Citizenship by Descent

Yesterday, I handed over my file of certified birth and death certificates tracing my link to a Canadian great grandfather on my father's side, to my oldest son, who is going to pursue the new citizenship by descent for me and both himself and his brother. My great grandfather was one of eight children born to parents who immigrated to Canada from England in the early 1800's. My great grandfather came to the US in the 1880's, but when he died he had his remains buried in the family plot in an Anglican cemetery in Ontario. He was joined there by my father's brother, who returned to live in Canada in the late '60s before he died.

While I doubt that I will start over in a new country at my age (75), one never knows. My oldest son--who is taking the applications forward from here--and his partner have joked with each other for some time about when they move to Canada. My son works for an international software company that has an office outside of Toronto and he currently works from home anyway. His partner also works from home. They've been together for over a decade, so the partner will need to apply for the family visa, once my son successfully obtains citizenship by descent. While they both would prefer to remain in the US, it's beginning to look a lot more likely that they might actually move to Canada. My youngest son's partner is a tenured associate professor at UNC Chapel Hill who also apparently is eligible through his family for citizenship by descent, but they are less likely to make the move at this point.

It has been fun chasing down the family tree. A Canadian cousin wrote to my father in 1966 detailing the family history, and a copy of her letter became a starting point for my research, together with some genealogy sleuthing by one of my nephews who emailed me a copy of his work 10 years ago! That nephew, with his wife and young daughter, moved to England from Wisconsin in January, having been recruited to a University professorship.

Looks like members of my father's side of the family are going to come full circle. Amazing.

College World Series UNC v U West VA!!!

Top of the first inning Tar Heels 2-0!

Oh, boy!

WORDLE June 15 SPOILERS

Wordle 1,822 2/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩steal
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩broil

NY Times average 3.5 and Wordlebot in 4.

Yay for the Stanley Cup winning Carolina Hurricanes! AND the one game closer to winning College World Series UNC Tar Heels!

Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket today?!

Camouflage

Spotted while having coffee this morning on the covered porch after watering my courtyard. There are several of these little guys--anoles-- inhabiting my yard. I see them climbing the gutter drainpipes, running along my fence and retaining wall most every day. I don't often spot them in the trees and bushes because they blend in so well.

***WORDLE May 24 SPOILERS***

Wordle 1,800 3/6

⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜steal
⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜reedy
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩niece

NY Times average 4.0 and Wordlebot in 4.

Outlander fans?

I came to Outlander prior to Season 7, so a few years ago. I was immediately grabbed from the first episode of the first season. Binge watched episode after episode. Loved it all: story, setting (Scotland!), acting, sets, costumes...it became my favorite all time series, which previously had been The West Wing. I checked the books out of the library, then bought my own copies. Can't count how many times I've rewatched seasons or individual episodes. I've read the books four times.
I went to Scotland last year. I admired Sam Heughan's acting ability so much, that I promised myself if he ever returned to the stage, I'd go see him. When he announced he was playing Macbeth, that did it for me. I set up my trip to Scotland to end with seeing him play Macbeth at the RSC in Stratford -upon-Avon last October. After I returned, it was announced that the RSC was going to hold a fundraiser the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, featuring a panel with Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Sam Heughan and Lia Williams (who played Lady M to Sam's Macbeth) to discuss the productions of Macbeth played 50 years apart by the actors at the RSC, theatre, life as actors. Donors at the premium level were invited to meet the actors at a reception. I went back for the event, and managed to score a ticket to see Macbeth for a second time, and that experience blew me away. It was the ultimate theatre experience of my life--except for being on stage myself--and it all happened because I had been so captivated by Outlander.

All that said, the Finale last week had me in tears from start to finish. I loved how much of the dialogue from Diana's book, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, made it into the Finale. I am not a fan of the show created story line that Faith lived, and the elevation of Frances to granddaughter I find annoying. The writing of the Will, the scene with Claire and Jamie waking up to talk about the day and the bees, their last time making love in the tent before the battle, the battle itself, were all marvelous scenes, exquisitely acted. BUT then, the show deviated drastically from the book when Jamie was shot at Kings Mountain and how that subsequently played out. It makes no sense to me that they would have followed the canon of Diana's book for so many other scenes and then reduce Claire to an emotional, grieving wreck with no opportunity to use her medical knowledge and skills along with her blue light healing powers, to save Jamie from dying. It was very unsatisfying. I liked the Jamie as ghost footage and was not happy with the ambiguous ending, which has since been promoted by Matt Roberts, as well as Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe. I loved the clip of Diana post credits at a book signing of the original edition of the first book ( with all the Easter eggs). I had to watch the episode twice to see Claire open her eyes simultaneously with Jamie, and turn on close caption to understand they both gasp together. I had to watch five times to see the blue light between Claire and Jamie right before the ghost sequence. It smacks of ringing up the cash register on residuals for the writer--Matt Roberts-- to require fans to play the episode multiple times to catch all the details.

Anybody else a big fan? What did you think about the finale?

Wordle May 12 SPOILERS

Wordle 1,788 5/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨steal
🟨⬜⬜🟩⬜lurch
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩flick
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩block
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩clock

NY Times average 4.1 and Wordlebot in 4.

Every possible word after my second guess was a previously used answer! Definitely MCH!

Sunset this evening

Latest Scam Alert

Latest scam alert:  a phone call claiming you've missed a Summons to Jury Duty.  It shows as coming from a Private Number.  I got one of these calls about half an hour ago.  Seemed very strange--especially from a private number--and hung up when the original caller put me on hold to get her "Captain" from the Sheriff's Office, from which she was calling.  While I was googling to see if this is a scam (it is to get money from you to pay a fine for not showing up) I received three more calls from the "private number", which I didn't answer.   https://www.uscourts.gov/court-programs/jury-service/juror-scams

Good grief. What will the scammers think of next?

Does anyone still get the print edition of The New Yorker?

My youngest son's podcast about Raven--which I posted about previously

Cross posting from the African American forum: Harlem's African American Wax Museum Creator: Raven Chanticleer UPDATE - Democratic Underground Forums https://share.google/sNdJQbgedmL3cpCPT

-- is being highlighted by Sarah Larson in Goings On in the May 4, 2026 edition being released next Monday. I gave up my print edition some years ago and I'd dearly love to have a copy of this. Please DM me if you'd be willing to sell your copy to me.