Busy day not too much done on the matches

 My day yesterday ended up being incredibly busy with little work on the matches as I still have 19 to do. Perhaps today will lead to more matches being accomplished. 

Some time was spent working on a health project that I am involved with which is quite interesting. It involved recall of what I had eaten and all the exercise of which I had partaken the day earlier. The FitBit makes this task quite straightforward actually as it records absolutely everything that I do during a day and a night. I think it is an excellent study and I am happy to be part of it. 

The huge numbers of Baby Boomers (I am actually part of the Quiet Generation born between the end of the Second World War and the beginning of the Baby Boomer generation) have an enormous amount of health information which will benefit the world hugely in the years to come. As a baseline they were born during a period when plastic just wasn't there really in any degree but gradually introduced during their young childhood. Huge changes occurred in how schooling was done as well during this period of the Baby Boomers as the push to go to university dominated over the trades which is an enormous problem now. Health care for all Canadians was introduced during the time period that Baby Boomers existed with no free health care at the beginning and towards the end of the Baby Boomer period free health care was introduced so one gets an interesting picture of the effects of all these happenings examining the health of Baby Boomers in particular because they are such a huge group of people. 

Since I skipped grade four I moved ahead into the group of children born during the war and so the Baby Boomers were two grades behind me  mostly and one observed the effects of this huge group on the schools, on the housing market and on the types of items that were produced and sold due to the effect of this huge child market on the system. 

Canada was a very aggressive country in the 1950s but merging itself into a North American market with trade deals took the edge off of that aggressiveness but the current Prime Minister has brought it back especially with references to our Founding Fathers of Confederation and the earlier heroes of Canada prior to Confederation. 

Whining about affordability (which is a huge problem I realize that) doesn't put food on the table - we need to get the youth working and then affordability problems disappear. Looking forward to the pipeline although I do realize there is a lot of consulting to do on all of that but the playing field has been leveled to make it possible. All of  the projects brought forward are great news for Canada. The Sovereign Wealth Fund is such a good idea and looking forward to more information. Go Canada Go. 

I think if all the members of parliament get out into their constituencies and work with the youth to help them to move on from their stagnated positions in terms of jobs and career goals that would be a good use of their time this summer. Whining doesn't help; it simply doesn't give them a leg up to move forward into well paying jobs that will exist particularly in the trades. 

 Today work on the matches for sure although plans are afoot to do some closet cleaning. I used to take my entire house apart and clean it when I was home (even when I was proofreading it made a good break from sitting hours on end to clean a closet). But at 80 the incentive to do that has to be driven somewhat by others. 

Time for breakfast, tea all drank and calisthenics completed more than an hour ago and I must do my solitaire puzzles.  

 

 

Good try

 Managed two matches yesterday and the rest of the day was spent shopping. My least favourite item to do for sure. However the two matches were interesting and now there are 20 although still a bit to finish off on the second match. 

But the success was a new pair of shoes that actually fit me well and are walk-able immediately although they are a good leather and will need some breakin. The last pair I bought seemed alright but were dreadful once I wore them any distance. They are a good dress shoe and will keep them as such. This new pair (more of an Oxford without ties but a button clasp. So many of our companies ceased to exist due to competition. Lovely piece of leather which will clean well and are polishable. With our dollar low that should help our manufacturing to return to Canada as we are very competitive.  Another piece of equipment wore out and it was the toaster which we replaced but every toaster in the store was ultimately made in China although a number of them carried an American manufacturer's name. I do not know if we make any small appliances these days and it would certainly be a good market item to explore for anyone wanting to set up in business in Canada. There could be lots of improvement in items like toasters to make them more efficient and better at the simple task of toasting bread! 

The hostas are all freed from their weeds and growing nicely. The rain of the last couple of days has made a big difference. The grass is growing but I like to leave the dandelions to grow for a bit and the bees can work them. A good first crop for the bees.

Other than that the day passed quickly running to and fro collecting up various items settling into the summer pattern of walking at the beach, doing research and doing the dreaded gardening. 

The Prime Minister has everything at hand and it appears we have news coming on the pipeline today. The United States has put a tariff on mushrooms coming from Canada into the United States. That is sad for people who like mushrooms and buy them exported from Canada into the United States. Gradually our store shelves are changing here as we make trade deals around the world. It will still be a summer somewhat strained by trade talks but amazingly Canada is slowly coming back into its own and standing alone on the world stage. Fortress North America is rapidly taking shape in the Arctic and indeed North America as the need to be ready for whatever becomes paramount in our minds. 

I still think the only Senate Reform that is needed is increasing the presence of the Territories in the Senate by making them a region with 24 Senators and divide them up as normal perhaps six for the Yukon and nine each for the North West Territories and Nunavut and all of these territories will be a huge part of the new industries to come in Canada. The Senate in Canada is a place of sober thought and discussion with relation to the different areas of Canada and the senators are appointed from distinct areas within these provinces with specific skill sets in their expertise; final decisions on bills are always made in the House of Commons giving us our democratic process as all members are elected that sit in the House. But the Senate has made great additions to bills over time especially as individual members have their finger on the pulse of their area and can provide input that might be missed by members of parliament at least that is the principle. 

More research today and a stay at home day and perhaps if the rain doesn't materialize some more gardening. 

Time for solitaire puzzles. 

 

Back to research

 Some research today as I work on the remaining matches not yet sorted (22 in all). Then on to the Latin wills and working with the AI on my huge great grandparent file to see what that gives me in terms of moving every match back to the great grandparent level. 

I did find that one of the Canadian government websites has an excellent page on the treaties and how they came to be.  My recitation regarding Rupert's Land was primarily what I learned as a child from my uncle who learned it from his father who had talked with his mother's first cousin Sir John Carling. The need to consult with First Nations beforehand stands out strongly in the pages on the government website:   https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1100100028568/1529354090684

 That my thoughts are strongly influenced by my English heritage does show strongly likely. But I discovered on the trip with my daughter to Rome in 2001 that I was very Canadian (we learned Italian to go to Italy (spent over four months every day working on that in the evenings whereas the rest of the group said to us they will just speak English when we first met at dinner)). In 2001 in Italy few people spoke English we did discover. I found if I couldn't remember the Italian word and put in the French word that worked. But coming from a multilingual country the need to learn another language is strong here. One doesn't really realize how Canadian one is until one returns to the only other designation that could be attached to me which is my 100% English (England) heritage. I have so many Canadian characteristics as I discovered when we stayed at the Monastery in Rome near the Vatican with other members of the World-Wide Anglican group that had been invited to the Consecration of the Episcopal Bishop of Europe (from the United States, England, Australia and Canada (the two of us)). A wondrous event and greatly appreciated the invitation. My daughter accompanied me because I had never flown to Europe before indeed I had never flown before at all. My husband did not wish to fly across the ocean back in 2001 but move forward to 2008 and once again I was determined to fly to England and spend a few days with my cousin Ivan and his wife. Edward finally decided to fly across the ocean. He flew across the land many many times in his working life but just didn't want to fly over the ocean. First trip he was sold and I would say the remaining trips were primarily at his suggestion and we did quite a few over the next ten years. Europe was his destination principally since he was 30% German 30% Dutch 20% French and much smaller percentages of Scot/English, Scandinavian, Polish, Swiss and a couple of others. In all he was about 65 to 70% Germanic. He had blond (darkened a little in adulthood when I first knew him) hair and blue eyes showing that Germanic background very strongly. His first ancestors to the now United States were Dutch in New Amsterdam/New York and Albany in the early 1620s (and indeed before that period as well). 

Another beautiful day in God's world. A lot of rain yesterday - God's tears for humankind perhaps to my thoughts. We must struggle harder to follow His commandments - Love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and love our neighbour as ourself. 

Drinking tea and solitaire puzzles to do.  

 

Second cleaning day completed

 A busy day yesterday cleaning the main floor and gardening. Today it is going to rain so no gardening but the top floor is going to be cleaned. I will start in an hour or so. 

No work on the matches yesterday; the day simply flew by and was hardly more than fifty metres from the house. The City cleaned the streets yesterday I think it was and the big truck was as usual sitting in front of my house so my street part is not cleaned. I really do find this excessive parking in front of my house to be somewhat unfair to put it mildly. He treats it like his laneway and when the truck needs to be moved and he isn't there then one is stuck with that. I have had a number of incidences where I am asked to move my truck and I say it isn't mine it belongs to that house over there. I  have seen them knock on the door and get no answer. They should have to pay more taxes for using up this spot. 

The orchid is about to bloom. Unfortunately I took it out in the cold two months ago and it lost five of those blooms to be but two survived and are slowly getting ready to open. These were Edward's favourite flowers and this non-green thumb person has managed to keep them alive this long. They are actually doing very well as we re-potted them in March with fresh special violet earth.  

I am now down to 22 matches to do which means I accomplished more than I realized the other day. It will be good to have that complete and I do aim to have them all done before the first of the month as that is going to be the day that I check the matches. I am hoping that I can maintain that sort of organization to keep up with any new matches. 

 I watched the television coverage of the individual said to be responsible for the data breach in Alberta of voter's personal information. Why do people do that - aside from being illegal it is an incredibly ignorant thing to do to release people's personal information (having lived through that); one wonders if he is born in Canada or is he an immigrant now citizen (as a first generation Canadian on my father's side and fourth generation Canadian on my mother's side I do tend to look at people that way). The crucial part perhaps one wonders who is paying him as he isn't known it would appear in terms of being wealthy?  They need deep pockets to buy Alberta - if Greenland is worth 30 trillion dollars then Alberta where the valuables are easier to extract is worth at least the same or more simply because everything is easier to extract but the one problem I suppose is that it is landlocked although one can fly out of there. Greenland is roughly 3x larger than Alberta but the ability to operate in Alberta certainly much easier than Greenland. But Greenland does have external water access. But still I would think one is looking at 30 trillion minimum and likely higher considering all of the raw materials in Alberta. I would question living in such a country that somebody bought as their attitude would be rather dictatorial I would suggest. Mind you the ability to buy Alberta is pretty low (thirty trillion dollars is a lot of money) as the First Nations would also have to be consulted. It is called Free Enterprise (we, Canada bought it) - a facet of that very democracy being called upon and we bought it with 100% respect for the treaties with the First Nations and those guaranteed rights to the First Nations in those treaties. 

 In the meantime the vibes for the new pipeline are becoming stronger one might say. Shovels in the ground is what I want to see. That Pierre Polievere makes no attempt to get along with the Prime Minister and both are from Alberta this will end up being a Liberal show when the pipeline is getting built. The Conservatives will be lucky to win an election for many years at this rate. The parties worked together to make Canada great in the 1800s (oh sure they had their spats but their attitude was totally to make Canada freestanding and perfect and not dependent on anyone else). 

Go Canada Go. Bring on the Sovereign Wealth Fund and let us get this show on the road. A hint to the Premier of Ontario to get  the Trans Canada Highway widened through the northern part of Ontario. There is more to Ontario than the Greater Toronto Area which on and off includes Niagara and areas close by. Having grown up in southwestern Ontario it appears that the only way to get things done by the Provincial Government is to mention Toronto in some way in the request. I do normally vote Conservative but I do know their shortcomings. 

I am not actually watching the news but the individual who used the personal data of voting Albertans happened to be on when I switched the television on to watch the weather. So I watched that somewhat incredulously considering he has caused so many people a good deal of pain. One could judge his societal payback in terms of the pain he has inflicted I would think; we are a democracy for all the people. Money does go a long way on occasion. 

 Time to do my solitaire puzzles and then cleaning. 

 

 

 

Working on the Matches and cleaning

 Cleaning all accomplished of the basement and it is the main floor today. Routines are nice as they keep you focused I must admit. Just a couple of matches and this was another interesting one that had a huge tree to go with it. I actually wrote to the match in Ancestry which is very unusual for me but I note I have done a little more of that this past couple of months (I have had answers to most of them actually). The Rawlings matches often fill in spots where I do not have a known Rawlings cousin. For the most part the phasing has worked really well and there are no areas that I feel uncomfortable about in terms of choice. Moving back to the great grandparents is a good step as I start to work on the Generational charts. I know that I will not publish anything after 1900 in these charts but that catches the census in the 1800s for anyone using it. 

Some discussion on boys not being as comfortable in school as girls. When I worked as a volunteer with the children at my youngest child's school I was helping them learn to use computers. They had only enough computers for three children to work at each of the machines (back in the later part of the 1980s. I suppose from the outside looking in; it perhaps appeared chaotic. But I had them working away in groups of three that they chose and the tendency at this lower level in grade school was for the girls to cluster quietly sitting in front of the computer and sharing the mouse. The boys were much more active, still three at each computer, but they were up and down and louder but still accomplishing the same work that I was assigning to them. They are more restless boys I think and perhaps standing up every half hour in class and doing some sort of exercises at the desk would be helpful. I think it is a lot to ask children to sit for hours working. It isn't even healthy. But I no longer help at school so I do not know what is happening now. 

Perhaps this week I will get back to my Latin as the time has flown by these past couple of months. I want to finish off all the matches and then move to the wills and the genealogical table for the Blake book. I also want to do a little work on Pincombe so that I am ready for the Newsletter at the 1st of June. 

Yesterday we did gardening for a good hour and cleared away more of the weeds particularly around the hostas which are starting to come through in the areas that tend to be cooler. There is still a lot of work to do. I think the elderberry bushes may be done as they are still not budding. Perhaps remove them and just put some bulbs in that circle. Another thought would be to put the roots of the lettuces that we buy in there to regrow and the bunnies can eat that lettuce. I must mention that; it is a good idea. I already have one started in the house. 

I am pleased to see that tetanus shots can now be received at the pharmacy as I waited for simply hours last time that I needed one at the urgent care clinic. I seldom see a doctor other than the once a year that I generally go. That should be soon; must make an appointment and take my blood results from the Ontario Health Study with me as they match the results from last summer which confirms my thoughts on my medical condition. At eighty it is reasonably good; I get a lot of exercise of a beneficial nature (meaning I have a good amount of peak activity during each day of the week as well as strenuous activity along with moderate and light). It is good to have a reasonable amount of each level during each day. Mostly I do not eat any red meat (perhaps once every couple of weeks when my daughter is here) and then only a small amount. I tend to eat chicken and fish as they are my favourites. I have now moved back to skim milk all the time with the occasional 1% cottage cheese but always 0% Greek Yoghurt. I have small amounts of butter so still have some milk fat just not too much. It is nice to start to have fresh vegetables as I tend to use mostly stored vegetable (purchased) from the late fall until this time of the year with some fresh - lettuce and tomatoes primarily with the occasional pepper. Now that we have green houses locally I often have these fresh from the green house in the winter. I do not buy prepared food very often - perhaps a dark chocolate bar on occasion or granola by a new company in Quebec which is very good with absolutely no additives (all food product). Making everything from scratch gets me away from my computer which is very healthy especially baking any cakes (mine is always banana bread made with a mix of 100% whole wheat and all purpose flour in equal portions). It tastes really good, I butter it but I do not have a sweet tooth. 

Wanting to learn more about the Sovereign Wealth Fund proposed by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet. It is such an excellent idea and I like the idea of it being a long-term type of setup as it will benefit people in their retirement in the future. I need to understand how one passes this type of fund to one's descendants. The tax implications and all of that sort of information but it will take time to put it into place in terms of that type of usage but getting it going sooner rather than later is a good plan. I do like the idea that individual Canadian Pension Plans could also be part of that in order to reduce the amount that the government is setting aside from the budget to start the plan (namely 25B) (perhaps our huge grocery chains could also consider becoming involved with their profits benefiting from supporting Canada initially and then collecting the rewards of that trust). It would be nice if we could have this starter amount consist of some portion of existing Pension Plans (and businesses that would not be in conflict of interest) that are available for such investment. The quicker we are; the quicker the shovels are into the ground and we are on our way building the fortunes for the children of the future in Canada. I do not see this as something baby boomers will necessarily profit from (more of a gift to the future of our descendants) but rather it is a gift from us to the future. But it will  probably start to produce returns in the near future but not right away. It is a good place to set money that you do not use at the moment and plan to be a profitable investment.

Travel is always the big cost I think for older people.  At 80 I am not going to travel outside the country particularly not for any fear reason but rather I have been on so many trips I am just not interested in doing that. Keeping to some one else's schedule is no longer appealing to me at all. Sitting on a bus for hours not appealing. Flying for hours not appealing although I do love flying. Being in strange hotels and with strangers not appealing. So I am following what is best for me in my old age as the days ahead of me will be full of my writing year after year. Putting money into the Sovereign Wealth Fund is a very appealing idea I think. 

The dog two doors up is so happy that I am out in the yard again; he likes routine. He had a long chat with me and for sure asking when my daughter's dogs are coming again. They had so much fun a year ago running races up and down the yard.  He was unhappy I think with the neighbour in the middle as a day or so ago four strangers were clearing up the gardens and cutting the lawn upsetting his daily routine of just wandering about his yard guarding it as such dogs do. That was a conversation with just a little whine to it. He is a big dog like my daughter's dogs. 

Tea drank and time to do the solitaire puzzles. 

Mother's Day

 A lovely Mother's Day yesterday with a lunch and dinner I didn't prepare. We also went for a nearly 6 km walk around the neighbourhood which I greatly enjoyed. I have not walked on some of those paths since I used to run with my youngest over by the creek. It has certainly filled in and the trees are huge now. What a great way to spend mother's day. I never thought about being a mother in my youth; I did have other plans. So my daughters continue to amaze me as they are busy in their chosen careers - very very busy. 

The day simply flew by but I did attend Church online and the new Bishop of the Ottawa Diocese was officiating at Holy Communion. Having grown up in Huron Diocese there are a number of differences between the two in terms of services which probably do not exist today as I have not been at Church in London, Ontario for many many years - probably the funerals of my parents were the last time that I was at an Anglican Church in London when I think back. I did go a couple of times with my mother as well before she passed away.  

Not one match accomplished yesterday.  I will do some today but it is basement cleaning day and soon time to start the robot at its task. There are a number from Living DNA in this next few that I am looking at. Quite a few Blake, Buller, Pincombe and Rawlings as many many of those cousins remained in England. Most can be put into these four grandparent lines readily. 

Solitaire puzzles are next.  

Continuing on the matches

Worked yesterday on the matches and also did yard work. It was an efficient working day. I shall write my cousin as well today in the west. I keep meaning to do so but the Knight book is a very long way off although there will be mention of the Knight family in the Blake book because Maria Jane Knight was her great grand aunt as well as my great grandmother.  

The matches (I completed five) were fairly straightforward but only two could be restricted to the great grandparent line. I will continue to work on that today although Church will be in just over an hour so not as much as yesterday.

I have managed to clear away all the weeds and wild spring flowers from the emerging plants so we will see how that goes. But it is good to have the front done. I still need to rake the lawn although I generally wait until the dandelions are finished so that the bees can work them. 

Not paying much attention to the news for the most part. Occasionally read the editorials in the National Post when they catch my eye. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet are very very busy from the news that I do watch. I like the concept of Fortress North America (borrowing that familiar phrase from the Second World War). I still remember references to Fortress North America in my young years. Here in Canada before the United States came into the war, we helped to protect American neutrality by pushing planes over the border in the west that had been purchased by the war front in the British Isles and then flying them to England (many women pilots flew those planes to England during the war from Canada (as well as male but they were needed at the front for the most part)). When the Americans came into the war the term Fortress North America was coined. That it would also suit trade discussions is an interesting concept which was mentioned by the Prime Minister at the Conference in Toronto. 

Toronto is an important city in Ontario (the capital of the province) which we all know in Ontario but also it has the ability to hold large conferences with individuals from all over the world with a huge airport for those arriving and leaving including in this case Past-President Obama from the United States.  This was a meeting of CAP Action (Center for American Progress Action Fund) named the Global Progress Action Summit. Also attending was the former US Secretary of Transportation Peter Buttigieg as well as many people from around the world. 

Church in a bit and then some more outside work unless it rains. What to do next? I expect I need to start working down the sides and we want to move some of the rich earth from the central garden as it is now full of roots from the Black Walnut tree and mostly useless in terms of growing anything. We need to especially build up the areas where the new fence was put in as that pretty much destroyed the gardens for that length on both sides.  We also need to free the plants as they are coming through. The hosta still not showing at the top but probably not enough sun and warmth in the morning as they are up further down in the gardens at the back.

One of the matches was quite interesting as it is in an area that was without matches. This area now covered is all Buller and all from Living DNA and people living in the United Kingdom. Since just one line predominates in England (all of my line coming down from Edwin Denner Buller is in Canada or the United States) so I know that these strong matches are from the Edwin Withers and Sarah (Welch) Withers family which was very large and found all around the world including the United Kingdom. I know there are a number of them as there are at least 25 in common in that match. So that has cleared up that mystery as we all descend from great great great grandparents -  William Welch and Sarah (Welch) Cheatle, Christopher Buller and Mary (Beard) Buller with Sarah (Welch) Withers and Ann (Welch) Buller being twin sisters. 

Time for breakfast. I am late today. Solitaire Puzzles still to do.  

I do not in general use social media

 When I want to look at something I go to the source. I guess it is my scientific training perhaps but I do not like social media and do not use it particularly. Because the Senate can only really delay items and eventually does just follow the wishes of the House of Commons, I do not really think about how many senators each province has. That was brought to my attention by the National Post article on we do not know enough about Alberta and their complaints. I did read through the designated seats for each province and BC and Alberta both have 6 along with Saskatchewan and Manitoba also having 6 each. Quebec is guaranteed a particular number of seats (same number as Ontario) and that is 24 with Ontario also having 24 (one notes the difference between population in those two provinces at 9+ million for Quebec and 16+ million for Ontario). It would appear that this number is determined by the Canadian Constitution which I assume is the one from 1982. So Saskatchewan and Manitoba with much smaller populations have the same number of seats as BC and Alberta. The remaining provinces New Brunswick and Nova Scotia 10 seats each, Prince Edward Island 4 sets (this adds up to 24 as well interestingly so is probably a regional representation of 24) and Newfoundland and Labrador 6 seats, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut 1 seat each. The distribution is based on region rather than population. 

Since the impact of the Senate is to proofread the bill before it goes to law and note any discrepancies with existing laws and likely with the thoughts of individual regions I think they do a great job. I do not go to Senate meetings so no ideas on that. I believe by the original constitution that Quebec must always have the same number of Senate seats as Ontario, the Maritimes in 1867 consisted only of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick although Prince Edward Island did go to the meetings and their total is also 24 except I have no idea what they did between the time that NS and NB came in (1867) and PEI waited until 1873. Would have to research that. If I want actual facts I generally do not use social media. So would Alberta prefer to take seats away from Saskatchewan and Manitoba and take them themselves; I realize the system is not by population but rather based on region and then split them up equally in that region. Ontario has willingly opened up the purse strings to help every province since Confederation until we were a have not province during the Harper government when all the money was funneled to Alberta for the oil industry. I do not think that that was wrong as the ability to use the resources of Alberta worked very well for Canada and that was the intention of the Founding Fathers (this was after all a very strongly English (British) centralized system at its onset). That all the provinces would contribute what they could for the good of Canada. I have never really had an opinion on any other province particularly but this is an eye opener actually. I think what many people do not realize is the attitude of most of the province of Ontario towards Toronto which gets everything and the rest of the province waits forever for roads for schools for medical setups. The only reason they improve the roads for the most part is to make it easier to get to Toronto.  So Alberta is not alone in your desire to be heard. The capital city of the country, Ottawa, did not have a four lane road coming into the city for years and years until finally 417 was built and Highway 16 finally widened coming up from the 401. Possibly the answer lies in Senate Reform but I think the idea of region is good as there are regional considerations by geography. I think the Territories are under represented and should have 24 senators in total like the other regions; they are the  north and that is vast. That would really help with all the work we need to do in the north for sure. We need eyes on everything really and that is one huge area. The First Nations could provide most of that representation if that works out for them as they are poorly represented in the Senate (there are only 12 generally although changes occur). 

Gerrymandering in Canada is generally not accepted as any changes are only created by federal independent non political commissions. That needs more research on my part if I want to know more.  

That was an interesting article and I shall try harder to learn more about Western Canada. I shall write my cousin as she has lived there all her life.  I have never been west of Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada sorry to say but my daughter and I might take the train from Edmonton to Vancouver and then the other way to Prince George. Both will be fantastic. 

A very interesting day on the matches

 My accomplishment level is low as I still have 30 matches to look at but yesterday was confirmation of some Rawlings DNA. I had one really good match, a known 2nd cousin but it was in 23 and Me so just two other siblings present. I wondered about one sibling in particular and the match at Living DNA gave me that answer so that great news. Continuing with the matches today and perhaps I might get through more three or four perhaps; time will tell.

Yesterday I cleaned out part of the front garden and it looks great. I will try to finish the other part today. Perhaps get the lawn raked as well. We will see how that goes but it is going to be mostly sunny although just seven degrees celsius to start. 

I read the National Post article today. As a nation we have survived much in our nearly 159 years since Confederation.  In 1867 we were a group of just four colonies who came together to form the Dominion of Canada. It was a struggle and early in the 1870s the British withdrew their military so we were literally on our own. But we came together to cast off the Fenian raids from the south and forged a friendship within Eastern Canada that still is a strong part of who we are as a people. British Columbia wanted to be part of Canada and so we promised a railroad and we did it and it was hard and costly. Manitoba joined us and I always think that was the beginning of the First Nations being prominent in Canada other than earlier times before Confederation when the First Nations stood side to side with the colonials, British Regulars and threw off attacks from the south. Prince Edward Island also came into Confederation having withdrawn initially at the time of union in 1867. Rupert's Land became the new sighting for our young and prospering nation and we bought it and shared the lands that lay below the agreed 1818 treaty with the United States giving up freely that portion of the purchase which was below the 49th parallel. We were on good terms with our American neighbours except for the Fenians and that has continued throughout the next century and a bit that has followed all of that. At the moment trade is a problem but we will resolve that I am sure. But as a nation when I was a child you were Canadian first because that is what works best in this modern world to be part of a greater whole than just the one province (basically an administrative unit within Confederation) that you live in. We shared when another struggled. The western part of Rupert's Land that lay north and west of Manitoba all the way to the Rocky Mountains was gradually filling up with settlers including actually one of my great grandmother's brother's family Henry Knight and his son Samuel Knight with his wife Rose Anna (Yates) Knight and their five daughters who arrived in what is now Saskatchewan in the early 1900s. The middle daughter married in particular and her daughter is one of my DNA correspondents although I must get back to that for sure. I am dreadful at corresponding; I am better at being a hermit. But the First Nations have many many areas in the west that are lived in and have been lived in by them for thousands of years and very little of  Rupert's land has been ceded I do believe. 

The Founding Fathers saw a great future where they seized opportunity and ran with it and it is that great future (we are living it) that makes Canada the country that it is. We need to build Canada though and it is not going to be easy; it is going to be expensive like the railway and like buying Rupert's Land but so worth it because being a country is more important than its parts. The First Nations plays a huge role in all of this because they do not think of parts; they see it as a whole and I think we need to do that in order to be the most successful country that we can be. We have to loosen those greening ideas but keep them in our minds as we will forge ahead with the intent to eventually make Canada greener. The process needs a lot of money input and we need to make that money to ensure the best situation for Canada. So who really gets to decide on Canada - it should be all Canadians. People always yearn for more money; money is the root of all evil and destroys societies. We have to yearn for the best Canada for the future for the children of the future. If we weaken and let money control our thoughts then we lose that great opportunity that people sought when they came to Canada in the 1600s/1700s/1800s/1900s and yes even the 2000s and were welcomed by the First Nations. We have to let possibility rule the day and build that pipeline to tidewater in British Columbia, create those mines and extract the value from the ground and sell both of them for full price. We can do it; we just need to want to do it. If it scares you the thought of all that cost then find a better place for yourself to live where you feel that you will be happy. Most Canadians are happy with what the Founders have created. We are not greedy; we willingly share with the rest of the country. I too share my dislike of the waste during the Trudeau eras (I do not like the 1982 Constitution - it restricts our rights in my personal opinion). I do not like it that mines pipelines were refused during that Trudeau time (but also during the Harper time same thing for some items). Money at that time during the Harper government was poured into Alberta to support the oil industry. I do not object to that as it was necessary but some money could have built that mine in Northern Ontario and we would be looking at an operating mine for the last fifteen years instead of nothing (that was one of the failures of the Harper government and I will not relate further on that as it does tend to annoy me). 

I still think that this Governor General to be brings to Canada a knowledge that we need simply because of this idea that one can supposedly democratically slice out a part of Canada that was created by the Founders. We are held in chains in the east by this supposedly democratic idea that an area can simply extract itself from Canada.I look at it from a viewpoint that is perhaps different as I see the Prime Minister as a westerner - born in the North West Territories and raised in Alberta. His world wide experience as well as at home gives him a unique vision and I support that vision because it is the vision of the Founders of Canada. The West is very well represented in this Prime Minister as he strives to do what can be done to get that pipeline to the west coast. One notes that the leader of the opposition is also from Alberta. Greed though is the biggest problem and is a terrible part of humanity and does need to disappear from our world. The Prime Minister balanced himself very well by choosing a Governor General who represents the East in many ways as she grew up here and is part of the East and he is part of the West along with the leader of the Opposition - interesting really. 

And I haven't even been listening to the news and will not for a bit. It annoys me at the moment but the article at the National Post caught my attention. 

On to the matches but first the Solitaire Puzzles - they soothe my thoughts.  

 

More matches

 Yesterday was a shopping day and quite successful. The store has Canadian Flags on all the Canadian merchandise; saves my eyes although I still check. But it does quite capture the items readily that I have been moving to over the last year and a bit. I do miss my favourite cranberry juice as the Canadian one has apple juice in it as well but I also like apple juice but it does weaken the rather pungent taste of cranberry which I rather like. Overall I buy only what I have to buy from outside of Canada just because we are a northern nation with snow on the ground six months of the years and a much shorter growing season than other countries of the world. When you talk the frozen north that is a lot of Canada although the sun is finally coming our way. 

Worked on the matches yesterday and this last set have all been in the Buller line. They are large and I suspect the piece of DNA being passed is ancient in the Buller line. I have been looking at trees and the area is common to my line and this goes back to the Buller-Welch 3x great grandparents namely Christopher Buller and Mary (Beard) Buller of Bermondsey, Surrey and William Welch and Sarah (Cheatle) Welch of Rugeley, Staffordshire/Birmingham, Warwickshire and Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire. They do seem quite a distance apart these two couples but Henry Christopher Buller came to Birmingham and had his businesses in both London and Birmingham, living, in one or the other place.   My suspicion is that this length of DNA I am looking at for more than a dozen descendants is from the Welch line rather than the Buller but I could be mistaken as I have not yet resolved whether this Buller line is from the Cornwall/Devon/Somerset Buller family. I think it is but I am not positive. Christopher Buller had a Slop Shop (sailor uniforms) on Tooley Street in Bermondsey just south of the Tower Bridge and connects London Bridge to St Saviour's Dock.  We were on our first tour bus in England and actually in London itself when I was looking out the window and we sat up so high and came so close to the street sign that I could actually read it and it said Tooley Street where I knew my Christopher Buller had had his shop. I was amazed and needless to say the next trip to London saw us arriving a week early so that we could walk the streets of London - it is just one square mile after all. We spent a lot of time looking around Bermondsey as well our hotel was just up the street from Waterloo Station. 

I found a number of new Buller line (looking purely at Grandparent (my maternal grandmother was a Buller)) matches in all the databases and knew the chromosomes that I especially was interested in. Going back to the great grandparents continues to feel feasible. I will continue with that sorting and entering today.  

Continuing to avoid the news for a bit as I tend to get too much into it and lose time on books. Concentration must be paramount to complete these books in a timely fashion. 

I did however have one thought on the Sovereign Wealth Fund which has been proposed to be started with an infusion from the government of $25B and it would be primarily individual Canadians building this fund. Since it would be an initial infusion by the government adding to the national debt I would suggest that we should not restrict it solely to Canadian individuals but rather have Canadian businesses and Canadian Pension Funds also be part of the Sovereign Wealth Fund as they could create the initial $25B (spread out over many business/pension funds) and Canadians could add to it as well with their money then all actual and not an increase in the national debt as it is used to invest in major projects. Not including businesses/pension funds takes away a sufficiently large portion of potential donors who could help to start this fund off in a positive position for immediate usage in funding national projects. It would remain in the public forum with a board of directors that reflected the various inputs from both individual Canadians, Canadian Pension Funds and Canadian companies. We are all going to benefit in the long run from this Fund and businesses in particular will benefit greatly with the increased GDP overall for Canada. 

I gave this some thought and actually looked on line and there is a thought with some non-governmental agency   that Canadian Pension Funds could also be part of this. I suppose the problem with including private industry might be conflict of interest if they are bidding on a project. But I still think some industries would not be bidding on mines and items like that and I thought this was the idea for the money that it would be national projects. However, we will let the Globe and Mail run with it. It just popped into my head while I was writing my blog earlier. I should check before I write things.  

Breakfast eaten and my first set of calisthenics completed before breakfast. A good couple of hours of work and then a thirty minute run. 

Solitaire puzzles to do next.  

Cleaning all accomplished

Another week of cleaning accomplished and today a research day. I did absolutely nothing yesterday on research. It was a busy day. 

 Today though, unless it rains, will see me outside working in the garden for some time. But I also want to do some research and will continue adding the newest DNA matches into my various databases. There are still 36 matches to file away. So far the matches have been as interesting as I thought they might be. I skipped over quite a few because they did not add anything to the thousands of matches I have already in my databases. 

Phasing the great grandparents is going to be an interesting item to work on although I will continue writing the Blake book as I do that. I want to spend some time on the early Latin wills line by line just to see if anything has been missed. Working on documents written by your ancestors five hundred years ago is amazing and challenging. Were these people just like my grandfather or grandmother as I search back into my own past thinking of their thought pattern? My grandfather talked in particular about his grandparents and great grandparents as he did know one of the great grandparents personally and they had all died between 1808 and 1886 with most of them dying between 1840 and 1886. In the case of his mother's grandparents she knew all but her paternal grandfather very well since they all lived in the same area and closeby each other. In the case of his father's grandparents he was not quite as lucky in that regard with only one of them living after he was born but his mother who lived to the age of 89 was right next door when her son's young family was growing up and a widow and memories of my grandfather's grandmother Blake were very clear when he talked about her. So I do spend some time contemplating what my grandfather used to say about his family. The Blake family lived in Upper Clatford and the Knights lived in Turnworth but he did spend time there perhaps because his eldest sister lived with their grandparents until she married. She is found on the census at nine years of age with them. Samuel Knight and his wife Louisa (Butt) Knight had  eleven children (my great grandmother was their eldest) but only four of them lived past infancy. Their only surviving son Henry married Catherine Crankshaw 25 Dec 1878 at Chorley, Lancashire. They had just one child Samuel who along with his wife Rose Anna Yates emigrated to Canada where all their children were born in the early 1900s. My father never mentioned if he met any of these cousins (3rd) but I have corresponded with a number of them. They lived in Saskatchewan. So I need to prod this brain of mine and find the references so to speak that bring this information back to me. 

Even though I am first generation Canadian with deep roots in the British Isles going back many centuries (indeed my Blake line carries Western Hunter Gatherer yDNA some of the earliest in the British Isles after the Ice Age which rendered life there impossible) my citizenship is Canadian (as a young child I was granfathered in along with everyone else born in Canada before the 1st of January 1947). I have no rights in England other than those that might come to me as a member of the Commonwealth but pretty limited and the same is true for people coming to Canada (with the exception of Jay's Treaty of 1794 which permits the First Nations peoples to travel back and forth across the border between Canada and the United States readily). When I first went to England back in 2001 I was so excited to actually be in the island. When it was our turn at Customs my daughter quickly said who she was and why she had come and then it was my turn and I said who I was but pondered why had I come (this was my first international travel outside of North America). I said my father was born here and three of my grandparents and mumbled on a bit (I can remember saying all of that) and he looked at me kindly and asked me again why I came (which I successfully answered with a detailed mention of what we were doing travel wise, where we were staying and when we were leaving). That told me that my very long ancestry in the British Isles has no meaning because I do not live there (in this world we are all an organized people because that is how it works best). He was right and I really appreciated his patience with me.  

I did get the H11 Newsletter published and online. I generally for the first of May keep thinking year after year it is the Pincombe Newsletter but it is not; it is due 1st of June and I need to start thinking about that. The yDNA project for Pincombe/Pinkham has two distinct lines. The one points back to Western Hunter Gather and the other points to the Continent (Flemish likely). My line is the Flemish which I believe used the spelling Pencombe which is initially found at North Molton in the early 1500s and the notation on the Visitation for Pincombe in 1620 carries the note "Pyncombe of Northmolton came there with the Lord Zouch  about the beginning of H 7" and that refers to King Henry VII who defeated Richard III King of England at Bosworth Field in 1485 and became the King of England (Henry VII). John Lord Zouch was on the side of Richard III and was attainted, stripped of his civil rights and properties. He had relatives in Northmolton where he was received and I am becoming of the much stronger opinion that perhaps John Pencombe who accompanied him to Northmolton was his jailer rather than one of his retinue under attainment with him. Mostly because John Pencombe received land at North Molton. More reading of the early records might provide that answer. 

So a few items to work on this month along with the gardening.  All this traveling by the Prime Minister and those who accompany him in several capacities as these tend to be the opportunity to showcase Canadian industry around the world. Mostly I am not watching the news or reading the news unless it is archaeological or about DNA. The Prime Minister has things in hand along with his Cabinet. I am hoping that the Opposition will find a way to help to support getting our young employed in the trades and in the military. There are jobs and these jobs are all fantastic right at the greatest changes in research and development and not sitting at a desk inputting data  which an AI will soon do much faster and with greater efficiency. Grab hold of these exciting opportunities and every elected and those wanting to be elected should be out there in their constituency helping this to happen. 

Time to do the Solitaire Puzzles.  

Busy Day yesterday

 Spent most of the day cleaning actually but finally got to doing some work on the new matches. An interesting one that was just 9 cM on Ancestry but 22.l cM on Gedmatch. The names absolutely nothing comes to mind and the countries in the family tree Ireland and Maine, USA dating back to the late 1700s. Since it is a paternal match and not a Blake I just made a file and I entered it into the databases. Just interesting and I have a dozen matches in this area where some are known to be Rawlings/Cotterill. For the second sibling match I have double that number so will have a look to see if there are any clues. 

Avoiding the news again but certainly that was most interesting to discover the name of the new Governor General to be. She will be fantastic. Thank you to her for serving at 79 years of age. Wonderful of her to do that for sure. 

Cleaning day today and it is the top floor and then finished for another week. Sometimes I feel like I spend half of my week cleaning but actually I usually manage to complete each floor in half of a day. 

Today 13 degrees celsius is said to be the high temperature so a cool May thus far and it is going to rain. Looks like rain.  

I am starting to make a list of summer projects so that I get the gardening done. Each year I like gardening even less. It was something Edward enjoyed very much and through the years I sort of gravitated towards it as we did it together. Now on my own I have little knowledge of gardening; barely recognize the plants that I am weeding around and generally prefer lawn. Interestingly Edward said to me to just grass it over as he knew I would try to keep it like he liked it. I am gradually moving to that for sure. 

Trees are budding now and soon we will be awash with leaves. Canada is a lovely country and the founders certainly had good ideas. They knew that incorporating the treaty rights into everything would protect Canada and so it does. Our First Peoples are great thinkers and doers. I will always remember our trip to Moosonee. Going to Moose Factory Island by water taxi was a wonderful experience and our time on the Island greatly enjoyed. We also traveled by canoe to James Bay along the Moose River which is a trip of about 20 kilometers. One of our sightings was a white wolf; absolutely majestic on the shore. I forgot to be frightened actually the view was so spectacular. The bird life was absolutely wonderful. When we canoed all those years in Northern Ontario we were mostly just north of the Trans Canada and did not go that far north because there isn't a road anyway all the way there. 

Soon time to clean; just have to do the Solitaire Puzzles.  

 

 

 

Appointment of a new Governor General

 I was very pleased when Governor General Mary Simon was appointed. As a member of the First Nations she became the first member of the First Nations to carry the title of Governor General. It was unfortunate that she was not fluent in French but she is a Quebecker and perhaps it made Quebec even more aware that they needed to do more to ensure that all of their citizens have the opportunity to learn French. Governor General Simon has served Canada so very well. 

The new Governor General to be the Honourable Louise Arbour is fluently bilingual (I see that as a must and she is extremely fluent in law (worldwide law)) and I feel she is an excellent choice. She has served Canada in so many positions through the years and around the world including the United Nations. We are sort of at a crossroads in Canada with two provinces - desire and greed for money on the one hand and the fear of losing the French character/tradition/language on the other hand. The first I never understand I have to be honest about that greed, envy, hate, selfishness all of these things need to  disappear from our world. The new Governor General to be has so much experience to bring to this task we have asked her to do in Canada. I am sure she will get along very well with King Charles III whom she will represent here in Canada. 

I always hope that Quebec sees that French is all across this country in every province and the great opportunity for the children of Quebec in Canada. The desire to learn languages is increasing in our world and I think that Quebec will see that respect for their language and their way of life exists very strongly across Canada. When we went through New Brunswick on our way to Newfoundland on a tour the restaurant that we stopped at just across the border from Quebec was staffed by young people who lived in New Brunswick (they weren't students from Quebec) but they spoke mostly French and they were very happy when we were able to tell them what we wanted in French (their English like my French was just a bit weak). Except my french is now more than just a bit weak. I should improve it. Keeps the brain active and I was doing so and kept it up for several months but maybe in the fall I will get back to it. 

If you want to see a culture that has virtually disappeared in Canada it is the English (I am 100% English although born in Canada with three Canadian ancestors my mother, her father, his mother). All the rest are English mostly born and died in England and I have met very few people who have retained their English heritage in my life except when I was in England so many times for our tours. Just because they speak English here does not mean they are English English. I think French is enduring much longer. Look at Montreal and Quebec City. Name a city in Canada that is very English (I haven't been to Vancouver though but I am told it is not English English but Victoria is apparently more English English). Newfoundland has more of a flair of my father's home country as he was born in England and came to Canada as a child of nine years with his parents and retained some of that English English. I have many cousins in Newfoundland by my matches and they mostly belong to the Knight/Arnold/etc families of South Dorset. Some of them when I visited there reminded me of my grandfather because his mother was a Knight from South Dorset. Having just three ancestors born in Canada though my great grandmother (my maternal grandfather's mother) was a cousin to Sir John Carling - amazing really. My grandfather learned a great deal about Canada from his mother's first cousin as a child and he shared all of that with my uncle (his son) who adored his father and was very proud to be related to Sir John Carling although he kept it to himself mostly but he shared so many stories with me about his father and what he had learned from Sir John. 

It is nice though that we still have the King of England (Charles III) as our Head of State because he means a lot to the First Nations and he has visited them a number of times. His support for them (like for Canada itself) is always there and always obvious. The King always reminds us to honour the treaties which is right and proper as they  have made us the strong nation that we are now. There have been glitches but repairing them is important. We must always walk together with the First Nations like Chief Tecumseh and Sir Isaac Brock as they defended Canada in those early days before we were a nation. 

Defining democracy in a country

 Is it democratic for one administrative unit (say a province) to declare that their democratic right is to break up a country by claiming a province an independent state when that province was not created by individuals but rather by the government of Canada. I listened to an individual in Alberta say that that was their right. Canada was created in 1867 by a people who  had the vision to see that spending a lot of money to build a railroad to bring British Columbia in with all the rest of the provinces directly and to buy Rupert's Land (with all of its goodness (both known and unknown) which lay between Manitoba and British Columbia (as well as all the rest of the tract which created much larger provinces in Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec as well as the north of Canada) was a worthwhile venture for Canada. It was expensive and to Canada each administrative unit has a value both because it is part of Canada and because the founders saw a desirable future and we need to carry on creating that future rekindled by the Prime Minister and his party. If you do not like where you are living and the rules that go with that go somewhere else; I agree with the First Nations on this point plus the land predominantly is their land not ceded - where are their democratic rights to live in Canada? This is not individual First Nation groups in Alberta only; these treaties belong to all the First Nations who reside in Canada and it is their inherent right to live in Canada. Especially at Confederation and after the purchase of Rupert's Land this particular province did not exist but the riches and the benefit of that land belonged to Canada and still does (but we share it); we, Canada, purchased that land with the treaties that support the First Nations right to live in Canada and their ownership. That isn't democracy to call a referendum which that individual claimed. That is dictatorship of the minority within a country on a small scale where this province is 1/8th approximately of the population of Canada. It is quite different from the case of another province which has held referendums in the past but for them the reality to my mind is that the areas of that particular province that were Rupert's Land and now predominantly the areas where the First Nations live have already stated that in separation they want to be part of Nunavut so what would they gain in leaving I say to Quebec (they would lose ownership of a lot of electrical power for sure). The Seaway belongs to Canada we built it and the railway which runs through this section of the province that came into Confederation as a much smaller unit also belongs to Canada. 

It isn't democracy it is dictatorship by the few and very unfair to the fourty million Canadians who willingly give up their taxes to support those less fortunate them themselves. It is all about money in Alberta as always; some people can be very selfish. The Supreme Court was both correct and incorrect in saying that Canadians have to just accept that. Alberta is worth a lot of money and a loss to Canada would be large and I would expect Canada to be recompensed for that loss (it does make acceptance easier) and then of course you have to get the First Nations to agree as well to live in a new independent country.  That is reality; that is free enterprise if one wants to talk democracy. Billions of dollars were poured into Alberta to build the oil industry (money came from Canada too). I think referendums on one's position within a democratic country founded long ago should be illegal personally unless there was a prior state of being and that prior state is the First Nations of Canada so really it is their call in the case of Alberta and parts of Quebec (I do not know how the lands of Quebec along the St Lawrence were acquired or are they also unceded; that was during the time of the King of France giving land grants but are there treaties; no ideas on that). 

The nicest thing about a democracy like Canada is that you can leave and go elsewhere where you  might be better suited (no one insists that you stay). Where will your children go for jobs if there are not enough jobs in Alberta and Quebec for that matter since the PQ are threatening referendum again if they win the election in Quebec? Always better to think of the future than the amount of money in your pocket today. They say that some of these people in Alberta are ready to fight; armed and dangerous (doesn't sound very democratic or legal). Strange that in a country like Canada such people exist. Why are they here; who pays them to do this? One wonders about that (the same kind of people who came to Ottawa and occupied the Hill perhaps). I still agree with the application of the Emergencies Act - it got rid of them and they had no respect for law or the people in the area. 

It was noted yesterday that the more than 500,000 barrels of oil meant to go on the Bridger Pipeline signed the other day is purchased at a large discount. We need to get the oil to tidewater to sell it at a good price. The Minister is right about that. The MOU is working and a pipeline is in the much stronger realm now of probable rather than possible according to the government. I really tire of such greed; hands always out for money but when the money is in their hands in abundance do they share willingly - greed predominates with some people. Apparently 302,000 people are greedy according to the signature collectors (I hope they call everyone to ensure that the forms are all valid (I would be annoyed if someone filled in a form for me but I do not live there)). 

One wonders what happens when the oil runs out into the future and the land is all dried up and not fit to farm from forest fires (who will help you put those out) and you sell the rare earths that are there at a discount probably if you can afford to take them out of the ground; a company takes most of the profit. Who will argue for better wages against companies that are foreign. Good luck with that. Where will the money be eventually? Being part of a greater is always better even if I am a hermit.  Greed will destroy our world much faster than bombs. 

So just one match completed yesterday but the basement is clean. I did spend some time sorting the ancestry of this individual in the records since it is a very large match but totally unknown to me and yet I know the line they are probably coming down from. Interesting but that is the fun of DNA. 

Today cleaning the main floor and then tomorrow the top floor. Never a dull moment. 

Message on my phone telling me I was driving in a 30 mph zone going 45 mph - as usual ignorant people are on the internet just looking for money. Get a job; what a jerk. 

Why did I finally decide to vote Conservative last election

 Partly because I normally vote Conservative but on  my walk up to vote I contemplated it as I had still not made my decision. Experience played a great role in this decision but I finally opted to vote my normal tendency almost when I had reached the polling station. It was that close. I have no regrets on voting Conservative but I am pleased now to see a majority government in the Liberals with Prime Minister Carney at the lead. As I walked towards the school where I would vote I thought of all those students (several thousand I believe attend that High School) and the  need to reach out to them on the part of the government to look toward the trades - we need more skilled tradesmen/tradeswomen in our skill sets of Canada. There are not enough and the need is huge. In my mind I envisioned that the Conservative Party which is the party of small business generally would become active finally in encouraging young people to go into the trades. That has not happenned. We do not hear the Conservatives talking about anything but affordability - that is such a surface topic. It doesn't put food on the table, it doesn't get the youth employed and especially it does not solve the tariff problem. We need to diversify our industry at home and abroad and we need skilled workers in the trades. Affordability will become less of a problem when our youth is fully employed in good jobs. Look at the trades; really examine them as they are so much better than entry level jobs in business which are going to be taken over by AI anyway. Sitting at a desk for long hours in front of a computer and not generating anything useful except to business is a waste of our youth. They could be creating in the trades, building their own businesses and affordability is no longer an issue. Just giving money out doesn't solve it; we need to retrain our minds to see trades and professions as equal in Canada because they are. 

Being in opposition doesn't mean you have to be constantly opposing everything. This needs to be a unified government; we are in a crisis of development. The youth are there wanting to work and all the parties should appeal to the youth in their ridings to consider trades to consider the military that is where the money is. There are plenty of graduates from university - the market is glutted. I watched as one of the City Councillors set up a booth at the corner of a street to talk to people about City items last summer. What are we paying these members of parliament for if they are not out there visiting the local high schools/elementary schools and encouraging them to look at the trades; it is decision time and the youth need that sort of support. If speaking at schools is not your thing (and really why are you in politics if you do not speak to all the individuals who vote or will be shortly) than help to get trade fairs set up in these schools to expose them to the advantages of the trades same for the military. 

Question Period is a waste of time and CBC can run something on archaeological digs instead (as a tax payer I would prefer to have something interesting to sit and watch whilst I take my afternoon rest after eating). It would be less annoying. The questions being put forward right now by the Conservative Party leader are an insult to the intelligence of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet and to the members of his own party. Somebody needs to tell him; you have a position in the government where you could be appealing to the youth of this country who are unemployed and inspire them to think about going into the trades or going into the military or both - the military leads towards good jobs when they go back into the civilian work force. 

Why did I go to university and not go into the trades? Because I am not strong enough to do the work that was done by my father and brothers. I loved Science and spent my time at University studying that and I have used that background a great deal in my working life. Three of my four brothers went into the trades and worked with my father and they had a good life. But lots of women are strong enough to do the trades; they should think about it if the opportunity points that way for them. 

One of my pet peeves at the moment is the not in power party waiting on the sidelines for by-elections to defeat the government they are hoping (the NDP is busy rebuilding and I may have a change in views with regard to them; time will tell but I can not imagine myself voting for them unless it was Wab Kinew running some day in the future for Prime Minister). What a waste of money an election would be. Lets get this show on the road; diversify our trade and get our youth employed.  

I meant at the beginning to talk about the Sermon at Church yesterday. Our future Bishop in this Diocese was speaking and I found the sermon to be most interesting. Mentioning one of the past Pope's as a lead reference probably didn't hurt either as I do find the writings especially of the modern Popes to be very meaningful. Thank you to her for such an interesting discussion. 

Mostly I did not accomplish any work yesterday other than the washing of clothes which I tend to do on Sunday as the machine really does it all and I just have a lovely walk whilst it is running. Then I dry it on racks (the dryer works very well actually but I have never really used it a great deal through my entire life as I like all that moisture going into the air of the house).  When I went back to work I paid my two daughters to do the cleaning and the washing of clothes. It worked very well although my husband said an eight year old can not wash clothes. But she did an expert job although he took his shirts to the cleaners. I said we have to have some accommodations with my going back to work. I am not a martyr and refuse to become one. The house was always clean although I helped on Saturday but the bulk of it was done by my daughters. They also prepared meals for the evening as I was the last one home. My husband enjoyed that lovely time with his girls making dinner. When my husband decided to retire he said you should retire too but I said I want to put more years into my pension and so I worked another three years. I knew he found it lonely but our youngest was still in High School and he soon became involved with items she was doing plus the bunny (Peter the Rabbit) had always annoyed him but they became fast friends which was nice as the girls loved that bunny. He also got involved with a number of projects that interested him which he probably wouldn't have done if I had stayed home as it just wasn't my thing. At the time he retired it was the moment when my 3rd cousin George DeKay dragged me into genealogy as he needed a Pincombe Profile for the book he was editing (eventually it was taken over by someone else but he continued to deal with the individuals writing profiles). 

Traveling down memory lane is always somewhat interesting and this is cleaning day and it is the basement. I will soon get the Robot doing its task. The first robot in our house thus far.  

Tea finished. Time to do the solitaire puzzles. 

 

Interesting article

 "The Vikings colonized Greenland for over 400 years, but their disappearance from the island is still a riddle" by Quinn Mercer (online). Why not assimilation into the Inuit peoples who had arrived in Greenland before the Vikings appeared to disappear? I do wonder about that. The survivors probably carry the DNA evidence if it interests them. Like the 3% Denisovan that we carry (some of my six siblings as not all of them have been tested for that) but our mt DNA signature is in the Blood of the Isles Database so probably there for thousands of years. Interesting really what DNA has brought to our knowledge bank. We also carry, my siblings and I, on average 2% Neanderthal so we are 95% Homo sapiens. I believe the Denisovan came down from our ancient mitochondrial mother but I can only trace back from my grandmother (Ellen Rosina Buller born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England in 1886) to her mother Ellen Taylor born in Birmingham in 1859 (my grandmother always said that her mother died when she was 37 years of age; it was something that shocked her even as a person in her 60s and 70s that her mother died so young (my grandmother was eleven years of age and had to stay home from then on to look after her younger siblings (four of them) although three were in school). Her father had been reasonably educated so he did teach her at night as he had promised she said. But he worked hard at two jobs and he too succumbed by the time she was fourteen years of age. He had been a medic in the First Boer War (injured and sent home to Birmingham in 1881). He recovered although always walked with a limp and went to work, married and had a family of seven children. However I digress from my maternal line. The mother of Ellen Taylor was likely (and DNA is starting to show this may well be correct) the daughter of Ellen (Roberts) Taylor born  1841 in Birmingham and she had married Thomas Taylor very young (just sixteen years of age and they had seven children). Ellen (my great grandmother) appears to have had an illegitimate child in 1879 which my grandmother discovered when her youngest sibling was sent to live with her half-sister in London, Ontario. I have a match with a descendant of this half-sister which is large enough at 18 cM to catch my interest when we share a great grandmother of mine and we have written back and forth. We would be at least half 2nd cousins 2x removed as she is much younger than I am and has several more generations from Ellen Taylor. The average shared by this relationship is 48 cM according to Blain Bettinger (Ancestry uses TIMBER to extract common lengths of DNA) and this match is in Ancestry and she is still thinking about moving her results into another database. But at that level I think that perhaps we are just half second cousins 2xr (we will not share mtDNA because she descends from a son of Ellen Taylor's eldest daughter). My great grandfather was cared for in the Workhouse at Aston because the hospital was there and living at this workhouse was Ellen Taylor and her illegitimate daughter (at least it appears to be by the information). I wondered if Ellen had been a nurse as her skill with caring for the two infant boys who later succumbed to the sooty Birmingham air was noted by my grandmother whom she taught to  help her take care of the infants. Also Ellen Taylor lived just a couple of blocks away from Edwin Denner Buller (my great grandfather) when they were children which was also very very interesting. They likely married sometime in 1885 (marriage not located but there were interesting stories of runaway marriages and what not; my great grandfather was apparently disowned for marrying a woman with an illegitimate child) as the names on the registrations of their children were Edwin Buller and/or Ellen Buller. But I continue back in time as the mother of Ellen Roberts (married to Thomas Taylor) appears to be Ellen Lawley who was born in Wellington, Shropshire, England in 1819 and married to Thomas Roberts. Joseph Lawley was the father of Ellen Lawley. There was family lore that this line had come from Ireland to Birmingham (and there was other family lore which I have disproved, incredible tales). Amazingly we have close matches in mtDNA with some of the individuals who went with the Rev William Martin from Antrim, Northern Ireland to the Royal Colony of Carolina in 1772. Individuals that match are able to trace back their ancestry to Planters sent from Scotland to Northern Ireland by Cromwell in the 1640s. There are also mt DNA matches with people who came directly to England from Argyllshire/Ayrshire in the early 1800s. The location on the Blood of the Isles DNA database for my markers is Argyllshire/Ayrshire. So very interesting and amazing really what you can learn from testing your mtDNA. I highly recommend it although not everyone is going to obtain such interesting results. As I checked on matches (I manage the H11 project at FT DNA) to me through the years (and we are over 500 now although that is roughly only about 10% of the total database for H11 at FT DNA) I discovered matches in the Scandinavian Peninsula suggesting a possible migration route for my particular mutations coming out of the Ukraina Ice Refuge during the last Great Ice Age and there are others in Poland and Germany but no perfect matches in southern England (on the Blood of the Isles Database) which I found to be intriguing. Having a Western Hunter Gatherer in the British Isles from my paternal line and this rather fascinating mtDNA on the maternal line has made my research extremely interesting. I did correspond with a DNA scientist in South Ossetia about fifteen years ago and I see new research is emerging (and I did have some matches on her database) that these mutations were located in this area although out of the Ukraina Ice Refuge likely but the timing of H11 as a mutation from H has changed from 48,000 years ago to the time of the last Great Ice Age meaning that the H11 emerged at the Ukraina Ice Refuge likely and primarily moved west into Europe and north into the Scandinavian Penninsula and then further west into Scotland perhaps and in Europe itself into Poland, Germany, England. So quite fascinating. 

Sunday and another beautiful day in God's world. I will go to Church a little later online. God waits and He listens for we Homo sapiens to do the right thing to do what He commanded - Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbour as ourself. Peace could come to our world if greed and envy and hate disappeared. 

I noted the comment that the so-called separatists in Alberta could well wreck the chances for a pipeline to the west coast just because they create instability. What a shame for Alberta as the MOU was a good idea and already has paid off with the Bridger Pipeline (part of the Keystone XL project already built in Canada to the American border) being approved by the President (more than five hundred thousand  barrels of oil going south every day and there will be money for Alberta but also for Canada - that is who we are (most of us that is); that was also the idea of the Founders in purchasing Rupert's Land). The separatist greed will go down in history mostly as a one liner. They want all the money from the resources which Canada bought with the purchase of Rupert's Land. We, Canada, created Alberta and Saskatchewan as administration units and expanded Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. The land belongs to Canada along with the treaty rights which were included in the purchase. Individual purchases of land are of course theirs technically as part of an administration unit namely provinces and territories (with the treaty rights keeping it in Canada) but if anything ever happens to your line disappearing not donating it to something everything reverts to the government (you can not take it with you). We thank the First Nations for their care of this land through the ages and their right to be in Canada for ever no matter where they live in Canada.  Canada takes care of all of Canada (remember the Great Depression). I happen to agree that ten years of fake greening of Canada (we do not see much in the way of results) was a waste we are better off to take advantage of what we have so that we can afford gradually and into the future to have a green Canada (and we should keep trying to do what we can do). Eventually oil will no longer be at the top of the selling as burning fossil fuels is hard on the environment world wide. The fifty year plans of the First Nations are much better than these greedy plans by a few to try to destroy what The Founders created. 

Tea drank and solitaire puzzles next (already 51 units of cardio from my first hour of calisthenics when I get up).  I have moments when I first awake when I push away the idea of one hour of exercise but thinking of the alternative I begin day after day with my slow moves to get myself stretched out and moving. So worthwhile but as always one should check with a doctor before you take up any big changes in your exercise routines especially when you are over 70. I will also run thirty minutes before lunch and after Church and then later in the day either yoga or weight lifting. 

 

   

 

Shopping Day and some research

 Yesterday was a shopping day and four bags of groceries for $103 which was not too bad as it included my chicken purchase which is every three weeks. But yes I agree groceries are more expensive than a year ago. This week I also changed back to summer tires and had to replace all the brakes so $2600 plus for that. My car sits too much in the garage all winter and it is hard on the brakes. It  is running like a new car now although I did not particularly notice anything but then I am only driving it a couple of blocks to the grocery store and back always mid morning when there is pretty much no one about and the store uncluttered. When I have to go out twice in one week like that though I think about my one room idea and just not have to do all these things but I am very lucky to be in the state I am in although would have preferred to be doing all of this with my husband still alive that is for sure. But he was ill for a long time really and  now  he is at peace with God I am sure. He would have been so sad about the world as it is today especially as he wanted to travel a whole lot more in Europe but just because he found war to be very sad. He used to say to me why does God let war happen? But I said that humankind was making its own way through life I felt since the Second World War. I think that was Armageddon but we survived, all of us, by our ingenuity and so we continue but we need to follow God's commandments - love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbour as ourself. When we do that we will have peace. During the sad days of COVID my husband did find peace and contentment as his life slowly ebbed away. The saddest moment in my children's life (and mine with Edward) was that last night together all of us as we had been for so many years as he slipped away gone to us physically but forever with us in our minds and hearts. He was smiling at his daughters as they fussed over him taking care of him that last day. A sad but also a good memory that he loved them so much. I can remember as he held each one of them as an infant in the hospital and at home so tenderly so calmly and so happily. Fatherhood suited him. Although he could be impatient with them they knew it and got out of his way quickly!

Finished off the FT DNA matches and started entering them into my various databases including the newest one which is for phasing the great grandparents (not true phasing but rather dividing up that portion that belonged to the grandparent pair into their parents (a never ending task really). I have recorded relatives in common, matches in common on a lot of them and will let AI use that information to help direct me towards the appropriate great grandparent when I get started doing that.  

It is Saturday and meant to be mostly cloudy here. I looked yesterday and thought I should clear away some of that dead foliage in the gardens. But I never got out the door to do that. It will need to be done as the plants are now coming out and it just neatens it up. In the woods it would just rot away and replenish the soil but it takes a while. I want to move one hosta but other than that we go with what's there although I might buy some bulbs in the fall and bury them deep!

Drinking my tea and solitaire puzzles are next (one of my luxury items as it is an American company that sells it although they do it from a Canadian address). In essence we liked CUSMA well enough but our need to be tariff proof for the future is our first concern and so we are diversifying our trade as rapidly as we are able. Like Mexico we saw ourselves as part of the North American market being an active contributor to the product lines of so many companies. That has changed as car companies retreat to the United States to avoid tariff  and the push to draw Canadian companies across the border. We are proceeding forward on many items that have sat waiting this last decade and most certainly the mine in Northern Ontario has been a desire for the First Nations to get it going for more than two decades. Time to move forward and get these new industries up and running and our youth employed. As it is always the case, the youth must follow the jobs that are available to them. No one can control the type of work that will be needed in any generation; we just have to put our backs into the work that needs doing and get it done. The trades have sat on this sideline which saddened me because I do know the value of the trades in our lives - everything we do that is related to our life needs the trades at many points in that need. As AI enters the workforce to do the mundane sitting at a desk type job this is the time to save the health of our youth and their brains for that matter doing the skilled work of a tradesmen. The tools are fantastic; the results stunningly beautiful. We are on our way. 

I liked Conrad Black's post for sure and do tend to agree with a lot of what he says; the road will be difficult but like him I believe in Canada and that the power of success is ours. We are running but we just have to double the pace and get it done. There is a lot of work ahead. The advantage of going into the military in one's youth is the discipline that is acquired and no longer obtainable in our schooling system. I will always remember those long straight lines going into my elementary school as a child in the morning, recess, lunch and recess once again. We lined up straight and quietly with our principal front and center always. He was an ex-British office and a brilliant organizer. That was the rule and we knew how to follow it. Five years/ten years in the military and you come out with a trade/skill and ready to go but we need to get going I agree with Conrad Black and the task is not easy.   We must do it for the future and take our place once again as we were back at the end of the Second World War; secondary to no one.  

 

Conversation on Ancestry messages

 I have been having a conversation on Ancestry re the spelling of a surname. The spelling of the husband of Elizabeth Ann Pincombe (my great maternal grandfather's younger sister) was Ormond in the records that I located and this individual is disagreeing with me. That is fine but according to English law your name is however you spell it and particularly in Upper Canada at this time English law prevailed. But certainly in this time frame that would have been considered correct. She had noted that in my published tree I had both Orman and Ormond. But Orman is in my Knight family which is my father's grandmother Maria Jane Knight and down the line from Elizabeth Knight and Samuel Ballam (married 1 Sep 1834 at Turnworth, Dorset) one of their descendants married an Orman. The argument put forward was that the surname for Ormond should be Orman. Interesting and I will save it because I will eventually be publishing Elizabeth and her descendants likely down to the late 1800s in my Pincombe book. I follow Canadian tradition and keep the 100 year rule for release of information (it is also perhaps a bit of laziness). So I have replied once again and wished her Good luck with her research and I feel I have sort of terminated that discussion as I am not at a point where I will work on this Ormond family a bit. 

I am not overly fixated on the spelling of surnames as they did vary on occasion through the years. I just spell as it occurs on the records and that works for me.  

I am noting that I get fewer and fewer emails directed at me personally and I am finding that that is a good place for me to be. I always feel I should respond and do but it is good to no longer have as many to be honest. At 80 I am moving towards only doing my project; retaining my Guild membership, my membership with BIFHSGO (I am after all English but Canadian first for sure) and perhaps OGS if I can get them to change me to the email I prefer. We will see. It might just be easier to make my donation to Canada Helps. My siblings other than my older sister and older brother did not generally email me very regularly. My older sister, sad to say, is in Long Term Care now and prayers as always that she is comfortable. Could I go and see her; I do not know. It is not an easy trip and about 1000 kilometres although by air one has to go to Halifax and then Charlottetown. So I think perhaps not although my thoughts and best wishes are with her at this time and always. Doug of course passed away in 2020 although I sense him close to me as I work away on his DNA for the projects he loved to hear about. I do message with my youngest brother on Messenger occasionally but he is busy raising his two grand daughters whilst his daughter and son in law both work. After years of work running his own business (I mentioned him as he had completed the trades of electrician, carpenter and plumber and used all of these skills in his business) he is enjoying spending time with his grand children. I occasionally hear from my younger sister as she has a huge family tree and occasionally we chat on the telephone although not for quite a while I am thinking. 

 I finally completed the Ancestry extraction project but it did take all day yesterday but some really good information so worthwhile. I collected up about five new known cousins and all had trees. Mind you I am not really using their trees as my cutoff for the book is likely going to be in the late 1800s. 

This is May Day. One of my father's favourite days as he would go to Upper Clatford and visit his cousins. As an only child that was a treat. Although he lived right next door to his Uncle John and he and his wife had two daughters just a little older but a picture of them as small children tells it all I think. Three small children together in life so coming to Canada at nine years of age and leaving all those cousins behind was painful although another of his uncles, Uncle Henry, was in Toronto and my grandfather (Samuel) was in London waiting for them with a house all set up (actually he met them at the boat when they arrived in Montreal). But May Day meant the Maypole and as a child he danced around the May Pole with his cousins in the village that his Blake family had lived in for a long time since Joseph Blake moved there from Andover (he remembered all of that history down to Thomas son of Joseph; then John son of Thomas and Edward son of John and his father son of Edward). 

Today another research day and it will be the extraction of the matches in FT DNA (7 matches). I should accomplish it quickly; all depends on what is there in terms of trees and what not and whom else they match.  

The pipeline already laid in Alberta ready to go right to the border and now the agreement has been signed by the President for the Bridger Pipeline. Another profitable venture in Alberta. This MOU signed between the Prime Minister and the Premier of Alberta has really set the course towards more pipelines but in the long run it will see us become more and more green in our energy as the phase of oil for energy winds down and green energy takes over the planet. The money from oil will save the planet. Now just the pipeline to tidewater on the Pacific Ocean and I so want the Eastern Pipeline to Port Churchill to sell oil in Europe and to Ontario to bring refining of our oil back to us and save the three times the price we sell it to the Americans to bring it back here and have that in our income as well here in Canada. We will be tariff proof before another decade passes.  All of this money coming into the coffers and the greedy separatists broke the law and published private material on line - how sad to have such greed in Canada. Canada is about sharing all across the country; greed really does need to become a sin of the past. It ruins so many lives. 

Oil will have so many profitable uses in the future that burning it up will become such a waste in our minds. It creates a very solid product of use in so many areas including medicine and many others. 

Probably back to the Latin wills today and finish off that Somerby fraud chapter. Drinking tea and soon solitaire puzzles.