Buenos días a todos It is 8am in the Old Pueblo and 56F (13.3C) with an expected high of 82F (27.8C) and sunny skies! I was awakened with a telephone call from what I thought would be my new primary care provider. My old one is a physician’s assistant who is leaving the practice. I was told to make a new appointment (today) to maintain care at this practice. Wrong! I had to reschedule for December 28 for 1/2 hour (not 15 minutes). If I get a call at 7am on the 28th telling me he is not taking new patients that will put me over the edge with these complex medical conditions! Continuity of care is probably the biggest issue as I age, along with the medical conditions.
When I volunteered at the Celtic Festival two weeks ago, I discovered that a farmer’s market was held every Sunday morning. I went last Sunday and had a wonderful time. These are all local vendors who make homemade food and items for sale. I have ordered a home-baked pumpkin pie for this Sunday, which I will take to my friends’ home this Thursday. They kindly asked me for Thanksgiving and I am thankful. It will be just the three of us. Their youngest, who is in his 40’s is staying put in Colorado to complete a master’s degree. Their other son and his family live in California and are committed elsewhere. Last year, during the pandemic, they brought Thanksgiving dinner to me (we were all donned in masks). Things are looking up somewhat from the pandemic, but we still have a way to go. Other vendors sell green corn tamales and empanadas, home-brewed kombucha, spaetzli bread, fruits and vegetables from the garden and handcrafted goods. The only thing missing is a Tarot reader!
I mentioned a while back that my nurse sleep researcher colleagues and I are working on a paper regarding nurses being more tired than ever and what to do about it. We are referring to nurses who work nights and long shifts. The paper, published in the American Journal of Nursing (AJN), was released yesterday. We had queries about the article over a week ago from Mexico to Latvia! The AJN has even made this a Continuing Education article and added a video clip of two of our writing group to enhance promotion. The editor has also told us that we can get copyright permission to publish the article in Spanish once translation completed. We are all very excited about this and it is flying off the open access PubMed link. We are already working on our next publication, which will cover night/long shift work and negative health outcomes.
Shout out: Pip, I already sent you the link for this paper, as promised months ago, for your EMT daughter.
This past week, I worked on the Morse family profiles. There were perhaps 15 to 20 that had no sources and most without biographies. As you might guess, they were GEDCOM uploads from Ancestry. Several dated back to 2011. These GEDCOMS are becoming the bane of my existence. I started with one, then moved to the next, and the next, then discovered that there were extant profiles; however, not connected, some without birth or death dates. If I can find information on RootsSearch, anyone can! I was all set to continue work on my son-in-law, Curtis’ Barnum line when I came across a Morse profile and my OCD kicked in. One biography turned into many. I promised myself (and my son-in-law) that I would be completing his maternal line before Christmas. Now I need to focus.
It is hard to believe we are moving into the shank of November 2021. The years are flying by. I want to wish all of you (even the ones who are not in the U.S.) a Happy Thanksgiving week. And let’s be sure to thank thoughtfully or in person, our indigenous families here in the states for their ancestors’ generosity in keeping immigrants to the ‘New World’ (our ancestors) from starving. I wish all of you a very happy, healthy and productive week.