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Creative Meausures
October 4, 2016
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prisma
Writing, music, art, and cuisine are integrated into my daily routine. I am inspired by creative projects of all kinds. I hope my study and practice keeps life fresh and stimulating. I am comfortable writing facts and stating my own opinions. I adore investigating my family tree because I constantly learn about history in a direct and personal way when I discover more facts about my ancestors. I also imagine myself inheriting some spark of talent from each and every one of them. I wish I knew more about the kinds of arts they might have pursued during their lives.
prisma
In April I join poets around the world to write 30 poems in 30 days. During the rest of the year I am a sporadic poet, and feel a tinge of guilt about it. This week I will go to a reading at our world-famous U of A Poetry Center. The theme for this series is poetry and climate change. The poets present in an ideal setting for the purpose, then answer questions posed by the audience. The caliber of the talent is outstanding. We are lucky to have this presented to the public here free of charge as part of the Poetry Center’s ongoing work. When I go to the center, either for a reading or to read part of the amazing collection, I feel extra guilt. My famous ancestor poet, Mistress Bradstreet, is represented in the collection. She wrote in colonial Massachusetts and wonders why I am not more prolific as a poet. Life as well as writing were not easy for her because the 1600’s were far less care free for women. She managed to crank out poems that told about historic events of the time in the language of the time. She thinks I should do the same, especially since I have all these electronic devices and twitter. She had nothing so convenient.
I have no real excuse to give to her. When I get into the practice of it I enjoy being a poet. I especially like to hang out with other poets, all of whom are better and more thoughtful then I am. Perhaps the reading this week will prime my poetic pump. Synesthesia is one of my daily goals in life. To create fusion of the senses, then mix them all into memory in order to make them verbal is a fun practice of self discovery. Poetry and music lend themselves to capturing the essence of sensory experience. I am not sure why I don’t do it all the time.
What do you like to do to employ your native creativity, gentle reader? Did you inherit any of your artistic talents (of which you are aware)?
DNA Breakthrough
October 3, 2016
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Andrew Armour’s fort
I recently started to study the matches that Ancestry.com has found for me. I took the test long ago and had paid little attention to that section of the website. I was asked to help a living person who is trying to find his birth father. He contacted me through the message system in Ancestry because he saw I was related to a DNA match he has. This man has done more research and has a much broader understanding of the various kinds of DNA testing available, and how to apply them to answer mystery ancestry questions. I have taken some time to look through the surnames he and I share with no luck in finding a connection. We are waiting for a y chromosome test from my brother to be processed at Ancestry to see if that reveals more. The match may come from as far back as 10 generations, so the whole thing is pretty complicated. I hope we find the answer my distant adopted cousin is seeking. In the process I am learning more about DNA testing and how helpful it can be.
I have had an excellent breakthrough on my maternal side by searching through all the matches and reading the trees. Some of the folks with whom I am matched have no tree. I am not sure what there are doing there. They are not much use until they get some data to go with the genetics. By following my matches in the Armer line I have found very early colonists from Plymouth and more new connections yet to be researched in Massachusetts. I have found Andrew Armour, 5th great-grandfather, born in Scotland 1740, died in Georgia, 1801. This line is also rich with history and original documents galore. The map above is of Andrew’s fort. I also have his will and testament in his own beautiful hand. I always love seeing the ancestors’ handwriting.
In the never ending research to learn more about my ancestors I appreciate any and all breakthroughs that help me verify my family members. The time spent studying my matches has given me a major breakthrough that will yield much more data as I dig into it. I will soon write more bios of this new/old branch of Scotsmen. If you have access to the Ancestry DNA database I believe you will learn something significant from taking the test. If you are already studying genealogy I recommend paying attention to the DNA section for possible happy consequences.
Adios Audible
October 2, 2016
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audible
I have enjoyed the audible reading app from Amazon that I test drove for the last three months. In the past I had listened to audio books on long drives, but rarely at home. I took the free membership that included 3 free books over a period of three months. It is fun, but I will not continue to pay for it when the free trail ends. I do enjoy telling my robot Alexa to read to me at home, but I can still purchase books I like from Amazon and add whisper sync audio if it is available for that book. Then I have access to the audio version forever without paying for a separate audible subscription. If I had a different lifestyle that including a lot of time in my car I would consider staying subscribed to this service. Here are the features I appreciate the most:
- The app keeps track of your place in the book so you can switch devices at will
- Some books are read by the author which brings another level of authenticity
- The channels, updated constantly, provide excellent original content
- The selection is extremely diverse, and is also updated all the time
It is true that during my audible free trail I managed to listen to 5 books that I found useful. This is an increase in the average number of books during a 3 month period. I purchased the last one in hard copy with whisper sync so I can continue to listen after I kiss this membership good-bye four days from now. I think Alexa knows how to whisper sync. If not, I will whip out the bluetooth speaker and listen the old fashioned way. Do you listen to your content, or read it? Do you use books printed on paper or electronic devices to read? Do tell, gentle reader.
Weekend Coffee Share #OctoberUnprocessed
October 1, 2016
— 15 Comments
October Unprocessed
If we were having coffee I would tell you that today is the first day of a commitment I make to myself and the planet during this month. I want you to consider trying it too. You are the one who decides exactly what processed means in this context. You define the challenge, which is not a diet, but an experiment. I have participated in October Unprocessed for the last couple of years. It is an enlightening voyage of discovery for me. Although I think of myself as a clean eater, I am not nearly as saintly or thrifty as I appear to (myself to) be. My trips to Trader Joe’s are all about the packaged goods as well as the high quality and good price on staples. I eat chips and crackers that cost too much and deliver too little nutrition for the buck. There are excellent substitutes. I have prepared this year by purchasing a major stash of good popcorn. This tried and true snack item can be dressed up for all occasions with seasoning. I invite you to join me for a cup of tea or coffee and a trip to the popcorn bar, which will be set up all month for your nibbling pleasure. Choose your own toppings, seasonings, butter, or even make your own popcorn ball with nuts and sticky syrup.
I am happy to be back at the weekend coffee share with so many of you who live far to the north of me. This week I collected a fabulous Norwegian recipe for soup and a bushel of apple recipes form some of the writers at this friendly table. I love to experience the vicarious digital winter through you. My grapefruit tree is full of fruit just starting to ripen. Soon I will no longer need my brand new air conditioner. This is what winter is in Tucson. Although I spend my childhood in Pennsylvania loving snow and four seasons I have been away from that for too long now. I truly would freak right out if I had to endure real winter in the north. Props to all of you who tough it out, drive right on through it. You have my full respect.
No matter where you live I am going to recommend that you try the October Unprocessed challenge. Taking a look at how much of one’s diet is packaged and transported at greater expense than the original food in said package is an eye opener. I discover when I take this month to examine how and why I purchase so many convenience items when I enjoy cooking as one of my favorite activities. Starting with fresh ingredients always yields a superior product. I know perfectly well how to do that, yet I am lured into impulse purchases of items represented as “healthy”. In fact, I snarfed down my last crispy rice crackers after midnight, so I have gone off the wagon before I even started. The idea for me is not to create guilt, but to gather information that will help me improve my diet over time. If I discover delightful alternatives I have no need to return to processed foods I have used in the past. This does not mean Trader Joe and I will be breaking up any time in the foreseeable future. It does not mean that on November 1st I will not return to using mass quantities of bacos (fake soy bacon in bits). Some things just make me happy. Bacos are essential to my mental well being, but I can go without them for a month to prove that I am not an addict.
Thanks for visiting the Weekend Coffee Share. Do visit my fellow writers, not all of whom are serving digital health food. You will find all kinds of hospitality here. Read, write, and share your thoughts with this international crew each weekend for a lively exchange of ideas.
Libra Moon ushers in change 9-30-2016 — Libra Seeking Balance
September 30, 2016
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Today we wake up to a Libra Moon who will conjoin Jupiter this morning, putting a positive spin on the day. Three planets in Libra (Sun, Moon and Jupiter) are enough to lighten the mood and hopefully crack open a few minds. Even though we’re still technically in the Balsamic Phase since the New Moon […]
via Libra Moon ushers in change 9-30-2016 — Libra Seeking Balance
Swimming, Try It For The Side Effects
September 29, 2016
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reflection in my pool
Swimming is introduced to many of us when we are children. I was enrolled in the Red Cross swimming program, which I looked forward to attending each summer until I passed all the badge levels. I lived in Pittsburgh, so we had very little winter time swimming. We did occasionally go to a YMCA with an indoor pool that was open at night somewhere in the ‘burbs of the ‘Burgh. I remember my hair freezing after those sessions, but it did not bother me at all. My friends and I were big fans of the water, and our parents used going to the pool as the supreme bribe/reward.
When I was 30 I trained at the YMCA in Tucson to teach parent/infant swimming classes. After I was certified my friends with lots of kids asked me to teach at their private pools at home. I did this for many years, teaching groups organized around the convenience of the families. This very good deal for both the parents and for me finally ended against the wishes of some, but I was truly fried by the sun and ready to leave the pool deck. My skin and hair were begging me for a break.
I still taught aquatics and swimming at spas, but to adults. The adult swimming lesson becomes a greater challenge than the children’s class. If a person has not learned to swim by a certain age, it becomes a greater obstacle with every passing year. Some people were directly frightened by a water incident at some time they remember. Most don’t recall a specific reason, but have been afraid of water since they were young.
It is appropriate to fear water if one does not have the skills needed to survive in it. Of particular danger are natural bodies of water with currents, undertow, or strong surf. Even strong swimmers are subject to injury or death in torrential flash flood conditions. Caution is always a good idea in or around water. Being a good lifeguard for yourself and others is all about prevention. It is not a good idea to swim alone. Get out of the water during a lightning storm. Use common sense to keep everyone from falling or slipping around the edge of the pool.
Learning to swim well enough to swim laps for exercise has multiple benefits:
- Breathing is an essential focus, bringing about improved awareness
- Flexibility is enhanced by speeding time moving in the water
- Swimming symmetrically, breathing on both sides increases coordination
- Lap swimming is a meditation, a place and time during which you cannot be disturbed
I believe the last one is the best. Nobody can interrupt you, call you, ask you for anything during your lap swim. Especially if you learn to flip turn, your obvious determination to move across the water will be respected. Nobody will mess with you until you are finished. When your goggles and your fins fit just right, and you groove into the sound of your own exhalation under the water, all is bliss. Once a good level of competence is achieved it is easy to increase stamina in the pool without risking injury. In fact, I can think of no negative side effects associated with learning to swim. Are you a strong swimmer, gentle reader? How did you learn?
Thomas Little, Tenth Great-Grandfather
September 28, 2016
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His name is on the monument dedicated to the early settlers of Green Harbor at the Winslow Cenetery in Marshfield, Mass.
The first record of Thomas Little in the new world was on the tax list of March 25, 1633. It is not known on which ship he had arrived. He moved to Marshfield, which is 14 miles from Plymouth. In the 1600’s 14 miles was a very long distance to travel. He was the constable in Marshfield, MA, in June of 1662.
Thomas married Anna Warren on April 19, 1633, in Plymouth Colony. They were the parents of about nine children.
Thomas Little, lawyer
Thomas Little was born in England before 1608 based on his marriage (Anderson, Great Migration). The Ancestral file, without documentation, lists his origin as Devon which is also known as Devonshire with Exeter as the county seat. According to many writers, he arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1630, but it is not positively known when, or on what ship he came. The earliest date in the Plymouth records is January 2nd, 1632/3, when he was taxed. He married, April 19th, 1633, Ann, born in England about 1612, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Warren, who were Mayflower passengers (Avery 127, 129; NEHGR XIII, 279). Avery writes that Thomas Little came from England to Plymouth in 1630. He was a lawyer, and his coat of arms is still preserved at the old homestead in the house of Luther Little at Sea View, Massachusetts known as Littletown (Avery 126-127).
Thomas Little and Ann Warren had nine children as listed by Avery, Anderson in the “Great Migration,” and various others. Abigail married Josiah Keene; Patience married Joseph Jones; Ruth apparently unmarried; Hannah married Stephen Tilden; Mercy married John Sawyer; Isaac married Bethia Thomas; Ephraim married at Scituate Mary Sturtevant; Thomas died in King Phillips War; and Samuel married Sarah Gray (Anderson, Great Migration).
Thomas Little bought a shallop in 1633, and was enrolled for military service in August, 1643, at Plymouth, as was every other male in the Colony between 16 and 60 on that date (Avery 129-130).
His first residence was at Plymouth where he was a “Keeper of the Colony of New Plymouth books.” He was assessed 18 shillings in Plymouth tax lists of 1633 and 1634. In 1647, he had five acres of upland meadow on “Indian Brook,” listed as within the limits of the township of Plymouth, retaining that land in 1655. But in 1664, Jonathan Morey expressed an interest in the land that was “sometimes Thomas Little’s. Prior to that, in 1652, Thomas Little and his wife Ann sold a house and land on the Eel river in the township of Plymouth (a former residence). On 3 June 1662, Thomas Little had rights confirmed to a farm at Marshfield, and on 3 October 1665 was granted a hundred acres on which he settled title by 1 May 1666. Back in June 1662, he was a Marshfield Constable (Anderson, Great Migration, quoting Plymouth Records).
In his will, dated 17 May 1671, Thomas Little, Sr. bequeathed to “my loving wife all my housing and all of my land, upland and meadow on that side of the brook I now dwell, except only the meadow I purchased of Thomas Tildin and Morris Trewant.” He left land to sons Isacke and Ephraim land on the other side of the brook; all his land at Namassakett upland and meadow to his younger sons Thomas and Samuel, excepting an identified upland to grandson John Jones; a featherbed and furniture to Ephraim; the whole stock of cattle to be equally divided amongst all his children; and other dispositions. Administration of the estate was granted to Anna Little, his wife, on 14 August, 1662.(Anderson, Great Migration listing sources).
Thomas Little was buried at Marshfield, March 12, 1671. His widow died after February 19, 1675 (Avery 129-130).
There is some confusion from 28 October 1633 when a grant of land to Richard Warren was returned to court for failure to erect a building; the land was to be regranted to a Mr. Ralph Fogg upon his satisfactory payment to Widow Warren for her fence remaining there (PCR 1:18). But on 7 March 1636, “it is agreed upon, by the consent of the whole court, that Elizabeth Warren, widow, the relict of Mr. Richard Warren, deceased, shall be entered, and stand, and be purchaser instead of her said husband, as well because that (he dying before he had performed the said bargain) the said Elizabeth performed the same after his decease, and also for the establishing of the lots of lands givern formerly by her unto her sons-in-law Richard Church, Robert Bartlett, and Thomas Little, in marriage with their wives, her daughters” [PCR 1:54; 2:177]. On 5 May 1640, “Richard Church, Rob(er)te Bartlett, Thomas Little, and Mrs. Elizabeth Warren are granted enlargements at the heads of their lots to the foot of the Pyne Hills, leaving a way betwixt them and the Pyne Hills, for cattle and carts to pass” (PCR: 1:52). Ann Warren born est 1613, m. Thomas Little at Plymouth 19 April 1633 (PCR 1:13)
Thomas Little (1609 – 1675)
10th great-grandfather
William Little (1640 – 1731)
son of Thomas Little
William Little (1660 – 1740)
son of William Little
William Little Jr (1685 – 1756)
son of William Little
Jeanette Little (1713 – 1764)
daughter of William Little Jr
Andrew Armour (1740 – 1801)
son of Jeanette Little
William Armor (1775 – 1852)
son of Andrew Armour
William Armer (1790 – 1837)
son of William Armor
Thomas Armer (1825 – 1900)
son of William Armer
Lucinda Jane Armer (1847 – 1939)
daughter of Thomas Armer
George Harvey Taylor (1884 – 1941)
son of Lucinda Jane Armer
Ruby Lee Taylor (1922 – 2008)
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor
Willful Blindness vs Blind Justice
September 26, 2016
— 2 Comments
Our era in history may become known as the time of willful blindness. We have access to information from all over the world instantly, but people prefer to keep blind spots in place to protect status quo. As individuals and as institutions we choose to stay in the dark because we either have no confidence in evolution and change, or we may benefit from the circumstances as they stand.
Can you think of an example of willful blindness that has played havoc with your life? Can you remember choosing to stay blind yourself rather than standing up for the truth? I am pretty sure all of us have stood on both sides of this line. The saddest reason for staying willfully blind is a belief that one person can not change the course of history. The desire to be ignorant is more dangerous than we might want to believe.
Fall
Weekend Coffee Share, Procrastination As Art
September 25, 2016
— 6 Comments
spark joy
If we were having coffee this weekend I would invite you to join the world wide gathering of coffee and tea drinkers who share an interest in reading and writing. It is fun to be back at the table with such a diverse and interesting crowd. I feel good about hosting you this weekend because I just received my fall order from my favorite tea company. Even though I had many on hand, I just love having a wide variety of tea because we drink it all day every day. I also drink coffee, but cold tea is our main beverage de la casa. I can offer you roiboos, honeybush, green, white, and fruit based tea. I am binging on one of the new ones, a green tea with caramel hints for fall. It is not overly flavored, but the hint of caramel lingers after I drink it.
If we shared our deepest conflict of the week mine would have to be the stand off in which I find myself with the Japanese tidy lady, Marie Kondo. She has published two books that have inspired a wave of praise. I decided to have my robot Alexa, and Audible in general, read her first book to me. This step by step guide to clearing out junk by clearing out emotional clutter is specific and wonderfully logical. After hearing The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying Up I realized that I had no hard copy, and would never be able to follow her intricate folding technique without that. I bought her second book, Spark Joy, in the kindle print version, then added narration in order to continue my audio tutelage from Ms Kondo. I listen to her at home and at the gym. I am convinced she is right about everything.
While I do donate and cull my possessions all the time I know I will not have permanent freedom from clutter, both emotional and physical, until I follow the tidy steps. Instead of doing that I am listening to the books and telling everyone how great they are. I have not started the program, and have, indeed, while supposedly enrolled in Ms Kondo’s Key to Happiness class, placed a big tea order without going through my tea cupboard to tidy. I have also purchased a fabulous reversible jacket on sale at a thrift store that came out to just $3 per jacket, if you count both sides. I am a complete jacket-a-holic. I know when I finally make the clothing piles the jacket pile will be the most obscene and ridiculous. I have them stashed in every closet and in the barn. Marie would so bust me, and in fact, she has fully busted me rhetorically. I would like to see her try to bust me in person…really I would. I am now using major procrastination, thinly disguised as training, to listen to the books instead of doing the tidying. I am pretty sure this is antithetical.
I had a comical conversation about the tidy lady and her program with a friend who is a successful real estate agent. She owns lots of stuff as well as lots of real estate. We discussed the perils of owning a barn. In the end we decided we should just walk around and give our stuff directly to homeless people. We would have fun doing it. However I go about this I need to commence. The agony of procrastination is not worth it. I am not a terrible hoarder, but am certainly meeting the part of me that would just as soon become one in the future. Her little shadow persona must be brought to heel.
I enjoy hearing from all you nordics at the coffee party, with your leaf colors, and your fall customs. I had to buy a new air conditioning unit last week because it is still very hot in Tucson, and mine died. I did get a good deal from a local company, so all is well. I have every kind of tea, and the house is cool and comfy. I think you will be fine with the present level of tidy, but don’t open my office closet.
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