I’m back from almost three weeks on a semi-vacation in Toronto. I started with a two-day conference, then spent the rest of the time meeting with family, friends and colleagues from a comfortable base in the west end. I like a change of venue now and then to get into fresh thinking about what I [...]
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I spent my birthday away from home, but doing things I liked: reading, knitting, walking a dog, and finishing the day with an exceptional dinner accompanied by a delightful jazz trio, plus one. Thanks to dear family friend Vena for great conversation and very fine dining, and to Claire, for joining us! Genealogy takes you back into mystery, confusion and doubt, with a dash of sadness if there are tragic deaths or misspent lives. My family probably includes the average number of madmen, pirates and fools, but I am proud to be descended from a most remarkable woman, Nana, my maternal great grandmother. I’ve spent way too much of the last few days doing genealogical sleuthing, as part of the catalog work for the vintage photo collection from cousin Mary Jo. I think I like it especially because it combines the physical and the digital. I peer intently with a magnifier at each sepia portrait in my hand, [...] The last few years it has been perplexing to come up with appropriate Christmas gifts for family members. Except for one, all are adults, and none are in need of much. That is, they are able to buy for themselves all of the usual gift items (gloves, socks, etc.) when they need them. For the [...] Today’s adventure was a glorious drive to Toronto, returning via Waterdown, Claire’s current hometown. I was astonished to see the snow-covered fields between Holland Centre and Dundalk. While we all saw snow fall yesterday, none of it stayed on the ground where I live. My checkup at PMH was very efficient and I got a [...] I’ve had visits from two of my children this weekend (unfortunately not at the same time, so they didn’t see each other) in honour of my birthday. The actual day, Tuesday, doesn’t matter whole lot, because I already feel that I’ve had the best of gifts, but there is more, because my sister is coming [...] The peach marathon continued today, but I decided to fit in a batch of bread, thinking that having cartloads of jam without it would be dismaying, to say the least. I’ve been working my way through my old standards in bread recipes, in anticipation of the bread workshop I have committed to in November. Kneading [...] Today’s excursion took my mother and I to visit Uncle Gordon, who is recovering nicely from a minor medical issue. He was holding for us the genealogist’s equivalent of a pot of gold. We picked up a box of vintage photographs rescued from the attic of a house owned by his sister Dorothy, who died [...] I got an upbeat email from our Zimbabwe cousin, now released from his ordeal in jail and back home in Harare. He’s looking forward to seeing his brother shortly for a two-week visit, but meanwhile enjoying Olympic coverage on TV. There are plans in the works for our annual UK reunion, probably in October. |
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Copyright © 2012 Lynda Sez - All Rights Reserved |
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