I'm Back!

For more than a year, I didn't upload any new posts to my blog site. Instead, I spent most of my available time transcribing and uploading hundreds and hundreds of pages of raw data to: The Silver Bowl. Before arriving in Dublin, where I am right now - overlooking St. Patrick's Cathedral, I also took several months to get somewhat fit. As the BC Lotteries Commission advises us (and as my daughters and husband kindly remind me - with great frequency): Know your limit - Play within it.

New gym created at Roberts Creek Coho -  a happening place. Photo Credit: Lee Carter.

I focused on weight training so that I would be able to heft the 20-40-pound  parchment volumes of deeds known – for good reason – as tombstones. As it turns out, hefting tombstones was not needed this time round, although given my 54-pound suitcase, a 20-pound back pack and a 10-pound bag, my new-found strength came in handy as I hauled it all up four flights of stairs to get to my Air BnB. In defense of my habitual pack-horse idiocy, I will point out that I do travel with various gifts and food. After all, there are books that I need to give to people. Plus, how can one live without kick-ass olive oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup and two kinds of miso?

Anyway, back to what matters. Now that most of the Registry of Deeds documents are on line, and there is no need to heft tombstones, I will simply carry on on from where I left off after last year’s research trip. I now wish that I had added another week to my stay in Dublin. I always forget how many days it takes before jet lag stops nibbling at me. Now, I have only four days left in this city before I return for a last hurrah near the end of May.

In the posts to follow, there will some breaking news with respect to the many lines of Jacksons who sport sheldrakes in their family crests. This is of more consequence than might be apparent at first blush. In other posts, I will take readers with me as I baby-step forward like a child playing Go-Go-Stop. Several steps forward, and then back to the starting line. This is the nature of this quest. Hopefully you will not have to wait another year to learn more because - yes - I do intend to write about it, and yes, I will then post it all here. 

Echoing Seamus Heaney, these blog posts are part of my way of digging with a pen.

Digging by Seamus Heaney - engraved on a wall in Dublin - transcription beneath.

The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap

Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge

Through living roots awaken in my head.

But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.

Between my finger and my thumb

The squat pen rests.

I’ll dig with it.