A great day yesterday and 78 officially now. I can remember each of my grandparents at 78 years of age. They were both still quite hale and hearty; both loved a good walk. In retrospect both loved a rich red meat diet and salt was definitely on the menu. Although both were relatively slender and muscular diet is a very important part of life for sure. Winters in Canada can be difficult for the elderly because getting out for a walk is risky with the ice on the walks. Exercising was not really something that people did back in the early 50s or even into the 60s as these two grandparents were 11 years separated in age and one from each of my family lines - my Blake Grandfather and my (Buller) Pincombe Grandmother. Reflecting on their lives is something I do more often than on my own parents because I lived with them on a more daily basis whereas I only saw my parents a few times a year because we did not live in their area and I returned to work outside the home in 1994 and that rather restricted travel time. Plus we used to go with Edward when he had to travel for work; it was great to do that in the spring and fall when he might have conferences to attend. We saw so much the three of us - my daughters and myself. It was a great education and gave one a freedom to travel the entire continent it almost seemed although most of the traveling was along the Atlantic Seaboard. That time is remembered fondly by all of us as time with Edward when he was not busy off doing his job and his volunteer activities. He was not home a lot for sure.
Today Church on You-Tube and it is nice to be back. I do love the organ music and singing the hymns especially to music. I have to rely on memory when the organ isn't there playing the tune. Although as usual Ian White's Psalms is playing in the background at 6:17 a.m. this morning.
An interesting article on the many species of Homo that have walked the face of the earth and DNA is doing all that tracking. In my own lines we have 3% Neanderthal and 5% Denisovan. Why so much Denisovan, I have no idea actually but do suspect it is my maternal grandmother's line going back in time. I know very little about her mother other than what my grandmother told me from the point of view of where she lived and the kind of person that she was. From the mtDNA though I have a great deal of information. H11 wintered at Ukraina during the Last Glacial Maximum better known as the Last Ice Age 15,000 to 20,000 years ago. Then this particular group of H11 from which we descend crossed from Ukraina perhaps through Doggerland or the Scandinavian Peninsula further north to end up in the Ayrshire/Argyllshire area of Scotland and thence to the northeastern part of Ireland. The first sign of Ellen (Taylor) Pincombe is Birmingham, England in the mid 1800s and it is the only timing firmly known to me about her because she was 37 years of age when she died of pneumonia one February morning in 1997 which my grandmother never forgot. She was eleven years of age.. But timing for these events prior to that time is totally unknown. As more and more research literature comes to the surface Haplogroup H11 continues to share some of that scientific perusal because it does have such a wide range for such a small grouping. I have ancient Russian/Ukrainian/Polish/Swedish/Finnish/Scot/Irish cousins from this line. But they are very ancient to me but none the less the fact that we do share common ancestry is amazing. One of the most fundamental items though is that we share ancient Ukrainian heritage, all of us, and that alone is amazing that we know that.
On to the day, learning Latin, footnoting the Ninth Generation and moving towards the Tenth Generation. The last week of September may well see me into the Eleventh Generation and early October finished once again. Then back to the final work through and the setting up of the Creative Commons License to protect all of that work and keep it free for all family members to peruse and add to on their own computers and together we will keep the Siderfin family alive through the ages and perhaps one of us will uncover the link back to the 1200s in Early England and find out where they lived before that. One never knows what knowledge can be acquired with dogged determination and a desire to know.
But first of all getting ready for Church. Even though I do not leave the house to go to Church there is still a lot of preparation to be ready for the service. Jumping Jacks and teatime is first and then my solitaire games; I have already read the Bible Reading for the day - poignant perhaps although not for myself; a rich man can not enter the kingdom of heaven and so must divest himself/herself of all that they own before they die. There is a richness in that Christian Heritage that nothing else can replace that shows up in the wills of our ancestors as they dutifully gave away all that they had as death approached them. That way they can control how what they have acquired is spent after they die. It is important to do that for your own good conscience I think. It is the gift of Jesus that just keeps on giving through the ages. God in His omnipotence loves what He has created but He did make the rules and in following them we have a more fulfilling life.
On to the day.
