#52Ancestors, Fresh Start

So, Fresh Start.

This was the topic for week one this year, but here I am, tackling it now.

Isn’t every morning that you wake up the opportunity to make a fresh start ? Erase the mishaps and misgivings of the previous day and set your sights on today and tomorrow’s goals. My life seems to be full of fresh starts recently. New cities, new suburbs, new countries, new states, new houses, new jobs.

I would really LOVE my next fresh start to be in a permanent role, but temping offers the opportunity for frequent fresh starts. Finding my ways to new parts of the city, learning and mastering new processes and systems, forging and building relationships with team members and colleagues.

I guess there are plenty of others in my tree who have made at least one fresh start at some point of their lives. The obvious ones would be those who took a chance on emigration, a new life with new opportunities in a country at the other end of the planet.

Getting back to blogging regularly is going to be my fresh start goal of 2020. I’ve had enough of moving and changing in every other aspect – I just want some good ol’ humdrum normality now.

…however, if I happened to win Lotto…what a fresh start THAT would be !

#52Stories, Week 34, What was the longest continuous vacation of your life ? How long were you gone ? Do you remember how much it cost ?

Well.

This would have to be the UK trip in 2014. It wasn’t going to be a vacation. It was intended to be a whole new life plan – for two years, maybe more. But ! Sometimes things just don’t turn out how you think.

Not sure what went wrong, probably planning and bad communication, different expectations – and all that. Nevertheless, we had a 3 month vacation in the end.

We explored almost every nook and cranny on that island. Coming from our own island nation we got a little thrill each time we crossed a border from England to Wales or Scotland to England. It just seemed so weird – no planes involved and no passports either. So unlike things on this end of the planet.

We met family members – some we had never met before. We explored villages and hamlets and churchyards and stepped in the footsteps of our forebears.

There weren’t many places we visited which we would not return to; and there were plenty we missed which are being saved for a return visit. One day.

Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex, Somerset, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Wiltshire, Powys, Montgomeryshire, Flintshire, Devon, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Shropshire, Essex, Berkshire, Norfolk, Yorkshire, Kent, Monmouthshire, Denbighshire, Radnorshire, Brecknockshire, Glamorgan, Leicestershire, Suffolk, Lanarkshire, Midlothian, Argyllshire, Inverness-shire, Selkirkshire, Roxburghshire, Dumfriesshire, Peeblesshire, Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland…some we just drove through, others we lingered for longer. Even more we wished we had had a better plan.

Still, we made some great memories and now there is the goal to get back and revisit, rediscover and just explore.

#52Stories, Week 26, Halfway point - Goal Review

I’ve just added this one in, because it is week 26 after all. What were those goals I set way back at the beginning of the year ? What progress have I made ?

Here is the list I made in Week 1: (and comments in italics afterward)

1.    Write a story every week, to complete the #52Stories challenge - there have been a few hiccups where I have been racing to keep up, or catch up but I'm on track and still feel confident that I will get there in the end

2.    Sell or giveaway objects that have been packed, can be replaced and cost too much to keep moving and storing. (anyone in the market for a washing machine, drier, fridge, leather lounger suite ? - keep an eye on Trademe) - DONE !! when this post was meant to be written there had been some sorting done (at Christmas) and a couple of items had been sold on Trademe

3.    Save some money - Ummm

4.    Find a more rewarding way to make money - new role ? - some soul searching and looking for opportunities to study (what where when ?)

5.    Get a bit more socially involved - this last inter-city move has been a fairly lonely time - work in progress

6.    Live on my own (again) - probably not in Auckland then...- this one too is a work in progress

7.    Be more organised for Christmas 2017 - time will tell

8.    Get fitter - there are some legendary walks I would like to do one day soon - still working on this one too

9.    Plan new travel adventures - had a week in Canberra, somewhere I had never been and such a cool little city too. I will be going back there for sure. So many festivals to enjoy

10. DNA confirm 16 great great grandparents (or even better 32 great great great grandparents - could I dare hope for 64 great great great great grandparents) - 13 great great grandparents proven by DNA; 11 great great great grandparents (plus a couple of others I'm working on to be sure)

Not looking too bad so far.

#52Stories, Week 4, What goals am I actively working toward right now ?

More goals !!

I've gone back to my list of goals from my first story to look more closely at them, and decide which ones I am actively working on right now.

#1 - write a story each week, seems to be going okay so far. Not always a week apart, but I'm keeping up.

Most of the others are all sort of linked and I hope will all suddenly progress at once.

#7 - Get fitter - because there are some legendary walks I would like to do. I've not been working on the fitness so much just yet. I thought though, that if I wrote down some of the walks I had in mind that it might make it more real. So here they are -

Queen Charlotte
Abel Tasman
Milford Track
The West Highland Way (Glasgow to Fort William)
The Great Glen Way (Fort William to Inverness)

#9 - Finally had some time to sit down and begin to study those DNA results. Is science proving that all the paper research carried out over the past 40 or so years is correct ? So far, so good. No surprises yet, like others I know have found - or not in direct lines anyway.

It still confuses me a bit - how do you actually know for sure ? A third cousin match has the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) relationship as 2 x great grandparents, does that mean they are both correct according to DNA ? (2x great grandpa and 2x great granny ?) Or do I need to have confirmed the next generation back, by finding 4th cousins in each line ?

Based on all of this here is what I know for sure from DNA & paper evidence so far -

Lauren:
both parents, 4 grandparents, 6 out of 8 great grandparents and 8 out of 16 great great grandparents

Me:
both parents, 4 grandparents, 7 out of 8 great grandparents and 9 out of 16 great great grandparents.

So, just looking at this evidence it must mean that Lauren has at least 9 of her 32 great great great grandparents confirmed. I just haven't counted them all up. I'm still trying to work out the best way to record that I have confirmed them all.

Some lines have been confirmed back even further where there are 5th-7th cousins involved. 

But for now, this is enough about goals. I'm looking forward to a different focus in writing topics for next month.

#52Stories, Week 1, What goals do you hope to achieve this year ?

I have been inspired to challenge myself to #52Stories to define "my dash" - a project to help people get started writing their family history for the next generations. The project is being promoted by Family Search you can download the printables and just get started. Each week they will also share a question on social media that you can use to write your paragraph, story or even a few lines. By the end of the year, there should be 52 stories.

So, welcome to week 1.

My first goal will be to complete this challenge. I have marked it in my calendar to remind myself each week.

I don't think I am a very goal oriented person, so this could be a very short list !

1. Write a story every week, to complete the #52Stories challenge 😊
2. Sell or giveaway objects that have been packed, can be replaced and cost too much to keep moving and storing. (anyone in the market for a washing machine, drier, fridge, leather lounge suite ? - keep an eye on Trademe)
3. Save some money
4. Find a more rewarding way to make money - new role ?
5. Get a bit more socially involved - this last inter-city move has been a fairly lonely time
6. Live on my own (again) - probably not in Auckland then...
7. Be more organised for Christmas 2017 
8. Get fitter - there are some legendary walks I would like to do one day soon
9. Plan new travel adventures
10. DNA confirm 16 great great grandparents (or even better 32 great great great grandparents - could I dare hope for 64 great great great grandparents)

Well, there are ten goals of some sort or another. Not so bad for a not very goal oriented person. In 52 weeks time we will all know how successful (or not) I have been in achieving them.

Another Adventure Begins - No Regrets

So, It's been a while. Mostly for the last month I have been alternating between wallowing in misery about making such a snap decision to end the dream, enjoying being home and seeing family and contemplating the fact that actually we are in almost the same state here as we were in the UK.

Still, we have made progress. I have accepted that I made a stupid decision. I am working on accepting that we had a great three months. I have set a goal to return and give it another go - once I have replenished my savings.

We decided to give Christchurch a go on our return. It is a city rebuilding after monumental upheaval, so it seemed a fitting place for us to begin to rebuild our lives too. It is almost four weeks since we arrived back into spring with blossoms on trees and new leaves and cute baby lambs frolicking in fields. I am missing autumn, and not really looking forward to summer, but spring is helping with the transition. The occasional wintery day breaks the monotony of blue sky and sunshine days and reminds us again that we have to wait six more long months to get to wear warm snuggly clothes. 

We have a car - a Rover which has been named "the moon buggy" to get us around the place. It will do for now, it doesn't have a CD player or an AUX outlet so that will have to be remedied soon and it has no drink holders which we didn't discover until we visited the US Embassy for Food the other day. Hmmm. 

The rental market in Christchurch is pretty fierce but we're a pretty determined couple of ladies and we have found a wonderful house to rent. It has an amazing garden with lemons, black currants, apples, strawberries, cherries, feijoas and veges so we won't be starving. It is also only 5 minutes from Lauren's new job. So just me to organise now. We move in this weekend and the truck will arrive from Wellington with boxes of belongings and furniture to unpack at the beginning of the week.

Apple Blossoms down the street

 Matai River Nelson

 Reject export peonies from the peony farm where Anne works

 A rose and an azalea in Mum and Dad's garden