An Interesting Trip

Ward and I just returned from a trip to Reading, PA with his brother and wife. The purpose of the trip was to do some on-the-ground research about Ward's grandfather, Stanislaw, and his great-grandfather, Franz. Franz immigrated with his two brothers from Poland around 1910 to Reading, PA. However, both Stan and Franz died when their children were young, so there's not much family oral history. The results of this trip added several bits of information to the online records that have been found recently although there are still big questions to be answered. However, it was an interesting, productive, not to mention, fun trip. 

After 3 1/2 hour drive, our first stop was the St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery which had served the Polish population. We found a few of the family markers we were looking for, but they were not the ones we were hoping to find--meaning Ward's grandparents and an uncle. We had an interesting time trying to say the multi-syllabic names and guessing the meaning of Polish words during our search.

We spent the next morning searching church records. They were often difficult to read both because of handwriting and because of the multiple ways names were spelled. Ward was excited when he found the baptism of his grandfather. This is an example of an easy-to-read record.

Next stop was the Berks County Genealogical Society. It was in this repurposed goggle factory. Today the former factory houses various art endeavors as well as the genealogy society. It was originally built in 1871 and was the first factory in the world to manufacture optical glass. This was one of a plethora of factories that were present in Reading around the turn of the last century. It's easy to understand why Reading would have been a popular destination for incoming immigrants.

After spending much of the day looking at records, we decided we needed a break. We then drove around to find various addresses where family members had lived. Along with several dwellings, we located St. Mary's Church where Ward's grandfather and many of his cousins were baptized. The church was locked, but a member of the church who lives across the street saw us taking pictures and let us in to see the inside. It was one of the grandest churches I have ever seen. 

We had seen this pagoda on a distant hill, and at the end of the day, we thought it would be fun to find it. The pagoda was built in 1908 as a hotel/restaurant for a planned resort. That didn't work out, so they gave it to the city of Reading. It was interesting to think about Ward's great-grandfather arriving in Reading and seeing the giant pagoda on the hill just like we did.

A little further up the hill from the pagoda was the William Penn fire tower.

This tower was built in 1939 to be used as
both a fire tower and a tourist attraction.

After a long day, we retired to the hotel where we tried to think about something other than Ward's family history so we could sleep. That was met with varying degrees of success but we were all up early the next day to do more exploring before we returned home.

Tune in next time for more Reading adventures. :)

Another afternoon

It was a bright, sunny day before the storm.

It's almost 6 pm and I'm sleepy. It's too late for a nap and too early to go to bed. So what to do? This situation usually sends me outside to putter in the yard, but the rains are tumbling down. Recently, our weather has been much like it was when we lived in New Orleans - a thunderstorm every afternoon. In New Orleans, it seemed that it stormed every day after work as we were walking to the bus. I wish I could say the storms cooled things off, but they didn't. If anything, the air was even more humid afterwards, but we are luckier here in that regard--after the storms, the air is usually cooler. 

I have to work tomorrow, but I had today off, so I spent most of it trying to process produce so it won't go bad while we are away. After I ran out of ingredients for pesto, I put the rest of the basil into the dehydrator. Herbs dry at a very low temperature and it seems to take forever. In fact, the temperature outside was higher than it was in the dehydrator-98 F and 95F, respectively. As I was expressing my impatience with the drying basil, Theo suggested I take it outside where it was warmer. :)

The last sauce I made, I used the food mill.
This time I used a blender.

Also, on the produce menu today was tomato sauce. After preparing it this morning, I've been cooking it down all day and now it's cooling. The goal is to get it into the freezer tonight. However, if I still had my canner, I would can it. Several years ago, I gave the canner away after not using it for a long time. If this keeps up, I may need to get another one. Besides the basil and tomatoes, throw in some dropped pears and apples and it's been a full day.

The rains have stopped and I'm going to go find Ward, who has wondered outside somewhere.

Until next time...

This and That

There's a lot more basil to pick.

 I don't go to work until this afternoon, so I am devoting the morning to processing basil. I have my third batch of pesto in the food processor ready to go. However, Ward has a meeting now, so the actual chopping will have to wait because the food processer is one noisy appliance. (Our food processer, by the way, is almost 40 years old! We got it as a wedding gift.) So while I'm waiting for the go ahead with my noisy project, I've decided to check in here. 

Ward and I have two trips planned for this month. One is going to Pennsylvania to do some genealogy work for Ward's family, who were Polish immigrants around the turn of the last century. Both his grandfather and great grandfather died young, so there's not much oral history to go on. We are going with another brother and his wife and plan to explore church records, cemeteries, and the historical society. I like trips that involve exploring with a purpose - they're like scavenger or treasure hunts. This one fits the bill and I'm looking forward to it.

The other is to West Virginia for my annual family reunion picnic. We take turns among the families hosting it, but because of some difficulties, the next-in-line are not able to do it. So, I've stepped in to make it happen. The numbers have dwindled over the years, but it's not something I want to give up. Normally, we have a much longer planning horizon, but it's all doable. Thank goodness for the internet and phones or this job would be a lot more difficult than it is. We don't live close to where it's going to be held, so the logistics are a bit complicated. 

An earlier family picnic when we would gather for my grandmother's birthday every year in July. There were 13 more cousins to come after this. In case you're wondering, I am the one with the curliest hair.

I've been given the go ahead, so back to the kitchen and the wonderfully smelling basil.

Until next time...

Tuesday 4

Here's another set of questions from the Tuesday 4. Play along if you like.

1. Reading anything good lately?  How about magazines? Do you buy any?

I recently reread, The Missing Piece of Charlie O'Reilly by Rebecca Ansari with my book club. This is a children's book but my book club liked it and it garnered a fair amount of discussion. I first picked it up after hearing about the premise that Charlie remembers his little brother, Liam, but no one else does. It was as if he hadn't existed. I won't go into the story any more so as not to give any spoilers in case anyone decides to read it. Suffice it to say, the book weaves an interesting, complex, and well written story.

As far as magazines, my husband gets a woodworking magazine which he enjoys for the tips and plans it has. I enjoy perusing it, too. 

2. Do you belong to any clubs, societies, or do you meet with friends regularly to chat?

I don't belong to any formal clubs or societies except my book club. I have other groups of people with whom I meet from time to time to catch up. Because of COVID, I have a lot of catching up to do with some of these groups.

3. Where are you from originally and if you moved why did you move? 

If you visit here very often, you know that I grew up in West Virginia. I have also lived in Virginia, New Orleans, and Houston, along with Maryland where I have lived for the last 20 years. All of these moves were because of jobs.

4. Do you like a good Western Movie? Who was your favorite movie/TV Cowboy?

I used to enjoy a good Western movie, but I haven't watched one in a long time. When I was growing up, we watched Gun Smoke every Monday night at 8 pm. I still enjoy checking in with it from time to time in reruns. But I think my favorite was/is the Rifleman because Chuck Conner reminds me of my father.

What's blooming this week?

Nature in general makes me happy, so it shows up on my blog more often than not. And here it is again-another post of flowers around my yard. What is blooming where you are?

One of several sunflowers that the birds planted.
However, tomato plants win the prize for the most plants planted by birds this year. They were everywhere. When I could, I dug them up and gave them to friends saved and a few for myself.

Lady bug on a zucchini leaf. I didn't realize that there were so many different kinds of lady bugs until I saw a chart from Cornell. This one is a North American native species, Coleomegilla maculata.

The ever-faithful begonias that I plant in front of my house each year. They require essentially no attention and just keep blooming.

Mexican sunflower 

Coneflowers

Bumble bee on allium. Notice the large pollen sacs on either side of its legs. I have never seen ones this big before or ones on both sides at once. This has definitely been a busy bee. :)

Black-eyed Susan

Marigold

Cosmos

Until next time...