October chitchat

[agate]

It's October, and some children are gearing up for gremlins, goblins, trolls, and scary monsters.

The season for pumpkins:

This forum is still here. We could use more people chiming in. If you are one of the lurkers, don't be shy. We'd love to know how you're doing. Traveling? Staying home and reading? Playing games? Enjoying some pets?

[Prot]

That's a lot of pumpkins! I don't think I ever did trick or treat. Lots of posts on social media re Julie Andrews 90th. Became tearful thinking about seeing Mary Poppins for my 8th birthday .It was a great day, but followed 5 days later by the start of 10 years of boarding school. 10 years that did incalculable damage to me.

[Virginia]

We are off to a cool start for October, or at least it feels that way to me. I used to like this time of year but it is somewhat spoiled for me now because I have so many decisions I have to make about my insurance and they are important decisions. I don't deal well with stress anymore.

Other than that things are going along about like usual. I hope everyone has a good October. I think I might have to turn my gas logs on tonight.

[Prot]

All went well at the dentist. It's quite cold here too.My daughter has said we're due a storm.

[agate]

I'm with you on stress, Virginia. It's next to impossible for me to cope with even a slight amount of stress, and I find that unsettling.

How are your brothers now?

[agate]

October 9 marks the birthday of a long-time member of this board, ssusan. She hasn't logged in here in over 4 years but we wish her well--and hope she has a very happy birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SSUSAN!

[Virginia]

I remember Ssusan and hope she had a good birthday and I hope she is doing well.

[agate]

I don't think ssusan has visited here for a few years but I could be wrong. Linda (Lazarus) used to have some contact with her and may let her know we're still thinking of her here and wishing her well.

[Prot]

As expected my mood has dipped.More so than usual this autumn. Tinnitus? has been playing up. Buzzing noise. Have got dental appointment tomorrow. It's an early one, and the way things have been there's a strong likelihood of getting off to sleep late, and waking up too late. So I've decided to stay up.

[agate]

Virginia, I'm concerned--hope you'll check in before long!

Tim, good luck with the dental appointment. I sometimes wish medical and dental providers would have more flexible scheduling so I didn't have to disrupt my life so much just to get to their appointments on time but they're offering a highly valuable service and so that isn't likely to happen.

Sorry you're plagued by tinnitus. That must be miserable.

I have a new neighbor upstairs who seems to have a drum machine or at any rate there is pretty much nonstop drumming coming at me all day, every day. Tinnitus must be like that but far worse.

[Prot]

Thanks agate . The dental appointment went OK. A small adjustment to the dentures needs to be done, and then a set of dentures made for me . I hope I can have dentures in time for Christmas. I'm going to try and cut down on the Christmas snacks and sweets this year. I say this every year, and end up buying way too much.

That drumming, especially if repeatedly stop - start, would really stress me out! The disappointment of paying a largish sum for little result re my family surname has been lessened by an intriguing result re my father's X DNA. His largest X DNA match connecting him to a black man from the USA. Slaves and slave owners are what connects my father and the black man.

[agate]

His largest X DNA match connecting him to a black man from the USA. Slaves and slave owners are what connects my father and the black man.

Tim, it's this kind of finding that makes it clear that race is a concept that has no meaning. None of us can really know what "race" we are. Except the human race.

Even carefully kept birth, marriage, and death records don't tell the real story. Families often covered things up, women lied about their partners, men lied about their paternity, etc. We like to think of our ancestors as all telling the truth and keeping accurate records, but of course they didn't.

[Prot]

There are more than a few non paternal events. My largest cousin match is definitely connected via shared DNA to my maternal grandfather's side of the family. But it's not a surname she's ever heard mentioned. Autistic me completely messed things up by mentioning NPEs. There's been no contact since then.

[agate]

Can there be nonmaternal events, I wonder?

[Prot]

Can there be nonmaternal events, I wonder?

Wrong newborn baby being taken home from hospital.