I SHOULD HAVE ASKED BEFORE NOW

            My sister died in 1953 at age eleven. Children were ignored at this time when it came to grief. My bother and I put this death out of our heads. The first time my brother and I talked about our sister's death was when we were in our 50's. 

          So I was thinking recently as to what date my sister's death occurred. I thought this would be an easy find. I checked the stone on her grave. The only thing there was February 1953 and age eleven. Then I thought the local history book would have the date but it wasn't there either. I checked a genealogy sight and there was no date there either. So I emailed my brother and thought for sure that he would have the date. He didn't have the date. 

        So it's surprising that the date of death is missing and hard to find. 

        So I have emailed vital statistics and hope that they have her date of death. 

      Then I also thought, "What about Mom?" What was her date of death? Mom died in a November and there was no date of death. I looked in all the usual places for info and it was not there. 

      This has got me curious as to why the dates of death are missing.

     For one thing I'm looking for this information far too late. 

     I know I'll find these dates.

     Has this happened to other families? 

ANYBODY WANT SOME GOOD USED NECKTIES?

      It's spring cleaning at my house now. Other years I've just gone through the motions to dust a little here , wash a little here and put things back in place. 

     This year I have an added purpose. At my age a forced move could come at any moment. The micro manage and I have been talking about downsizing for years. To be fair we have got rid of a tremendous amount of stuff but there's lots here. A move would be a tremendous amount of work and if you move into a senior complex there's little room for  treasures. 

    So this year one of my mandates is to get rid of "stuff" . So yesterday I found 19 neckties in a closet. I haven't worn a necktie since 2012. Why do I need 19 neckties? I got rid of 16 and kept three. 

    In the good old days we wore neckties. I was a teacher and through most of my career we were expected to wear a shirt and tie. For most public functions we wore a suit and the shirt and necktie. Yes, church! Wear your good clothes . 

    So here I am with 16 extra neckties.

    The day before I found some perfectly good winter coats that I haven't worn for 30-40 years. So 4 pieces of good coats are moving out of here. 

    A fine Melton cloth winter over coat

    Leather winter coat that was very comfortable to wear

     A raincoat to go over your suit,

    A jacket I haven't worn for  very long time. 

NOT BRAGGIN...JUST SAYIN

      My Christmas cactus is setting blooms for the third time this year. It bloomed in early November and then again in December. And now it's in bud again. I thought they were to bloom only once. 

     I started this plant close to 10 years ago. The micro manager insisted that it be placed in a certain space. She's the plant waterer. She thought that since it was called cactus that it didn't need much water. It was not in a good place for light. The plant did not grow. 

    Three years ago I took over the management of the Christmas cactus. It developed quickly. Last year it bloomed. This year it's been very surprising. 

    For a little history of this plant. I started teaching in a new school in 1969. The vice principal had a few plants and he knew a few things about plants. He retired about 1974 and didn't want his plants and gave them to me. So one of them was a large Christmas cactus with dark blooms. 

    I kept the plant until 1997 when I retired. I "dragged" the plant home. The Micro Manager complained that the plant was too large. I took some cuttings and started several new plants. I kept one and gave the others away. So the plant I have now dates back to 1969. 

    This is a plant I won't part with as I always remember Nap with this plant. 

A LITTLE SNOW

   Today we are getting a little snow. Just enough to make it interesting. We've had about 3 - 4 cm which is normal for here . It's not enough to be a challenge to shovel.

     I fell sorry for some people in Ontario , Canada who got 26 cm of snow. That would be too much for me to shovel. 

GENTLE JANUARY SUNRISE

 

IT'S COMING

       What's coming? Well, spring is on it's way. You can tell who's getting antsy and anxious to see spring come.

      We have had an exceptionally mild January. For five days we've had daytime highs above 0 C. 

     So for winter solstice it was like this. 

      Sun rise : 8:42 AM      Sunset : 4:24 PM    Total daylight 7 hrs and 42 minutes

     For Jan 23 it looks like this.

      Sunrise : 8:28 AM       Sunset : 5:05 PM     Total daylight hours 8 hr and 37 min

     There was an increase of 4 minutes from yesterday to today. 

    So were bumping along nicely toward spring.

METRIFICATION IN CANADA

        Metrification in Canada began in the early 1970's. 

       It's purpose was to fit in with most other countries in the world for making trade much easier as most countries used the metric system. 

      After that, the change became bumpy and complicated. There was opposition to this change. Programs to teach metrification were poorly designed. The education program emphasized converting the imperial measures to metric measures. This program was nuts. All you had to do was teach what the metric measures are. How much is a kilogram? How much is a centimeter? Just learn the metric measures. 

     Politics also got in the way. One party cancelled the program when it was abut half done. 

     Some of he imperial measurements were hard to change. The country was originally surveyed in miles. Land measurements were difficult to change although now land is being sold in hectares. 

     What bothers me is that our food sales are a confusing mixture of systems. The products are advertised and displayed with prices per pound. When it goes through the cash register it is calculated in metric. I would like one system used . It's very difficult to check your cashier slip when you have to make conversions in your head. And I do check my grocery slips very closely. 

    Now most of my followers are American. The U.S. has not changed to the metric system. I am surprised and pleased that most of my readers do not seem to have difficulty with the metric system. I used to give imperial in brackets after the metric measure. I quit doing that as people did not seem to have  problem. 

    One of my favorites is Far Side of Fifty who gives the temperature in Imperial and then in brackets the celsius temperature with an EH? 

    So are people just not bothered by the use of metric or do they know enough of it that they understand what is being written about? 

     In this country we don't really have an excuse for not understanding the metric system and using it. I don't think in Fahrenheit anymore. I don't think in miles. I like milliliters and milligrams. 

    So who knows. Maybe before I die we will all get used to the metric system? Heh wait a minute. It's going to take much more time for all of us to get our heads around the metric system.