Shopping

 One of my most hated things to do and we have been shopping mostly for drapes and new hardware for them. Easier to manage than blinds for sure for this 80 year old but finding machine washable cold ones has not been easy. The hardware though these days is great and fairly easy to install. 

Also a couple more interesting matches on Gedmatch and I am perhaps coming to the end of my kit today. We will see as I have some sanding to do before we install the next set of drapes. Some things like that I am good at as I helped my mother prepare the cottage for new items like that and painting the walls etc. An interesting way to learn is working at the chore actually. 

I was reflecting backwards once again remembering writing to thank the minister at Orleans United Church for his letter supporting Edward for the  Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Hence letting him know that Edward had been awarded the Medal. I just forgot and the discovery that Gordon Riddle had passed away in 2013 which I did not know until much later (at this time actually) that reminded me I didn't thank this minister. So I did that and he wrote to say that his wife had recently had a birthday party for him but she didn't invite us. I almost wrote back to tell him to thank his wife but avoided that comment. It just sounds sort of rude in retrospect. I had such a good attitude towards the United Church before we went to Edward's Church (I had promised to do that)  on that regular basis for about 20 years when our girls were young (and Edward volunteered me for Church Secretary where I was thankfully replaced by a paid secretary eventually after about five years or so; by then I was working full time once again and having this volunteerism still on my plate was a lot of work) . My Uncle (his wife) and my grandmother attended the United Church and I went with them whenever I stayed there on a Sunday as a child and teenager and quite liked that Church. I especially liked their attitude towards alcohol and smoking for that matter as I felt it was a very healthy attitude and one which God would support for his people. However, a long time ago now and mostly out of my mind. But occasionally pops in. I attend only my Anglican Church now and online. I did offer Edward's Church a set of pictures of the building of the Church Building (50th anniversary of its founding is coming up actually in 2028 I believe) but never heard back and got off track on that production of a PowerPoint file. I will see if the Ottawa Archives wants the original set of pictures in a binder that Edward prepared (I would say that he loved being part of his Church and sang in the choir for nearly all those twenty years and was Treasurer for ten years). It was a mention in our Bulletin one Sunday when he was still very upset about the death of his brother and his mother in a nursing home and struggling but she would not move here away from the rest of her family (quite understandable) of an upcoming set of lectures by the minister at Dominion Chalmers United Church that sent us to that Church for a couple of months I think. Absolutely stupendous lectures and we stayed for a couple of years actually; I love sermons on the Fathers of the Church and their many dissertations and this minister was absolutely excellent but I digress. I still do like the United Church; I just like being Anglican. We were not at the first six months of this new Church because I was active at my local Anglican Church (volunteer secretary which I did myself) but had promised to go to his when it started up and did do so the next fall after my eldest started her desensitization shots for asthma. I always remember that first Sunday - as soon as she saw our doctor Gordon Riddle she ran way across the room and I went with her (she was just five years old).  Edward though stayed to chat with his cousin probably about the Kipp genealogy as they did share information. Later my eldest helped to roof the new Church and other such tasks as by then she was nearly a teenager (my other daughter is eight years younger) and quite skilled at such manual type tasks. Now she is a professor teaching many many students data science, metadata and so many other courses over time. Her students work all over the United States as she could not get a job in Canada. The jobs she applied for here went to Americans way back in the early 2000s so she took the one offered to her by an American university. She spends her research time with me though which is a real treat and in the future she will retire and come home. 

I think it is being 80 that makes one reflect backwards in time actually. It is likely healthy and is excellent for my writing as I recall comments made by my grandparents and parents that aid me along the path. 

 Another working day but first I must do my solitaire puzzles.