We began the week last night with dinner at a member's home. This was their second big meal for the day having earlier had the rest of their family in for Father's day. When we got home we called David because the last thing he would do would be to take time to remember it is Father's day and second to call his dad. As usual he was watching TV and when he is watching TV we cannot get him to say much at all. all we got were monosyllabic answers and nothing else.
Today we had set a goal to be in the office by 8am - but it turned out to be 8.15 but we did 12 folders today so that was not too bad. Bill had made a typo on the report and had put us at 160000 images but our supervisor corrected the report to read 16000 which is our best output so far. I guess the fact that our court docket books are only about 200 pages that we are able to fly through them. They also turn easily and are not falling apart like the ones dated 1799 etc.
Last night we went for a short walk along the highway and up a side road called Riggs Brook Road. When we came back we looked into the window of the apartment we are to move into and saw that it was being painted. tonight we went for a walk instead of going to Western Line Dance class and saw the light was on and so we went in to check out the apartment. You bet it is small - you cannot swing a cat in any of the rooms but it will have to do for 2 1/2 months. Well we are only there to sleep anyway so it is going to be ok. I really think it is only suited for one person but a couple was living in it before this.
We will have one room for the office, one for the bedroom and one that will have to double as a living room and eating room. I really doubt if we will be able to have the missionary correlation meeting there because it is so small.
As I was going through the court dockets today I noticed the name Bessey and had heard Anne talk about relatives named Bessey so I sent her an email telling her about it and asking if it might be her family and she sent back that it was. She is delighted that I noticed it in the court docket so now she can go look up the court case to see what it is all about. Found a second court docket containing the name Besse - hers too.
So far we have the use of someone's open internet connection but most of the time the signal is weak. I have no idea where it is situated but hope that it is available when we are at the new apartment. I cannot wait till we get home and we have full access to an internet line.....one of our own.
I have been reading the books about the Underground railroad - ferrying escaped slaves from the south to Canada. Have often wondered about the Negro Spirituals and in the one book it says that "Cainan" actually stands for Canada which is where they escaped to. There is a lot of imagery in these spirituals just as there is in the Australian bush Poetry and the Hawaiian Hula and the songs of Japan and on and on and on. The book makes the point or seems to make the point that ONLY negro spirituals carry imagery that is known only to them and to no one else. There are many iconic images in the world that have special meaning to the initiates and the rituals connected with these special iconic images are what holds groups together and forms the warp and weft of societies that spring up as a result. I think that the writer of the book got carried away in places but it is a book that illustrated for me in a rudimentary way how the quilt patterns of our fellow quilters got their names and configurations. I guess I will never look at a sampler quilt quite the same way any more. However, I must say, that all quilters put something of themselves into their quilts that makes each quilt uniquely theirs and that the slaves are not the only ones or first ones to stitch found objects etc into quilts. I also question her assertion that all the quilt patterns used originated with the slaves. I would suggest that the slaves adopted and adapted the quilt patterns to suit their own particular culture. After all, quilts were used in Europe and brought to the US by the pilgrims etc. and used for many years before the slaves showed up. The Pioneers on their trek west used all the fabric they could muster to make quilts.Guess it goes back to the question of which came first - the chicken or the egg? One thing is constant and that is the use of the various quilts to be signals to the escapees to speed them on their way.
Whether it be chickens or eggs, whichever you choose, you are likely to end up with shells or feathers. Its all in how you go about it.
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