for all Made in Canada. We should not be using short cuts or cheaper material if it says Made in Canada. Nowadays it is becoming easier and easier to make those sort of identifications as trade becomes much more scrutinized by everyone. This attention primarily to profits is a problem and one that must be looked at as the biggest attention should be on how well the job or the product is when completed. There should still be a sense of a job well done not just that it made so much money. Money gathering and this desire for more and more is a curse very often which was pointed out through the history of mankind many times. But Tariff proof we must become as quickly as possible. I have become distracted and must get to my solitaire puzzles.