Wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.

Last week Thursday and Friday we were hit with a snowstorm caused by a Colorado Low.  Western Canada was hit with a blizzard the previous week so I guess this week it was our turn.

Thankfully, we did not get as much snow as Western Manitoba.  The picture below is not a river but a road in southeastern Manitoba.  We have had enormous amounts of rain in the last few weeks.  Roads are washed out and flooding has occurred in many areas.  The ground in many areas of Manitoba is saturated and the water has no place to go.  This includes our backyard.  I noticed that the geese were flying south much earlier this fall.  I guess they knew something we did not know.   Apparently, there is another storm heading our way from the West.

The above snow pictures were taken on Friday, October 11th.

I found some interesting facts about Chronic pain.  Chronic pain is a sure-fire way to disrupt one’s mental health and perhaps lead to a change in character. It will change moods, behaviors, and personality characteristics, and it will not take long. … Notice your mental health suffer as your life continues to grow isolated. – https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com.

If you have pain, you may also have anxiety, irritability, and agitation. … Usually, as the pain subsides, so does the stressful response. But with chronic pain, you may feel constantly tense and stressed. Over time, stress can result in different emotional problems associated with depression. – https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com.

When the body experiences the latter, it can change the central nervous system (CNS), and influence sensory, emotional, and modular circuits that would otherwise inhibit pain. Chronic pain is now looked at as a neurological disease of its own with symptoms of anxiety and depression. – https://www.webmd.com

Approximately 70% of chronic pain patients have reported feeling angry at themselves and at healthcare professionals,  but this may be an underestimation. Among individuals with chronic pain, high levels of anger are often associated with greater muscle tension, pain severity, and pain behaviors. – https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com

At present, I am still working on my genealogy project.   I took two weeks off because my pain was such that I could no longer concentrate.    However, we must preserve and keep going no matter what the cost.  I am hoping that the research and writing that I am doing will keep my brain functioning.

This week I have spent my time researching Holodomor.  Holodomor was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1930 to 1934 that killed millions of Ukrainians and other ethnic groups.  In the Ukraine it is also known as the Terror-Famine and Famine-Genocide and sometimes referred to as the Great Famine or the Ukrainian Genocide of 1930–34. Wikipedia  My great grandparents, Bernhard and Helena (nee Zacharias) Giesbrecht both starved to death during this horrendous time in Soviet Russia.  Throughout Canada, in each and every year, the fourth Saturday in November shall be known as “Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (“Holodomor”) Memorial Day”.  I will remember my great grandparents.

The funeral of my great grandmother, Helena (nee Zacharias) Giesbrecht. Cause of death was Stalin’s man-made famine.