A baptism and some stuff

March 3, 1991:  Mitchell Howard was baptized.  Jayson and a cousin of Rick's were sponsors.  Had dinner at Greta's.
March 8, 1991:  Pinochle at Marie H.'s.
March 13, 1991:  No Women of ELCA -- stormy and icy.
March 20, 1991:  Busy Bees at Nelle's.
March 22, 1991:  I had Pinochle Club."

I kept going with multiple entries since most were rather sparse.  Kept looking for something with some meat in it, no offense to Mitch and his baptism.  I have some pictures but none scanned and ready to post; but will remedy that in the future.  He wore a baptismal gown that was worn by other family members - I will have to find out how many we know of for sure.  He behaved himself pretty well; thankfully I knew the "gnaw on Mom's knuckle" trick since it did come in handy at least once.

I finally have a decent photo of Grandpa's garden and so am posting that today instead.  Tom looks to be having a grand time.  I love all the colors of green in the picture, foreground and background.

Aunt Irene still under the weather

"February 26, 1991:  Helen and John took us to the doctor.  Howard's blood pressure is down but he has to take pills.  Stopped to see Irene.  She looked terrible.
March 2, 1991:  Nancy came about 6:00 and we went to see Irene.  She is in Intensive Care Unit -- has pneumonia.  She can hardly talk.  Tom and Merilyn were there, too.  After leaving Irene we went to Valentino's to eat."

Only cheery news here is that Grandpa's blood pressure was down.  Otherwise, a fairly dreary entry.
To counter that a bit, I am going to include here an article regarding the senior class play put on by the Winside High School class of 1920.  There are a couple of parts I think Aunt Irene probably found a bit humorous.

Senior Class Play Draws Record Breaking Crowd

With every seat occcupied and even standing room
unavailable the Senior Class of 1920 presented
"All A Mistake" to one of the largest crowds ever
gathered at the Auditorium.

The play was produced in a most commendable
and creditable manner, despite the fact that this
school has a limited number of "artists" to choose
from.  All the members of the cast did so well it
would scarcely be justifiable to particularly mention
any one individual whose part may have been
"heavier" than others.  The play was a three act
Farce-Comedy.  The principals in the cast were:
Homer Smith, Russell Henderson, Meredith
Halpin, Charles Unger, Irene Iversen, Ruth
Needham, Beatrice Motson and Alice Bauermeister.

I thought the mention of limited talent and heavier roles is chuckle-worthy.  It is a good review, however.  It would be fun to try to locate this particular play and see what all the fun was about.

I think I may have used this picture before, but felt it a good one to use anyway.

Oh, here is another article about the play, obviously earlier in time than the one above.

"All A Mistake", which will be produced by the
senior class of the Winside High School at the
auditorium Tuesday, May 18 is a face-comedy,
that has not only proven a big success on the road,
but has the enviable reputation of having been
repeated time and again at various places where it has
been played.  It is a play that is guaranteed to make
the most pronounced pessimist laugh and if you have
never laughed before in your life and really desire to
laugh let the seniors work on your humor next Tuesday
night.  The principals of the cast have been rehearsing
diligently for the past three weeks under competent
instructors and they expect to make things look "real"
to the audience.  The play will begin at 8 o'clock.
Admission 65 cents.  Seats can be reserved at the drug
store.

"Never laughed before in your life"?  Creative journalism at its best.  But we know this kind of hype worked due to the later report of a record breaking crowd.  Congrats to the Class of 1920!!

Two celebrations that weren't

"February 24, 1991:  Helen invited the clan for Irene's 88th birthday and Elmer & Myrtle's 57th wedding anniversary.  Irene was sick - vomited, etc.  Greta stayed with her.  Elmer wasn't feeling well so they didn't come.
February 25, 1991:  Helen stayed with Irene last night.  I was there in p.m.  Decided Irene should be in the hospital.  Ambulance took her to Lady of Lourdes."

What are the odds that two of three honored guests would be sick?  Grandma doesn't say if the dinner was cancelled or if some went since Aunt Helen was prepared for them.  Actually, she doesn't mention a meal, so maybe it was just cake and coffee.

I looked ahead and it appears that Aunt Irene didn't go home after this hospital visit, but instead went to the nursing home to live out the rest of her life.

Mom has said in the past that whenever she had to be in the hospital, she preferred Lady of Lourdes.  There was a short little nun that would come in during the night to take vitals.  But she came with a little flashlight and used that to see what she needed to see instead of flipping on a light while patients were sleeping.  How nice is that?

The photo is, I believe, during one of the trips Nancy, Grandma, Aunt Irene and Dorothy Jo took.  Grandma doesn't look overly thrilled, but I am sure she had a nice time.

Mostly catching up on comments

"February 10, 1991:  Mitchell was to be baptized but Rick's cousin who was to be a sponsor was sick.
February 13, 1991:  W of ELCA meeting.
February 20, 1991:  Busy Bees at Ella Mae's -- everyone present."

Speaking of Mitch, he went on a total tear with comments here recently.  Which was unknowingly bad form on his part, because I was already behind on catching up with non-Mitch comments.  I will get organized here and do an update.

The last time I commented on comments, part of the post was about The Black Knight, something both Mom and Nancy commented on.  Seems they both remember going there (unlike me) and that the food was good.  Mom said Grandma usually had shrimp and Grandpa usually had steak.  Sadly, The Black Knight is no more.  There was a fire and the building was not used as a restaurant again. 

Nancy also commented on the time Kyleah, possibly under duress, stayed overnight.  She was okay for awhile but then wanted to know when she could go home and was told she would be leaving in the morning.  The next day she woke Nancy up to tell her "the sun was on now" and could she go home.

As for the baby shower, memories are spotty which makes me feel very good about my own spotty memory.  Nancy reports she and Merilyn were in charge of getting a family group gift, which she thought odd since neither of them had children.  She remembers specific instructions from Mom, who admits she forgot what the gift was.  Nancy remembers the shower, but not that Dorothy Jo stayed with her.  Mom does remember that Dane was on a bouncy-something close to some sliding glass doors and with his rigorous bouncing, she thought he'd surely go through them.  Thankfully he didn't.  I want to say that the family group gift was the car seat, but I'd have to go check Mitch's baby 'stuff' to be sure.  In a nutshell, it appears I come by my somewhat unreliable memory quite honestly.

Both Mom and Mitch commented that they liked Aunt Irene's story about the trip to Denmark.  Mitch enjoyed it so much, he is ready to move to a small village there.  He thought the bearded man in the one photo was probably Grandpa, but was not ready to bet the farm on it.

As for the black and red beads that the grandkids played with and played with and played with and sometimes fought over, I was right in that we kept a few.  Mitch says they are in his closet in Arizona and that he can't bear to part with them.

He is thankful if he does indeed have Uncle Ray's health genes and is already thankful as it is that he has someone's tall/lanky genes.  Speaking of genes, Mitch admits to getting flustered at making spelling or grammar errors, a trait he most surely inherited from me.  He is a bit biased and thinks the post about his birth is my "best entry yet."

Lastly for Mitch, he really likes Mom's glasses in the old photo of her looking at a baby.  He hadn't seen it before, but it is now easily one of his favs.

Mom disagrees with Kyleah about her dress and thinks its cute.  I'd have to agree with Mom on that.

Mom also commented on the coat I am wearing in the big snow picture.  I am just going to quote her rather than paraphrase: "The coat you are wearing in this picture is one that Grandma Anna made for you.  I was always and still am amazed at how she could make clothes.  I remember going to Norfolk and she would see a dress in a store window, get out her little notebook and make a sketch, go home and spread some newspapers out on the table and make a pattern.  Amazing!"  I wish I was able to know Grandma Anna better than I did.  I think I would have liked that.

The photo of me has nothing to do with anything.  It is, however, the most recent photo anyone will ever see of me in a swimming suit.  I think I was daydreaming about having a blog someday, but it's hard to know for sure.

The Black Knight again and a "Sunday" recipe

"January 27, 1991:  Greta and I to Lincoln to see the new baby.
February 3, 1991:  Tom, Merilyn, Nancy, Rick, Mary, Mitchell, Helen, Greta, Irene and I went to The Black Knight for dinner.  In p.m. played cards here.  Dorothy Jo and Johanna came in p.m."

Well, phooey.  Here is written proof that I have been to The Black Knight.  I have no recollection whatsoever.  One would think I would remember one of the earliest outings with the new baby, and for Grandma's birthday to boot.  Obviously, there is no where for me to go but up in the memory department.

And Grandpa either out of fairness or because he was still not feeling the best, did not make the trip down to see Kyleah, just like the first trip to meet Mitch.  But then again, Grandpa wasn't really big on teeny babies.

This isn't really a recipe, but I am going to mention Grandma's jungle juice.  Seems she quite often made this or that recipe that had drained canned fruit in it.  Because I would go to Grandma and Grandpa's after school and it was not uncommon for there to be jungle juice in the frig -- Grandma's title so far as I know.  She would combine KoolAid and whatever juice she happened to have -- didn't want to waste it, you know.  I am willing to bet she rarely combined the same juice with the same flavor of KoolAid very often.  I wonder if the memory of her concoctions is the reason I am still a sucker for punch of any kind.  Point me to a punch bowl and I will all but pick it up and drink from it.  I LOVE PUNCH.

There's no real good time to post the picture of Grandma at her last birthday party, so I will just do it now and then I won't have to think about when to do it anymore.  She looks so nice there.  A bit of a different smile for her in photos, but I still like it.  Oh, and she's wearing that necklace that all little kids like to mess with.  Bonus.

Grandpa mystery solved, another baby and a Sunday(?) recipe

"January 9, 1991:  Didn't go to W of ELCA.  Howard dizzy all day.  Busy Bees met here.
January 21, 1991:  Kyleah Dianna born, weighed 8 lbs. __ oz.
January 22, 1991:  Helen and John took Howard and me to Pierce.  Howard has high blood pressure - has some pills to take."

Again, lots of details on the brand new baby.  At least Grandma was consistent, but I believe she added an extra 'n' to Diana.  I have quite a few very cute pictures of Mitch and Kyleah when they were babies, but of course, I cannot lay hands on any at the moment.  So, here is one from a few Easters down the road, 1994 to be exact.  Kyleah recently commented that she is probably sad in the photo because her mother made her wear "the worst outfit ever" and Lynn commented about the Cheetos crud on that white collar adding to her dear daughter's attractiveness.  Mitch is having a blast, at least.

I remember going to the hospital to see Lynn and Kyleah.  I don't remember Dale being there at the time.  Kyleah was the cutest thing and still is, actually.  In comparing her to Mitch, who was the only real comparison I had at the time, her features looked really tiny even though she and Mitch weighed about the same.  In her newborn hospital picture, Kyleah looked exceptionally alert for being such a new little thing.

And because I am as unorganized with thoughts and recipes as I am with photos, the recipe will have to wait.

Made it to 1991

"December 31, 1990:  Dinner at noon at Dorothy Jo's -- Raymond, Marina, Helen, John, Irene, Howard and I.
January , 1991:  Tom came to take Raymond and Marina to Lincoln.  They left for home early January 5.
January 6, 1991:  Greta and I went to Lincoln to see Mitchell Howard.  Howard was dizzy -- maybe the flu."

A shame that Grandpa couldn't make it down that day, but he and Mitch had plenty other times to hang out together.

We were home from the hospital already, but barely.  I think they kept us about four days.  We were released just in time to drive home on very slick streets from a snow storm a day or so before.  I recall that Jayson totalled his car in an accident from that storm.  But slick streets and Jayson's wrecked car didn't stop Rick from going back to the hospital to get the pictures of Mitch that we had forgotten.  In retrospect, it was silly for him to go back when it seemed we barely made it home in one piece, but I do remember being in agreement with him at the time that he should go.  Anna was born in a heat wave, so we didn't have a similiar problem with her.

You got to love this photo of Mom.  I think I heard she was looking at a baby Dale at the time it was taken.  It is how all adults should look at kids.