Prayers continuing for all those still recovering from gun shot wounds and prayers for the souls of the lost children and adults. May God hold them close to Him wrapped in His loving arms. I watched our government leaders all at the Memorial yesterday on the television. Such a sad time in our nation.
I could not settle down to work yesterday so I did an academic study questionnaire that I have been in for about six years as it was ready for me to submit once again (every two years). It is an interesting study and I hope it finds value in the future. I couldn't settle down to it the last couple of days but today I did do that. As I answered some of the questions I found myself thinking about a small town now missing all of those young children where everyone knows everyone else. It is not something that I experienced growing up in a large city but listening to the people talking about the children you realize how tightly knit a small community can be.
I did work on the matches once again and completed the J's. I am about half way through now and some new information did appear which was helpful. The intent is to (and probably I shouldn't use phase because it isn't truly the same as phasing grandparents) break down the grandparent's parents into their contribution to the five siblings DNA and it is working not too badly overall. There will still be a lot of work to do but I will use AI now that the files are organized in a way that I will return what I want and not miscellaneous information that was on the particular files. It is still there but not in the path of the searches. As you use AI you must give it detailed instructions in order to get back the information that you want.
Another Saturday and it is a lovely day. This is a weightlifting day again and YOGA along with my early morning exercises and running for thirty minutes. I believe that the Fit Bit and I are now more or less in synch with regard to recording my daily exercises. I am getting a good estimate of the amount of cardio for the day although I generally exceed it but it does take a bit to establish a routine for the Fit Bit with these newer Fit Bits. Each one I acquire is a little more complicated than the last. The first one was just basically a step counter with a few extras so it has come a long way. The benefit to owning a FitBit is actually recording your exercise path day after day. When you are older you do forget some items although memory generally brings them back the FitBit is a record keeper and a good one.
Today I work on the K's and perhaps the L' s as not that many Ks. Perhaps I will have a sneak preview at what is new in the databases; we will see. Another beautiful quiet uninterrupted day for me working away. I do love Saturdays; it used to be cleaning day when I went back to work outside the home. Although I loved proofreading at home the scientific literature it was nice to be out in the real world working - the work at first the Medical School for two years and then into the now Ottawa Hospital for a further ten years and then Health Canada for a year and a half I think were very very interesting. In my younger days I had wanted to go to be a doctor in Africa (being a doctor in Canada did not interest me) but I got married at 20 and my husband was not interested in going to Africa he preferred to stay in Canada and did pass up a job in Washington although he did have his regrets in later years on that one as he became so interested in the histories of his families who were primarily early American colonists from The Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden and the British Isles. His earliest were from the Netherlands to New Amsterdam now New York City. It amazed me that my husband did not know his immigration stories; they simply had not been passed down. As he searched and discovered people like Roger Williams his 10th great grandfather and so many others; I was amazed that all of this had been lost during subsequent immigrations north into Canada from New England beginning in 1800 into Ontario and continuing right up into the early 1830s. Land was free and his people mostly came into Niagara where some stayed for a bit and also into Oxford County. All forgotten. When we went to NEHGS for a weekend retreat he worked with Gary Boyd Roberts on his tree and that was one comment that I heard Gary saying to Edward that many of the descendants of the New Englanders did lose their immigration stories over time. It was a long time I guess as it is now more than 400 years since the Mayflower dipped its anchor into the harbour at Provincetown, Cape Cod where the Pilgrim Monument stands. A site we visited quite a few times. All of his ancestors from England/Scotland (there were not actually that many at the time as most were from Europe) were Dissenters and some of them famous dissenters. It didn't surprise me actually as Edward had strong opinions. He was very Protestant in his views. It wasn't something that we talked about a lot being Catholic in my views but I did promise that I would go to his Church when we had children and we used to go to his Church before children. I generally went to my own as well usually without him as sometimes I would drive over and go to Church with my father at our home church. But the Cathedral was also close by and I would go there although I knew absolutely no one but that has always suited me. I like to go and pray and sing in my Church and I am not an outgoing person (introvert fits me well) but I also didn't mind going to Edward's United Church as I had gone to the United with my Grandmother and my Uncle (my mother's brother) and his wife my aunt when I was a child. It wasn't far from their house and we walked there just as we did from my house to our home church. But now I attend my Anglican Church online and at 80 it works very well for me.
It was beautiful listening to the wonderful words from our Prime Minister at the vigil last evening. They were perfect and as mourner in chief he continues to do a wonderful job in our country. We will struggle and we will move ahead and get everything done but it is very pleasant to have him at the helm at this time in our history. He has a dream for Canada just like the Confederation Fathers and it is of a country that welcomes people (although you must ask to come here and always that has been the case although we did take in thousands of draft dodgers from the United States back fifty years ago now) but our First Nations do have their rights where the land is concerned and we respect that; it is part of our culture and we will defend that right. Listening to Wab Kinew talking about the work forward in Manitoba to bring our economy to absolute success were wonderous. I do very much admire that man; he is a perfect leader for Manitoba in this time of crisis and I suspect at any time really; he has a good head on his shoulders for sure. His family heritage of thousands of years in this Hemisphere stands him in good stead as a leader in the past, for now and for the future of this country. Tecumseh walked with Brock as the leaders of what was to become Canada and we are now very much in pace with that. The Governor General (of Inuit Heritage) Mary Simon was also at the vigil representing the King of England and the people of Canada and King Charles III expressed his deep sorrow at the loss of all those bright young children and the adults in this sad time in our nation.
Tea drank and it is 7:00 a.m. and minus six degrees celsius; we are having a warm spell although I think we may still have more cold - the Polar Vortex does it own thing for sure. We have lots of snow though for spring runoff to refresh the dry earth from the drought of last summer. Time for solitaire puzzles and I am now a Champion in the Sudoku puzzles. I still miss doing all my Spider though and will return one of these days. My eyes will eventually get used to the flashing I hope. My eyes continue to amaze me having spent most of my life with basically very little depth of vision and my sight was not really that good as I can now drive without glasses which is truly amazing although I wear sunglasses but still I can actually read the street signs which is stupendous as my children have grown and I do not have them to tell me the names of the streets as we pass them.
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