One of the “other things” I am working on is charting an education course for myself. This education will be free (or really cheap) and tailored to my own needs because I will be educating myself.

Some of the topics I want to study are politics, journalism, anthro/archaeo, film making and editing, and languages. This is why I need to do it myself. No University offers a degree in such a wide range of subject matter!

But first things first. I figured it would make sense to improve my memory so that I can retain everything better. That is why the very first book I am going to study is called Mega Memory by Kevin Trudeau.

The second subject I want to tackle, because it too will aid my studies, is speed reading. And not just speed reading, but speed reading with comprehension! For that I dug out a book I’ve had for years called Speed-Reading The Easy Way.

So, on top of Kirkpatrick family history posts, this blog will now be a record of my self-education journey. Follow along if you’re interested! :)

And don’t forget to keep an eye on my new blog about another very important facet of my life right now: Grandparents of Children With Autism. I thought I’d make that a blog of its own because it is so specialized and I have a ton of ideas for articles for it.

Twin grandbabies - Baby Girl helps her brother with his snaps.

It’s been quite a while since I posted something, looks like. But there has been a lot going on.

One of those things is that we found out our little grandson likely has Autism, though we are awaiting a final diagnosis.

While educating myself on the disorder I discovered there is not much support out there for *grandparents* of children with Autism, who love their little ones and want to help. So of course I want to build a community of us… Tonight is the official launch of my new site. Please check it out!

Grandparents of Children With Autism

In memory of...

When we were in Scotland I took a lot of pictures of cemetery headstones, especially in Closeburn and Dumfries.

Most of the images I got were of Kirkpatrick family members’ stones, but occasionally I found ones that stirred my imagination. Some even moved me to tears, such as this poignant story.

You can’t read it all, but here is what it says:

In Memory of
Bridget, wife of Thomas Wilkin,
Surgeon, who died on the 12th December 1840
aged 40 years
Also Robert their son, who died
21st February 1831 aged 1 year and 4 months
Also James Pennington their son,
who died 24th October 1839 aged 1 year
Also Mary their daughter, who died
1st February 1833 aged 9 days
Also Catherine Mary their daughter, who died
at Kendal 20th July 1854 aged 20 years
And Amy their eldest daughter,
wife of Henry F. Bainbridge,
who died in Liverpool 27th September 1871
aged 46 years
Also the above Thomas Wilkin,
who died in Suffolk 16th February 1873
aged 72 years

“Looking unto Jesus”

Imagine the heartache this family must have endured…

I’m on my way home now, after a fabulous trip. I’m too exhausted to write much now, but here are some pictures to hold you over until I do! :)

Dawson City trip, Part One

My Youtube site, where I have a couple of videos of critters I met along the way.

I wasn’t terribly good at it, but I did learn a lot.

Recent flooding in northern BC and Alberta, including my hometown of Dawson Creek, and enduring a very long, cool, wet spring in Calgary got me wondering if La Niña was at work. Sure enough, a quick Google search (gotta love modern technology!) showed she was.

The La Niña weather pattern starts when colder than normal water pools along the equatorial Pacific Ocean.

Effects are felt in a shifting jet stream and changing high/low pressure areas. She can create cooler than normal winters with lots of snow along the west coast, higher tornado and hurricane counts, and hot, dry temps in the southern United States.

La Niña is probably responsible for all the freakish weather we’ve had this year. Thankfully, she doesn’t usually last more than a couple of years, although there have been longer episodes.

This video explains a little more about La Niña and is worth watching for the quaint hillbilly accent of the narrator alone! :)

Learn about milking goats. Aquaponics. Making your own soap! Create a community of like-minded urbanite farmers around you.

Have a look at this video to get yourself as excited as I am! :)

The residence we found for her is called Westview Lodge. Our business with them was handled smoothly and professionally and the residents look happy, well-fed and very friendly. As my bro-in-law and I were moving things in we were chatted up by a handful of them and all seemed very glad to be there. So there’s a little plug for Westview Lodge!

Anyway…

Seniors and their care and consideration are are near and dear to my heart and I have started paying more attention to what goes on in their world.

So I was surprised and tickled pink when I saw this video about Canadian Olga Kotelko: The 91-year-old track star. My goodness – she’s in better shape at 91 than I am at 50-something! Go Olga. You are an inspiration.

I think I’ll start training for a triathlon. ;)

When you’re short on space, gardening UP makes so much sense, doesn’t it? Here are a couple of great ideas that some other very bright folks are working on.

The first vertical farm is on a very large scale. You can find more information on it here.

And here are a few really great ideas on a much smaller scale. After you’ve done watching this, go to Youtube.com and do a search for vertical farming. It’s amazing what some folks dream up! :)