The Great-Aunt Mary book was mailed off today, not without qualms on my part. I hope that some of the recipients will feel free to make additions for a possible future edition; the story of her life is certainly incomplete.
And as always, when completing a project, I feel not exhilaration, but a species of let-down.
Fortunately, while the HTW Notebooks issue is still in limbo, awaiting the response to my plea to the Archivist at Friends' House, London, England, Package #5 arrived from my kinswoman in Ontario, giving me the relatively mindless task of transcribing the interviews with my kin in the seventies to be done. I made a start this afternoon, and as always find the CONTENT to be fascinating. The first one I am working on is Betty Ward's interview with my second cousin, who was reflecting on the survival - or otherwise - of the Quaker Meeting in Borden. This is a second cousin who has been most helpful with clarifications of agricultural terms for footnotes, explanations of events and much other valuable assistance in the making of a number of books. He is now in his eighties, and at the time of the interview he was still farming in the Borden area, but no longer a member of the Quaker Meeting.
Hmm...I should date my entries. A lot of water under the bridge since I wrote the above. Part of said water will be reflected in a later post entitled The Game's Afoot III; for now I will comment further on transcription of the fifth and final package of the Ward Archive.
I should indeed date my entries. The last one completed and posted was in October 2009; this one and another sat in my draft box until now. Since October, My brother David died (November) and my mother-in-law entered her final illness and died (January 2010.) It is obvious that my mind has been elsewhere than on family history for some months, but I trust the challenges and tasks presented by the loss of these loved ones will soon be dealt with and life will resume its normal smooth tenor. I expect, however, to continue to feel uneasy at nine in the morning - the hour when for many years I telephoned my beloved mother-in-law...