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Sunday, February 8, 2009
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Photo © Jerrianne Lowther
Paeonies

Lorella "Lollie" Berndt Grob

UPDATE -- Lorella "Lollie" Berndt Grob passes away
by The Bulletin staff

Lorella "Aunt Lollie" Berndt Grob passed away Thursday morning, February 5th, 2009. Her son David Grob and her daughter Debby Grob Vogt informed their sister Sandy Thiele and brother Tom Grob that she had become ill and passed away at the hospital where she had been taken from her home in Mesa, Arizona.

FAMILY UPDATE -- the Ken Kitto family
by Ruth Kitto
Apache Junction, AZ

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Photo © Gina Henderson
Abby Henderson

UPDATE -- enjoying life with Abby
by Gina Henderson
Watertown, MN

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Photo © Sarah Steinhauer
Sheep bowl

UPDATE -- pottery class: introducing the wheel
by Sarah Dake Steinhauer
Wannaska, MN

This winter I took a pottery class offered by a local potter in her home studio. I made these four pieces on a potter's wheel. I really enjoyed creating something beautiful from a lump of clay and I hope to take the class when she offers it again in the spring. Maybe someday I will come across a bargain potter's wheel and make it a hobby!

Photo © Sarah Steinhauer
Butterfly bowl

Photo © Sarah Steinhauer
Dragonfly mug, left; fern vase, right.

Next week will be our "valentine" issue -- because we actually publish on Saturday, which is Valentine's Day. I do hope that we will get a lot of nice things to lighten the heavy days of winter.

Let's Play a Guessing Game: Whenever it is handy to do so, we will run a picture of someone of the subscribers or staff members of our e-magazine. Tell us who you think it is -- we will let you know who was the first to guess it right -- and the correct guess -- in the following week's Bulletin.

(Send us some to run; we will line them up in our staging area to take their turn. Ginny Dake McCorkell supplied last week's mystery photo, taken by daughter Suzanne.

Answers to last week's mystery pictures (click here to review them):

Editors' Note: Correct guesses appear in bold face type and incorrect guesses in normal type ... generally in the order we receive them, so the first guess received is on top.

That would be my fun loving Aunt Ginny and one of the hardest working people I know, Uncle Larry [McCorkell].

Jennie Dake Horne
Madison, AL

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Another wonderful couple! Ginny and Larry McCorkell. Good picture and nice for the rest of us to be able to get up to date.

Tom Miller
Madera, CA

I am so tired! We have done so many things in such a short time. Tomorrow we go home. (Lois says she is getting anxious to get back to Minnesota, too (or was that to Bill she said?). We need to get packed but I do think I will write in my journal while the rest are having their last visit and discussion.

Since I first knew I was going to have the privilege to come to Texas with Lois, I decided to try and be someone who would represent my state as well as Lois has hers. I wanted to be sure to be friendly, courteous, and pleasant. I have observed that teasing about differences has to be done in a very lighthearted way. There is always plenty to compliment about! Now I am going to record some things I have learned.

I learned some things about names. First -- these people call my brother Bill. That is what he told them his name was. I have decided that I will call him that, too. Well, I suppose when I am talking to the relatives in Minnesota I may slip and call him Billy -- but I understand that among outsiders my brother wants to be called Bill.

Another thing I learned about a name ... J.W. Zembiske and A.B. Beeman have no other name than that. I have been told that is quite common -- to give initials to boys and let them choose their own names -- to match them. I also learned -- while I was looking at the program at Coy Nell's graduation, looking to see if Coy Nell was an honor student (she was) -- that so many of the boys' names I saw were really girls' names. Lois told me that it is common here to take a boy's nickname and spell it with an "ie" ending and use it for a girl ... hence Bobbie, Billie, Tommie, Dickie, Johnnie, and so on appeared frequently on the student list. AND THEY ARE GIRLS! Phooey... I had thought maybe there might be a big surplus of boys down here!

I learned that visiting relatives in Texas involves long, fast drives (even if the tires are a bit worn) ... as I learned just how far it is to get from Abilene to Waco, and then to Dallas, and do it so that when you only have a short time to stay it can be stretched far enough to see everyone. And I learned there are some special things that happened that I want to be sure to never forget.

I learned that all of the relatives down here loved it that Lois and I had come to visit! It was a universal thought that we must have been really suffering in that terrible Northern winter we had just put in. Kind of cute, Lois told her Grandma Gandy that she really had made good use of her grandma's gift of long-legged underwear as they had proved useful to wear when playing in the snow ... but she explained that they had never been worn for indoor hours. Her grandma found it hard to believe that you could be warm in the house (without long-legged underwear) when the temperature outdoors could be 30 degrees below zero!

Will and Lillian Gandy with great granddaughter Carol Dake.

At Buckholts -- which is not too far from Waco -- we visited Grandma and Grandpa Gandy. They are such hospitable country people. We had one of the nicest Texas meals (southern style) that I have ever eaten. The home-fried chicken, with fixings, the lightest biscuits I have ever tasted, and oh, that scrumptious blackberry cobbler (my first time ever for this absolutely fabulous dessert). The grandparents had other guests, too -- Coy's sister and family. The girls call them Aunt Dealie, Uncle Orby and their kids Doyle and Katherine (sometimes known as Kat).

Coy Nell thanked her aunt for the graduation gift from them that had come in the mail. It was a lovely satin nightgown -- and I explained that I thought it was so beautiful that I coveted one just like it. Should have known better ... immediately Aunt Dealie said to me, "Dorothy, I am going to have Doyle take you girls in to Buckholts and you buy four yards of satin in the dry goods part of the general store and get some matching thread ... then you bring it back and when you are ready to head back to Abilene you will have a matching gown!"

Dealie Arnold, Coy Gandy holding Carol Dake, Lillian Gandy, Katherine Arnold.

And that is exactly what we did! Coy Nell's gown is blue so I bought pink for myself. Aunt Dealie had it ready when we were ready to go home from Waco three days later. When we stopped by to pick it up, I mentioned paying for the work. She shhh'd me and told me she wanted me to remember her by it ... AND I will. What a lovely, sweet woman!

I really don't know why, but I am rather fuzzy headed about the three visits we made next. I rather think it was because I felt so miserable. I tried to remember to keep up a good front, but when your body does not seem to be working right it can get kind of hard -- but that really isn't much of a reason for being rude. I don't know whether I should be ashamed or should feel I had a rightful victory. Maybe you will have to judge.

This happened at Charlie Russo's, in Dallas (oh, there were other relatives there, too, and I will tell you about them when I finish my confession). Charlie is a near editor in the Waco Daily News. He looks like I have always imagined an Italian Mafia member might look. He was friendly enough but several times during our conversation he commented on the fact that because I was a school teacher I ought to be very smart and could answer some pointed questions (way over my head ... though I do try to stay well read).

I can usually detect a sarcastic comment when I hear one. Well, I heard a couple and then I decided it was time to return the favor. Here is how I remember phrasing my comment to him:

"Mr. Russo, I have been surprised to note that an editor would make a grammatical mistake over and over ... like I have heard you do."

"Oh, how is that? I am not aware of grammatical errors."

"I believe that when you say 'Y'all' it is a contraction of the words 'you all.' Now I suppose when you are speaking to a group you might correctly use that phrase ... but why do you say it to me when you are speaking to me? I am just one person -- why would you call me 'you all'?"

Well, Charlie is a pretty good sport. He looked at me, grinned, and then said, "Well, Dorothy, Y'all got the best of me that time!" We visited a bit more, he returned to talking to the others and did not offer any more digs during the rest of the evening.

Charlie's wife is named Ruby and she is a sister of Burah's. She and Charlie have two daughters, Charlene and Joy. Charlene is married to A.B. Beeman, and they are expecting a baby, too. So Lois and she had a great time visiting. Coy Nell and I got sort of embarrassed by all the talk about pregnancies and babies and all of the discomforts that go with being pregnant. So we drifted over to talk with Norma, Nelda, and Betty Henderson -- they are the daughters of Kay and Isa Mae, who live in Waco. They were fun to talk to.

Bessie Henderson, Coy Gandy with Carol Dake.

I am not quite sure who served us the watermelon, but I do remember that it has to be the most delicious watermelon I have ever eaten. It could have been at the Hamiltons. We visited them on the way back through Waco as we were going back to Abilene. Now that I won't forget!

I really was made to feel welcome by Bessie and Jim. She is a sister of Burah's. She and Jim haven't been married very many years, as his first wife died and so now he has chosen Bessie as his new wife. You, never saw so many clocks in one home as they have. I understand that he builds clocks for people out of kits ... grandfather, grandmother, or mantel clocks. It is sort of a hobby business, and he really has a house filled with beautiful synchronized clocks ... they struck the hour while we were there. I wonder how he gets them to do that ... almost all at the same instant!

When we got home, I told Lois about the encounter with Charlie. She told me that I was not to feel offended. She says that several of the relatives were very upset when she married Bill. They told her that they never dreamed anyone in their family would ever marry a Yankee (except there is a cuss word that goes with that title). She says that lots of the older people down here are still fighting the Civil War. (I have to admit that I was shocked when I arrived to find that there were two fountains in the station ... one for "colored." I guess I thought that Texas was a western state ... but it was a member of the Confederacy and suffered under the thumb of the Yankee carpetbaggers for far too long!)

The part I will remember -- many may have been shocked to entertain a Yankee -- but they all did it with great hospitality. I do believe they all love Bill, in spite of him being a Yankee ... and they all hope to tempt him into bringing his family back to be Texans!

So I learned, last of all, that things may not always be what they seem to be. It pays to wait and see!

Dorothy Dake & Coy Nell Gandy (in Minnesota in 1945).

We had the old Model T that my dad went to town in. I can't remember how often it was necessary to go to town, if it was once a month or whatever, but the car required a lot of doctoring and working on before he could get the thing going. Once in a while he'd let me go with. I was a little older. When David got a little older he'd get to go when the weather was nice and the roads weren't too muddy so you'd get stuck. We'd get to go to Effie.

We got into Effie there and I can remember the old train at the depot there several times. And that was quite a deal, backing up and going ahead and keeping on. It was a real experience. We thought we were really out in the wide world when we got to Effie and got to see the lumberjacks coming in on the train and leaving. Yes, that was a big deal.

I can remember we'd go to town and old Tommy Holmes had a little gasoline station on the corner with a hand pump in those days. You pumped the gas up into the glass and then somebody would come in and, "Give me five gallons of gas." It'd cost you a dollar. It was 20 cents a gallon and that was quite a bit in those days, too. I remember we used to get five gallons for a dollar. But anyway, pump that up there and get gas from old Tommy Holmes.

I'll tell this yarn. One time I can remember Dad said I could go to town. I was a little bit older. I suppose I was maybe 5 years old or so. I wasn't going to school anyway. I know it was nice in the summer time. I had a little white hat, like a sailor's hat. I don't remember if I wore it a lot or not. I'm out there monkeying around and Dad usually had to overhaul the Model T. That was a quite a job. You never went anywhere unless you overhauled that car or did something with it. He'd fiddled with that old Ford out there and finally got the old thing tuned up to his satisfaction. He was a "monkey heels"* when it come to getting going. He was going to go to Effie. He finally got ready to go about the middle of the forenoon, as I remember it.

I was out there and I asked him if I could go along and he told me, "You can go along, but get your hat." Well, I tore in the house, yelling for Ma to find my hat, "Where's my hat?"

We looked and we looked and we looked all over the house and all over the creation. I can remember she looked in drawers. I can see her yet, going and opening those dresser drawers there beside the bed and looking under the bed and all over the place where we could think of. My hat wasn't in there. I didn't think it was, either. I was digging around there and when we had looked all over she happened to look at me and she said, "Well, boy, what's that on your head?"

I can hear her say that yet, "Well, boy, you got it on your head." She had looked all over and here my hat was on my head all the time. So that was a happy day. I found my hat.

*("monkey heels" just means he dawdled along ... puttering around. He just took his jolly old time getting around to leaving. --VMc)

This Week's Special Days
February 12---Abraham Lincoln's Birthday
February 14---Valentine's Day

This Week's Birthdays
February 11---Alexander James Indermark (1 year old)
Happy Birthday!

More February Birthdays
' 
February 1---Kathlyn Johnson Anderson
February 3---Penny Miller Kramer
February 4---Cameron Birkholz
February 6---Melody Printz
February 6---Kelli Nicole Mellon (10 years old)
February 7---Rylie Johnson (7 years old)

February 27---Bonnie Anderson
February 28---Eric Anderson

More February Anniversaries
Z
February 4---Jim and Jan Smith (48 years)
February 6---Russ and Judy Miller Riesenberg (28 years)

February 18---Roy and Betty Weiland Droel (16 years)
February 24---Jess and Louise Cloyd (64 years)
February 26---Tim and Char Morgan Myron (26 years)
February 28---Junior and Doris Anderson (47 years)

February Special Days
O
February 2---Groundhog Day
February 12---Abraham Lincoln's Birthday
February 14---Valentine's Day
February 16---Presidents' Day
February 22---George Washington's Birthday

Miss Hetty's Mailbox:

Dear Miss Hetty,

Thanks so much the beautiful anniversary card. As the card was put together, it reminded me of our marriage over the past 48 years. A lot of good memories and accomplishments and maybe some a person wants to forget. But all in all, the overall picture doesn't look all that bad.

Keep Us Posted!

Please drop Miss Hetty a line and tell us who, and what, we've missed. And how about a report (photos welcome) of YOUR special celebration?

'Many Thankse
Everyone!

Miss Hetty

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Wow! I scrolled through the pictures of Sarah's pottery four or five times. Just beautiful! An artist for sure, in the truest sense of the word.

Lots of things to enjoy in the latest Bulletin! The picture of "the Gandys" was an excellent addition to your narrative for the trip. "Mom and Pop" looked just like I remember them one of the first times I met them. Yes, I rode the "Twin Star Rocket" on several occasions going south, but I also made connections with the Texas & Pacific for the trip to Abilene.

Weston's story, as usual, was great, but I'd have paid double the regular subscription price to see pictures of a frustrated Weston making potato chips out of his flooring. I probably shouldn't be too hard on him, though; he'd probably pay the same to see the pictures of me nearly in tears trying to finish the plumbing in my basement!

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I enjoy The Bulletin very much. I want to thank all the contributors, most of all the ones that do work every week.

Jim Smith
Brooklyn Park, MN

Dorothy, your new office is tailor-made perfect. How much you deserve such a wonderful editorial corner after all the hours (months, years) of faithful service to your family and friends. CONGRATULATIONS!

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A good choice, photo editor, to put that calming picture right there on the front page of The Bulletin so as we read it we can relax and enjoy the following exciting pages.

Looks like the pottery class was a fun time for Sarah. No two platters alike, and you must have made it just right or it would have exploded in the kiln. No ordinary items for Sarah. Each one is so unique and artistic. Would have required a lot of patience and detailed design.

Oh, but then next came Mickey and Minnie. Was that ever cute! Kristi, the mother, surely resembles her mother, Shari. I wouldn't doubt Grandma Shari was much happier taking care of her little grandchild, Alex, than she would have been standing in lines at Disney World. It's too bad it was so cold in Florida. That would have been disappointing. Now, in two weeks, we hope to see an update of Alex digging into his first cake.

Well, Weston, you did it again. You kept us in suspense, also in stitches. What a project that simple little bathroom became! A once in a lifetime attempt to re-do, as enough is enough. It paid, though, as the room is just very nice and new and fresh looking. No worries about the wall falling off, that's for sure. I love the "play-by-play" descriptions in the way you write your stories, Weston. We almost laughed and cried along with you. I loved the one line near the end of the account. "Finally, the project was done." The before and after pictures were vital to your story, and we hope that sparkling white door stays that way.

We hardly expected Miss Kitty to feel up to writing an Update of the Alaska winter restarting, but we were thrilled to see she did tell all as far as the weather was concerned. Nothing like hearing it right from one of the main citizens. I doubt she exaggerated, either. Sounds like you and Mai Tai are spoiled beyond words. Regular meals, cozy warm beds, and your own personal computer to use whenever the coast is clear.

I found it interesting to click on the link you suggested, Miss Kitty. The one about "Winter, a time to bloom indoors." I especially liked this quote from that article. This is typical of not only Alaska.

All creativity needs a period of rest and incubation. Just as Mother Earth slumbers under her winter blanket of snow, gathering resources and energy before her burst of creative rebirth in the spring, we, too, need this time of outward-seeming inactivity, a period of turning inward to meditate, contemplate, and just be.

With Caity Chap growing up and accomplishing so many school projects and contests, we are having a lot of special news and send our hearty congratulations. A spelling bee in this day and age is quite a challenge. Wonderful that out of 16 finalists that you placed second. That was great.

I am just so glad for our Editor to have been able to get a new "office" arrangement. That was so needed. Imagine, just beginning with only a very few close family subscribers, and now way over 100 and The Bulletin being much longer. You needed new equipment and room to manage it all, and looks like you did a very nice job selecting the kind of desk design that would give you the most access to all your needs from your chair, plus there is that cheery window for you to gaze out of.

Thanks for the detailed pictures of it all. We were wondering so many things, but the pictures answered all our questions. Mainly, what color is it, and how it fits in the corner like that, and where the printer is, etc. You have a nice, easy to read clock, and your farm drawing on the wall. You won't even mind all the hours you have to work on The Bulletin now.

That was page 16 of the 38 pages of The Bulletin this time. Still lots more articles to enjoy. Isn't that amazing how every single week there are plenty of submissions to make up The Bulletin?

I can tell we all are enjoying the new series called Memory Lane. This one is the actual trip "To Texas by Train." Last week's chapter was the looking forward to that trip, and now it's happening. It is good you have all those details so vivid in your memory, Dorothy. We could just about hear the sounds of the train station of long ago.

I can see how you would miss Lois, now that she has gone. Sounds like you two were the very best of friends. August 1945 schedules you had suggested to look up as a link was interesting. Can you believe that the computer has that information at your fingertips?

Those firsts so many years ago leave unforgettable memories. I can just see the dining car yet with its white linen and pewter and flowers. Also the sleepers. Just in passing here, I will tell you that I was a teenager, making a trip to my grandma's in Luverne, Minnesota, from Minneapolis. It was an all night ride in a berth. I was so nervous and not wanting to be late getting off, etc., that I completely dressed and as I came out of the little bathroom after brushing my teeth for the day, I asked the porter what time it was. He said, "Ah have twinty minnits to one" ... so that meant I could crawl back in until about 6 a.m. So, Dorothy, I know your memories are very clear, even though they were so many years ago.

The Rain Barrels story by Bruce was another special touching one about life on the farm for little boys in the north woods in lean times. The swimming one sounds like stories Roy tells of his childhood.

The Travelogue brought more unusual details and links to help us follow along in their travels. Our son, Rodger and Claudia, are world travelers and we couldn't see why they had taken so many pictures of doors and doorways, etc., but now we can see by Mitzi's pictures that ornately carved doors are a specialty. The map shows Zanzibar as just a tiny white spot in the ocean. Yet, there was so much history, and a well planned part of the trip in that little area. No wonder there were so many beaches there.

I hope folks have taken time to check out the links in the Travelogue. The interesting details about the spices kept me occupied for too long. Hardly have time to really learn all there was to learn from their descriptions, etc. Where else would we ever hear about or learn so many world wide events and places and products than a Travelogue in The Bulletin?

Photo © Marci Weiland
Marci Weiland photographed these orange flowers in Cancun, Mexico.

I bought some half and half yesterday. I might just try the Java Cream Drops.

I was so thrilled to read several other Letters To The Editor this time. Especially Douglas Anderson. Not to seem partial, but I can honestly say that we have missed his stories which were so very unusual, and like his word, "connectedness," kept us waiting anxiously for the next paragraph. Maybe because the gnome has disappeared for so long, Doug lost interest. HHHmmm, we need to motivate him.

Thanks, Adriana -- Leelan is baby Lelan's name.

I really enjoyed Weston's comments on the story about chasing cattle in the '52 Chevy pickup. Also, about his dad's choice of dirt bike motorcycle.

Even Curt himself wrote one, and THAT was a prize. But then, who could remain silent after such funny things and such tremendous stories and pictures as last week's Bulletin?

Do we have a new section named WITH LOVE, or was that just a caption for the cute daddy and children picture? Or is it this close to valentine's day? Whatever, it really would make a nice section, and people would send in some touching pictures, I'm sure.

Thanks again everyone that had a part in Bulletin #346.

Betty Droel

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