I am learning new tricks. i.e. how to do a blog post and add some current photos.

Swedish Old Folks Home early 1900’s

This is going to be fun. I just finished reading a book by Phillippa Gregory, a well known and prolific writer of history novels. My choice was The Lady of the Rivers. This was her first book. in her series The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels. I could hardly put it down. Now I plan to go straight on and read The Red Queen, the 2nd novel in the series. 15th century i English history. Who would have thought this would ever interest me?

At breakfast this morning I looked out the window and saw that we had a visitor – a black cat with a white ruff – handsome. A nice sight to start the day. Stray animals do not often visit the compound here at this Assisted Living community. We are. a gated property on 3 sides and a busy thoroughfare borders the 4th side. This cat was most handsome and I only wish I had had my camera. But even my own photo would have given me only temporary satisfaction. I have a lot of pictures in my camera and I haven’t been able to share them with my readers. When we moved about a month ago I gifted my computer and printer. And that computer was the one synced with my telephone/camera. That is an issue awaiting my tech aide along with the scanning of numerous postcards. Help is on the way.

What will I write about today? Well rain was forecast but so far all we’ve had are blustery winds and fast changing clouds. So I went over to my house and garden and continued my efforts of yesterday, picking up leaves and emptying pots filled with rainwater. Slow contemplative work. (Even so I was a bit stiff from yesterday’s bending etc.). Today was colder and eventually I retreated inside to continue my bird watching. The birds were being blown about this way and that. And the sea gulls and crows just seemed to glide with the air flows. I was fascinated by the large number of small brown birds at this time of year. They did seem to be rounder or more puffed out. Was this nature’s defense system against the wind and the rain and the cold.? There were one or two brown birds with a degree of red on their chests. No Stellar’s Jay today to caw at me. Yesterday I was hoping to see a Northern Flicker in company with the Jay. Needless to say I just enjoy being outside and seeing the birds. My neighbor is doing an excellent job of putting out food for the birds. And the squirrels are having a field day.

I had some work to do in tracing a relative. Genealogy detective work. My middle name is Willis. Willis was my maternal grandmother’s maiden name – May Belle Willis. This grandmother was 1 of 8 children. She was the 5th of the 8.. Such a large family in the late 19th/early 20th century. May Belle had a younger brother Harold. Harold had a son named Harold also. And the next generation came along – my generation. Members of this generation would be related to me.

Harold was a brother to my grandmother. Then 2 generations on I would have cousins. what does one call this relationship? Cousins twice removed?

Brother and Sister – Harold and May Belle; Harold’s children and May Belle’s children are cousins. Harold’s children’s children and May Belle’s children’s children are 2nd cousins twice removed??

I used Newspapers.com to get this far in placing my mystery person in the generations and I found out where she went to college and where she was living. But I don’t know how to describe the relationship. 2nd cousins twice removed?

Reading is very important to me and I feel so blessed to be able to continue this activity as I advance in years. So many of the residents in thisF Assisted Living facility are no longer able to pursue this pastime (so called). Think of not being able to read the daily newspaper – you might think that was a good thing but if it is not a matter of choice, I would lament the situation. I have always been a reader. Not so much of newspapers and magazines but of books, mostly fiction. My passion for reading is also a passion for collecting. I like to own the books I read. It’s possibly odd to feel that way given that I am a librarian as well. I keep lists of books I’ve read and I have goals of reading so many books per year. Reading 100 or more books annually would be an achievement. My current book is Zazen by Vanessa Veselka – an author new to me. Soon I’ll get back to. Phillippa Gregory and English History.

What a wild day I’ve had – BIRTHDAY madness with greetings from near and far and the back of beyond. Even a beautiful bouquet. Coincidentally my next door neighbor (also named Janet) has her birthday today also. And she is from the East Coast also – almost the adjacent town to Belmont. In the midst of all the phone calls I was trying to do some genealogy work and sort out my 8 Great Great Grandfathers. And an AMBER ALERT kept disrupting the phone calls. That was a nuisance – a stolen car somewhere near Spokane – that’s only 200? miles away. Grr.