Bears and the Newest Bear

Those who know me know that we lost our son, Steve, December 2008 and it was/is rough.  But, June Benton, a friend here in MN who "moonlights" as a grief counselor, turned me onto Cathy Schrader, an angel who lives in West Virginia and  who makes memorial  teddy bears.  Somehow  we had saved and brought to MN one of Steve's flannel shirt jackets.  Ahh, would this work?  I could not bring myself to do anything with it.  So I contacted Cathy who can be reached through her website. After emails back and forth she agreed it would work and so I mailed the shirt/jacket off to her with no deadline in mind.  Cathy is an angel with this ministry, she attaches a personalized bookmark with each bear and being me, I wanted to select my own scripture verses; not a  problem for Cathy. She does not know that I am blogging her, but if anyone  loses a loved one, or would just enjoy a unique  commemorative bear, save some good clothing and think about getting a bear. She also  has her own fabrics.  You can contact Cathy through her website which is http://www.websterartists.com/  or by email at cathschrader@hotmail.com  An AWON friend in Cincinnati says they also make memory bears for homeless  shelters, etc.  So maybe in your area there is a talented bear maker, maybe it's you.



50 Cent Rocker from 1964

 I don't know how our bear collection started but it was not intentional, just one of those things that took on a life of its own. Beginning in CA in 1965, every year at Christmas I had a collection of teddy bears to display in a child's wooden rocker that I bought in 1964 for 50 cents when I was pregnant with Steve.  The bears sat in the rocker near the Christmas tree guarding presents and Steve grew up believing that they would know and tell if he peeked.  He believed that until he was about 11 years old when he challenged the bears' ability; what left him wondering was somehow Mom found out and he kept a wary eye on them vacillating between a child's belief and skepticism; in later years he always got a good laugh out of the bear guard  presiding around the  Christmas tree.  Today that 50 cent rocker has some bears and a loose squirrel  and occupies the corner of our study, moved from CA, just one of those things with provenance I thought a keeper; many youngsters have sat in it  from Steve to nieces to visitors to grand kids and it's still rockin'.

Cinnamon Blondie and Lou The RV Travelin'Bears

 I"ve learned to refer to "our bear collection"  because Jerry is quite possessive of several bears, primarily Lou, whom Jerry calls "Bear."  Mary Ann, my Louisiana. pal presented him to me for my 60th birthday, he's soft and large and  a big brown bear who has resided in the motor homes ever since.  He and Jerry have become best pals because they made several trips together back and forth form CA to MN, over the years.  Jerry considers Bear the ultimate traveling companion who merely sits and agrees with whatever's happening as long as the coach moves.  Then Aunt Jinx added Blondie to the mix, a bear she obtained somewhere and decided should go on the road!  Then we found Cinnamon in Bemidji, MN  for a dollar  a few years ago, and the 3 traveling bears were complete.  It took Lou a bit to accept this because he was king of the road for so long, but now the  3 bears travel happily though Lou does insist on sitting up front on passenger's lap so he can see the sights. You will notice he sports an array of pins on his ribbon signifying different places and events to which he travels.  This Irritated Blondie who then had to have a necklace and  something to pin on her ribbon, leaving  Cinnamon to begin to collect only bear and flag pins.  Lou has mentioned that this winter he would appreciate my sewing or quilting a vest  so that he can add more pins over the next years.   By the way the three bears hibernate in the motor home over winter and are looking forward to a trip south this winter...

Curly and Bump Bump

Another addition to the bear collection came about  1980 when Sandy was into ceramics and made Bump Bump for me back when I  was still in my career daze!  Bump Bump  came with her  head bandaged and a sign that said, "There must be an easier way to go down the stairs.." alluding to my life of frustration  in the bureaucracy. 


When my best friend Roberta died in CA and I inherited some of her jewelry, among the collection was a Black Hills Gold teddy bear necklace and earrings.  Bear things were beginning to enter or lives. 




Burden Bear with his own quilt and bear

 

Today besides the Christmas bears, we have the patriot bears who guard the patriots' bedroom.   These characters have patrolled and secured the perimeters of the room since we moved in 2005 and had a room to decorate appropriately with red, white and blue.  They were quite comfortable atop the twin daybed and the quilt I made for it until they caught wind of  my and Sandy's plans for that room.  I  would inherit an antique colonial sleigh bed from PA and back about 2006 Sandy and I began to develop plans for what she would hand quilt for that room.    

The patriots expected and anticipated the  quilt  and were not saying too much, but they began to agitate about the quilt that Sandy was making in CA as they eavesdropped on our phone conversations. It didn't matter that they had a  beautiful hand  quilted antique  poppy coverlet that also came from PA.

 They began to sputter their impatience periodically and I would have to admonish them that things of  beauty take time. 

They  were not having any of it and  would go on the march after they heard me on the phone with Sandy; they even made up their own song, "Oh Where, O Bear,  has my new quilt been;  oh how much  longer will it be?  With the winters so cold and the bed so long, O why won't she send it to me?"  They were one ecstatic chorus of bears when the Salute of Roses Quilt arrived!  And  by now you are questioning if I have any sanity remaining or if I ever had any!

It didn't help that Burden Bear, a gift from Sandy in 2007,  had joined them and tried to pray and engage them in services;  they allowed him to be there because he is light blue, but the Patriots are more inclined to action than quiet prayer.  They were somewhat in awe of Burden Bear who brought his own little  quilt that matched the one I'd made when the twin daybed occupied the room. 



Sleigh bed with antique coverlet, Patriot Bears in Patriotic Room

  



Patriot Bears with Salute of Roses Quilt

They are very particular who enters their area, which is why Col. Wally who came with his own  box of sytrofoam peanuts as a starter kit for me, another story, was given a post  at the counter by the laptop, his presence would not have melded with them, he was grey and they even considered him to be a rebel.  But then Col Wally has been known to bring himself to the party when a beverage or treats attract him and his post right close on the kitchen counter, overseeing the laptop suits him just fine.  

Col Wally gets ready to party

  But bear with me, as I get back to the purpose of this post,  the new bear here, SteveO Bear.  



My head and Steveo Bear's, self photo



Jerry knew I had commissioned SteveO and was not commenting, at times wary of what to say or not trying to avoid any bad memories and upsets for either of us when Steve comes up.  This bear is SteveO unless Jerry renames him; our son and his friends had a strange habit of  adding an O to their  names, so the new guy bears that!  When the box arrived, Jerry who always gets the mail and packages, opened it and  had his own tears which he admitted later; he posed SteveO bear crawling out of the box so I could see him when I came into the kitchen.  It was love at first sight as Steveo Bear jumped up to give me a big hug.  Of course there were tears, but he is beyond my expectations, the workmanship is superb,  a magnificent bear which I am sure you will agree. His eyes are buttons from the shirt jacket and his collar is tied with the grey cord from the hood of the shirt.  

  Here is a photo of him meeting the patriots who promptly assigned him to  the foot of the bed.  But he is patient and is making his way slowly but surely and being a big guy he is comfortable at the foot of the bed  with the pillows which the patriot bears had likewise relegated there.    He makes me smile because he is a bit overstuffed and Steve was the same, a big guy!  The Patriots are not  taking any chances though with his size, they determined he could not overpower them!



SteveO meets the Patriot Guard



Steveo Bear at the foot of the bed

In addition to the bear, I had ordered some Christmas balls through Cathy which  arrived and are of such excellent workmanship; they are for  3 of Steve's friends this Christmas.  I don't know what I was expecting, but to say I am pleased is an understatement.  These are made  by a different person but Cathy can arrange that too.  Here are some photos and the name of the creator on the label at the bottom. 



Top of Christmas Ball



Side  of Christmas Ball



This is the label from the Christmas ball



I have lots to do around here and so what am I doing, blogging?   There is a new stack of  more old family photos  from Jerry's mother's things to  scan; she is now in the nursing home in town and we are engaged in clearing out her apartment.  I am really getting weary of emptying homes when the elderly  need to be moved or pass on.  Fortunately her accumulation is nothing like  my aunt's home  nor my Uncles' which still awaits us in PA.  Our trip had to be delayed now with Jerry's mother's decline, and the recall notice from Workhorse on our motor home. Wouldn't you know the  RV repair shop can't get to us until October 5; well that's not so far away now.  After that we should be heading east to arrange winter  needs for Uncle's home.  

This has been my answer to Goldilocks and the  3 Bears and an effort for the Story Tellers blog, which link is not working right now....Once I fix that I know you will want to link to them too!  Hah  here it is, try this...

  

Sepia Saturday "Week 41 Grandparents of the other half

After  an absence dealing with all sorts of family company and issues, I can return to Sepia Saturday posts.  Jerry's cousin just sent us a succinct family history written by her mother, Aunt Ruth, when she was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer.  It tells of the early settler days, their family of pioneers who made it across the Atlantic Ocean from Prussia aka Germany in 1850, with infants, how they journeyed across rugged country through New York, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa  and  ultimately bought land along the Mississippi in Minnesota, land that they would farm after they cleared the trees and harvested and sold lumber.  It has been so interesting to tie the individuals to census records and recorded deeds and amass the data in one place. I marvel considering their  rugged hard lives, building log cabins for shelter in the wilderness against the harsh winters, living away from all civilization, frightened of Indians in new territory, man and wife and  four small children.  I wonder how they did that, I who bundle up securely and live with all modern conveniences in winter.  I wonder who had the hardest lives, my Polish coal mining ancestors or these rugged Prussian/Germans.  We are learning more about Jerry's maternal ancestors than he ever knew, whatever else we may learn they were hearty brave individuals. 

This  first photo which his cousin sent is Jerry's maternal grandmother, Esther Wetchen Behrndt (1883-1950); my last sepia post showed her with her "brood" of grandkids on the farm.  He had never before seen this photo so it was a treat.  We know this photo was taken before she married Jerry's grandpa Charlie Behrndt May, 1908.  There is some scandal attached to her younger years before she met Charlie because "she gave birth out of wedlock to her first daughter, Myrtle Louise in 1906."  That's what Aunt Ruth wrote . Charlie raised Myrtle as his own daughter and he and Esther had  four more girls, Jerry's mother being the  last and youngest. It is likely that Esther was so concerned about Jerry and Diane when their mother divorced their father and that was why she took such good care of those two children who lived with her and Charlie; that would have been  1938, still a time when single mothers were not in favor.    Esther died in 1950 at 66 years of age, which is young for this family marked by rugged individuals most of whom lived well into their 80's and 90's back then.  The hardships seemed to make them all stronger.  By 1949, the family had moved from the farm on the hill to town. Jerry tells that his sister, Diane, 12, could not wake up Grandma one morning and then awakened Jerry who was 13 and who determined that Grandma was dead.  With no one else at home, the two children went to find their Grandfather who was also at work in town and then their mother.   Grandma Esther was the literate half of the partnership, as her husband Charlie could only sign his name.  She also was the one who drove their vehicle, as Jerry recalls and Grandpa Charlie handled  the horses, wagons and later a tractor.



This photo, another Jerry did not recall,   is of Esther's parents, Dietrich Wetchen (1856-1925)and Louisa Leidel (1857-1943), and Jerry's great grandparents.  This is one of the smallest families as they had only two children.   We were surprised to see how much Jerry resembles this great grandfather, except as he has said, he wished he'd  inherited Dietrich's hair, and Jerry has no moustache.  The  printing is what the cousin had on the copy of the photo.    As we looked over the Wetchen and Leidel photos we decided that they brought the good looks into the lineage.  Louisa's  parents Henry Leidel (he's a  distinguished pioneer of this area)  and Johanna Guenther  left Prussia with a  one year old and a  four year old in 1849.  I found it interesting that they sailed  from Hamburg Germany as did some of  my ancestors

Charlie Gustof Behrndt, (1884-1964) Esther's husband, and Jerry's grandfather was the 7th child of 9  born to Adelbert (Albert) Behrndt and Sophia Roth.  Adelbert immigrated from  Germany as did Sophia's parents. Sophia's parents Jacob Roth and Maria Mary Frei married in Germany but he came to America first; she followed  several months later.  They settled first in New York,  and eventually worked their way across the wilderness of the country settling in Minnesota, however when they were 50 and 49 years old, they moved  to homestead sections of land in South Dakota, living there until their late 80's.   Jerry said this is the only photo he has ever seen of his grandfather dressed up; that all he can remember is Grandpa wearing his  bib coveralls.  It is a good thing this cousin had a few photos as many were not taken in this family and now there are some of these younger images to preserve along with their stories.  Jerry absolutely idolized his Grandpa Charlie.  Charlie was a farmer and a hard worker, after moving into town, Charlie worked at the lakes and skinned fish that were commercially caught; he also hauled lumber and cut and sold firewood.  Jerry says he was a short guy, maybe  5' 3" tall but strong as three horses and that  Grandma Esther towered over him.  He smoked a pipe all his life. 

Behrndt's farm house on the ridge of La Crescent

This was the family farmhouse which no longer stands today.  Jerry slept upstairs in the bedroom which shows to the right.  The last Sepia Saturday I posted had the grandchildren gathered with Charlie and Esther for their anniversary.  In 1949 Aunt Marie and Uncle Tommy took over the farming and Charlie and Esther moved to town sharing a  house with Aunt Myrtle and then Uncle Joe.  As I have shared, Jerry, his sister and his mother lived with them, first on the farm and then in town until they left for CA. 




Adelbert (Albert) and Sophia Behrndt



One last photo shows Jerry's Behrndt great grandparents, Albert (1841-1928)and Sophia (1851-1941).  Notice that Albert is small and Sophia is large, so it must have seemed natural to Charlie to marry a woman bigger than him, as that's the way his parents were.  Albert also smoked a pipe all his life.  This is the couple who ended up moving even farther west to South Dakota and continuing to live a hard lifestyle up until they died.  Jerry faintly recalls going to South Dakota to visit some of Grandpa Charlie's family on the land that had been homesteaded. 


To see  others Sepia posts click on the title to this to get to the main Sepia host blog, then select any and all.

Accumulation of paper and its breeding

Clearing the clutter from the Secretary desk

One of my bloggy acquaintances, Vicki Lane posted last  week for Sepia Saturday about paperwork accumulations.  I got a good laugh out of  her all too true words, and pondering about  why we do this. And since this past week, I had "sort of" cleared our  secretary desk in the bedroom, the  desk that was to prevent  accumulation of paper clutter atop our kitchen counter. the desk that has now become the second step in paper/clutter processing, the desk located in another room where out of sight becomes out of mind, the  secretary desk that  for now has a rather neat top and pigeon holes and will allow closing of it's pull down  shelf.   Reading what she shared, tickled  my funny bone.  Here's the link  to Vicki's post http://vickilanemysteries.blogspot.com/2010/09/do-not-destroy-sepia-saturday.html  but the bigger question is why do we do this??? 

I'm not as bad as some and I'm not as good as others at clearing the   ephemera and paper clutter from our lives, however  like Vicki I have wondered,  "why do I do this?"  I can reason my way around this  rather harmless addiction with any  or all of the following justifications :

 This article, cartoon, clipping will make a good blog story someday; or

Here is a website I can check on later; or

I will mail this off to Sandy or Carlie, or: 

Oh, Bonnie will want to know about this;  or

Here is a book I would like to read someday; or

That's a place to visit on our travels; or

This is a lovely card that I will prop here and enjoy a  while longer,  or

This will go in the scrapbook about my father, my grandparents, etc.; or

That's a cause I want to donate $ to and will  send off a check soon; or

I will have to read that offer again, perhaps I want to subscribe; or on & on...

I have inherited this tendency to accumulate interesting items,
 I am Teofils's granddaughter.

First step of the clutter that then goes to the secretary desk.
The kitchen counter is now happily cleared except for current  cooking magazines

You may  recall my tales about my Granpap on this blog; he was the original collector of odd things.  He never went out for a daily walk without finding something to bring back home and after they sold their home and moved into a rental of rooms, he  trudged up the hill and  brought the stuff to our basement, advising my horrified mother, "listen you to me this some good stuff, not take much room, only need a  clean up, someday you gonna need it and here  you have it, it no cost you nothing' you no hafta feed it, this good stuff."  I can use that same reasoning about paper things but the truth is they do have a cost.  The cost of time spent  reviewing, sorting, filing, arranging, and or  disposing of at last.  I did not retire to  become a  paper pusher, yet I do it to myself.  

This time I found some old newspapers back to  2005 about interesting events happening locally, the 2006 invitation to our friends' surprise 50th wedding anniversary in Indiana hosted by her cousin with directions, etc., scaps with phone numbers of I know not whom nor what, some odd buttons from something  that found their way into the stack, a wedding invitation from 2008, graduation announcements from this year relatively current and now easily tossable, and some recipes which no longer sound appealing.   Once I found some cash, maybe $20, which I don't recall setting there and then I shuddered, "here I go it's happening!"   This time I had maybe  a paper grocery sack  less than 2/3 the way full with junk, so it's not so bad it just looks worse than it is. 

You get the drift and maybe you have other reasons or maybe you are able to escape the Great paper chase, maybe you are a minimalist, a real neatnik who tosses all immediately.  I once thought that computers were to rid us of paperwork and  now I have learned that I print things from them and there is another stack!

I thought when we moved to MN from CA I would no longer receive so much odd/junk mail, most of which I do process immediately into the trash can in the kitchen, but there is the occasional item for the litter pile or  later to be dealt with.  I thought wrong.  I bought an address stamp for us when we moved here because I was sure I would no longer receive those  return address labels, you know the kind, handy for envelopes, but address labels have become so ubiquitous that they have a separate side in the desk drawer and a folder atop the secretary, boy was I ever wrong there! Besides now that we send less in the snail mail and do more business online, how many address labels does one need?  I carry a small supply in my purse when I carry a purse, handy to slap onto tickets purchased at charitable drawings rather than entering the information by hand on those small lines.  Many labels  go to the waste basket right away. But after my efforts I still have quite the assortment of address labels, seasonals, and so on. 

I do not donate to many charitable organizations, willy nilly, only my few longtime favorites, besides the local church, so it is not that they have me in their sights as the next  unaware victim to send them $5.  I feel no guilt in not sending them back their nickels that they send me  nor in keeping the notepads and not sending them  any money, because this is unsolicited.   Jerry's 93 year old mother does donate $5 to every  ragtag appeal and consequently gets more junk mail than anyone in La Crescent, attested to by her mailman who has a big route in this  little town and outghta know.  Now she takes her junk mail seriously because it is addressed to her "personally" so she reads every word, never mind that her dementia  precludes comprehension or retention of what she's reading but  she  retains stacks of junk mail to read.  Her end tables and kitchen table display foot high stacks as testament to her devotion to the  printed word!  This sight makes me ever alert to not over  indulge my pack rat tendencies to that extreme!

The desk now can close

As I can justify my own weirdness, I figure this is a relatively harmless addiction, like my accumulation of  fabric stashes or books, I could always be doing something worse.  But when I spend time  clearing out what I have allowed to clutter I have to wonder, why do I do this to me?  The secretary can now resume life as a desk and a place to write out bills for snail mail, but for how long?

Patriot Bears aligning

Oh and another thing, the bedroom patriotic bears are well pleased.  They live in that room next to the desk atop their bed which is now adorned with their magnificent Salute of Roses quilt for which they waited many years, these bears are quite neat and picky and intolerant of paper stacks of distraction.  They have exercised restraint, recently with company from Colorado, but that is another blog story.  I just  don't want to try their patience too far. 

  

Home of the  patriot bears and the clear secretary desk

Let's Roll by Lisa Beamer

Let's Roll by Lisa Beamer, wife of Todd Beamer, a 9-11 Hero on Flight  93that  crashed near Somerset, PA is an excellent, easy  faith filled read that was released in 2002.   I marvel at this young woman's strength, she,  who is living proof of the benefit of a life long faith.  Only a few pages into the book reveal  that her strength comes from her very deep solid Christian faith.  To lose her husband that way while she was pregnant with their daughter and raising two young sons and to remain steadfast in  faith in God is her testimony.  The book is simply  written , assistance by Ken Abraham, a professional writer.  However, Lisa is not just a simple stay at home mom as she claims; she is an educated woman  who has traveled to foreign countries, a professional who was employed by  Oracle as was Todd before they had their first son. They met when both were attending Wheaton College.  She has joined that elite but Job like club of those of us who have been tested by a loss beyond what we life long believers should have to endure and she has  pulled on her  strength from her faith, the only way we make it.

I have seen Lisa on TV interviews and  admire her.  I know she will survive and thrive because she has it all pulled together with strong support of wonderfully close family and outstanding church friends.  True friends in faith are the best kind! The book is 312 pages and at the end   she scripts the names of all those  who were on Flight 93.  Romans 11:33-36 is one of her spiritual sources; she has memorized much scripture being  a lifelong believer.

Back cover of book

My heart went out to her reading  the book.  On  pg 287 she asks "why would God allow the baby to be  born without a father?"  Or why did  God allow her to get pregnant when He knew Todd would not be alive?  She answers that, again with faith,  pgs. 287 and 288 " I know the only answer was to trust God to provide everything I needed.  .....He was teaching me that I could trust Him  moment by moment even for mundane needs....."   She shares the story of weeding and her friend showing up just when she needed her, an example of how God can  answer in the smallest way.  I have had that same  experience many times through my life from a  phone call at the right  time to an email to a card in the mail to an old friend  from long ago showing up again in my life.  Serendipity of faith rewarded..

More than 45 widows of the September 11 attack had given birth by the time Morgan Beamer, their daughter  was born.  This is striking to me because  you know I was born to a young widow and never knew my father.  But I know that Lisa and her children will be more than OK in life.  She is  balancing sadness with hope.   She has established the Todd Beamer Foundation http://www.beamerfoundation.org/ which has as its  purpose "seeks to equip children experiencing family trauma to make heroic choices every day.  

This is an excellent book for Christian women to read.  I picked it up at Book Sale and will share it with others now.  I have kept special prayers for all the surviving families of 9/11 victims.  Don't even get me started about the mosque proposed to be built there.

Old Butch

I suppose this has been around a time or two but it made me laugh and when I need somehing funny to remember I can come back here to my blog and reread this...truth is stranger than fiction though and it's so true about those silent bells.....

John was in the fertilized egg business.  He had several hundred young layers (hens), called 'pullets,' and ten roosters to fertilize the eggs.  He kept records, and any rooster not performing went into the soup pot and was replaced.


This took a lot of time, so he bought some tiny bells and attached them to

his roosters.  Each bell had a different tone, so he could tell from a distance, which
rooster was performing.  Now, he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report by just
listening to the bells.


John's favorite rooster, old Butch, was a very fine specimen, but this morning he noticed old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all!  When he went to investigate, he saw the other roosters were busy chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing, but the pullets, hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover.


To John's amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring.  He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one.  John was so proud of old Butch, he entered him in the Saint Lawrence County Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges.


The result was the judges not only awarded old Butch the "No Bell Piece Prize," but they also awarded him the "Pulletsurprise" as well.

Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making. Who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the unsuspecting populace and screwing them when they weren't paying attention.


Vote carefully this fall, the bells are not always audible.

Continued-other half early episodes Sepia Saturday Week 38 (Click here to go to the Sepia Site)

May 1941 Jerry (held by Grandma) cousins gather at the farm

This week I'll share a few more photos of husband's early days starting with this first photo taken May 1941 with cousins and his  maternal grandparents farm on one of their anniversaries.  This is his beloved Grampa Charlie and Grandma Esther Behrndt who were farmers and who actually raised him and his sister,Dianne, while his mother who was then divorced, worked and socialized, ahem.  Jerry's Aunt Marie gave me this photo several years ago and I framed it for Jerry's anniversary present on our anniversary that year; he loves it because he had no other photo of both grandparents.  The two boys on either side on the bikes are Alden on left  and Clifford (on right) Cook, Aunt Marie & Uncle Tommy's sons.  Aunt Marie said, when the Ender cousins, (children of Aunt Ruth and Uncle Leonard) Don and Lavonne seated on the ground with LaVonne holding Dianne, came they brought their bicycles.  Well her boys, who didn't have such expensive conveniences, always commandeered their  cousins' bikes and would not give them up until it was time to leave.  Notice the difference in the dress between Don and Lavonne, the city kids, and their country cousins in dungarees and hand me downs.  Marie also laughed saying, "see Jerry with Grandma hugging him, he really was her favorite child."  He is almost four years old in this photo.  The oldest cousin, the girl standing next to Grandma is Jeanette Wuest, Aunt Myrtle's daughter from her first marriage.  Jerry and Jeanette were very close and over the years when we came to MN to visit, that closeness was evident; she was kind of  like his big sis.  I liked her a lot too and through Jeanette, I learned a lot about the family and his mother's insanity.  We both still miss Jeanette who died in 1991.  Whenever we have visitors either family of friends now in MN, Jerry takes them up the hill to where the  farm was; all that acreage was sold off long ago and the old home gone, but a windmill still stands that his Granpa Charlie built and used.  When the grandparents first moved to town, Aunt Marie and Uncle Tommy took over the farming, but when it became too much for them the land was sold.  Jerry has lots of roots there where he had many happy days. 

As usual click on the title to get to the  hosted Sepia Saturday site.  Once there you can click on any of the individual posts. 

Castor condiment holder and antique looking

Last Saturday, August 21,  we spent a  very full day at the fair grounds in Rochester, MN home of the Gold Rush Antique and Flea Market.  It's about 70 miles  from where we live and is an event worth attending for anyone even slightly interested in anything antique or collectible, one of the largest in this region and one that really should be done over two or three days.  But, thinking how tough we are, we confined our adventure to  most of  Saturday; oh our aching feet at the end of a long  hard day upright on that pavement. There are simply miles of buildings full of all sorts of offerings  from all sorts of vendors and then there are miles of  booths outside, more offerings, more vendors.  And this year there were ever so many wonderful food booths that it was had to choose what to eat, though Jerry stuck with a brat and I had a pulled pork sandwich at lunchtime. That was the only time we got to sit, and briefly too. 

There  is no seating at all in the booths or buildings, so one gets a good workout walking and browsing.It is not for the person who does not walk well, although we did see some handicapped riding their scooters, they could not get into some of the buildings; that's a good thing because some aisles would not accommodate those scooters.  There were families with strollers and I felt sorry for the little ones being down there at leg height among  crowds.  And of course there were  women who dragged along their  chopping carts, an easy way to haul loot.  

All sorts of decorative outdoor metal work available from this vendor.

We parked in  a lot near many RV coaches and asked a man who was dumping his trash if he was staying there, he said, "It's the only way I'd do this."  He pointed to his motor home and said he'd been sitting there watching TV and reading the paper while his wife was off at the booths.  They were from Brainerd MN and would spend  five days there taking it all in. Well next year, we agreed,  if we go, we are taking our Motor home and making a long weekend  out of it. 

One  booth of the miles of dishes displayed

By the way, if this is not enough, the tiny village of Orinoco, about 20 miles or so north of Rochester, but with a population of  less than 400 normally, magnifies it's size more than ten fold this same weekend.  The citizens of Orinoco rent out space in their  yards and the entire town is covered with  vendors offering  something for everyone.  We did not get to Orinoco this year.  Rochester hosts this antique show three times a year, but August is the premier show with Orinoco joining in and  ever so many more vendors.  When I first heard of it as Gold Rush, I laughed because we lived in California near real gold rush country, the  49'ers and all that.  But evidently this event is rightfully named because the area fills up and people come from all over to find just what they  were looking for and maybe even something they didn't know they wanted!  It's a time to look and certainly the place to find whatever might be missing from a collection.  I think this year there were  fewer of the vendors we normally have seen, a reflection in the down market, they say.  At this event, though people were buying.  In the past I have purchased things too, including what is a piano bench but serves as a side/end table in one of the bedrooms.  It was a darn bargain a few years ago at $45. 

This is our silver castor holder

We had a couple items to look for, including  maybe something Snow White related for granddaughter in CA who is a Snow White collector and maybe condiment bottles for our inherited antique silver castor set that speaks of a wealthier lifestyle and high society. It came from the Irwin mansion, my uncle John's' grandfather and family.  I've mentioned them before, source of many antiques we proudly own.  This particular item, has held our interest and it was not until this year that we even identified it by name.  We found an excellent high quality vendor who had some magnificent full sets available at $350+ but who spent a long time talking to us about ours.  He was so helpful and promised to contact us should he ever locate condiment bottles.  If I were in the market for  anything in the way of crystal or silver, I could have found it in spades at his booth.  

Notice the ornate heads as feet  and the solid silver bell

Condiment bottle

So this week I have spent time online looking where he advised and learned more about these items.  Ours is a solid silver gorgeous piece, which Jerry is now polishing.  The Irwins used it and the bell would be rung  by  depressing the small ball shaped lever atop the circular part of the stand, to summon servants to wait on them or refill condiments that might have been running low.   It is made by Reed and Barton and likely during the late 1800's and is likely American, so the vendor said.  He said the ones from England did not come with bells,  an adaptation here by Americans of means.  Reed and Barton have been in business since 1824 and  started putting earmarks of the year on their pieces in 1928.  Ours has none so we are confident it is earlier than 1928.  The silversmith who worked on this was an ultimate craftsman, judging by the quality and intricate scroll work and the magnificent heads, used as feet.  It is about 19 inches tall and a little over 8 inches wide at the circular holder for the condiment bottles.   We were sorry we did not take it along, but it would have been heavy and too much to lug around all day.  The  vendor pulled out a book which had a big section about these and was happy to talk with us.  He warned us that there are  cheap models  turning up lately but that we would be able to spot them as we had at other booths.  We know silver plate and  cheaper tinplate are no comparison  to solid silver.  It is interesting that he advised bottles are being duplicated but he  knew of no source.  This week I found some on ebay; one seller from Indiana  readily admitted the bottles were new. Another ebay seller out of FL  has a cheaper plated set but with  five bottles which we need; I am considering bidding on the bottles but they are of a different pattern than this  frond leaf scroll  on ours that matches the silver etching.  We have only one bottle with a crystal stopper, but the lid of the bottle is chipped, photo above.  The other bottles are tightly wrapped in plastic, don't know by whom and we hesitate to unwrap them because they look like they are shattered.  Then again, this gives us an excuse to  continue to search antique shows and markets and we are in no hurry.    

Prints like these are selling for excess of $50 and there were many available.  We have one of these.  It's always interesting to see prices on items we have.  But then again they are only worth that if someone pays for them.  One vendor had aluminum stirrers such as I have thrown out in PA; she wanted $60 for a box of  six!  I really gasped to see that!  You just never know!

This vendor had furniture and prints

Snow White dolls  by Krueger of New York  1930's

  

Vendor in photo with doll

As to Snow White, there were a few interesting items, but we opted to not purchase.  I considered a gorgeous huge cookie jar, but because grand daughter is only going on 20 and not out of college, who knows what could happen to it.  We found a 33 1/3 record album with a great illustration of Snow White and a story book included,  for only $10, but then, Jerry figured, what would she do with it.  And since  our DIL her mother,  is  a minimalist and not a saver of items,  I would hesitate to send it and have it tossed.  One  lady had  the most interesting set of dolls that I have ever seen though and she allowed me to take a photo, here  from her own collection, made by Krueger in New York in the  1930's, they are worn, but magnificent...The entire set was $2650 and we were not going to spend that for Granddaughter either.  Notice the photo of the little girl with pipe  curls; that was the vendor as a little girl. Such a treasure for someone who would appreciate it! So very cute!  She shared that she is selling off lots of her collections because, (this is a song I can sing) her children are not interested, do not appreciate the items and so she is selling now so she can get the money and use it as she chooses rather than leaving the planet and  allowing family to discard or sell off cheaply.  I have thought this same thing myself and have had this same conversation with others, who say sell it, and spend your money.  But right now, I am enjoying  our possessions too much to part with them.   

We did acquire a Snow White glass which I have put away to be sent to CA another time, maybe around Christmas.  I had  just completed and sent off to her  a Kinkade print of a Snow white throw and just last week finished a pillow to match the Snow White quilt I made  for her over a year ago now.  We also acquired a couple Olympia Beer glasses for Jerry's  bar, here at home.  That was the brand Jerry consumed forever in CA and is no longer made. 

 And the  piece de resistance was his purchase for all of $3 of an Air Force hat that fit him. He pondered this the entire time and finally at the end  when we were leaving decided that for $3 how could he go wrong.   It has no insignia, however, but he is searching for his and or will look at other venues to purchase it.  There were other military memorabilia booths, but at very high prices.  

Jerry with his naked Air Force Hat

Catch up Post on Recent Reads

I have boxes of  books to donate to the library this week for their book sale coming up in September and so I  need to update my reading list.  I've read all these the past weeks....but just posting here....

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear was new to me and the first in this mystery series set in England post World War I.  I loved it and will read more about Masie, who is introduced in this book as the young daughter  of a costermonger, the word intrigured me and means a green grocer.  Maisie is sent to work as a maid in a wealthy  London family when her mother  dies and her father can no longer hold the home together.  Masie is drawn to the library of the home where she is serving and is eventually discovered to have been reading books but Lady Rowan takes to her and  arranges for Dr. Maurice Blance to tutor her.  Masie is bright and  eventually studies at Cambridge, then interrupts her education to serve as a nurse  on the front lines of WWI where she meets and loses  her intended husband.  After returning to London and completing her studies, she opens her own agency for private investigations.  There are so many rich     unforgettable characters introduced through the book with a couple divergences back and forth to her service on the front lines and then her current investigation.  It is an easy to follow story line and kept me fully interested.  I do not want to give away the  mysteries, so will limit my comment.  I understand that this was selected  as a community read in Woodland, CA, which is how I first  heard of Masie.  It is simply a very good period detective series and having talked to some others who have read and enjoyed  the full series of Masie's adventures, I have more good reads ahead. 

When I ordered Masie from Barnes and Noble, my fingers must have hit a wrong button because along  in the delivery came, "The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox"  by Maggie O'Farrell, an author  who was born in Northern Ireland , grew up in Wales and Scotland and now lives in Edinburgh.  This was a strange book but  one I read quickly.  It is about two elderly sisters long separated.   Esme, is sent away  to an institution as a young child; her sister Kitty is the grandmother of the protagonist, Iris who learns suddenly about Esme as the institution is closing.   Iris is befuddled because she had been  taught her grandmother was an only child and Kitty now suffers dementia and is in a care home as well.  Well, again I can't give away  the plot line, but as Iris decides to take Esme in just until other care can be arranged, she learns more about family history than  she ever knew. I liked this line, on page 118, "Nothing is our own.  We begin in the world as anagrams of our antecedents."   It was an odd way to stumble upon a different read, but it held my interest through all 245 pages. I guess I could relate to how intrigued Iris would be as the history  of the family is revealed.  Not likely a book I would have seen browsing, but serendipity brought it to me.

Every summer I like to read another book by Elizabeth George working through the several I have acquired and added to my to read shelf.  I chose "A Suitable Vengeance" which has aired on Public Broadcasting as a  movie.  I must be on a British train lately as this is set in England too, maybe it's the influence and effect of  Sepia Saturday posts and all the Brits who are participating and involved or perhaps it's my current trend having recently visited with my Brit friend Pat, as she's easing back from her heat stroke episode.  This is one of Elizabeth George's earlier novels as  Inspector Thomas Lynley, forensic scientist Simon St. James and Lady Helen Clyde team up to solve crimes that get quite involved personally in the picturesque Cornwall village.  Lynely is torn as the solving the murders point to  someone in his own family.   But as always Elizabeth George weaves a mystery with many side lines full of richly developed  characters with modern twists of drugs, different sexual habits and more to vividly color the  mystery.

 Recently on his blog, Tony mentioned that  he was going to a "piss up," a term  I had never before heard.  That very evening, there it was in "Suitable" as Mrs. Swann, owner of the pub described such goings on.  Discovering what it meant, made me laugh and was worth the reading....I suspect I can use that term now and then to my advantage!    Page 254,  has this discussion about death, "The worst part of a death was always that moment of knowing beyond a doubt that  no matter how many people share it--be they family, friends, or even an entire nation--no two people can ever feel it the smae way.  So it always seems as if one experiences it alone."  Well, you knowq that struck me.  This is  one example of the good writing that Elizabeth George has in her books that keep me reading them.  I was introduced to her years back in CA and have yet to finish reading all her novels.  They are excellent though and a good place to lose self.  

And my last book for this post, which  I picked up in July for $1, hardback, first edition, at the Library book sale was the excellent "Kate Remembered" by A. Scott Berg, a Princeton graduate,  Pulitzer prize winner who devotes  years of intense research into his works and therefore has writtten few books.  He's not an author who cranks 'em out.  This is about Katherine Hepburn, one of my all time favorites. .  He begins his long time friendshop with her when she is 75 while he is working on the  biography about Samuel Goldwyn.  I laughed, coughed and  had a tear or two reading about Kate.  I learned that she was a  creature of habit in many ways, cocktails, very good scotch a six every evening and dinner at seven.  She lived to be 95.   I learned that she always liked to live in the moment.  She was an avid swimmer, even hitting the water outside in the New YOrk and Connecticut winter when others younger would shiver.  Of course there is a wealth of information about her movies, many of which I have never seen and  lots of information about her fabulous  career.  But this book is a very personal look at her,  her family and the lifetime relationships and  her friendship as it forms with the author over  20 years.  

She was not one to sit around and  reminisce nor live in the past.  As Kate aged, few people surrounded her, the result of outliving everyone, but she did make friends carefully with chosen younger folks, and no mistake she chose them.  They all were devoted to this eccentric grand lady.  I found one story  about one of her longest friends humorous; they had lost touch over the years ad were not as close as they had been, although they would each ask other people about the other one.  Finally Kate decided to invite her for dinner to catch up.  They and a few others spent the evening talking about old times, through the cocktail and dinner hours...after the woman left, Kate remarked to Scott that it was no wonder they had grown apart, Kate was bored with talking about the past which is all they did!  She never invited the woman to dinner again! 

Entertaining Michael Jackson one evening is another interesting anecdote, especially when she discovers he is very childlike and incapable of good conversation, which Kate insisted on in her home.  She painted and sculpted some, two things I had not known about her.  A woman ahead of her times in many ways, confident and contentious.  She never thought of her self as a second class citizen just because she was a woman, nor did she see why women had to be.   

 I learned that she was an avid reader and saw that as an absolute personal attribute.  I feel the same way.  I laughed hearing of how she added and subtracted to her age, confusing folks.  Of course the grand relationship with Spencer Tracy is described.  This was something very different for that time but they worked it out, she caring for him especially when he  drank excessively, which was often.  More than once, she would say, "Life's  tough for everybody and that's why most people become its victims."  She had little tolerance for weakness and for those who might wallow about  their circumstances.  I suppose she  may have been thought of as hard, but I see her as strong beyond.   Scott  avows that Kate " lived most of her life as a contestant in that great struggle, always pushing herself hard, riding the wave and sometimes swimming ahead of it."     I relished all  370 pages.  As the author  states, this is a tribute to a woman who forbid any tributes at her funeral; that reminded me of my Aunt Jinx.  But Scott, explains he believes it is more than a tribute is is her fond remembrances shared with him from her heart.  She was one and only, there will never be another Hepburn.  I'll have to read her own memoir sometime as well as her writing about her experience making the African Queen, both books are mentioned in this one.