Shopping

My least liked outing yesterday as we made the rounds of the Farmer's Market (excellent vegetables), then the grocery store and that went pretty smoothly (a list makes that short work), but then we still had two more places to go. The first accomplished of those two and then the latter one we ended up at St Laurent Plaza looking for a particular couple of items although I regretted not just going to Place as it is closer but we found them and 2.5 hours later we were on our way home again caught in Rush Hour traffic. No more shopping for a bit; I really do dislike shopping. 

Some work on the matches on Living DNA and I have now completed the first 4 of 50 pages of matches sorted on genetic distance. There are four sorts which are probably more than adequate but missing the one sort that I really like on the other sites - sorting by the largest single centimorgan result.  But I do like the features on the Living DNA site and I realize that British people who possibly predominate the site it appears to me look at DNA differently from North Americans likely. Because all of my relatives are going to be British descendant with a few slightly different ones but still primarily have some British ancestry my results resemble those of British people more than say American/Canadian but reading the Living DNA site results is different from the other databases as you have a set of Islands (and when I am referring to British in this instance I am including all of those islands in the British Isles which includes the Irish Republic) that has sent people around the world but in general the flow of DNA is fairly constant in the British Isles with incoming variety that gradually works its way into the population and basically disappears into that population over the generations. I went to page 7 of the matches out of curiosity displayed as genetic distance and the second person on this page is primarily of British heritage likely by the surname but that doesn't always hold true and he matches my Pincombe line on both of his shared chromsome lengths (in total he matches four out of five siblings on both and five out of five siblings on just one). So in theory I still have a ways to go before I run out of data that is meaningful to my search. Plus I have only pulled data for one sibling namely myself but there are far fewer singleton matches to any sibling in this database thus far which is different from the other databases where a single sibling sometimes is the only match out of five for individuals that do not have 100% British DNA inheritance. We all, my siblings, have inherited on occasion an unbroken chromosome from one or other of our grandparents and the number of times this has occurred is striking actually looking at five siblings but that is one of my reasons for wanting to also do my great grandparents as we have endogamy in two lines - Routledge (two 3x great grandparents were 2nd cousins once removed in a family line which tended to always marry cousins) and Knight/Butt where a number of siblings in several generations married their cousins (not always first or second) but it does mean that you have sticky pieces that are actually from different lines of a named family but appear to be solidly passed but not in reality when you really look at the passage of material. Further back we have two Blake cousins marrying in the 1500s and again in the mid 1600s thus increasing the lengths of chromosomes passed. Interesting really as in this generation we have all married into entirely different DNA backgrounds although limited to European inheritance which includes early Colonial America with my husband and my son in law with his 95% French ancestry including early Quebec ancestry and a few links to First Nations through the centuries. DNA is really quite fascinating and will be the centerpiece of medical research in the future. 

Politics here in Canada continue to be interesting as the Throne Speech has now passed the house successfully - given the temperature of the electorate anything else would not have been forgiven and would ensure a Liberal majority. Eighty five percent of Canadians voted to follow the platforms of the Liberal and Conservative parties and they were very similar so lets get the job done and stop grandstanding. The new Prime Minister is very interesting in that (unlike earlier ones in this century he does not grandstand but rather follows the team approach which is rewarding - I just need that approach to be economically sound given the last administrations by the Liberal government under Justin Trudeau). On with the show; shovels in the ground and work happening to build this economy back up after the years of free trade with the United States. I actually had no problem with the free trade (life was reasonable) but it decimated our local industries through the years (the Americans who bought them out then went off shore because they didn't want to pay high wages in the United States to their employees in their greed for more money decimating the American economy) and we need to rebuild our economy along with pipelines and other energy needs to create this national energy corridor and free ourselves from any dependence on any country. Canada is a powerhouse of natural resources and human ability - lets get this show on the road. Parliament could consider working through the summer for a change and speed it all up. Who actually gets three months holidays plus every year! If I see that they are working in their ridings then that works or doing research that is valuable use of the money that I pay in taxes but otherwise they could be in Ottawa getting things done. The situation is urgent. 

Tea drank and solitaire puzzles next then into DNA research once again. Some exercise breaks and no more shopping - done with that for sure for a few days. Perhaps some gardening if the smoke is gone. It descended last night for a bit. 

 

  

 

 

 

 

It was truly a cleaning day

 Cleaning was pretty much all I accomplished yesterday but done for another week. Doing the main floor and the basement in one day is a challenge but I met it although pretty tired by evening. Went outside to put out the garbage but that was about it. Not really an outdoors person in a city although love being out in the woods especially in Northern Ontario and especially with a 16 foot canoe (cargo type) which I have given away to a lovely family in the north and I imagine them enjoying going down all those lovely rivers in the north. Probably I am past that sort of thing but it was great fun and did help to bring me along in terms of my mental health at the time. Nothing like the wilderness where bears do on occasion appear to be stalking you or just avoiding you not sure which and mostly the latter I suspect unless you interfere between a mother and her young or maybe food. We didn't do either and had no unfortunate encounters in the wild in the eight years that we spent going up to Northern Ontario. 

So today I should continue to think about the two newsletters and get them done. But also I will work on my Living DNA matches. The Buller matches are proving to be most interesting. I have a huge set of matches with Buller on one chromosome which are from all over the world and I have not collected all of them. There are just too many and I have not yet been successful in locating the actual family line there. Other Buller lines went to New Zealand and have been in contact with them as they descend from one of my great grandfather's (Edwin Denner Buller) brothers Clement. Clement had followed Edwin to South Africa to work in the jewellery business for his mother's twin's husband. So an interesting family that Buller line coming down from Henry Christopher Buller and Anne Welch with Henry being the son of Christopher Buller and Mary (Beard) Buller of Bermondsey and Anne being the daughter of William Welch and Sarah (Cheatle) Welch of Birmingham (formerly Welch of Rugeley, Staffordshire and Cheatle of Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire).  

 Not really sure why anyone would think of voting against the Throne Speech actually; it was a good plan kindly presented by the King himself to the Parliament and the people of Canada. I think that was the problem with the NDP from the beginning of the Pandemic really they could not see the urgency that existed and became fixated on items that were simply not in the best interest of Canada in terms of money expenditure at the time (the Liberals were definitely bad money managers at that time and I await the progress with Prime Minister Carney as he has a much more interesting background to bring to the table in terms of management particularly money. Eighty five percent of Canadians voted for Liberal or Conservative and their platforms during the election were very very similar. Not to say that we shouldn't have that type of care available that was being offered to those in need but we need to have the economy to support it and this Throne Speech definitely lays out ideas for that growth in Canada. I think it is a bad time to vote against Canada personally because that is what they would be doing especially if they do it as a block. I can see where the NDP works provincially (although a very poor job in Ontario in the 1990s) but federally I think it just gets in the way of normal progress in terms of a government being defeated when it is time to do that. Too many parties mix the brew up too much; needs to be somewhat more streamlined so that it is effective and if not immediately defeated and the people speak again to elect a government that works. But the punishment for putting this government to election again would be very painful for any opposition party I think. We the people would not appreciate it and it costs a lot of money! Lets get this job done. 

 Tea drank and breakfast next but first Yoga. 

 

 

 

Kayaking first time out this year

 A bit of kayaking as one's muscles need to prepare for this type of expedition but it was enjoyed followed by a walk on the beach. But smoke maybe coming so that will remove that interesting occupation for a bit until it moves on or stays as it did a couple of years ago when it swirled around the backyard in ways I never saw before coming from southwestern Ontario where the effect of forest fires was not felt when I was a child. I do keep thinking when we arrived here in 1975 I was then almost 30 but in many ways I probably was still like a child as I had married young going from my parent's house to my husband's apartment. There was never a time when I was independent really although as a teenager before the knife attack I was more independent than I became after that. So I do tend to think my childhood lasted long into my 20s until the birth of our first child when I was 28. Motherhood wakes you up to reality really. A nice reality for sure but definitely a wake up call. We had a couple of friends here known to us and when we visited them in their carriage home (located just behind where we live now) we decided to buy one especially as the yard was exactly what Edward wanted (lots of room for his garden) plus our daughter was then ready for school (and desperate to go actually) so we signed her up as a tuition student at the Roman Catholic four year old class and she loved it. Had we stayed where we were we would have had to bus her to this area to go to school eventually as there wasn't immersion in the public school system where we were then. Plus we were renting and had always meant to buy a house but just didn't get to it as we had ended up selling our brand new house in southwestern Ontario to move here! But once the decision to stay here was made then we moved on. 

More work on the matches yesterday as I worked my way through the next 50 matches in genetic order. I continued to place them into one of the four (or more if it could not be determined otherwise) grandparent's matchbox or into the insufficient or suspicious matchboxes. Not very many in the suspicious matchboxes as these tend to be a match that looks like all four grandparents which in my case is an absolute no as my father was an only child and my mother's only sibling did not have children. Although it could be possible with small amounts a larger amount greater than 10 cM matched by a perhaps 8 to 10 cM second match in my opinion is unlikely but it is small amounts and could be in a "common" area so they are in a box because they are suspicious! The insufficient are just that the amounts spread over five to six lengths but less than 25 cM are simply too small to determine quickly although referring to the matches within these blocks will be possible if I decide to take that time. But I have plenty of matches and tend to save my time for the larger ones. 

Living DNA is proving to be interesting as there are more Buller matches here than anywhere else on some chromosomes that had scant Buller matches prior to working this data set. I am still just working on my own matches and will continue until I reach a point where it is no longer productive for me to continue probably around 20 centimorgans when I can see that there are only three and up lengths with none of them greater than 10 centimorgans. I have been matchboxing the in common with as well which is helpful. 

I keep reminding myself that I am doing this because of the Blake and Pincombe books as the modern descendants can answer some questions as I work my way through the generations. 

Yesterday top floor cleaned and today will be the main floor and the basement and it is time for breakfast. Tea drank and solitaire puzzles completed. The sun is shinning although temperatures are going to drop again which is interesting as we looked to be having a heat spell once again with rain. The high today is meant to be 31 and the air quality has risen to 45 so smoke may also be on the horizon so no kayaking perhaps but lots to do inside. 

I am also realizing I am now behind in two newsletters so perhaps should spend a little time between cleaning to work on the Kipp (late one month) and the Pincombe Newsletters (due the 1st of June). Where has the month of May gone! 

One hundred matches reviewed and placed into grandparent line for myself

 Yesterday I went through the first 100 matches for my Living DNA data and placed any not yet placed into their appropriate grandparent line(s) for the moment or into a insufficient matchbox label. I will continue that process today. I had to work my data in two different ways to determine the best way to look at the other four sets of sibling data. I have considered simply not regarding data less than 7 cM but a glance at the data and my current phasing chart has proven to be most interesting so I continue looking at everything. I have a large number of new data points for my Buller lines where I had scant data before as there are a lot of testers that I have never seen before. Interesting that so many are Buller actually (Buller 34, Pincombe 23, Rawlings 19, and Blake 16 in a sample set of 100 plus with 21 placed in insufficient size - I move on the the next 50 today from a simple linear review but some already covered by my earlier method) and the chromosomes lengths that are matching are known to be Buller but I simply had less data points before on some of the chromosomes. There is greater variety in the British Isles of my lines perhaps not surprising as most of my known relatives beyond 3rd cousin still live in the British Isles with a few in the United States that are 4th to 5th cousin or larger for the occasional one). My first ancestor to set foot on this continent was George Lywood in 1806 with the 23rd Regiment of Foot at Halifax and the next was my Routledge family in southwestern Ontario in the latter part of 1818 so I am definitely a newbie to this continent. 

Worked in the garden for about an hour or so and have freed up more plants from the weeds. I have lost a few more plants this year but eventually the hardy ones will survive and the less so will simply die off. It is too much for me to maintain as it was. I used to spend about six hours a day out there when Edward took ill keeping it as he had had it but my interest in gardening is pretty low and anyone coming in is going to look at this yard and say swimming pool and activities and the yard will change so my keeping it up for other than myself is a waste of my time. The rhubarb also got to see its way but actually it was fighting back and growing above the weed level but the weeds suck out the goodness of the soil so now they are free to thicken up or whatever. I like a little but not a lot so works for me. The raspberry canes that I planted around the yard are doing well here and there and will let them stay where I placed them. They occupy about 1/3rd of the main garden these days. The sunflower seeds are now all planted and will fill the large upper part of the main garden. Thank goodness. The other part of the garden we will plant all the left over seed and let the mammals enjoy the product of that. Gradually the yard is coming together. Still a small amount of grass to cut and perhaps this week will see that task completed. The mammals are enjoying the large clover and other wild plants. 

The Prime Minister/Premiers Conference seemed to have gone very well with everyone happy except for the Premier of British Columbia who does not want large oil tankers around the north British Columbia coast. Progress forward is perhaps more important at the moment and we can be on guard for inadequate tankers perhaps would be a better solution than banning. We need to get our export business in products that are wanted going in the best environmental way possible but making it possible is very important. I did not hear any complaints from Quebec on an Eastern Pipeline but I may have missed something there but we will see how that goes. The simplest project is a direct pipeline from Alberta to the Atlantic and takes advantage of the ability to export all of the year but thoughts on the use of Hudson Bay also useful but less available year round. 

I think that we who have arrived in the last 400 plus years should not think that North America was under populated and available for population but rather appreciate that the First Nations welcomed us here. History reports (primarily old Spanish documents) that the population at first contact was very large but dwindled as their visits continued - smallpox and other European diseases certainly took their toll on the unexposed First Nations back in the 1500s for sure and mis-understating the amount of transaction from an economic viewpoint and total number of people on this continent is perhaps naive on the part of those of us who have arrived in the last 400 plus years I am left to think.  We can learn a lot from the First Nations who have lived on this continent for thousands of years compared to our mere four hundred plus years. The causes of climate change (although known to be affected by human habitation in this century and the past one in particular) are very complex and their knowledge of such items and many others is very valuable to the over all picture of life on this continent and making it work for all of us. 

An eye opener for me, on just how small the world could be, occurred when we visited Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland and saw the carvings of ancient corn stalks in a chapel constructed in the 1440s quite a while before the British/European explorations of the Americas where corn was a crop but unknown to the British/Europeans. Mind you the Norse did have explorations into the northern part of the continent (Newfoundland in particular at L'Anse aux Meadows) earlier and their expeditions to the British Isles are well known prior to the 1440s so that could be a source of the knowledge. 

Today continuing with the matches at Living DNA. Tea drank and solitaire puzzles to do.  

 

 

Continuing extracting Living DNA matches

 Now up to 37 new matches extracted from Living DNA for my kit there (and I actually tested there so a new kit although it was tested eight years ago). I have just been slow to look at these results. What is left to do with my account now is to look at the results - 50 at a time and pay regard to those that have just 1 result or 2 depending upon the amount of cM available as a match. So that will be todays work although I did start my brother that matches me the least yesterday late in the day just to have a quick look at his kit (also a new test there about the same number of years ago). I have watched the matches grow, the development of the chromosome browser but just wasn't doing that for the last four years - collecting matches. 

We went for a long walk at the beach yesterday; absolutely lovely although the wind was very strong along the water's edge but we enjoyed it. We did about 4 kilometres in all around the paths and we got back to the car just as it started to rain. It was the first chance though that we have had to go to the beach. 

Today is the meeting with the Prime Minister and the Premiers of the Provinces/Territories; yesterday the Prime Minister met with the oil executives in Calgary. All of this is work for June which will culminate in Canada doing their trade differently between the provinces and has been needed for quite a long time. Ten years of Liberal government with their extreme emphasis on environmental protection to the detriment of trade and then ten years of Conservative government turning over too much of Canada's support to the oil industry of Alberta were both disadvantageous to Canada overall. Supporting the industry a good idea but not to the detriment of the industrial base in the other provinces/territories. The conservative reaction to the market collapse in 2008 was not helpful in the long run although we did come out of it not too badly and the value of our dollar remaining low has made our exterior trade profitable for us. Definitely the then preceding government - 13 years of Liberal government was extremely detrimental to our military with  not sufficient funding given to them for all that period which continued into the following two decades. That is being remedied immediately as we speak and more to come. All eyes glued to Canada for sure on the part of Canadians. It would be nice to have our highly skilled Canadians all come home to work but the jobs need to be here for them and thus far one can not see that that is happening. 

Prayers for all those affected by the fires across Canada continuing. I went to both of my Church Services yesterday online. The Sermon at Christ Church was particularly memorable and will reread it online today in between research bouts. My mind was full by the time it was completed but this particular individual (a religious scholar) quite captured my thoughts with his very careful selective look at Ascension and the records that exist. I rather found it very interesting. I do like a good sermon based on the scripture and other available writings of the time. 

Tea finished, breakfast finished and solitaire games to play as I finish up my blog for the day.  

Forging ahead with Living DNA results extraction

Getting used to a site is part of the entire process; minimizing the number of times that you look at each item perhaps the most important but it does take a bit of time to get used to each individual site. I have extracted fifteen matches from Living DNA looking at myself and the process will continue today. For the most part I can assign them to one of my four grandparent's lines based on the matches in common and my own phasing of my grandparents done five years ago. In the eleven years since I first phased my grandparents the changes have been fairly minimal primarily cosmetic. A couple of new matches that are interesting particularly in the Buller line. Matches in this line tend to be from the Commonwealth countries although there are also a number of them in the United States as well. In this line I suspect there is a pretty clear division between Buller and Taylor but I do not always have that figured out for every chromosome. For the Pincombe-Rew I have a number of clear distinctions and also for the Blake-Knight looking at my great grandparents. I haven't made an effort yet in the Cotterill?-Rawlings lines although will likely work on that through this process. I have been through 46 matches now in my account and will likely do the first 100 to 125 by advance checking but one never knows for sure until one gets there! Then I will move on to the brother that least matches me as this tends to catch most matches to the five sibling group that constitutes this research study. I will use my account at Find My Past to look at some of these matches as they do have trees now and it is primarily a United Kingdom site but has a worldwide searching ability through their records. 

Prayers continuing for those affected by the fires here in Canada (looking at a map entire areas are in a danger zone). We have had a lot of rain but it has been accompanied by lightning which is a problem in the hot dry season in the west. But as always our Military is helping a great deal with transportation of those forced to evacuate. The firefighters try to preserve the settlements and save as many homes as possible; their hours are long and prayers for them as well and our military personnel aiding all of them. 

Today the Prime Minister and the Premiers of the Provinces/Territories meet to discuss priorities in our move towards abolishing our inter provincial/territorial restrictions between them within Canada and to look at and review projects that will help to increase our usage of Canadian paths to better economic use of our own products and get that process started as soon as possible - shovels in the ground so to speak. The pace is fast but our youth is up to it for sure. This will be their opportunity to shine and gradually assume the responsibilities and benefits of being the wage earners in our country utilizing our own products within our own borders and also producing for trade around the world. 

Sunday and Church at Loughborough and this is home county for my Cheatle family of Leicestershire along with Ashby de la Zouch.  I have a number of very good matches with my 4th and 5th cousins in the Cheatle line. Sarah Cheatle married William Welch 24 Aug 1818 at Longdon by Lichfield Staffordshire although she was baptized at Ashby de la Zouch. They eventually moved to Birmingham and had a restaurant at the corner of Lower Temple Street and Dale End. My Buller family lived close by to the restaurant. I actually corresponded recently with a descendant of the Withers-Welch family and their Welch ancestor  Sarah who was a twin to my 2x great grandmother Anne Welch. As a result of the twinning we are excellent matches much larger than the usual 4th cousins. 

Church livestreamed at my own Church and at Loughborough and will attend both. I do love going to Church and the idea of Church online for old people is a great idea I think (or any age if they want to watch rather than be present or it just works out better for their schedules). As a child I often attended twice on Sunday; once at early communion with my father and later at the morning service where I did teach Sunday School in my teen years. 

Tea finished, solitaire games played and breakfast soon.  

 

Rain beautiful rain

 Poured with rain yesterday evening and the trees show it as they quickly swell up and fill the sky. This year may see all of the view from my window obscured by trees. Still a little sky peeking through but not very much. the air conditioner does not run very much these days probably because of all the trees - they do tend to act as a cooling agent around us. 

Finished all the Gedmatch material and on to Living DNA. Like the other databases you have to work on one sibling at a time and I have decided to start with myself as is pretty usual. I had initially put one large match into the Buller family but I began to wonder as I was sorting but gradually I can see that it does belong there but I actually have no idea who this person is. I did write years ago now which is rare in itself but did not hear back. I have played a little with that data - I am the largest match which isn't unusual in the Buller line but I suspect it is my great grandmother Ellen (Taylor) Buller's line rather than Buller family itself. My Irish mapping appears to be from the Republic of Ireland rather than Northern Ireland which is very interesting but the mt DNA matches with several people who were on the Expedition headed by the Reverend William Martin to the Carolinas from Antrim in Northern Ireland in 1772 matches our line perfectly. So I am suspecting that this Taylor line was originally from Ayrshire/Argyllshire which is the location suggested for our mutations in mtDNA in the Blood of the Isles Database. There are a couple of matches that belong to people who trace back to a smaller migration from Ayrshire/Argyllshire down into the Cumberland area and then on to Birmingham, England. The father though of Ellen Taylor does appear to be Thomas Taylor and her mother Ellen (Roberts) Taylor who married 29 Jun 1857 at St Martin Birmingham. I did have a descendant of this Taylor family write to me on Ancestry so leave that possible connection as likely true with Edwin Denner Buller marrying Ellen Taylor sometime in the 1880s after he was medically repatriated to Birmingham from South Africa as a result of his injuries as a Medic during the First Boer War (he returned in 1882 and was a patient at the hospital in Aston). Still working on that theory actually but this match is quite large a likely 2nd to 3rd cousin or a very large 4th cousin. 

Finally watching the news once again and prayers for all those suffering because of the wild fires in central Canada in particular and all across Canada as Climate Change continues to aggravate the conditions under which fires are able to take such great costs on the Canadian people. 

Time to do solitaire as I got distracted early this morning as I drank my tea and thought about the matches on Living DNA.  

Groceries, the market and another quiet day

 The local market opened last week and we attended this week and found lovely local vegetables there plus the grocery store completed our hunt for food that we wanted. With two of us food is more expensive but we still buy pretty basic preparing everything we eat primarily from scratch. I do not like a lot of salt in my food so eliminates most commercial preparations. Although I would say that salt is a good preservative. It makes an interesting diversion in my year for sure though but I get very little work done this time of year. 

A few more of the Gedmatch matches sorted into my database leaving perhaps  nine still to work on and then I move to Living DNA. There are a lot of matches there for sure and they will likely be heavier on the side of British Isles people testing. Still no more news on the 23 and Me purchase and I am excited to think perhaps we will have person to person matching again. Time will tell. 23 and Me was an extremely good site and I really consider the invasion of that database to be terrorism and hope that the criminals are caught and punished to the full extent of the law. 

Other than that I did absolutely no work at all but the days move quickly as we get prepared for summer. My daughter deep into research these days which is nice to see. Research is the backbone of our existence as a people on this planet and each researcher brings to the table their skill sets and one never really knows which skill set is going to move us ahead each time. 

The Gold Dome is still creating interest around the globe. Considering the chances of a meteor strike always exist working on the dome is in everyone's interest actually. But as usual we have the people who are only interested in dominating the globe trying to destroy the idea. One is left with the impression that they fear the dome but really if you do not attack another country than you have no fear. The world would be better off if everyone was friendly rather than selfish and demanding and in some cases satanic like the Russians and Hamas/Hezbollah/Houthis along with Iran their funder. 

Tea drank, solitaire puzzles completed and just waiting for the fitbit to finish charging to 100% for another five day run. Must get a new one one of these days but it still seems to work well. I am going to look for a new computer though as Windows 10 is going archaic! 

Question Period

Glued to the television watching Question Period and a few thoughts emerged. First of all Prime Minister Carney was a natural I have to admit; he fitted perfectly into Parliament. He allowed his cabinet to answer questions in their pertinent area which is always a bonus I think. We have had a one man show for too long in the Liberal government. 

The subject of the lack of a budget for this short time period was raised but I think realistically when one considers that the Prime Minister is meeting with the Provincial and Territorial Premiers on the 2nd of June to discuss priorities (and summer break quickly follows) it is very difficult to prepare a budget prior to that meeting and it will take a while to decide which roads to follow as we move forward quickly to pipelines and everything else that will encourage industry; break down provincial trade barriers and stave off a recession. So I agree (although fundamentally I believe in a budget) it is not necessary at this time. 

Great job Prime Minister and I am looking forward to Question Period once again although I do tend to do one of my exercises at the time like rowing or running or yoga but I get the words without actually watching.  

A little work on the matches and the cleaning is completed for another week rounding out the day. No work outside; a day off as it is too warm mid day to work outside really and the blackflies can be nasty in the evening. 

 

The Throne Speech

There were a few really good items in the throne speech including becoming part of the European Defense System; we are already part of NORAD here. The only real defense against aggressor nations is to be more armed than they are unfortunately. I have argued for many years now that we need to put more into our military because they are the backbone of our defense system both against natural causes like flooding, fires, whatever but also against aggressive nations. We always need to be ready because aggressors have basically become satanists and the word "no" has no meaning to them. They are selfish ignorant people with no regard for anyone (including their own people) but themselves and their ambitions. 

A few really good takeaways in the Throne Speech included single release for each project; no prolonged haggling over implementing ideas. Of course breaking down the trade barriers between provinces will really help the economy as trade is just a small portion of business in the long run. The more we produce here ourselves the better off we will be. Trade is just a luxury that we enjoy when it happens but our first concern should be local production of all items especially those bought out/closed during NAFTA/CUSMA. Of course companies are welcomed to open up a manufacturing hub here if it works for both of us for that to happen. But really when I was a child everything was mostly made in Canada so we can do that again.  The car industry still up in the air here in Ontario - the tariffs do not work for us and it will hurt the American car companies that have been established here for as much as 100 years in the case of Dodge. We always bought Dodge in my family and we still have a Dodge but if it isn't made here by Canadian workers the resolve of 1965 was that it has to be made in Canada by Canadian workers and Canadian materials to a certain extent. We are a large market especially as owning a car here is a rite of passage to adulthood for sure; get your permanent license now at 18 (was 16) and buy a car and live at home so you can afford it. 

I really appreciated the enthusiasm which the King brought to the reading of the Throne Speech - it was a long read and he did it well with his fluent French. He does make a great King and the ability of him to have been a King earlier meant the loss of the Queen so one has to be happy that the Queen was Queen when she was and appreciate the King when he is King. I rather think William will also be a great King in his own time. He has truly been through the struggles of life from childhood even if his upbringing was wealthy.  

The Gold Dome System is interesting but useless against a heavy barrage it would appear judging from how it has worked for another nation. It can be overcome although one would think that if adequate sensors and defense manipulations can be built into the system it would be 100%. Definitely an interesting idea and joint effort to actually materially produce it would be in the best interests of everyone to keep the costs down. One wonders about its value during an asteroid storm - interesting concept actually. 

 Not much work done on matches yesterday but the lawns are both raked where they have been cut and more to do today. Weeding the garden was another project high on the list and did accomplish some of that. I asked the neighbour of they could cut back their lilac bush which hangs over our fence quite aways this year and we will see if that happens one of these days. A couple of hosta plants just do not get enough sun and are stunted thus far; they only need a little for sure but at the moment they get none! Still more weeding around the flowers to come and will try to get to that today as well. Fingers itching to work on the matches but the garden does tend to take up time in May and June. We want to plant the Sunflowers soon - seven rows I think will be lovely. 

Top floor to clean as I simply can not do two floors in one day and also work outside. So that is the next task after breakfast. Drinking my tea and doing solitaire. Another beautiful sunny day but rain and cooler weather is mentioned.  

 

 

 

The King of Canada

Glued to the Television watching the King's attendance in the Senate and reading the Speech from the Throne. Excellent speech and just collects all of the promises made by Prime Minister Carney during the election period. It will be a hostile public if anyone tries to bring the government down in the near future and a guarantee for a majority Liberal government if anyone succeeds. We do tend to be a punishing electorate if brought to an election prematurely in our opinion. The speech read like a Progressive Conservative speech from the throne actually; one would find it hard to differentiate from such speeches thirty years ago. However, I remain a Conservative supporter for the most part throughout my life. But I am enthusiastic for Prime Minister Carney to be successful; he did get the most support in the election and deserves the opportunity to bring his skill set to the table as it is extremely impressive. One can feel the vibes amongst our allies when he meets with them. They like him very much and that can sometimes be a real asset. 

Completed the review of the Gedmatch matches and they are now ready to enter into my databases and I have done one today already. But it is cleaning day and the main floor and I will be accomplishing that first. The matches are quite interesting and primarily Ancestry so take a little while as I check them in Ancestry as well to see if I can actually place the individuals and have their results for my known file. 

Beautiful day today and has been lovely here for the King's and Queen's visit which was really very well received. Any of the not interested people stayed away as the cheers for them were huge and made me wish I was there to add in my voice but I decided I would watch it on television since I would miss the Speech from the Throne if I went downtown. The King speaks three languages very well English of course, French and German. He also speaks some Gaelic and other languages unknown to me. He is a very well educated person having been the first to graduate from University in his family. I always find the Queen to be perfect at her task of support as she always have been from the first time of knowing the King way back years both either were married. Life doesn't always flow for two people the way they would like but in their case they finally found happiness late in life with each other. 

Back to work; much to do including outdoor work.  

More work on Gedmatch

I have just two left to place into the ready to add to database file in the Gedmatch search. This has gone very well and quickly. The set up of Gedmatch is perfect to look at five siblings in a rapid sort of way. I haven't used it too much in the last four years and it has many upgrades. Because I am solely looking at these five siblings and have my own database setup I have not registered for the Tier1 tools but may do that one of these days as they are very interesting.  At the moment though I am simply gleaning new matches from the past four years in the various sites where I have tested both myself and my one brother and a number of my other siblings have also tested at these sites making for a well rounded set of matches. 

We went shopping and spent a couple of hours at that and then returned and cut the lawns I was sad to do that in some ways as some dandelions were still blooming but they have had a good run through the month and time to get everything neatened up for the coming summer. I want to move Starry Solomon Seals to the back as there is a surplus of them out front. I have one Bleeding Heart to move as well. Lots of weeding to free up the plants to grow and we will plant sunflower seeds (seven rows of them) in the garden. They will be lovely. We will plant any leftover seed in the back behind the raspberries and the rabbits or any other four legged mammal can eat them up as they grow. We may plant tomato plants but we will see.  

Today the cleaning and it begins with the basement this week. Never a dull moment. The kayaks, bicycles are in the garage now and the golfing bags ready for our outings this summer. Life is busy with our research, both of us and rather fun that both of us will be working away on something that interests us very much. I am looking forward to long discussions on AI as I believe it is part of the future but its control must be very tight in order to make the best use of it as well as encouraging our own brains to become more sophisticated in how we deal with the world. Children especially can benefit from having a constant companion with AI that they can instruct and use for their own advancement in knowledge and there are strong safety aspects there as well that can be utilized by them in a world that has so much theft and attempts at theft. 

Tea finished, solitaire games next and then breakfast and start the Robot as it will then be finished when I have eaten. Sounds great and the day begins with sunshine. 

Gedmatch and 22 new matches

 A check through Gedmatch and in total I found 22 new matches - I already have gleaned this database a number of times and a couple of these I passed by the last time for whatever reason. One excellent one that was a surprise - a good Buller match including the X chromosome which I mentioned yesterday. I decided with the first phasing of the grandparents that I was right about one of my siblings having inherited the entire chromosome for Buller although I didn't really have any conclusive evidence; more negative evidence than positive. But this new match provides even further positive evidence that this is a Buller chromosome inherited from my mother intact from her mother. That is the nice thing about the X chromosome; sometimes it is intact from a parent like the X chromosome passed from a father to a daughter and in my case a Rawlings/Cotterill? chromosome intact from his mother Ada Bessie Cotteril (Rawlings) Blake and my paternal grandmother. But finding one on the maternal side is just a gift that keeps on giving in terms of figuring out the line for Buller actually for the tester. I have been able to break that chromosome down into Welch/Cheatle/Buller/Taylor and pretty much all of it taking me back to my 3x great grandparents. 

My eyes have taken this leap ahead once again and the snow in the picture now has an enormous amount of texture and fluffiness. One can only sympathize with a small baby as they learn to see or perhaps they are much quicker because their brain is brand new; no one knows they can not tell us their first year's experience for the most part although both of my children talked quite early and a lot. But when I was working I would always talk to them or read or sing to them so that words were always in their hearing all day long. Their little brains can handle an enormous amount in that first year for sure. But the eyes were a surprise for me because I always thought you were born with fully developed vision and perhaps you are I have no idea but this progress of acquiring depth of vision and clearer vision has been ongoing since the first surgery nearly one year ago now. The second surgery two and a half weeks later completed the task and I have spent the years gaining constantly in my vision. Amazing really. My eyes still do quite fascinate me because I could barely see that blue eye ring before surgery and now when I look it is quite large although the center of my eyes around the pupil remain a speckled brown. So likely I remain brown-eyed as I recall but my close up vision was somewhat limited for whatever reason - it got blurry when I was too close even with my glasses on before the surgery and all of my life.

Today is Sunday; two services once again and I shall soon attend the one at the Cathedral. Last week the sound was poor but it was fun to see the service and I could sing the hymns because I have the bulletin on the website to follow. I did not go to the service in North Yorkshire yet but will a little later. Usually I watch it pretty much first thing but I got working away on the matches and the time flew by and it is nearly time for Church here. 

Tomorrow the King and Queen are coming and I shall watch that on television. Hopefully the weather will be good as I am sure there will be many many people downtown to welcome him especially to his country; it is my English upbringing of course but I do think of him as my King in a more personal way than many perhaps because of that 100% English ancestry (with some Huguenot from the 1400s, Scots from the 1400s and maybe some Irish (still working on that as to whether it is Planters from Ireland during Cromwell). But the Irish in the DNA is actually showing areas in other parts of Ireland mostly. 

 Working through the GEDmatches as I extract mtDNA and any missed material for the other siblings as I collect them one sibling at a time so as not to miss anyone. 

Continuing with match searching

 Yesterday I moved to Gedmath in my pursuit of matches and found only a few really as I do generally check there as Ancestry matches are most likely to be found there but also it appears My Heritage is starting to pick them up as well. One excellent one for a third cousin known to me which proves without a doubt my original phasing of the 23rd chromosome for one of my brothers was absolutely correct as he received intact the Buller length of chromosome intact from my mother and probably just as she received it from her mother. I know that X chromosome the best as I can locate Welch, Cheatle, Buller, and Taylor areas on that chromosome - spectacular really as that takes me back to 3x great grandparent's additions to my DNA. Since my Pincombe line is male it is more difficult to separate out the families although have managed to locate Siderfin and Rew not too badly in the lines mostly with cousin's results although we all inherited a little Pincombe except for one of the test siblings. Mine is also primarily Buller 2/3rds and 1/3rd Pincombe plus I receive an entire Rawlings/Cotterill? chromosome and thus far I have not really separated it out at all. Perhaps I will begin to look at that - time will tell. 

No gardening as it was too wet although always tempting to go out in my rubber boots and rain clothes and pull weeds but I didn't do it. Perhaps today as we have the same weather. At least the King will feel at home here with all the rain but hopefully we have some sun to greet him and during his stay. I think if you are excited he is coming then that is wonderful and not so excited that is your right. But please do not boo him or anything just stay home and let those people who have come to cheer him have their day in the sun. We would do the same for you. I hate booing it is so juvenile. 

So continuing the Gedmatch searches and I am working on the second sibling; three more to go and then move on to Living DNA. I have never really used Living DNA so curious how that will come out actually since all of my people are either born in England (dying here) or lived in England their entire lives and died there except for those of us who were born in Canada. I was born a British Subject but grandfathered in my own right to being a Canadian citizen because I was born here before 1st of January 1947. I have always found that to be very exciting. I have to admit I could be equally happy being a citizen of Turtle Island; we did make mistakes we colonials but we are blessed with the opportunity to correct them as the First Nations are very generous people. It is a lovely word though - Canada. 

Praying that Hamas leaves Gaza  that would be great (and releasing the hostages still held for nearly two years now probably underground; Hamas is definitely Satan) so that the people of Gaza can get the supplies that they need. Hamas is responsible for all of the deaths that have occurred during this war and the difficulties which Gaza is presently facing. 

As I mentioned earlier, Satanic Russia does not understand the meaning of the word no - no you can not have Ukraine; they are their own people with their own land and have a right to exist. Stop committing genocide against the people of Ukraine.

Back to extraction and perhaps I will complete this in a couple of days. Then Living DNA and a quick check of My Heritage as it is now a while since I looked at that database. 

Tea completed, Breakfast eaten. Next weightlifting when I take a break. 

Cleaned out the dead wood in the raspberry patch

A busy day yesterday and I cleaned out the dead wood in the raspberry patch, quite of a bit of it anyway. It was a very severe winter because of the lack of snow cover during the early really cold period. Too bad but they are coming along. I also cleared away some of the weeds as we are going to plant that garden area full of sunflowers as I did find it amusing watching the squirrels collect the heads and take them away. Plus the birds come to peck at the seeds so is very interesting when I do look out the window which is probably not often enough!

I did not achieve the Cardio level selected for me yesterday but that is okay will work at it today. I never had a numerical readout before on the FitBit so am finding it interesting. I think it bases it suggestion on what I have done the day before and if it is cleaning then the cardio level is way above the suggested but once I am not cleaning the cardio level is not going to be as high for sure. Interesting though as an addition to looking at exercise. 

I heard from one of my 2x great grandmother's twin sister's descendants on Ancestry. That was nice as one doesn't actually expect to hear from people who are second cousin or greater as my cousin explained to me in England when I was visiting that second cousins tend to not be that close (we do correspond a little but the time flies so quickly and I am not a faithful correspondent). I should write her again and must make note to do that. It was her brother and I who had corresponded for probably twenty years by the time that my husband and I finally made it to England. I had been there about seven years earlier with my oldest daughter but we just toured London; I was definitely not interested in genealogy in 2001 and really knowing that Ivan lived in Dorset I was not making a trip there which I did tell him in my letter. He had suggested we could meet in London and go to Greenwich but we just didn't get that worked out so I promised I would come again as he wanted to meet me. I said come to Canada but that wasn't in his radar flying all the way to Canada. So it was fun spending a couple of days with him especially as he passed away sadly about two years later when we were coming back once again to spend time in London before going on our European trip to France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and back to France and home. We had thought we might make that trip to Greenwich that he had talked about so my husband and I did do that trip and it was fascinating. I actually do not have any first cousins so second cousins seem quite close to me! But I am glad that she mentioned that.

 So today I have just five matches left from FT DNA to work on and then moving to Gedmatch and then Living DNA and a quick look back at My Heritage and will make sure to keep that one up to date. 

Still cool here for late May and I hope the rain is gone by the time the King and Queen come for the Opening of Parliament. I am quite excited that he is coming although will watch it on television as there will be masses of people downtown. It is an ancient line in truth that sits upon the throne of the United Kingdom. They have returned that earlier bloodline to the throne with the marriage of Charles and Diana and their son William heir to the throne. Exciting really for the people of the United Kingdom and for us since he remains King of Canada as well. I realize that French Canadian descendants feel less attached to this King but I always think of the Norman Conquest of England by the French; that was life way back then and it is now and it is pleasant to have this continuing Head of State I think but then I am only descendant of British lines going back hundreds of years although I do have Huguenot ancestry (French) from the 1400s that came to England in the Somerset area. 

Teatime finished, solitaire games played and about to settle into working on the matches. Perhaps a bit of exercise first and it will be rowing today.

 

Another good working day

Basement cleaned and about an hour outside giving the hostas breathing room as I removed all the plants that are not Hosta around them. They are doing well now and with the roots of the other plants I pulled (but didn't always get the roots) will have lots of food for the coming dry spell! There is still lots to do and the lawn does need cutting. Probably this weekend will see the lawns cut. We are not quite the last ones on the street to cut the lawn but close. I do like the dandelions to bloom for the bees though. My husband is horrified for sure as he would never have let these dandelions live in his lawn. I used to help him pull them up but when the city suggested leaving the grass a bit so the bees could work the dandelion flowers I thought it was a great idea and went right into that thought and there I have stayed. 

I also spent time on matches; not as much as I would have liked but the cleaning does always come first and that was accomplished in good time and is getting easier and easier actually as I organize things into areas that work very well for me. Out of the way so that I do not run into anything and neat so they stay readily where they are put. Fourty more matches to sort from FT DNA and then I think I will move to GedMatch next as I have been going in and out of that file looking at items and there are some new interesting matches there uploaded from Ancestry. The last task will be Living DNA and a quick look at My Heritage to see if there are any new ones there. It took me a long time to extract all the matches from My Heritage and do not want to let that get behind again. Mostly I am using the DNA side of all of these databases and not so much time researching as I am back pre-census in most lines and I have pulled most of the BMB data from the records for my people back into those registers. I seldom use other people's trees other than to locate the likely relationship because of the DNA match. 

Some discussion on the Gold Dome yesterday and I continue with my opinion that it is a very interesting idea and I do think we should be all in on it. For the most part of our existence as a country we have been with the United States in terms of how to protect the continent and this idea continues to be in my mind a worthwhile expenditure of funds if only to halt items falling out of the sky before they do damage especially with so much being up there in terms of space craft and all such things. The new radar system we purchased from Australia will fit right into this scheme. 

The devil stalks our world in main time these days and we must do all we can do to cast the devil and his workers out whether figuratively or literally. God has given us a message that we should love our neighbour as ourself. If someone is not doing that then they are on the wrong side with God. I think one should read love as respect for our neighbours property rights and way of life (so long as it doesn't interfere with anyone for sure from a legal position). A devil free world is a wonderful ambition I think. 

Teatime finished, solitaire games played and it is breakfast time and I am late today. The fresh air and work outside saw me sleep in a bit I guess. It is raining so perhaps not a lot of work outside today although I have one full bag and a partial bag. I would like to fill the partial one as well and there is lots out there to put in it. The Starry Solomon Seal I transplanted last year actually came up and the hosta as well that I transplanted (both of them) and so I want to move more of the Starry Solomon Seal to the back corner as it is a perfect spot for it to grow and multiply. The gooseberry bush also survived the fence building and several other flowers that I had not expected to survive.

 

Cleaning, Gardening and some work on the matches

 A good day of accomplishment as the cleaning is completed for the main floor and will do the basement today. I am spreading it out over three days as I want to also do some gardening. There is only so much time in the day that I want to have in cleaning and gardening. 

I also worked on the matches and have reviewed all of the old ones now at FT DNA and I removed thirteen from active use as they were very small and I did not know any of the people in terms of their relationship to me. It is good to do that probably. I just haven't really looked at matches since 2021. The occasional glance but nothing comprehensive. I now need to add the fourty five new matches into the database as I also completed the task of collecting matches for siblings that were missing due to the process by which I picked up the new matches. So  fourty five matches to place into the database and all of them are a good size actually. Most of them have been assigned to a grandparent but this process will show me any problems with that earlier assignment. Sometimes I have not yet decided on the assignment as well. 

The gold dome certainly sounds like an interesting idea and the new radar system will certainly fit into that idea. North America is of course our prime concern with regard to defense along with our neighbour the United States. That was why we established NORAD after the Second World War. I am happy to see Canada once again put militarization at the forefront as we were very militarized back in the 50s when I was young. It is important for many reasons including protection from external events poised against us but also our military often helps during crisis situations here in Canada like hydro failures during freezing temperatures, flooding in the spring (we have a lot of rivers and lakes) and forest fires. They supply the expertise to manage and control disasters. 

So today is more or less planned with the basement cleaning a priority but not so much hands on there as the robot will do the rugs. Plus the basement compared to four years ago is almost empty which is good news for someone expecting to move one of these days to a smaller place. Probably still looking at four years or less but it is still a while away but I have a lot of material to still go through and pass it to cousins of Edwards in the different lines. I hated to break it up but there was not a natural successor to all that material. The many books he had will be extremely useful to people doing genealogy at the Ottawa Branch here in the City Archives (he was in the process of doing that actually as he was moving away from so much work on genealogy the last five years or so). I have passed information to the Rathbun family, the Schultz Family and I am preparing material for the Allen family. A lot of Kipp material also went to the Schultz family as Edward was a double cousin having links on both the Schultz and the Kipp side. That leaves me with the older Kipp material which probably should go in an archive of some sort to make it more available. Still thinking about that. The Link family material (his mother was a Link (mother an Allen)) was mostly passed on the Link-Rathbun side to a half-first cousin. When the Allen is passed that does complete that family pretty much. But there is still a surprising amount of material as Edward and I did a lot of collections before our first child was born and I think I should publish that material as an epub. The pictures are really very very good of various areas in Ontario that we visited back in the 1960s and early 1970s. But it all takes time and I am also involved in my own projects. Some of that maybe my older daughter might do when she retires. We will see as the years are passing in those terms as well. 

I do think my glasses are too strong as I am having some eye strain once again. I really do not think I can get any more comprehensive in my vision but then I didn't see well before so have no comparison. I just take the more indepth vision as a gift of the Almighty in my old age. God must be shaking his head as he looks down upon us wondering when the wars will stop. When will mankind love its neighbour as itself following the commandments that He sent to us. The satanic peoples of the world (Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis and Russia, Iran) need to get rid of their hatreds or find a desert island for themselves to live on until they can live properly in society.  One should always withdraw when one's actions are unacceptable or could be unacceptable and not continue to hurt people; hold people hostage for nearly two years and all of those sort of things. The perpetrators need to stop their war mongering. That is why we have mental institutions to help people when they entertain such visions of violence against other peoples. Too bad that wasn't the first choice for Hamas and for Russia during these past few years - withdraw and let people live.

Tea drank and the solitaire is completed. Breakfast is next.

A bit of backtracking

As I worked my way through the 50 matches that I already had in my database for FT DNA I realized that some of them are rather small and will sort them into my interesting but not used filed. They are always there if they suddenly appear as an in common match but will  help to reduce the total number of matches in the used database. So an added item as I work my way through. I have looked at these 50 matches from the viewpoint of two siblings as I work my way through updating the new matches with all the sibling information. So one job produces a new job along with the current one; always exciting working with DNA for sure. 

Cleaning accomplished on the top floor and will do the main floor today. I am happy to have this constantly cleaning week in and week out as it minimizes the overall effort in the long run. I must say though that as the dandelions go to seed I need to get out there and do some work in that garden. I was meant for concrete for sure front and back! Gardening has never been my thing even as I helped my grandmother years ago and then my husband as he followed one of his many passions with his gardening. Perhaps that is what keeps me indoors on occasion as I know he would love to still be doing his gardening. Life though moves on and so must we; remembering though is always good. He did not want to be forgotten as he felt his father was. Although when we visited some of the people he worked for as a teenager or who were related to his families that was all they talked about so not really forgotten as he discovered over time. Little tidbits came his way which he greatly enjoyed. 

So today continuing on the FT DNA matches and perhaps that will be complete by the end of the week and I will be into either Gedmatch or Living DNA to extract those new matches. I also need to do the other three grandparents - Rawlings, Pincombe and Buller for the separate sheets in the Ancestry database. I will soon be ready to look at phasing grandparents/great grandparents - perhaps the end of June. We will see. 

I am also sad to see the suffering in Gaza but Hamas must go and they do not seem to care that they are the cause of all of this suffering (they even steal the food meant for the Palestinians). Hamas hold hostages for moving on to two years - underground perhaps and that is just the greatest sin against a people there ever can be. Their release of the hostages like some sort of a circus was disgusting. Release the hostages and the Palestinian people Hamas so that they can heal and make a real life for themselves not one that Hamas created of hate and revenge. The children of Israel also have a right to sleep at night without fear. They do not have that until Hamas is gone. I realize that danger exists in the world but this is planned, created and took place against the children of Israel in a barbaric and disgusting way and they do not say that they will stop committing atrocities against Israel. Hamas must go figuratively and in reality from Gaza; release the hostages Hamas - you are satanic people Hamas. Satan can not rule our world or set the pace for how our world lives. 

Teatime completed and solitaire games finished. Breakfast soon; I am early and it is three degrees celsius this morning. A cool spell has come (Climate Change as such long spells of cool weather at the end of May are uncommon) and the heat is on once again keeping the house at 20 degrees celsius although it drops to 19.5 before it kicks in. The air conditioning never did come on earlier though just the dehumidifying.

 

 

FT DNA almost complete

Nearly finished the extractions from FT DNA in terms of new individuals but will have to go in and collect the information for the other siblings matches although that will be quicker. There are 45 new ones that I have never looked at in the past four years plus. A few are quite interesting. None of them are really large and mostly 3rd to 4th cousins with a couple of second cousins which are larger matches.  

Today is cleaning day and it is the top floor so will be doing that in a bit. It is also just 6 degrees celsius as the cold weather returns for a bit. The first hot spell of the summer has come and gone and with it the dandelions are slowly dying down. The lawns need cutting and that will probably be my first venture although not today but soon. The dandelions were beautiful this year and listening to the bees contentedly working the flowers was music to my ears. Nature is beautiful and we need to let it determine the flow some days of the year especially in the spring. 

The Prime Minster has represented us very well in Europe once again. He has the contacts and we will see how that carries us forward these next few months. I do want to see shovels in the ground for that pipeline sooner rather than later. This is good building season and we should be taking advantage of it. It always takes so long to get things going; too long. So on to the pipeline soon!

The new Pope certainly follows his predecessor very completely and that is good to see. I liked Pope Francis and I am sure I will also like Pope Leo IV. I will always remember being in St Peter's Square and the Pope blessing the crowd. Being the Anglican I am I do see the Pope as the head of the Christian Church on earth. But I also know that my Anglican Church is very ancient to the British Isles and our excommunication was due to political events that were beyond the control of my ancestors to change without creating a difficult situation with regard to Queen Elizabeth I. I completely support the decision to support the Queen and accept excommunication from the Church of Rome. But I know that the Church of England has its roots deeply into the Isles long ago with the Celtic Church followed by the Celtic Christian Church and God loves us just as he loves all the peoples of the world.  That is what is important to me. I wonder sometimes how much truth there is to the family lore that the early peoples of the British Isles were members of one of the Lost Tribes of Israel. When one crosses the veil; one knows then and that secret of the ages is revealed. I just think that those early Western Hunter Gatherers had a vision of God in their minds as they set forth across the Isles to start a new life 8,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is exciting to contemplate how much we have learned about Homo sapiens with the advent of DNA into our lives. 

So cleaning but first breakfast and solitaire puzzles are already done. My beginning of the day is complete and now I just have to carry that forward. Yoga next and then breakfast. In between cleaning bouts I shall do more extraction of FT DNA results for the fifth sibling (almost done). Then the extraction of the other matching siblings for the new results and I can move on to Living DNA and Gedmatch. Not sure of the order yet as a foray into Gedmatch showed me that it has been quite a while since I looked at that database as well. I also need to think about the Kipp Newsletter - I am very late with it this month. I also need to create the separate grandparent pages in Ancestry for Rawlings, Pincombe and Buller; only Blake has been set up but still needs some massaging to make it effective as a tool looking at the phasing. I do want to complete the great grandparents this time as well. The wills too are in my mind and will probably work on those on the non-cleaning days. 

Just the fourth and fifth sibling to do for the FT DNA matches

 Continuing extracting matches from FT DNA yesterday and good progress. It does take a bit of time but mostly the matches sort themselves into a grandparent line which is great. 

Still no gardening done but the spring is rainy these days and not great for working in the garden. I want to leave the dandelions to bloom as long as possible for the bees to gather honey.  The bunnies are eating the clover quite happily and it looks very large fresh and green. Even the cardinals have returned for a bit but no food out. They find what they want though and that works. Birds are very practical although always happy to eat food put out for them. 

Sunday and Church is back in Cornwall this week online and also at my Church here online. I am feeling quite content having two services every Sunday for sure. It is working very well thus far. I enjoy going to Church very much and for me this is the best case scenario. The very quiet existence suits me very well; I discovered that as a child living in the attic and later when we first came here living quietly with our little one. I remember someone that I knew from University days was here with her husband and child and wanted to get together. She called about a planned engagement to let me know her son had a cold so I said no problem we could get together another time - really I didn't want anyone around me except family. I was never rude about it; just preferred my own people around me. 

Thirteen degrees celsius and we are in for a short cooling trend with rain most of the week. The growth cycle was very fast the last week and now the ground has a chance to get caught up with lots of rain. I do want to get the weeds pulled but there is lots of time to do that when the rains stop. The weeds are easier to pull then!

Today more extraction of matches from FT DNA and perhaps I will complete that initial part of the project. I will still have to go in and collected everyone's results for individuals who match above 22 cM for some of us in one length but below that for others as that will not show up in the first extraction. 

The Pope is giving his First Mass of his Pontificate today and it will be well attended by the leaders of the world I am sure including our Prime Minister Mark Carney. Then this week will lead into the Opening of Parliament with King Charles and Queen Camilla arriving a week Monday and the Speech from the Throne on Tuesday. Tomorrow is Victoria Day in Canada celebrating the birthday of the Sovereign here. 

Teatime and solitaire games.  Must fit in the Kipp Newsletter today; it is very late this month.

Must get new walking running shoes

My "walking" running shoes are very old now - actually ten years old and they have had a lot of wear but that is because they are a boy's running shoe. Very solid. When I bought them it was because Edward got tired of my trying to find a pair of running shoes that suited me so I showed him the one I wanted except it was a boy's running shoe (I just wear a size 7 in a teenage boy's shoe) so said help me to find a pair that are solid like this as I like my walking shoe to be solid on the ground so to speak and not so flexible. He wanted to get on though with more shopping and so I just bought them and have worn them ever since when I am out and about. But I do need new running shoes of some sort; I need a new pair of just plain dress shoes (flats) as well but I just never get to shopping like that. Perhaps this summer I will buy a new pair of runners (the new shoe laces are a bit too long (I couldn't get the right size length when I replaced them a few years ago!)). I am not very hard on shoes though and this pair has hardly any wear showing except on the lining a bit here and there but externally they look almost new.

Busy day yesterday that saw a few extractions but mostly working away at different items and getting my COVID shot so all caught up for six more months and then the next shot. Never had COVID but I am seldom out and about so not a surprise really. This one was Moderna and I have had one Moderna before but mostly Pfizer. I do not experience any difference and I always think from a chemical viewpoint it is good to challenge the system with different strains anyway. 

I did extract two siblings from FT DNA (minimum of 23 cM) and will work on the third one today. I am collecting perhaps eight to ten new ones from each sibling as I haven't done FT DNA since the fall before Edward passed away. It was a regular thing that I did extracting new results from all the databases for both Edward and myself. I would pass them on to Edward in a file and he would deal with them. He had asked about a dozen cousins to test for him just to show proof for his many lines and it was a very successful venture. Initially he did not have a lot of Kipp testers but that improved towards the middle of the 2010s around 2015/2016. He asked a lot of people but only a few responded but over time he acquired enough. He did a lot of good work with that but it is all personal so will not publish that work at all. It actually had no real effect on his tree that he had created which was actually quite thrilling for him to know that his paper research had actually taken him back in the correct lines. 

In time I think that the First Nations will be very solidly in the oil industry here and that would be a good thing. They love Canada (Turtle Island to them) and will always take care of all of it and not divvy it up like it is some sort of a card game that one plays and just wins or loses - Canada wins together for the good of all. Being selfish and wanting to take away from whole and leave is just childish and goes against the treaties that provided guarantees to the First Nations. 

Looks like rain so I may not get outside to work in the front garden. We will see but it is time to weed it and generally one weeding does the entire summer as the plants grow quickly and occupy all the space. The dandelions are in full bloom now and the buzz of bees is everywhere on the lawns. I just leave them to it and will cut it when the dandelions die down. 

Separating Ancestry results into grandparent line

It actually worked very well to separate out the grandparent line (I only did Blake thus far) but in four sheets I capture the four siblings tested there and there are four sheets because I always used the largest match to define a siblings matches with the rest simply a line entry beside that. The yield was great for Blake with 246 attached to my list (includes unassigned but likely paternal), and 78, 41 and 57 to the other three siblings. I expect there to be a lot with the 2x great grandparents Blake having 54 grandchildren in the  mid  to latter part of the 1800s. Rawlings, Pincombe and Buller still to separate out but will likely do that today. 

I also am working on extracting the matches from FT DNA and good progress there. Every company does their display differently but in the long run I do need to go into each account and collect the data. I like to do as much recognition as I can tell in the first run through and that generally works very well. Takes a little longer with the first time the match occurs but is quicker with the rest. 

Listening to all the comments by the Liberal and Conservative Parties (and the occasional comment by the Block) but no opinion really. I want to see this work well and the onus will be on working together as much as possible providing feedback to the party that has won the election (the feedback is good so long as it continues to support the overall aim of the platforms presented by the parties during the election cycle). There are worrying trends here and there like the huge deficit showing up in the Ontario Budget. But there are also bonuses as the Trans Mountain Pipeline is proving its worth with huge shipments to other customers than the United States. This pipeline built by the Liberal government at a huge expense will be a profitable venture for all Canadians as it was built with our tax money. The provinces need to work together absolutely. The resources found on Canadian land needs to be shared by all the people and the First Nations has been very progressive on that. Private companies make good money where they have put a stake into particular resources but only because of the Canadian people being willing to pay the taxes that provide the support to industry when it is needed to keep this country solvent (mining oil in particular has had very large government incentives through the years). If a province is short of money for health care I can highly recommend the Health Tax levied in Ontario; it brings in billions for health care offsetting the higher cost of providing medical care that exists in our lives due to so many new ways to deal with illness. But mostly staying away from politics these days. There is work to be done and at nearly 80 I just need to keep out of the way for sure (unless needed which is unlikely). 

So continuing with pulling the matches again today and I need my COVID shot so that will also be accomplished in due time. I also need to garden but the inspiration just hasn't come to me. I am looking at the lovely dandelions and watching the bees work the flowers and do not like to disturb them. The garden will get its work done in due course I am sure. 

 

Another good day on the matching

 A couple of new matches on Ancestry are quite interesting and I will still continue putting them all into order and creating the "grandparent" sheets for each of the four since 90% of the Ancestry matches can be placed into one of the four of them. I find it handy as I working on the phasing plus my 2x great grandparents on the Blake side had 54 grandchildren back in the mid 1800s and the number of descendants of those 54 is huge and all around the world. Many of them have tested on the different databases giving me quite a well rounded look at the DNA chromosomes in this line. With the five siblings I have two that shared a lot of Blake in the DNA passage from my father since the choice there was Blake and Knight and the other three shared a lot of Knight so a good picture of that family coming down and Farmer (John Blake and Ann Farmer were my 2x great grandparents) is coming much clearer these days which is amazing really but there were so many descendants. 

Today continuing on this work and extracting from FT DNA, Living DNA and GedMatch in between when I want a break. Very busy these days with thinking about gardening at least. The trees have burst into leaf pretty much overnight although the Black Walnut is always the slowest but also the messiest. We have six packages of sunflower seeds to plant and that will fill the middle garden. It will be pretty and the birds will enjoy it as well as the squirrels who do come and climb those stems and chew off the flower heads when they have gone to seed and then run away with them to their storage place. It is interesting to watch. 

The picture in the living room continues to amaze me as more and more tiny minute details are revealed to me. Hard to remember now what it looked like before. Not being that sort of person that looks at things it is just sort of amusing in my old age to now see so clearly without glasses. These glasses are a bit strong I think and I will get that fixed when I go for my checkup. They are not bothering me but I just do not need them this strong I do not think. Plus I need my letter from the Optometrist that I no longer need glasses to correct my eyes for driving as my test for 80 years is coming up. 

Cooler temperatures are coming back for a bit and it is raining again today. Back to work. Solitaire puzzles are complete and this is a special anniversary year for Microsoft Solitaire. I have not gotten into a lot of that; just too busy. So much to do that the days pass very quickly. Even without internet my days would be very very busy as I have so much information offline that I still need to pull for this book writing. But I do have internet and it works very well amazingly but that is the modern world in a big city.

Good progress on ancestry

 I did extract the new matches on Ancestry and just 18 new ones (I have changed my cutoff to 23 cM as just too many at 20 to 22 that I can not place. I glance at them to see if I can at a quick look but they are not really worth the time to put them into the database. 

I will continue with that today and get that entered and I also want to look at splitting this database into four on a regular basis which would take it back to a particular grandparent - it will then be easier to use when I am phasing. I will also continue pulling matches from FT DNA, Living DNA and GedMatch. 

A busy day ahead and probably I should attempt some gardening. We will see; I do not feel any real draw to do that but do need to actually as the front bed is looking all up now and I can see all the plants up so can pull any weeds. I need to straighten the fence up and must buy some tent pegs to hold it more firmly in place. 

I watched the entire cabinet being sworn in yesterday and I found the background of many to be quite interesting and we will see if the progress needed can move ahead quickly. We have a lot to do in this country to recreate our industries lost to Free Trade and time is moving along quickly. Free Trade, in essence in 1988 sounded interesting but quickly turned out to be a problem with our industries being bought up and closed and people out of work as I vaguely recall. The net result though in the long run was prosperity on both sides of the border until the American businesses went off shore and had goods more cheaply made in other areas of the world - greed for some people is the only way to live (and unions have in fact served people well but coming from a small business family they can also be a pain in the neck!). People need to realize that a 40 hour week is just that; lunch and breaks is nice to have but shouldn't begin early and end late. And especially when you are working that isn't the time to chat about the weekend. My gripes from working days but I am a workaholic I will agree with that. 

We need to restore our industrial base that existed prior to Free Trade as well as all of the new additions to the Market Place. We need to be part of all of that especially Artificial Intelligence and we do have an individual on the cabinet whose field of sphere will be that very thing. AI has a long way to go; I occasionally dip in and look at that when I am doing a search. But one needs to, like a child, keep it focused; keep checking to see if it has lost its way, check to see if it actually did understand the query etc etc. But taming Artificial Intelligence will be a step forward so long as we always realize that we need to be the ones in control. 

On to the day; lots to do. The time is too short some days; others, I am very tired by the end of the day but then 80 does approach for sure.

All accomplished

Tuesday and back to the work week (all work really but some is my strong interest). A glance at the will of Edward Blake (administration with just an inventory) yesterday did not reveal anything particularly new but will spend more time today on that. Sorting out these descendants of Nicholas and his brother Robert is the aim of this particular phase of the work. Others have assigned them particularly in the Blake Family Chart held by the Blake Museum in Bridgwater, Somerset and the Pedigree Chart created by the College of Arms but the object of the Blake Family chart was to prove the descent of the Somerset Blake family to the Blake family at Calne not particularly to do anything with the Blake family in Andover. Adding it in was perhaps an afterthought having discovered perhaps the Pedigree of the Blake Family created by the College of Arms in 1690 with additions into the 1700s. For the sake of this particular charting on the Somerset Blake family the William added to the family of Roger Blake and Mary (Baynard) Blake did not work well and so he added a line much earlier. The problem was dealing with Nicholas in the long run. Amazing really as the wills of this family were quite clear on their familial relationships with siblings being mentioned. Charlou Dolan did an excellent job of tracing down her Blake line which was from Robert brother to Nicholas although I do disagree with her on a couple of points as the wills and the timing do not work for Richard youngest son of William Blake (son of Nicholas Blake) whom she attributed to the Robert line. But I have dealt with that fairly thoroughly in the past. Lots of wills to look at in Hampshire. We do have the Blake family of Calne gradually moving south from Calne into Dorset and into Gloucestershire to the west. After Charles I had the manor house at Pinhills destroyed (home of the Calne Blake family at that time) their movement out was fairly rapid and smart of them for their own existence for sure. But that is the Calne Blake family and my primary interest is in the Andover Blake family. I do work on the Calne Blake family but only to the initial lines at Calne during the 1300s/1400s basically looking at the more likely link between these two families as being in this frame namely the early 1300s and not much later and not in the male line. 

I also need to get out there and do some weeding and will try to do some of that today whilst I can still recognize the plants. Fortunately plants do tend to come up first and the weeds are smaller but that will change - Mother Nature is powerful in her re-acquisition of what is hers.  I do like to let the dandelions bloom through the month of May but my daughter has returned to do her research term and will probably want to cut it down a little earlier than that as it is more difficult to get through the long thick grass with the lawn mower. We are going to plant the entire central garden with sunflowers - her suggestion and it will be lovely. The bunnies are back and we do not feed them but it is enjoyable to watch them enjoying all the fresh clover and other plants. The recycling bin at the back has not been emptied in years and we may try to do that and then take it down as it is difficult for me to manage it through the winter. 

Soon time to go kayaking once the waters recede somewhat at Petrie Island. It is still flooded at last look. This is a wonderful water area actually and so close to home. Ideally I would like to just walk out the back door and be at the water but that also means rats and mice and all sorts of little mammals in your yard for sure. I am not sure I actually mind them being in the yard but it is a health hazard for children so probably not a good idea. Perhaps better to have a small drive to get there! There are still a lot of children in the area as it is high density housing on my street. 

A whole day of research; how exciting. 

Teatime complete; solitaire games played perhaps a little work before breakfast.

 

Last Cleaning Day for the week

 Today the top floor and then my cleaning binge is complete. It is 6 degrees celsius and will be another sunny day. The plants are literally jumping out of the ground and the primrose has entered into its most beautiful state likely all summer as it is being crowded out by Starry Solomon's Seal. I need to transplant some of that somewhere else but just haven't done it. Gardening, at my best, is not really my thing but I am trying to maintain at least the front garden and let the back be mostly grass. The dogs will like that when they come. 

Yesterday I did get in a little time on Edward Blake's administration. He must have died suddenly as he did not leave a will which leaves one to suspect he may have been younger rather than older. I did not learn anything else new except his mother owed him 300 pounds which he hoped to get back. With his mother still alive she is either very old or he was fairly young as this is 1644. But some people lived a long time back then surprisingly. But the hazards were fewer if you did not travel for sure. Especially in England as this is now just under 600 years since the Norman Invasion and life has evolved in England in that time frame. The French have probably forgotten that they invaded England, conquered England and replaced the local British monarchy with Norman Kings who have now disappeared and been replaced by at this time the Commonwealth but Charles II and James II will return and they are descendant of the Scots just as Queen Elizabeth II was (her mother was a Scot). Charles III is really a King of the Isles as he carries a lot of English/Scot blood for sure and his son William will carry even more as Diana was very much a child of English descent. Which brings me back to the Blake family. Diana was descendant of the Blake family of Calne through a female line coming down and I have recited that before (although I suspect this is a Norman family). But there is also another Blake line which was at Finckley not far from Andover and Thomas Blake there was descendant of the Blake family of Andover (which I suspect descend from Western Hunter Gatherer so very much a son of the Isles) and Thomas was at least an 11x great grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales. What I set out to show was that this Blake family at Andover acquired their surname likely by marriage to a Blake female (why else would you pick the surname Blake I am thinking?; even by 1300 it was a very well known surname in England). Would have loved to have had my grandfather's opinion on that actually but there was no thought of Diana becoming the consort of the Prince of Wales way back in the early 1950s when my grandfather was still living. The Prince of Wales was technically Charles son of Queen Elizabeth but not yet officially created. That happened in his teens at Caernarfon Castle in Wales. Is that my main reason for doing Blake? No, I am doing it because I want to ensure that Nicholas is in the correct lineage and not in the lineage that was created by Horatio Gates Somerby an American Genealogist. The other part is purely accidental and results from the Blake Pedigree Chart which Daniel Blake of London (descendant of the Andover Blake line) asked the Royal College to create using information that does not fit the actual records (namely concerns William son of Nicholas!). Interesting that really the first incidence of the errors were spotted by a Blake researcher in Somerset (another Edward) who likely produced another Blake Family Chart found in the Blake Museum in Bridgwater (it is anonymous). These two charts (and a couple of others that are helpful) provide much of the "arguing" information that I have used in my blogs (plus my own family lore). Is there anyone else looking at this? Lately there has been at least one journal article by a couple of genealogists on the problems of using Nicholas (and William) incorrectly in these charts. So no big thunderous thoughts on this but rather carrying on the thoughts of my grandfather (and father although he was less interested in pursuing the idea of correcting it) into this century all the way from the late 18th century when the thoughts of Horatio Gates Somerby were picked up by many many Blake descendants in the United States. Blake as an extant surname in my lines disappears with my brothers (not one of the four had a son). However there are many many male Blake descendants of Thomas Blake and Sarah (Coleman) Blake who married in 1792 in Upper Clatford! So not a problem really. And what else do I have to do with my time at the age of nearly 80? Well there is also the Pincombe book which I am working away at as well although it has been Blake concentrating in my blogs at the moment. 

Politics and the wars. I will try to stay away from them and pray for an appropriate solution so that the deaths stop and commerce can once again flow around the world in a somewhat orderly fashion. The Israeli children will get to sleep at night and go to school without feeling threatened which in the long run is the desire of many many peoples in the world. I would also like to see the Palestinians work their land and create industries and make Gaza work instead of harbouring generation after generation a hatred for Israel. I feel the same way about Ukraine - they should have peace and their land. Hopefully India and Pakistan can get along or at least not fight.  We will be rescued here in Canada from our slow but sure loss of industry and restored to our industrial base as it existed before Free Trade. But yet Free Trade can also be a good thing; one just has to protect one's local industries. But I still see trade as a luxury item; our first need is to tear the provincial barriers down and get trade flowing east to west and back again (including the pipeline). Refine our own oil and not pay to have that done and returned to us. The money in our coffers once again and we will re-arm and be the militaristic country that we were at the end of the Second World War - it was a good thing. The most powerful way to find peace is to be able to defend oneself against the Nazis of the world that keep emerging time after time.

Time to do my solitaire and drink my tea and then complete my cleaning. 

 

Another busy day with accomplishment

 As I was walking to the store yesterday two young girls/teenagers said Hello to me and I responded with a quick "hello" for politeness as I was thinking isn't that lovely of these two girls to speak to every old woman walking down the street. However, I shall stick to my walking during school time and work time as the sidewalks were very crowded and no point in my adding to all that occupying the sidewalks on a weekend day. There has been a lot of mention of older people being alone these days and loneliness being a problem. For me, not a problem. I have a vast amount of work to do. But it certainly was very sweet of these girls to take the time to say hello to every old person they passed I assume. 

Basement all cleaned and the main floor today. But also there are two Church services that I will attend online but all can be fitted into my day. I will not get any of my book writing worked on though likely but soon. The next will is interesting; it is primarily an inventory of Edward Blake of Knights Enham dated 1644. I know who this is and it was an administration. That particular part of the document is about all that I will do but learned already that his wife was Elizabeth and his mother Mary. I am fairly sure who he is but his date of death was not known to be before. No children mentioned at a quick read but will transcribe it next and see if there is mention. Surprisingly Richard Blake who left his will in 1622 had a large family but the number of grandchildren carrying the Blake surname not very large. He was the youngest son of William Blake (son of Nicholas Blake of Enham). 

I am surprised that the first two wills are both Blake members known to me but I am in the Andover block so perhaps not surprising. As far as I have been able to determine all the Blake records and individuals up to the latter part of the 1800s at Andover were descendant of Nicholas Blake and his wife Margaret (Blake) Blake who as a widow married Richard Munday so the records show her as Margaret Munday and Nicholas' brother Robert Blake and his wife Agnes (this is not the Agnes whose will was probated in 1617 as this Robert died in 1543) who had six sons. I do not anticipate that it will be this straightforward once I get into the bulk of the wills but I want to review all of them to make sure I have not missed any Andover Blakes moving to other parts of Hampshire. There are a couple who went to the American Colonies. 

Conrad Black's Editorial was most interesting today. I too want to see Prime Minister Carney proceed quickly towards the many projects provincially that will support the ability of Canada to take its proper place in the G7 and support our growing population. It is good to see the First Nations so deeply involved in the forward process of all of this. I do not have an opinion on Prime Minister Carney other than he was a very effective Governor of the Bank of Canada; I did not follow nor do I follow his time in the British Isles but I think he has great contacts in the British Isles and Europe and they will stand him in good stead. I think that Prime Minister Carney and the presumptive Leader of the Opposition Pierre Poilievre working together can do great things in the next year.  Eighty five percent of Canadians voted for these two parties with a similar platform to get things done. The other Fifteen percent represented in Parliament just have to ensure that they do not get in the way of what needs to be done to bring down unemployment and support the re-emergence of our lost industries (lost to Free Trade because a country as small as ours competing against a country as large as our neighbour does not work well I personally feel). The rule of democracy must flow for sure and for a few years here without being dominated by minority causes. Free Trade can work well but we must be able to protect our industries central to our existence. We all want the environment to survive but our approach has to be more measured. Reducing taxes is a mistake especially the GST (it supports the federal government; that was its intention and we should keep it). Ontario with its Health Tax and graduated Provincial Income Tax sends more money per person to the federal coffers every tax season than any other province per person; other provinces need to keep up with that or stop whining about federal transfers. You can not transfer from the feds to the provinces unless they get money from the provinces (it is a simple fact of life). Ontario has never had a problem helping to support the other provinces when needed.

Teatime and solitaire. Sunday and two services online - a perfect day. Plus I am going to do the main floor cleaning today just to keep ahead on all of that - unusual for me to work on a Sunday. Flowers outside are blooming; spring is really here (no more snow one thinks). It is three degrees celsius and the sun is breaking through.