Tobit completed and the Book of Judith is next

 Such a beautiful story of faith and love in the Book of Tobit. The Bible is the most read book in the world and if we all but followed its commandments we would be a world at peace loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and loving (respecting) our neighbour as ourself. Thank you God for all that you have done for your people. May this land become a perfect land worshiping God and following His commandments. 

Two people rescued from the floods in Nepal and Tibet and they have brought the news to the surface that there are more people alive to save. What wondrous news after so many days. Prayers that more will be rescued alive. 

Some accomplishment on the genealogical table; I am gathering and sorting at the moment the material that will go into this genealogical table. It will only come up to my Grandfather and his peers. Samuel George Blake was born in 1875 and by now the census is very complete and anyone can trace back to this time period given that records are so available from this time forward. The book is for Grandpa so it is fitting that it would discover his Blake family coming back from him deep into the past. 

Yesterday would have been our 60th Wedding Anniversary and as always on the anniversary I donated to the Ottawa Branch Library of Ontario Ancestors (was Ontario Genealogical Society). I did not yet renew my yearly membership. I am still thinking about that although I do want to be supportive of an organization that meant to much to Edward. I also donated to our Alma Mater Western University in his memory also. I have meant to be doing that but the years pass and I am becoming much more in unison with how he donated. Basically I forgot but will stay with it now. They are small amounts for sure but every dollar counts to help keep these organizations going and to provide particularly for the young in the case of universities. 

Today I want to start on the family photo books and start to produce the six to eight that are solely about us. They will begin with all of Edward's pictures when he was a child (mine are all electronic as the originals are held by my youngest sister which suits me very well). I decided I did not want to keep originals if I can avoid it. I do have a few pictures of me as a young child that I will put in the books. 

 At Thanksgiving I will remember the Ottawa Hospital with a donation in Edward's memory (usually when someone wealthy is going to double or triple or whatever the amount) and then at Christmas again in Edward's memory I will remember the other organizations that meant a lot to both of us. 

Another beautiful day in God's world and may all His blessings fall down upon this world. Just a little yellowing of the leaves on the tree out front as Fall makes its appearance. I have taken down the bird feeder until May comes around once again. It is all scrubbed up and cleaned ready for the next year. The Cardinal family still comes and perches on the branch because this is their territory and it doesn't matter whether there is a bird feeder there or not. It is still theirs; interesting really. 

Another busy day and it is a research day so shall try to accomplish as much as I am able. My strength has returned after a long summer of being just very busy. At 81 my ability to maintain that very busy for four months is disappearing. Next summer I shall have to maintain a schedule that sees me rest a little more than this year as I became quite exhausted. 

Solitaire puzzles and breakfast. I had my last piece of banana bread before exercise and so today must be a baking day and I need to have my breakfast because I am hungry. 

Genealogical tree in process

 Finally down to work on the genealogical tree for Blake. It will begin with Robert Blake and he has two sons Richard and Thomas. Both of these men leave their wills and Richard leaves his just a couple of months after his father passed away with Thomas' will (younger brother) being nearly twenty years later. Jone Blake (widow) does not name her husband but the wills of Richard and Jone do give one the impression that they were husband and wife. Jone names her children as Robert, Nicholas and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is married to (unknown) Mylne although in her father's will she is not married. Richard naming his eldest son Robert  in his will is helpful as well as in that his father was also Robert who left his will dated 14 Dec 1521. I have quite a bit on these lines which I will now pull into my legacy file. Charlou Dolan worked on the family of Robert (son of Richard) and I have all of her work but the dates are just approximate. I have more details now from other records. But I will credit her with her work in the book when I write it up. 

I need to do a little more work on the Latin in Robert's will just to clarify a couple of small points.   That was lucky learning all that Latin but I need to get back to the Mango Languages Latin and will be doing that soon just to keep it fresh. 

Up early, mind is racing. It happens and I just have to work through it and then sleep for a while to keep the brain rested. So doing some short projects just to wear me out once again and back to sleep for a couple of hours. 

This was a very busy summer and really never stopped from early May right to the end of August nearly. I am looking forward to this fairly quiet September and then on into the Fall. The one hour a day on the yard will be good exercise and lots of fresh air. Plus the yard will look better. The plants that Edward guarded are still there to a certain extent but some are lost and that is sort of sad but it happens in nature all the time so must not dwell on it. Something always replaces it and sometimes that is just as beautiful as what was there and less fragile generally. 

I also need to get to work on the Kipp Newsletters as I promised them to Chilliwack Archives. I need to add a Creative Commons License to them and I did write the final one yesterday and put it up online. I remembered to put that on Edward's blog as well. I will try to send the email again today to the members of the yDNA Kip-Kipp study. I may have been tired putting it in and missed something.  There is a little bit of work to do there as there are about a dozen newsletters that I wrote. Edward did not want to do that; he preferred just writing anything in his blog but I decided it would be quicker for me to add everything from the blog into newsletters and make it available to the entire study group. That does appear to be going to work well as they would like the Newsletters at the Archives and then I can just take them down. 

It is possible that my older daughter when she retires sometime into the future and it will probably be quite a while as she loves working especially teaching and helping students doing their masters and PhD but she also teaches undergraduate as well during each calendar year. She has several research projects ongoing with past students who now have their own academic positions in the United States and around the world. But I digress at some point into the future I suspect my eldest daughter will take over the DNA Studies so I am ensuring that I have complete files so that she doesn't have to start it all over again. I do have to put together Edward's files as I just gave him sort of final information on his different lines as especially Ancestry proved all of his lines to be accurate which was all he wanted. But he also tested at all the different companies and so there is a lot of data but never put into databases or saved as single name files for each match. So a lot of work to do there and I am in the thought process on how to proceed getting that done. I will use the same principle as I used with my own. When he saw my phasing of my grandparents he wanted that as well and did ask his one niece. The only difference really is I have a set of five siblings and for Edward I have himself and many many cousins from 1st cousin to third  in large numbers and even larger numbers of more than third cousins. I believe I can phase his grandparents with all this data so we will see how that goes. I wish I had the DNA of his nieces and perhaps one day hard to say. Both of them would be great as they are not a great deal alike and so would cover both sides of the family likely. The older one is very like Edward in her younger pictures (Edward's first cousins (six males I think, I have forgotten as I do not know his family only met them rarely) look alike in many ways) and the younger one very like her father Allen in her younger pictures although both look like their mother as well but 1/2 is great. The people that I most knew in Princeton were friends of his father (and mother) that filled Edward in on lots of interesting stories about his father. But we only visited with them a few times but wonderful conversations. They were primarily people that Edward worked for when he was young; he first started to work in tobacco when he was just 12/13 years of age. Too young really; not good to be around all those chemicals when you are growing without taking good precautions such as they do now a days. 

Back to bed. Solitaire puzzles when I wake up again as I am getting sleepy.  

Tiredness is creeping in once again.  

 

The Book of Tobit

 The Book of Tobit and I do not remember this story. It is a story of God's love and protection; a beautiful story and I will complete the reading tomorrow. I am finding that it is good to read all of these stories passed down through the ages. 

The genealogical accounts seem to fit into my life these days as I continue my genealogical trace down of the Blake family of Andover. My grandfather knew all of his ancestral line but I only retained the newest part from Joseph down to the present (except for a jumble of names which included Nicholas, William, Thomas, John and Richard). Joseph was baptized in 21 Oct 1730 at St Mary Andover the son of Thomas Blake and Ann (Carter) Blake who had married 8 Dec 1728 at Holy Trinity Church Penton Mewsey. Thomas was baptized 4 May 1709 at St Mary Andover the son of Thomas Blake and Mary (Spring) Blake and they had married 6 Nov 1708 at St Mary Andover. Thomas Blake was baptized 21 Feb 1685 at St Mary Andover the son of John Blake and Elizabeth (unknown) Blake and their marriage details are unknown. Eleven children were baptized to this couple at St Mary Andover (and five of these were buried there as infants or young children). The baptism for John Blake was written into the Parish Register at St Mary Andover 10 May 1649 likely by his father William Blake (married to Ann Hellier 5 Sep 1644 at St Mary Andover). There were three entries made by likely the same individual William during the time when only non-secular records of birth were supposed to be maintained when Cromwell was in power. The Blake line continues back to the beginning of the Parish Registers at St Mary Andover in 1588 for the Baptisms. The will of William Blake in 1582 lists all of his children as does the will of Richard Blake his son thus giving a list of the children of these two Blake lines at Eastontown and Andover. The same is true of the other Blake lines and all will be entered into the genealogical charting in Legacy.

Yesterday the top floor all cleaned as well as the vacuuming of the basement since the dog hair is everywhere and now nowhere hopefully. Today it is the basement to clean and I will soon start the robot cleaning the rugs. 

I hope to get a little work done on my research today and will see how that goes. Still avoiding the news somewhat. and it will likely stay that way as I inch further and further into my 80s. I did say when I was 70 and mapping out my likely time working away on my family genealogy that I would see myself slowly pulling away from genealogy as I hit my 80s but then I was also thinking of my husband and I spending more time walking and watching television and traveling still. But life did change that as did COVID and instead of spending time with my husband in my 80s as he was gradually pulling away from his intensive concentration on genealogy I will remain with that and try to get all of his work organized and off to cousins who are researching. It is a possibility that our older daughter in the years ahead (maybe ten or twenty) will pick up the threads of the DNA work as it is quite fascinating where that is going and she has all the skill sets to do that sort of work along with everything else that she does. 

Next week I begin my one hour a day on the lawns throughout September and into October to get that all ready for winter. Never a dull moment for sure. 

Solitaire puzzles are next.  

Finally decided to drive to the grocery store and took my time carefully proceeding along my usual path and except for a lot of parked vehicles it was a smooth drive. Going past this set of three vehicles parked I went about 5 km per hour and passed a few people walking perhaps back from the store. Then I always drive back along the main road. I suppose I could do that both ways but have got into that habit of taking the side roads over and the main road back. But no children in sight on motor bikes thank goodness. It was fine the other day and I can see now as you approach that three way intersection that the turn at the main road is visible but blocked by visuals somewhat so very necessary to maintain extra caution there. But now that school is in it will be somewhat rarer to see a child on a motorbike on the street.  

Reflecting on Edward

 When I met Edward one of the first items that he mentioned to me was his quest to learn more about his father. Edward's father was Lorne Bernice Kipp and he was the son of William Henry Kipp who was the son of Benjamin Kipp who was the son of Isaac Kipp. Edward knew all of that from his uncle Howard Leslie Kipp. He also knew that his father had been treasurer at Princeton United Church and had sung in the Choir if I remember all of that correctly. Lorne was a farmer and his farm was just across Highway 2 facing the Village of Princeton, Ontario. So Edward had some ambitions in life including going to university and studying Chemistry and going all the way to do his PhD, he wanted to have a family and he wanted to be treasurer at the United Church and to sing in the Choir. He achieved all of those desires in his life and was quite content. The genealogy took him down paths that were appealing to me - we did a lot of traveling in the United States and Canada searching for his Kipp particularly ancestral line and our first trip was to Northeast Town in Dutchess County. We knew that Isaac and his wife Hannah (Mead) Kipp had come to Canada in October 1800 as settlers looking for land and over time he discovered a connection with Thomas Hornor that he hoped might give him more insight into the Kip family of New York/New Jersey. After yDNA testing he knew that his Kipp line was descendant of Hendrick Hendricksen Kip of New Amsterdam. The exact name of those ancestors eluded him but he collected as much information as he could with the thought that others would utilize it and find that name connection. It was a difficult time 1 Nov 1764 when Isaac was born/baptized. The Family Bible did not specify whether this was baptism or birth although was on the birth page. 

Jobs were difficult to come by when Edward finished his PhD in 1970 and he went on to do a PostDoc in Chemical Engineering but still jobs had been quickly taken up by American draft dodgers coming to Canadian Universities in particular so the new graduates had to settle for teaching High School or industry if they could find it or do another degree which Edward did; he finished his Masters in Library Science in 1975 and that did get him a job at the National Research Council in Ottawa. He was thrilled when his eldest did her PhD in Library and Information Science and from his Alma Mater. He was equally thrilled when his youngest did her Masters in Biology and then an MD. 

He had planned so many trips still to do but COVID came into our lives and changed so much around him. 

But we sat thinking about our 54 years of marriage and it was the anniversary of that which is just two days away that got us thinking. He was happy that all the things that he had talked about all those years ago had come to fruition. He had walked in his father's steps with his love of gardening, with his love of the United Church and following again his father's time as treasurer and in the choir, and his own ambition to do his PhD in Chemistry and be a scientist. A little earlier in the summer our eldest had brought him a List of Citations of his work that she had collected and it was a long list actually with a number in the period after he wrote his Thesis (his work was initial work in the field) and then a huge interest again in the early 1980s extending up into the 2000s. He was thrilled with the collection of citations. Edward was only two years old when his father died in a farming accident. His father had epilepsy and had been home schooled and then managed the farm for the family. He had a fall in the barn that was fatal as his head hit cement I understand from what Edward said. 

As our Anniversary comes once again I will make two donations I think with one to the Branch Library of the Ottawa Branch of Ontario Ancestors as usual (a group that he joined in the early 1980s when he went with Gordon Riddle, his cousin, to the first meeting he ever attended (I was not interested in going when we lived in the London area and that interest didn't come at this time in the Ottawa area either (it would take a while for me to take up the mantle of genealogy like 2003)). He loved the group and spent the next close to fourty years as part of it in so many ways (and he volunteered me for items he wanted done (I always think he was trying to keep me at home as the psychiatrist had told him I needed a lot of rest and quiet)). However all that volunteering involved my going out or people calling me on the telephone or having to call people on the telephone (his United Church, the OGS, Treasurer at Camp Bitobi and so many items except World Day of Prayer which I volunteered to do)! And I did go back to work as soon as I could actually although at home for over fifteen years for the bulk of that work and then back into the working world.  

The other donation I am contemplating picking up once again was his donation to his Alma Mater (and mine actually Western University was the University of Western Ontario). I shall investigate that as I would want to do that in his memory. 

I have continued most of the donations that he was doing along with the ones that I was doing. All societies need donations to organizations in order to provide that activity or need to continue being met as they are a social need for many many people. When money concentrates in one small group then life does not flow as equally or well as God meant it to.  

September finally

 The second day of cleaning and it will be the basement. Glad that it is September and the children are back in school so my food shopping days can begin again. I always stock up in mid-August to last until on into September. I actually have quite a bit on hand still. Moving does sound so delightful actually. I will probably just order my groceries delivered though. That actually works very well. 

Edward was so attached to his property here but I never was except at the very beginning when we first  moved here. It was so lovely and quiet. We knew our friends over on the street behind us. We could just spend all our time  on our projects including our daughter. She was so into reading but gradually she made a couple of friends that she played with mostly on the climbers in our back yard as we came with three in total which we set up for her to play on as she had had them at the house in South Ottawa which we were renting. But she loved to read and was starting to write little stories to send to her grandparents. Then she was off to four year old kindergarten in the Fall at Convent Glen Catholic as a tuition student since Edward had listed us as public school supporters but they had a spot for her in their four year old programme (no four year old kindergarten in the public school system then) which was great. I would have kept her going there but Edward preferred she be at the public school. Her best friend was just two doors up and they were best friends until he moved away. Her other friends were close by which was nice. 

I remember being out for a walk with our eldest daughter just after we moved here (eight years older than her younger sister) and some children called her over to play on a climber but she said no she was going for a walk with her parents. It was cute. She was like that although she did feel sorry for a couple that dropped by our house with their dog and they were saying they didn't have any children to her. But I told her they will have children eventually. He was our family doctor actually and she did like him at first until she started getting her allergy shots and then she did not like him anymore but she was only five. When we went to Edward's Church the first time she ran away when he came over to speak to us. Edward stayed and chatted with him; they did work on their in common Kipp genealogy as they both came from the same area (I think it was on Gordon's maternal side but no ideas on that). I avoided all such conversations so do not know  much about it. I think he might have been younger than Edward though; no idea on that. When I was checking the Tillsonburg Kipp family as one of the people in Edward's Kipp yDNA study had asked a question, I discovered that Gordon was likely from that Kipp family so they were about fourth cousins or greater actually as the common ancestor in this family is unknown - Edward descends from Isaac Kipp (Northeast Town, Dutchess County, New York) and John Kipp was a Quaker who had come up from somewhere in New York State to the Niagara area before moving on to Tillsonburg, Ontario. I think Gordon thought he was descendant of Richard Titus Kipp (brother to Edward's Benjamin Kipp (Edward's great grandfather)) but Edward had placed him in the Tillsonburg Kipp family at some point. His last name was Riddle though so on his mother's side perhaps or could be his father's mother's side. 

Reading Nehemiah and the last couple of chapters and then will  move on to Tobit since this is a Catholic  Bible that I have. The King James Version does not have Tobit and Judith but I will read them both. Then it is Esther followed by two more Books that are not in the King James Version 1st and 2nd Maccabees. Then Job, Psalms and Proverbs and then are a few more additional books in the Old Testament Catholic Bible. Always remembering why I started to reread the Bible from the beginning as I understand better my thoughts on resolving all of our differences and moving to that uplifted plain of peace that would give the world so much happiness. I always felt that Armageddon had come during the Second World War and we had survived by our ingenuity and the hard fight that was fought against evil and we had moved through Revelations to a peaceful existence. God very much in our minds and hearts but the second coming did not happen then and is perhaps way into the future because God loves humanity and wants them to survive much longer. It is something that I have felt for a long time and I wonder why I think it now.  Perhaps the Bible will reveal that to me; no ideas on that. Millions of people have read the Bible but one has a different look when one is in their 80s I think as one reads the Bible. Although with the Russians throwing around the idea of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine human life might not be as long as it could be. What does one do with such evil people?

Today it is cleaning day and I will do the top floor after all; I was going to do the basement but first I will vacuum the basement. Generally I wash the floor because 3/4s of it is cement and the rest area rugs. Washing the cement keeps the dust down.  We only use the one end of it as a TV room/exercise area. The rest of it used to be packed full of tools and all sorts of stuff most of it went to Salvation Army or the Tool Library and some to neighbours except for what my son in law wanted - he got first choice. We kept enough tools to do repairs that we can do ourselves. It still surprises me to see how empty it is. 

Another beautiful day in God's world. Success for the Liberals they won all three of the ridings in the by-elections. Although I do not necessarily support the Liberals in all of the things that they do I feel very strongly that the idea of diversification of trade is our most important step including our huge investments in the military along with getting these pipelines built to tidewater. The Eastern pipeline is also very important to Ontario/Quebec. I just do not think we will be giving up oil anytime soon in terms of cars although EVs are certainly interesting. We buy so many cars in Canada and we did have a Canadian car industry which was bought out; perhaps a new one will appear in the near future. There have been so many surprises. 

So cleaning today and then work on the genealogical tables and mostly quiet work once I finish the cleaning. I am still getting back my energy after a very busy summer. There is a lot of yard work but I shall soon begin my one hour per day cleaning up the yards. It will take a few weeks but that is fine. 

Solitaire puzzles are next. 

Prayers continuing for the souls of those who lost their lives in the glacial flooding in Nepal and Tibet. Prayers for the rescue of the thousands still buried in the mud in tunnels under the earth. The Chinese military are doing a fantastic job of helping in the rescue there. They have been on the job since it happened.  

 

 

 

Last day of August

 Reading Nehemiah and Nehemiah is Governor and the peoples who have returned from captivity in Persia (Babylon) have worked hard to restore the temple area in Jerusalem. The numbers of people is overwhelming when you think about it. Thousands of people have returned from captivity. I completed to the end of Chapter 9 and a new Covenant has been signed between God and the people of Israel. The amount of history in all these words is amazing. We know so much about these lands where modern Israel now is located and the lands around this area. The people are known by their various groupings who are not part of Israel. Fascinating really as reading the Bible when I was much younger I did not think about all of these parts in the same way. God the Creator tried to live on earth with us; He no longer lives with us after He sent Jesus His son to show us the way; to create the Christian faith to support all the teachings that Jesus brought with Him to mankind over two thousand years ago. Slowly we are reaching towards the times of the New Testament but still quite a bit of reading to do. We will go back and forth in time as we reach the Psalms and the Proverbs. These two Old Testament books are perhaps the most familiar over all to me because we do read a Psalm every week in Church and the Proverbs we see in our daily life in writings. 

Prayers continuing for the souls of those who have died in the floods in Nepal and Tibet. Prayers for the rescue of the thousands still trapped in the mud (buildings buried in the deep mud). Some people experienced in tunnel rescues have left from Canada to go to Nepal and Tibet to help. The rescuers must be exhausted from all of this searching. So many lost. 

Windows opened to let in the fresh air and cool the house down before the temperature rises. I turned the air conditioning off a week ago. I find it very cold especially when it is dehumidifying although I do keep it at 25 degrees celsius.  

Diversification of our trade is at the top of our list of things to do and will continue until we have increased our trade between the provinces (where ever is the BC peanut butter?), breaking down those trade barriers, and increase our trading with the rest of the world. It is our prime thought along with all the new projects that are in mind. Our military projects took the first concern and are starting to come to fruition so time now to work on civilian projects. It is something we should have been doing these past fourty years but now we are at it and that is the important part. Our youth are certainly up to the challenge. 

Today is cleaning day and I am back on schedule and will do the main floor today as it will be quite a bit of extra work with washing of all the floors. Actually the dogs were quite good and I wiped their feet outside on the muddy days and inside when it was just dusty and a bit damp but not muddy. They were good and I am sure they are thrilled to be back with the cats as they have missed them. There are four animals and a lot of fish - 2 dogs and 2 cats. They are all good friends. 

With the matches all done (although I see My Heritage has sent me email with some new ones that I will check out) I started into the phasing of my great grandparents. I will avoid adding anything new unless it is incremental adding in details that needed more support. 

So working on the books, the photo albums and the phasing of the grandparents (Edwards)/great grandparents (mine) will be my focus over the next few months. Lots of working time ahead of me and winter soon to come which is my best working time for sure. 

I am looking forward to moving in three years or so as this house, small though that it actually is, is much too large for me. Would love to move sooner but at 81 I am too old for too many changes all at once if I can avoid it. I know that moving in three years or so is something that is going to happen but trying to do that several times is just not practical. 

I must admit listening to Jason Kenny discussing the current situation I could wish that he would contemplate going back into the Conservative Party federally. He is cooler headed and controlled in how he discusses topics.  I do not entirely agree with him on the tariff business. The intent is to protect our home industries with the current retroactive tariff to come into force in another week and I think is best centered on that idea - I agree with the Premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan on these points. But he is an excellent speaker with a lot of background in federal politics and a good listener.  

Solitaire puzzles to do.  

The Truth will set you Free

The Church service at Christ Church did  not come online today so I went to Church at Flackwell Heath, Buckinghamshire in Oxford Diocese.  Wonderful singing with several of my favourite songs but the theme running through the prayers and the sermon was "The truth will set you free." I simply love that expression. It is beautiful. My roots are deep in the Church of England, called Anglican in Canada primarily. I would say my grandfather's Blake line were reluctant to be no longer Roman Catholic but accepted that they had to be Church of England because Queen Elizabeth was their valid Queen so they believed and so they practised. But there was a lot of catholicism in my grandfather. The priest who taught them at school was likely very High Church as it is called when one is more Catholic than Protestant. 

My first day without the dogs. I woke up first always and waited for them to arouse at their own pace which was generally about one hour after I woke up which meant I had my exercises all done and was ready for the onslaught of opening the door of the bedroom where they were sleeping. It was a quick hello and down the stairs and running around to enjoy the new day in this house. They missed their family but they enjoyed their time with me. They quickly forget that I have said no (generally in a loud voice) and come over for a hug and then back to playing and sleeping. Dogs sleep a lot. 

When I was young we had a dog and he was my strongest companion - Normie recognized that I did not see well and would track me about as a toddler bringing me back from my wandering by tugging at my dress and pulling me along (I apparently never got off the property!). I have no memory of Normie as he was put down when I was just three years of age - the shock to my system must have been enormous. I looked for him for ages (so it was said) but he was gone and then we moved and everything that I knew well was gone and perhaps that was when the memory of Normie also disappeared. I do not remember the feel of his fur or riding on his back (I was the only one he allowed to do that) or the lick of his tongue. He was a full sized Collie and greatly loved by the family. He was a very tame dog and extremely good with children but a child came to play at our house (my age apparently so one does wonder why a two to three year old is wandering about a neighbourhood alone going to houses) and she apparently hit me which was a mistake. The dog did not actually hurt her but he pinched her and left a tiny mark apparently but Normie was put down; my parents (with five children) did not want to have a dog that was untrustworthy - sad really. 

What does that have to do with truth will set you free? Absolutely nothing but for some reason a few things came back to me as I listened to the Sermon. Talking about leaving everything and following Jesus was also the theme and probably the one that I was supposed to be hearing. It reminded me of leaving London when my husband took a job in Ottawa and I followed him. We had two vehicles and literally he drove one and I followed him in the other with our not yet one year old. We were also taking her away from everything she knew especially her grandparents who loved her dearly. Now I am one of seven and at this point in time my parents had three grandchildren (12, 8 and 7) and she ended up being the only baby for another eight years when my youngest was born. So she was the center of any party or any event in the family. She was alive by the grace of God because my first pregnancy was a miscarriage at four months - a sad event in my life and I still miss that child but now with God I am sure wrapped tightly in His arms. I changed jobs so that I was not on my feet and was blessed with my daughter just a couple of years later. Another miscarriage when my daughter was two and it was a result of me simply being not strong enough to carry a baby at this point. I did wonder if I ever would carry another child.  Then a surprise just when I was going back to do my Masters but I chose staying home and proofreading/copyediting for first the government and then private printers when my job was cut from the Public Service by the Conservative government for whom I had voted but I was unemployed for about one day I think! It didn't alter my voting habits.

My husband was a very distinct person with a very distinct personality and my eldest grandson is his walking image - he looks like him; he has many of his characteristics and habits and sometimes he says things which was exactly the way Edward used to say it. Sadly he was only eight when his grandfather died and it was a sad day for everyone but especially I think for my eldest grandson as they were just getting to that point of sharing thoughts and ideas. Edward would have been a perfect grandfather for his grandsons and it is sad, to me still, that life did not support his continuing but he will always be alive in our minds. My youngest grandson still talks about his grandpa Edward asking me questions about when he was born, things he did as he too remembers his grandpa very well. So the truth that was coming through my mind was the regret I still feel deep in my soul that their grandpa Edward isn't still here with them. I still have all of his school work that he saved (myself I threw it all out when I got married!). I hated school although I absolutely love learning. If I could have learned online I would have been so overjoyed to be honest. Going to Church online, although it is not the concept that Jesus designed, is also a wonderful event in my life. 

Must get my running in. I am slowly working my way back up to thirty minutes a day with a twenty minute walk. Whenever I am ill I take it backwards even halfway or more so that I do not put undue strain on a system that buckled so many years ago in my late 20s. I just think it is wise to take it easy as you work your way back into an exercise routine. 

Prayers for the souls of all those who died in the glacial flooding in Nepal and Tibet and prayers that many more will be rescued. Back to watching the news again for a bit. Not that I am uninterested but I can do nothing about the events of the world except live through them like everybody else.  

 

Matches completed

Matches all completed and moving on to the genealogical tables although I have quite a bit of work to do now on the phasing of my great grandparents as well. The project to work on Edward's grandparents is still in the beginning stages and I will work on that gradually. Although I would like very much to move I still have far too much material. Edward's boxes still number 30 Banker Boxes and finding time to do everything seems to be very difficult. I want to do a proper job of managing Edward's paperwork. He did give me a lot of instructions for some of it but not all. So I am winging it quite a bit although his cousins have been very helpful. He was just into so many of his lines and acquired so much material. 

The Archives at Chilliwack are still on my mind as I told them I would send them the newsletters that I have written and I still need to do that. 

 I need to pull all of Edward's niece's pictures and get them into a package in the next month or so. But fourty binders is still a lot of pictures. So I need to organize that as I move through them. Then I am also writing two books for my parent's families (Blake and Pincombe). I think this winter though I am organized enough that I can accomplish even more than last year. I can see that the three years that I will probably still remain here might let me accomplish all of this work. I would dearly love to move but it is impractical. 

I am really happy when the children are back in school as I am more comfortable with driving to the store. I can go slowly and the streets are all 40 km per hour which is great. I think I will give up wearing my one pair of sunglasses driving though as they seem to be darker than my other pair; I do have a pair that are brighter. I really never found it a problem until the other day. However, everything worked out but one wants to be so careful.

Very very few people come to the door now which really suits me; none is even better unless they are my relatives. I just go to the window and suggest they put their flyer into the mailbox or just shake my head to say I am not coming to the door. I think I will put my note on the door that I am busy working. I do not buy anything at the door and really can not help anyone. There are other people around me who are home and much younger than I am. Funny to finally be too old rather than too young as I was so many years of my life.

I did finally listen to some of the televised information on the trade talks. I am so in favour of diversifying our trade but that doesn't mean that I am against some sort of a trade deal with the United States. It means a lot to many many States and it means a lot to our Provinces and Territories. But we have proven ourselves through this past century and need to just work on what we can do. I marvel at the bravery of the Canadians throughout 1939 to early 1942 when we were all alone on the North Atlantic going back and forth day after day ferrying food and supplies to the British Isles and bringing back the children to protect them from the war. It was a hard life I think and cost us a great deal of money; I entered it just after the war so grew up in the shadow of that great contribution that Canada made and we continue to do what we can do to support our allies in the protection of our lands and oceans. Our country borders on three oceans with the longest oceanic coastline in the world. 

I do want the shovels in the ground for the pipeline to the west coast sooner rather than later. The eastern pipeline to Ontario and Quebec is needed as well but time will tell. I wonder sometimes about mining the oil in Venezuela after that last earthquake (that seems to be on people's mind with the latest announcement). Sometimes the land will yield up its goodness other times it fights back. Hard to say; I am not an expert. Canada, the land of my birth, my upbringing and my adulthood and I do love Canada very much. When I have given up my time freely particularly in the service of God  I am happy to do so. But God does not make huge demands on us just two - love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and love (respect really is the meaning I think) our neighbour as ourself. Then peace can be there for the entire world and that Utopia so many seek will be here on earth as we await the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I do not seek Utopia but rather my quiet life where I can just write to my heart's content. 

Reading Nehemiah and all of his work on the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem. This has been a fascinating trip through time reading the Bible in my old age. I am quite exhausted from the summer and look forward to a quiet fall. I am not one to seek medical aid particularly because the psychiatrist did tell me what I had to do to stay well. I will be doing that over the next month or so as I recuperate from a summer full. 

Woke up with a headache as my mind is too active at the moment. Need to take it easy for a bit and recuperate. Off to bed again and to sleep. 

Solitaire puzzles in the morning when I awake. Thank you God for all that you do. 

Dear Father hear and bless Thy beasts and singing birds.  And guard with tenderness small things that have no words. Bless my grandparents, my parents, my siblings and my husband who have proceeded me in this life. Bless all those that I love and all who dwell in Your lands and protect them from the evil of the world. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Goodnight once again.  

  

 

 

Ezra and the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem

 Canada continued its heroic trips back and forth across the North Atlantic which had begun in earnest in 1939 and continued into 1942 ferrying food and materials to the British Isles and returning with shiploads of children to protect them from war. It was a difficult couple of years but our maritime forces exceeded any expectations on what could be done in such precarious times. Not that such times are on us again but the need for such hard concentrated work lies ahead of us. It is an exciting time in our history that is for sure as we diversify our trade and start new products for delivery to the world. 

Completed the reading of Ezra yesterday and moving on to Nehemiah today. The Israeli people have returned to their homeland from captivity in Persia (Babylon) and Assyria. The rebuilding of the temple is underway. God is in their hearts and minds as they work to regain what was lost to them. 

Just two matches left to do and back to rephasing the great grandparents and continuing with the generational charts of the Blake family at Andover and the Pincombe family at North Molton. 

The dogs and I spent a little time outside yesterday and they will soon be going home. I am in need of a week of rest and relaxation which will include cleaning my house. Last night just eleven degrees celsius and up to fifteen degrees celsius now at 9:30 a.m. Fall is coming and with it the change in the colours of the leaves which has begun slightly here and there. I need to take down the bird feeder as I do not feed birds; letting them take what they want from the fruit and seeds in the yard. They are very industrious birds but it is fun to watch them come to the feeder that is for sure. The cardinals have never left us all these years coming back year in and year out. One generation after another. This year's generation's young is a female cardinal and mostly it has been male cardinals from this pair over the last few years. 

  Solitaire puzzles are next.  

I am always thinking about my driving. I have decided when my reactions do not seem to be quick enough to me then it is time to stop. The other day I was headed to the grocery store which involves a couple of streets. I was making my turn onto the street that takes me there and suddenly a motor bike appeared and as I was in the way I finished my turn but it does tell  me that watching is the most important thing. A motor cycle going by on the street outside reminded me of that as I was sitting with the dogs. 

 

Canada stood alone in 1939 and 1940 on the North Atlantic

Canada is a strong country. In 1939 and 1940 our convoys crisscrossed the Atlantic Ocean daily carrying food and supplies to the British Isles constantly being attacked and tracked by the enemy. We did not quaver; we forged ahead and that is what being Canadian is all about. We can do it. I remember the late 40s and early 50s of the 1900s very clearly. Our soldiers (I lived in a military city as London, Ontario's biggest employer was the Canadian military at Wolsley Barracks) stood tall and always ready for whatever was handed to them. We never really lost that; it just got seconded by the needs of the many as Canada grew through the 1980s and 1990s. But we are back, our military is growing rapidly and our equipment is topping it up all over. We will defend North America along with our neighbours to the south and our friends in Europe/British Isles. A large number of countries have an Arctic coastline. 

I am finding the Book of Ezra very very interesting. We are now approaching the prophecies of the prophets and the promise of a Messiah. That along with the return to Jerusalem make the readings very significant. It is amazing that it is the King of Persia, he said that God told him to do it, who sends the Israelites back to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. It is just 500 years now before the birth of Jesus Christ. I know I have read the Book of Ezra before but it has been a very long time. Yesterday I read the first five chapters and today I am reading the remaining five chapters. The next book is Nehemiah. I always feel privileged to read these ancient writings and thankful to the Jewish people for their gift to the world of all these writings. We are now into the time of the great libraries that I talked about before. Knowledge is now being stored up and passed around to the scholars of the known world. But the value of the Bible stretching so far back in time must never be overlooked. 

Worked on the matches and still a few to do and I will work away at that today once again. Yesterday I vacuumed both floors and it does look good. I will scrub the bathrooms today and do the dusting next week when I clean again. I need to clean all of the floors although the dogs have been very good and I clean their feet at the door. But the younger dog has thick curls that do not shed but do hold vast amounts of water. 

I am starting to think about all of the new projects coming to Canada in the next months as we continue to diversify our trade around the world. It is very exciting time for Canada. The loss, if it happens, of the three big American car makers will be quickly filled by others and I must say having driven in Dodge cars for all my life they will be truly missed. The hit to their bottom line (the three American car makers) will be huge as we buy a lot of American corporate vehicles in Canada made in Canada. But you can sense the burgeoning of new car companies coming to Canada to build cars with Canadian materials  and no more worries on our part that they have just come to try and have a back door into the United States. We have lots of room for car factories (including home grown) and lots of workers and purchasers. 

An interesting aside the French call the channel of water to their north La Manche and the British call it The English Channel. 

Looking out my window I remember last spring when the City truck came along and cleared away the built up salt and mud along the kerb. As usual that big black truck was out there and now I have this pool of water there because it is landlocked. I am not strong enough to move that anymore but it is a place for mosquitoes to breed. One must notice what is happening in the world around them as it took them quite a while to clean the street. When I looked out the window one time the man in the city truck pointed at the black truck and made a motion for me to move it. I nodded my head no, and pointed across the road. We all pay our taxes. I once asked his wife to move the truck but apparently she can not drive it. That is really serious as it could be an emergency and that truck had to be moved so one shouldn't own something one cannot move! Of course someone else might move it!

So still matches to do and I will work at that and also scrubbing the two bathrooms and that will be the cleaning for this week. Next week is a thorough cleaning including scrubbing all the wooden floors. I am ready for the challenge; all better. God will not call me home this time I guess. 

Thank you God for another beautiful day in Your world. A bit cloudy but other wise a lovely late summer day.  

 

 

Moving on as September approaches

 September is always lovely as we move towards fall with winter coming. A wondrous moment to leave summer behind; summer is not my favourite season. There really isn't anything that I love about summer - cold air conditioning is one of my big dislikes and yet I do have that because it keeps the air fresh. I like to swim but you can swim all year round. I love to walk but I can do that inside my house all year round although a walk outside is always very nice. 

Some work accomplished yesterday and about eight matches left to do. Found two new matches in the database I am working on at the moment. The one especially exciting as it filled in this tiny length that was more or less vacant. 

The dogs are missing their family even if I am family. They have been with me for a while but surprisingly quiet and good. But they are getting older. A quick rebuke and they quiet down if something outside alarms them. 

Ezra reading begins today and the Babylonian Captivity is ending. King Cyrus of Persia has decreed that they return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple to God, the God of the Israeli people. The ten chapters begin with this decree around 540 BCE (before the common era). Again the God of Creation (God of the Israeli people) demonstrates His faithfulness in bringing His people home from exile to the lands that He promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel). He has spoken through the Persian King Cyrus the Great. 

I put off my cleaning earlier this week but will vacuum the top floor today as one of the dogs sheds heavily and it is time; one can not really go for more than a week without vacuuming! My schedule is all awry but time will fix that and I am a person who can tolerate such changes. 

Time for a piece of banana bread (my concoction) and a glass of milk. I will return to my blog shortly.  

Dogs out for two runs and then breakfast. I have to send them out singly because the older dog has to walk but if out with the younger dog she runs and that is bad for her leg. Dogs get old too. She has been a wonderful dog. A perfect companion to the family for sure. The younger dog is very spirited and has grown up on a huge lot so my lot in comparison is small. Used to being a long way back from the road and here she is up close. So hard for her but the older one manages it well. 

Supposed to rain and I decided to let them have two good outings before that starts. Clouding again so perhaps it will begin sooner. 

Cleaning to begin soon. Doing solitaire puzzles.  

It truly is amazing to still be on God's earth; I never expected to live this long to be honest. I was dreadfully ill at the end of my 20s. But the psychiatrist laid it on the line for me that I had to rest. That every time I did not rest I would become ill. Initially I did not even test that out and rested whenever my infant did but gradually I did push myself a little but too much and I paid for it with exhaustion, a return of the headaches and fainting. So back to resting once again. My eldest at two would sit beside me whilst I rested and read her books (she read so young) or make pictures but always stay close as she knew that I would get upset if I couldn't see her. Now she is again my caregiver although mostly a long way away as I tell her that works for me and just live your life. Although I can still get the tiredness and headache the fainting is no longer part of daily living thank goodness. It is a long long time since I fainted. 

King Cyrus of Persia

The end of the Babylonian Captivity was created by King Cyrus of Persia (Babylon was now known as Persia). King Cyrus of Persia stated: The Lord, the God of heaven had given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem in Judah. Hence he told the descendants of the people of Judah that they were now permitted to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel. God once again fulfilled the promise he told to Jeremiah that His people would return to the land He had promised to their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel (Jacob). My next readings will be the first chapters of Ezra. 

The dogs have kept me very busy but I am stronger once again. Still not watching the news very much but I do belong to the idea that Canada must rebuild her lost industries due to free trade (our industries were bought out/out competed and simply disappeared due to American companies buying them out during Free Trade and now we buy all those products from the United States although those companies took their production off shore to Asia and have crippled their own economy). Having free trade should really work it has worked well in Europe between all the countries there (both large and small). They do not lose their home industries. It is the lure of money that is really the problem; we need to follow the lure of God to create the best country that we can and not follow the money but rather know that the money will eventually come as we become stronger and stronger diversifying our trade around the world and then the complaint that we sell too much to the United States will disappear as our trade diversifies around the world (we have actually decreased the amount by more than 10%). We have so much to sell; so many industries to create in this modern world and we have the youth of our nation to help bring all of those industries to fruition. We continue with the impression that the present President wishes to destroy our economy and force us to become a 51st state but the only way that Canada would ever be part of such a union would be as thirteen new states all with their own two senators and representation by population. We would not wish to be second class Americans. But we like being Canadians and a good friend is worth far more than that in reality. We have been a good friend all of these years. When one is out numbered by 8.5 to 1 as the United States has far more people than Canada then the methods of dealing with such odds are to simply create agreements that permit us to exist as we are. Obviously the United States will always have more people and more buying power but we have a union that has stood the test of time which is a very reliable country to have next to anyone and we must continue knocking down any trade barriers between the provinces/territories as we move forward in our ambitious move to diversify our trade to make our neighbours happier since the President and his advisers feel that we ship too much south. The only purpose of the September 8th retaliatory tariffs is to protect our native industry and allow it to burgeon and grow and not be swept away by the tide of 8.5 to 1.  I love my American cousins and want to see them prosper but Canada is my home and we need to make it the best possible following the ideas of the Fathers of Confederation and grow Canada to be the strong country it has been and always will be. 

Another beautiful day in God's world; thank you God for all this lovely weather that you have sent to us. Hopefully the smoke coming up from the United States wildfires into British Columbia will soon pass and clean air will be there for everyone both sides of the border.  

God bless the world and all who live in it. The satanists (Russia's war mongers and Iran's war mongers) amongst us need to be gone from this world since they have no interest in an enduring peace around the world to give those who love peace a place to live.

I see the campaign begins once again to try and get me to sell my house and probably everybody around me in order to buy up this land and create higher density housing. The train will soon be running and the incentive to create even more housing closer to the train will intensify likely. I am going to sell but not today. I am not in a rush probably three years unless God calls me home sooner; one can not tell that. A child's wading pool close to me in another property on the street full of stale water that is breeding mosquitoes doesn't alter that thought actually. It is an interesting experiment and brings out the scientist hidden way deep inside of me contemplating what is growing there actually. When I thought I might have had West Nile Virus it was that wading pool that gave me the idea. It is tempting to throw 500 millitres of bleach into it but not actually practical (as it might eat out the pool although the stagnant water might do that as well).  I will just enjoy the experiment until the cold weather destroys it. I wonder if anyone would actually leave that pool sitting there in their backyard all winter. Seems somewhat weird. I was initially concerned that the small children a couple of doors away would also catch West Nile Virus from the mosquitoes breeding there when I had that thought. But that thought has passed. I am 81 after all. 

Continuing reading 2 Chronicles

 The years pass by quickly in the Book of 2 Chronicles as the names of the Kings of Judah and Israel fly by in the readings. The Kings of Judah are more likely to follow God's rules but not always. Good times and bad prevail throughout the readings. 

Busy day yesterday as we filled the shed with the summer things. Just the lawn mower left out and gardening implements.  I am going to try and do one hour per day outside once the dogs go back home. That would have everything cleaned up for winter. I am feeling somewhat stronger once again. The summer always drains me somewhat. 

No work on the matches. It was a busy day to generally do some items around the house and yard. All completed. 

Today is another day of work if possible. I will see as the dogs tend to keep me distracted from accomplishing very much. A sort of holiday for this workaholic who otherwise would spend a lot of time on the book writing. I wonder when the last mail delivery to the house will be as I am keen on putting my note on the door to halt the bell ringing as it disturbs my concentration when I am working. When I proofread at home all day years ago I did keep a note on the door for quite a bit of the day. They were busy times although I always helped at my girl's schools one day a week until I went back to onsite work. 

Still staying away from the news for the most part. Sadly when I bought my cookies that I have eaten all my life (one package, now made in the United States although originally Canadian made - the company moved there) the cookies were too sweet and I couldn't eat them. Strange after two years without to notice such a difference. So  one package only and most of it got recycled. Interesting though for that to happen. 

Must get some work done now; time is a-wasting as they say. Less than a dozen matches to place although probably should check for new ones one last time before proceeding to the next part of the project. 

Solitaire puzzles completed. 

 

On to the work week

 Church yesterday was very nice. The Sermon was most interesting and the music really great. There were a lot of people at Church actually. I was online as usual.

Not much done yesterday but I am improving in my energy levels. The dogs kept me busy all day with their in and outs. It was rainy so in and out when it was sunny for a bit. They are still loving their backyard although will be glad when their family picks them up. It is a sort of vacation for them to come. 

Today I shall pick up a few threads of my work and hold my cleaning a couple of days as the dogs will leave me soon. They have had a very busy time. 

Reading 2 Chronicles and up to Chapter 25 now. The continuing recitation of the history of Judah primarily (the line of David) but more detail than the earlier passages in the Bible. Fascinating to read actually and must have been for the Babylonian captives as their eyes turned back towards their homeland. 

A couple of correspondence lines with cousins of my husband sorting out some of their research is top of the line today. Still searching for the Allen material and maybe this week it will emerge. 

Weather today is partly cloudy with some sun. It is 15 degrees celsius and not a really warm day today with a high of 21 and possibility of rain. Pretty normal day for the last days of August. School goes back in a week tomorrow. 

Maybe work on the matches today as the headache is gone; I do tend to baby my eyes - habit from the past as they seem much stronger and especially I can actually see without glasses. 

Solitaire puzzles next. 

Thank you God for another beautiful day in Your world.  Fascinating article on MSN by Rob Waugh: Archaeologists find ancient Roman city that holds strongest physical evidence supporting the Bible . 

Finally remembered to put ice cubes on the orchids (they were Edward's plants and the three of them are still on occasion blooming). That is amazing really as I do not have a green thumb although I am keeping them for my daughter and she and her dad did gardening together through the years. 

 

 

 

Sunday and Twelfth Sunday after Trinity

 Rainy today and has begun. Luckily the dogs were out before the rain and will watch for a break for going out later. The days have moved very fast as it is nearly two weeks since they came to stay with me. They have been good for the most part except for the smaller dog barking. The older dog used to tell her off but doesn't any more as she is older and feels the need of this dog's protection perhaps. Hard to say. 

Busy day yesterday with grocery shopping for a few items. Other than that though it was a quiet day. My daughter didn't kayak yesterday because the parking lot is always much too full on the weekends. We have a parking pass but that doesn't guarantee you a spot. She loves to kayak but it works during the week better. 

I wonder why there are so many cars going the wrong way on a street - weird really. When she came back from Petri two days ago someone was driving right towards her in her lane (two lane road) so she leaned on the horn and they finally moved back into their lane - are they on drugs or drunk or just unfit to drive? What is the matter with people these days? It is truly ignorant to break the rules of the road on busy streets especially for more than the time it takes to pass something. When you have to pass you do that carefully. I seldom drive and mostly to the grocery store when the children are in school and the streets are less busy. I feel confident driving and will continue for a while yet perhaps; I made certain decisions in my mind with regard to driving. When I no longer feel that my reaction time is quick enough then it is time for me to stop. I can take a taxi or a bus if I need to go somewhere.  

A little thinking on the research yesterday but not a great deal of work. My headache has more or less dissipated now. It was a long lasting migraine; I have not had one for a while actually. Few of them since I had the cataract surgery which was another surprise of those surgeries on my two eyes. Having this sight now after so many years of putting my glasses on first thing continues to truly amaze me. The depth of vision is a remarkable gift of Almighty God to us and it is amazing that it finally shows up in my eyes at this late age. Amusing really. It took a while for me not to just gaze and gaze at things whilst I appreciated the fineness of God's finished product with so many things. Even a bee pollinating a flower catches my eyes. 

Church later this morning and looking forward to that as usual. The dogs generally watch with me and listen to me when I sing the hymns. They have been mostly good all their time here except for the younger one barking out the window. 

Perhaps work on the matches later today. It is cooler now in the mornings as we are coming into late August and soon fall will come. The birds are flocking as they prepare to migrate to their winter homes. Busy keeping their young active in the air flying to prepare them for that huge trip. It is amazing watching the birds on the feeder all these years. The same birds come back every years and we imagine they are the same family as before. They just land and build their nests and then feed at the feeder which we moved to the front yard to keep food out of the back yard is helpful to keep away wandering wild animals. The three yearling raccoons have not returned that I have seen since I blew the whistle. The whistle does terrify them but they are safer in the woods rather than in my yard where the hawks can get them. They are still pretty small not that much bigger than a small cat. 

Solitaire puzzles are next. Thank you God for this beautiful earth which you gave to us. 

An exhausting week

 This has been an exhausting week. I will never book a dentist appointment again when I am looking after the dogs. It wasn't their fault at all; entirely me and my nervous disorder (uncharacterized and I just never got around to working on that and probably never will). Seeing myself in my grandson has been an eye opener for sure. As his speech improves I can remember that when I was his age. So perhaps it is part of the Autism Spectrum who knows and at 81 it probably doesn't really matter. I seldom have conversations with people; I seldom work with people and my time not spent working on my research is spent with my family. My nerves though are somewhat frayed and need a nice rest and that is happening. I shall continue spending the month of September renewing my nerves and doing my research I find that very relaxing. Although I suggested a dental appointment between 8 Sep and 22 Sep to fill the tiny cavity. I have not heard back so will not contact them again until after September. I keep thinking if I had driven myself to the dentist then discovering the change in the setup of wearing indoor shoes I could have just popped out to the car and got my shoe bag and all would have been solved (except I really was quite tired but cancelling two years in a row would have been dreadful and I wasn't infectious) but it is just part of a block away and did consider going back home to get my bag actually. I was quite tired though and the migraine was settled in somewhat. Anyway water under the bridge and I will take care of that tooth soon enough. Although it might be exciting to think of never having to go to a dentist again the reality is that your own teeth are really better and I do know that as an adult. Although my grandmother certainly never complained about her false teeth but she was a realist and I suspect I am also! Plus I do pay for the dental plan so might as well use it! Some years I actually do use everything that I pay into it but mostly not. But I might one day.

So no research done yet. The dogs have been fed and had a run. They are sleeping it off. They weight around 50 pounds and around 65 pounds each so taking them for a walk is not something I would contemplate at any time. One at a time I could manage. They are such good dogs although the one is a barker but she lives in the country with a woods behind her and is just not used to city noises and people. The older dog rarely barks which is great. But they are good sleepers; in bed at 9 and up at 8 and very well rested. I never hear anything from them in the night. Well they do move around a bit. I did sleep in the same room with them for a couple of nights to help them with the change but I disturb them and so I slept elsewhere but close by.  

My Bible Readings have suffered this week but I will go into 2 Chronicles soon and read a couple of chapters. I did think this might happen and it has. These two books are really repeating the stories of the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah that have already been discussed in earlier chapters but are a wonderful recitation of those times and were apparently written for the Jewish people in exile in Babylon (and I think Assyria not sure about that). Babylon is Iraq these days - interesting when one looks back in history.  I used to think it was Iran but did a quick check on that and within the modern country of Iraq is the original location of Babylon. 

Research today hopefully working on the last block of matches and then back to phasing my great grandparents. This has truly been a rather fascinating path that I entered into around 2005. My mother was into family research and started asking me about DNA in the late 1990s. She was interested in the identification of family lines. I explained yDNA, atDNA and mtDNA to her but really yDNA and mtDNA were the only two that were in the news so to speak at this time. I did tell her that eventually atDNA would become mainstream and that was the way to really identify cousin matches. I did promise her that I would investigate this and our last visit together we talked about yDNA and I was a bit slow contacting my uncle in that regard (her brother) but it was in his thoughts. It just didn't happen. He was 89 and lived in Toronto; I lived in Ottawa and was working full time. My interest in genealogy about zilch but I always listened to both of them and can recall our conversations on the topic. They both found it fascinating that they could test to relate to people. I was very interested in DNA as a child when the first papers were released on the helical shape of DNA in 1953 in the April issue of Nature and that it carries genetic information. I was pretty young but it is surprising how some topics can catch a child's interest. This was 1951-2 when the experiments were done and one mustn't forget the work of Rosalind Franklin and her student Raymond Gosling capturing the x-ray diffraction image of the helical shape of DNA along with the work of James Watson and Francis Crick on the actual structure of DNA in Cambridge, England. 

Already time for my first 250 steps at 9 a.m. My readings and then solitaire puzzles.  

Internet up again

Rogers was attacked again by vandals. It is an excellent Internet Provider and they are back up earlier than they predicted. 

 

I got very distracted for a couple of days but mind is back in place once again and hopefully I accomplish a little research the next couple of days. 

 

I really like both my dentist and my doctor (mind you I do not actually know them and perhaps a better term would be respect) and they are both very hard working. I just get upset easily by items probably due to my 81 years of age.  Fortunately I seldom go anywhere which works well for me. Just adding in some rules to aid me along this path I am on.

internet down

Internet down all day. Probably up later today. Surprisingly most of my writing is for the books and does not need the internet

Chatted with my other daughter

 The conclusion is that I had a bad headache and wasn't sleeping well; Ottawa Public Health hasn't recorded any West Nile Virus as of August 2026. I was using this mouth appliance that the dentist prescribed but had to stop because of headaches. I meant to ask her about that and forgot (often happens since I reached the age of 81). Since I have given up the appliance it doesn't really matter. I think I was grinding my teeth for a bit; the earlier dentist noticed it as well. But I seem to have given up grinding my teeth apparently; no one mentioned it. So I guess the appliance worked but has become an archaic symbol of my past. I wonder when all my teeth will fall out. Probably doesn't happen quickly; too bad. I still think these false teeth are a great idea and they look nice. 

My daughter says to go to the doctor if I do not get better soon but I am actually improving nicely.  

My daughter told me that there are tests to distinguish all of these viruses that one can acquire but we do not test for them because the test kits are too expensive for us to afford them all across the country. Even in the ER it is not possible to afford these test kits which would be so very helpful there. In her ER they see more than 18 thousand people a year but they do not get money even for a CT scanner. That seems to be some what limiting when their ER never closes. 

We need to get this economy going so that we can afford all of these items.  

It is at such moments in time that I contemplate if I actually do have autism

 My only real memory that could allude to such a diagnosis stretches back far into the past when I was five years of age and in kindergarten and the school asked that I be tested for my hearing (the teachers apparently thought I could not hear their instructions) but the reality was I did not want to play musical chairs, I did not like sitting on the floor and singing, I came to school to learn. I did love to read and there was in the one corner of that room a whole lot of books so I was slightly disobedient so that I would be put into that corner but they did catch on). My mother and I went to somewhere on the bus (my father ran his own company and I was the fourth child) and I was tested using tuning forks I still remember that. Lovely man that tested my hearing (I still remember him but no idea what his specialty was (he was a doctor of something)); talked to me for a while and then said to my mother she is very quick to learn but puzzles it all out on her own in her mind. I will let the school know she is a quick learner and her hearing is affected by that and needs more challenges not fun so my mother said. So did that make me Autistic? No idea on that but as I watch my youngest grandchild grow up he reminds me of myself; my speech difficulties and my tendency to run everything that I was doing - to be in control. Certainly many of my teachers appreciated that tendency as they could always count on an answer. In those days there was just one class of each age group pretty much and some split classes; I tended to go into the split being in the lower part like 2/3 and 3/4 and then not going to 4 at all but being promoted to Grade 5 and it continued that way until Grade 8. I was just twelve years of age when I went to High School. 

My classmates were years older than me it always felt like. I had already decided that I would take bookkeeping and typing in Grade 9 instead of Latin but none the less the Guidance Teachers insisted on talking to me about that from day one nearly but I persisted and stayed in that class. I did not want to wash baby bottles to go to University as my sister had. I wanted a real job that didn't involve that and so it happened and so I went to University where I was also too young. One can be too young and now I am 81 and it is fascinating but do I actually have autism. No ideas on that but I relish my own time although I love being with my children etc. But I can also be alone writing my books. 

I must let the dogs out; they got upset because a cat came on their porch. They did so well until the cat came on the porch and then they lost it. So they have been  penalized just a little by not being able to look out the window. But a good run will make them feel better. The neighbour's cat is tough and can withstand the barking of caged dogs!

In again, my headache is keeping me from doing any real work on my research day but the dogs are interesting always and they will not always be here (dogs do not last as long as humans) whereas my research will be. Contemplating when I might move and it will be sooner hopefully but probably three or four years. Too bad really. Imagine living in the same house for 50 years or more and I lived 17 years in my last family home and three years in the one before that which I can only vaguely recall. That means for ten years Edward and I lived in other houses. The last 1.5 years was the house that we bought in London area and it was lovely and I hated leaving it behind because my first child came home to that house. We rented for 6 years before buying the house and then rented here for a couple of years. It was visiting some friends in Orleans from Western University that we saw these Carriage Homes and I loved them. Perfect for life without close family; no real entertainment area but lots of family room. Edward did think about moving a few years later up on the hill but he loved this yard and so we stayed and we are still here but he would hate this yard as I can not keep it up the way that he did. 

Good to see that the trade agreement is moving along and plans to sign it on Friday. I am not really keeping up with it. The machinations around trade agreements are many and so many people to keep happy. Liquor back on the shelves does not affect me; I never buy any; I do not drink other than the occasional glass of wine at my children's homes on special days.  I do think the Prime Minister is doing an excellent job although I did vote Conservative as I normally do. Minister LeBlanc has been fabulous through all of this; he has never once lost that smile on his face. He is such a perfect pick for this job. I do give ex-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau high marks for buying and then building the pipeline even if I do disagree on  all the new charges against the government he created. My own party needs to shape up and get a platform - whining is just boring. Get out there and help the young get jobs what else are you doing this summer? A three month paid vacation is ridiculous. I am not surprised to see disagreement but Prime Minister Carney is a conservative and head of the liberal party and he is winning. So get in line and support all these projects as much as you can. Canada needs to grow to be that country that the Fathers of Confederation dreamed and created - they did all that hard work of keeping Canada together and growing it at the same time. They didn't do it by whining. Sure they disagreed but when the work needed to be done they were in there doing it.