Something popped into my head yesterday and it should have been in my head about 75 years ago. Swift I am not.
I wrote about the pattern of naming for my brother and I. A German , as well as others had a tradition for naming children. So me being the first born son was given my paternal grandfather's name for my middle name. My brother was the second son and he was given the maternal grandfather's name for his middle name.
What popped into my head yesterday was that this naming pattern was the same for girls. I had not realized that my sister's middle name was taken from our maternal grandmother! I make no excuse for not knowing this but if I ever heard my maternal grandmother called by any name, it was Lizzie. It just hit me yesterday. I remember lots of chat in the family about my name and my brother's name. I don't remember any chat about my sister's name.
So it took me a long time to clue in that the naming pattern also applied to my sister. Now my third and fourth brothers were named without consideration of ancestors. I wonder if I had a second sister , would she have been named after her paternal grandmother?
Doreen Elizabeth between her two older brothers. I'm the cute one on the right! The dog was old Rex.
Yes, there's an unrecognizable person in our neighborhood today. Or should I say there's a neighbor who became unrecognizable?
Well, the neighbor is me!
In March when things were closed down , I needed a haircut very badly. So things closed down and I was left without a haircut. Barber shops opened May 17 but I didn't want to go. Finally, things got so bad I just had to get a haircut. Hair had grown to below the ears and was curled up on my neck. It was sticking out ll over the place from under my cap. My hair is not straight but it is badly behaved. In other words there are a few " cow licks" and they change daily. So you can understand that I needed a haircut.
Now the micro Manager offered to cut my hair but I said , "No thanks!" The Micro Manager had cut my hair for two years in the Arctic...never again!
So yesterday I got a haircut and I'm sure the neighbors would have a hard time recognizing me.
So here is my new haircut
Mid May and hair was sticking out.
The micro manager loses things once in a while and she gets very upset. She has a humungous black purse which probably has more than 123 items in it. So what usually happens is that she puts something in the purse when we are out shopping or doing business and then she can't find it. She gets very excited and thinks back to where she had the said item last. There's a lot of frantic digging in the black monster . Usually sooner or later she comes across the item she's looking for. I don't think she has actually lost anything but she spends a lot of time looking for things.
Now Friday , I had my opportunity for a melt down. I had to call at five different places to do business.
First, I had to call at a bank. Since I rarely enter this bank, as the micro manager does all banking, they asked me for identification. They wanted my driver's license. I'm very careful with that piece of identification. They took it and gave it back and I put it back in my wallet.
When I got to business number 4 , another bank, I was asked for identification and I couldn't find my license. I frantically went through my wallet again as it should have been obvious. No luck. By this time I was tearing everything apart.
Even though I knew I had put my license back in the first bank , I went back to the first bank. They had not found it.
Well go to the next business. By this time I had cooled down a bit and decided to become sane and look in my wallet again. I checked in the pocket where I keep my license. I could feel something different between two other pieces of paper. There was my plastic driver's license.
Now this was a very upsetting incident which doesn't usually happen to me. If it's a small item I don't worry..
So how about you. What do you fear losing most? What happens to you when you lose something?
I wish everyone a Happy Canada Day. It's been different this year with covid 19 keeping us tied down.
I'm happy with my country. We have many different people here and for the most part they are very well accepted and can join in our celebrations and daily life. We work hard and have many resources to use to our advantage.
At one time this was called Dominion Day. That came from a time when we were still a colony and part colony. In other words we belonged to another country. They took advantage of us and used our resources . They didn't pay very much for the resources. In 1867 we were classified as an independent country but not quite. Our High court was still in England. Foreign affairs were controlled by the mother country.
Colonialism was an awful thing. Many of the world's problems are a result of colonialism,. European countries stole the resources or else got them very cheaply. When the colonizers left they left many problems. Problems in Africa and the Middle East result from colonial rulers leaving and leaving different borders than the aboriginals had. The African people have been fighting ever since.
Here in Canada, the land was taken from the aboriginals. Trinkets were given or the aboriginals were treated badly in many ways that the colonizers hoped the aboriginals would die .
I find it difficult to celebrate when our history is full of misdeeds. We are trying to make amends but I don't think it will ever happen. We are still offering beads for a solution.
In many places aboriginals are dressed in their regallia to celebrate Canada Day. I feel badly that the land was taken and now the aboriginals join in the celebration.
So my apologies for raining on your party but I feel we have to acknowledge some serious issues with our history.
I am not the perfect example of fitness nor the most knowledgeable. However, I do value being healthy and having as good a quality of life as possible.
So here's where my limited knowledge shows itself. For a long time I have firmly believed that stretching is valuable. With stretching we keep more flexible. If we're more flexible a number of benefits occur. Flexibility helps us in balance , strength and posture. Balance and strength help to keep us from some falls.
Stretching helps us to combat stiffness. Being stiff can cause all kinds of simple problems. Our body just doesn't seem to go where we want it to go.
I'm a bit of a people watcher. Many times I see people who would benefit from stretching. Sore backs, hips knees? These things spoil quality of life. Not all issues can be improved just by stretching but many can.
It's easy to find some good stretches for seniors. Just go on line. In other places there are excellent programs for senior physical activity.
I stretch almost everyday for about 20 minutes. I'm sure I could find more or different stretches. I have had plantars fasciitis . I just cheated and went to a site to see how to spell fasciitis . They are selling all kinds of shoes and socks to treat plantars. I'm sure they do help but I found stretching got rid of the problem for me .This is very unpleasant as it feels like there are balls or rollers under your feet. Some people just give up and become inactive. Work hard and you can get rid of this stuff. For years I had lower back problems which were somewhat debilitating. I was told that what I was experiencing was due to small muscle tears in my lower back. A physiotherapist finally persuaded me that stretching would help. I've never looked back and it advertised stretching for me.
Stretching also helps us to keep in tune with our body. We will notice when we are stiff or when the body changes. Don't let things drag on.
This is only a small example of stretching. I know there is much more.
So if we're going to live for a long time we might as well have good quality of life
Mr Pudding, from Yorkshire Pudding, makes some interesting comments. He can be humorous, witty, serious , and very much on topic. Sometimes he will pick up on one small detail and make his comment on a small part of your post. He doesn't care if he uses some imagination. If there's something he doesn't know or care about, he doesn't make a comment for the sake of making a comment.
Mr Pudding made a comment on my last post that made me think of many more things about my post on my Dad.
On the post I was trying to show my Dad and myself in two different phases of our lives.
On the second photo Mr Pudding facetiously suggested that I had a fist behind my Dad and that I wanted money.
My Dad was not a wealthy man. He donated much to Christian causes that he supported. He really didn't care if he had the money or not, he would make a donation. He was confident that he would be looked after.
Dad was also generous in other ways. Dad had the idea that his farm would be somehow taxed if it was left in his estate. What did he do? He distributed his land equally to his sons before he turned 65. I said, "Dad , you will need income from the farm to survive. " He wouldn't listen. He had CPP (Canada pension plan) and Oas (old age security) and he would survive . He bought some property and was lucky that the time he had the property as it increased in value. He spent 15 winters in Phoenix. He rented the same old house for 15 years.
Now he only had one financial goal. He wanted enough money to pay for his funeral. And he did have enough for a funeral and $1600.00 left over.
Now for the fist behind my Dad? I think I had my thumb sticking in my pocket and Graham from Eagleton Notes agrees with me. Take a look at my photo in my post Father's Day
So the comment from Mr Pudding made me think of much more on my Dad.
When I look back I see having a Dad for a very long time even though most of my life was apart from him because of my career.
So here is Dad at age 28 with his first child ...me!
Here I am with Dad close to the end of his life. He had been in a nursing home for about 5 years and at this time his quality of life was not good because of Parkinson's disease. He passed away in early 2008 at age 95. So at that time I had my Dad for about 68 years. Dad lived an interesting life and in so doing I also had an interesting life.
