Lynda Sez » family

Change is constant

rgdaniel — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:46:14 +0000

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 have been doing, or to contemplate doing different things. I achieved both and hope to write about that more often here.
My stay allowed me to visit my dear mother-in-law, Marg Daniel, a couple more times in hospital, where she has been for the past few months, but she died this morning, peacefully, surrounded by loving family members. I will miss her laughter and her kindness very, very much.

A major birthday

rgdaniel — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:41:09 +0000

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!

A most remarkable woman

rgdaniel — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 01:44:24 +0000

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.

Gotta stop this

rgdaniel — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:43:12 +0000

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, handling carefully even though these hundred-year-old-plus pictures are mostly very sturdy. Then I turn to free databases, online books and other reference sources to figure out who these stern ancestors are and who they are connected to. In many cases, I end up saying, gotcha!, and log the details in my own genealogy database, which will be referenced to digital scans of these pictures. The scans will eventually be used to print paper copies for family members who want them for their own collections. Full circle.

Regifting

rgdaniel — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:20:00 +0000

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 past two years, I have given charitable donations and that worked well for everybody. This year, I may do it again, but I will also be regifting, as a gift to myself. Among the many objects stashed in my bulging house are new items I acquired in various ways — books from the days when I wrote reviews, desk items from the days when I went to press events, and even Christmas gifts I bought years ago, then forgot to give to people. Many of these will be passed on this year. I just hope they don’t become someone else’s useless clutter.

A rat named Higgins

rgdaniel — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 04:50:49 +0000

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 free pass for another six months. It was so efficient, in fact, that I finished early enough to celebrate my good health with a shopping spree at Sherway. Eventually, I found Claire’s digs in Waterdown and we had a quick visit, where I met her new pet rat (shouldn’t it be Miss Higgins? It’s a she.) and Robin’s two friendly cats.

Birthdays are a good excuse

rgdaniel — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:07:43 +0000

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 to town to help me celebrate then. In my genealogy work, I often have only the birthdays of people to record, none of the events of their lives such as the dinners with friends and loved ones. Unless someone writes it down and the record survives, the memory will expire with the person who lived it. This is poignant, as I know these events must have happened and must have been as important as mine are to me. All we can do is share in whatever ways we can, I guess, as I am sharing with you.

When you have a lot of jam…

rgdaniel — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:52:33 +0000

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 bread is a repetitive, physical exercise that stimulates calm, reflective thoughts, in my experience. I’m not sure it’s possible to do it while worrying. That is, you may start out with anxiety, but it somehow dematerializes once you begin. Anyway, today I was musing on the vision of doing all this canning and bread making as it must have been done on the farm a century ago. I’m guessing it would be a group effort, where big families would be a plus. Kids who could manage a bucket would help fetch the gallons of water for all the washing and boiling, and maybe the older boys would be tasked with bringing wood to keep the stove stoked for endless hours in the sweaty summer kitchen. I wonder if any of them were picky eaters.

Pot o’ gold

rgdaniel — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 04:37:53 +0000

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 last year. Our cousin Mary Jo, who is Canadian but lives in England, kindly agreed to let us take care of the pictures, store them as safely as possible, and copy them so that other family members can share them. Here is just one fine example, Benjamin Fawcett, patriarch of the Canadian branch. For Avery, one of the youngest of the branch, and all his cousins, he is a great-great-great-great-grandfather.

David home watching TV

rgdaniel — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:22:22 +0000

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.