No, this is not another journal entry about me walking on the CN Tower Edge Walk, although I still dream about walking on the top of the world again, but next time I will do it at night. 

I chose the title because it is the song I listened to when I got up this morning.

Didn’t Karen Carpenter have a great voice?

She is the first person I heard of who died from Anorexia.

Holly Golightly (my dog) and I got up at 3:30 a.m., and although I wanted to go back to bed, I decided to watch a couple of programs I’d taped last night instead.

After watching The Curse of Oak Island season finale, I watched a couple of episodes of The Stranger on Netflix. 

I also watched Ricky Gervais’s ‘After Life’ series but found I can only watch one episode a day – because it’s so sad. 

The show is also very funny, but you’ll have to be the judge for yourself.

I made a second cup of coffee and fed Holly her breakfast. 

Then I turned on my laptop to check my emails. 

I had the usual number of messages, but one, in particular, caught my immediate attention.

It was an email from Bill Hawke, a name I didn’t recognize. 

But I can’t begin to tell you how excited I became while reading his letter.

Bill wrote that he and his wife, Gail, had been tracing his family’s roots on Ancestry.

Although he wasn’t from the St. Andrews clan – he is from my Dad’s mother’s side (the Law clan).

Apparently, he and Gail had been researching their genealogy for the past thirty years and had uncovered family history dating back to the 1600s. 

He mentioned they didn’t have surname information for many people on our family trees covering the past seventy years.

My Grandma St. Andrews is probably Bill’s aunt! But I only knew Grandma’s brothers Geoff and Charlie, who lived on Mary Street in Oshawa.

Bottom line: We’re distant cousins! 

Not only that, but he and Gail live in Vancouver!

I was so excited, I immediately wrote him a reply.

And as I’m writing this, my computer just beeped, letting me know I had a new email message – and it’s a reply from him!

I’ll have to continue this post later. 

We’ve agreed to compare notes and connect via a video conference in the near future.

Meanwhile, I’ve contacted my cousin Donna Bickell, to tell her about Bill and Gail. 

Donna’s Mom was my Dad’s younger sister Marion.

Donna and I are both on Ancestry, but she is much more knowledgeable about our family’s tree than I am.

Learning more about the Law side of the family will be interesting. 

I know they originally immigrated from Ireland, but that’s all I remember.

When I was young, we visited my Dad’s Uncle, Geoff Law, and Aunt Katherine.

They owned an apple orchard near Leamington, Ontario.

Here’s a photo from that visit”

I was trying to figure out when the photo was taken, and it dawned on me!

A few days before we arrived at Uncle Geoff’s place, we were at my Uncle Fred’s cottage near Parry Sound, Ontario.

And I remember it so well because it was my Dad’s 39th birthday, and he shaved off his mustache to celebrate it – so, it was either July 23rd or 24th, 1960, because he was born on July 22, 1921.

My Dad seldom spoke about his relatives, but I have always wanted to learn more about my grandparents and ancestors.

I hope to meet Bill and Gail and will update this story afterward.

I will also check if they are on Facebook or other social media.

I am excited like a kid with money in a candy store!

Dedicated to my cousins Bill and Gail Hawke

I hope that my stories are a gift to your head and heart.

Hugs,

Danny

Today’s tune from Danny’s library (purchased):

Isn’t life strange?
A turn of the page
Can read like before
Can we ask for more?

Each day passes by
How hard man will try
The sea will not wait
You know, it makes me want to cry, cry, cry

Wished I could be in your heart
To be one with your love
Wished I could be in your eyes
Looking back, there you were, and here we are.

Isn’t love strange?
A word we arrange
With no thought or care
Maker of despair

Each breath that we breathe
With love, we must weave
To make us as one
You know, it makes me want to cry, cry, cry

Wished I could be in your heart
To be one with your love
Wished I could be in your eyes
Looking back, there you were, and here we are.

Isn’t life strange?
A turn of the page
A book without light
Unless, with love, we write

To throw it away
To lose just a day
The quicksand of time
You know, it makes me want to cry, cry, cry

Wished I could be in your heart
To be one with your love
Wished I could be in your eyes
Looking back, there you were

Wished I could be in your heart
To be one with your love
Wished I could be in your eyes
Looking back, there you were

Wished I could be in your heart
To be one with your love
Wished I could be in your eyes…

Songwriters: John Charles Lodge
Isn’t Life Strange lyrics © Johnsongs, Halesouth Ltd.

Here’s a link to what Danny is listening to now: Drowning in a Tub Full of Tunes