Sunday, May 13, 2007
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Happy Mother's Day!
Photo ©Virginia McCorkell
Butterfly & Koi Pond.
Updates -
Kira Lynn Steinhauer
UPDATE -- it's a girl!
by Michael and Sarah (Dake) Steinhauer and big brother Levi
Warroad, MN
Kira Lynn Steinhauer was born on May 8th at 4:53 p.m. She weighed 8 lbs., 8.5 oz. and was 21 inches long at birth. (And she arrived just in time for Mother's Day! --Ed.)
Photos © Sharon Paul Nault
Birds in the bush -- finch, left; Calliope Hummingbird, right. "Snowbird" Sharon Paul Nault winters in California near the Salton Sea and loves to photograph birds there. All sorts of birds visit ocotillo bushes in the spring, including various finches like the one eating an ocotillo blossom; a tiny calliope hummingbird sports dark stripes at its throat.
Kodak Peregrine Falcons Hatch Four Eyases
Just in time for Mother's Day, the resident falcons on the Kodak Tower in Rochester, New York, have begun brooding the four young eyases that hatched this past week in full view of the web cameras. Mother Maria and her mate, Kaver, have successfully fledged broods of four or five young there for the past several years. The first link below will take you to the webcam and the second link is to the web forum with saved photos and commentary. Now that the hatching is done, there will be lots of action until the eyases fledge around the first of July. Enjoy!
http://rfalconcam.com/rfc-main/mainView.php
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/kfalconcam/
Photos © Jerrianne Lowther
Diego, newly adopted by Argyle & Kathlyn Anderson, watches a magpie in their yard from the back of their couch by parting the curtains. The life of their lovely long-haired, flame point cat, Pretty Kitty, was cut short by an incurable disease. Diego had recently lost his original home and now he is in the process of taking charge of theirs. They aren't quite sure about his name, which is the Spanish form of "James," but he answers to it and may insist on keeping it. Young Diego has a wonderfully bushy tail, like a raccoon or a fox almost, but it didn't get in the pictures. Maybe next time.
Funnels dropped from clouds and danced around each other.
Update -- thunder and lightning and twisters, oh my!
by Anita Weiland
Yankton, SD
It is the first week in May and we are having very bad weather here. Saturday, May 5, was a day to remember. I don't know how many systems went through; all day long, it was one after the other, and the weather spotters were out for many hours. One large storm system went through, with tornado touch downs south and west of me ... overturned trailer houses, etc. Then we waited to see what the next one would do; it touched down north of here, lights out and lots of damage.
Then they said there was one coming out from Norfolk, Nebraska, which is about 60 miles from here; it was the biggest one of the whole day. As it came north, it hit a marina on the Nebraska side and destroyed it. All three funnels were going at the same time, and it looked like they were dancing around each other. It hit southwest of us and also went northwest and took farms etc., here and there. I don't know how far north it went.
Our ambulance went; they paged the rest of us to report to the garage and be prepared to go, but we were very fortunate. The only injury was a broken arm on a child. He was in a car with his grandparents; the tornado picked it up, turned it around, and set it back down in a ditch! The little boy won't forget that for the rest of his life.
We were all very glad the ambulance didn't have to transport any patients. We were there for an hour or so, and then got the all clear. I don't remember since we moved here that we ever had something like this! We didn't get much rain, but north of us they got so much that the fields and ditches were very full!
Daisy Mae is not happy about all this thunder noise; she shakes like a leaf and sits on my feet or in the chair next to me.
Photo © Dan Mellon
Roland Mellon, Diana Mellon Martin, Russell J. Martin on the occasion of Roland and Marcella's 50th anniversary in 1995.
Remembrance -- Diana Mellon Martin
by Dan Mellon
Alta Loma, CA
My dad (Roland) was almost 15 years old in 1938 when his first and only sibling, Diana Lee Mellon, was born. Three years later he was in the Army and heading off to war. The separation of age and then distance meant they wouldn't share the closeness of typical brothers and sisters. Diana was married and started her family in the late 1950's, about the time Dad was moving us to California. All of this is to say that my Aunt Diana and I weren't always close.
In 1994, my siblings and I hosted a 50th anniversary party for my parents. I contacted Aunt Diana and urged her and her husband Russ to make the trip. As I recall, she didn't even have to think about it. It was at that party that I really began to know Aunt Diana and Russ, and was able to appreciate what delightful people they were. In the years that followed we communicated sporadically, mostly at Christmas.
In the year 2001, I was sent to Minneapolis by my employer, so I arranged to visit them at their beautiful little cabin near Mora. My first impression of the place made me think of "Walden's Pond." It was a tiny cabin, next to a bog with a low-lying fog drifting across it. What a great time we had. She prepared a fine meal and the three of us talked until late in the evening. It was reminiscing, but it was more than that. As she told me the stories of our family, I became aware of how much I didn't know.
By this time, Mom and Dad were both gone, and I just naturally gravitated toward her. About this time she had discovered e-mail, so we began to correspond regularly. Our relationship was kindled through the written word, an occasional phone call, and ultimately one more visit to Mora in 2004. Diana introduced me electronically to her cousin Dorothy; now I am a subscriber to The Bulletin and have learned much more about my roots.
Then she announced the sad news that Russ had cancer. He died too quickly. Russ was a kind and caring man and he loved my aunt deeply. You could see it.
Diana didn't have long to grieve the loss of Russ before she had health issues of her own. In her last year, she spoke openly about her cancer but never dwelled on herself. After sharing the latest information, she moved the conversation quickly to what was going on in my life; how were we all doing? In our last conversation, about four weeks ago, she discussed her decision to discontinue the chemotherapy. Although the end came much sooner than anyone could have expected, she demonstrated her typical grace and strength to the end.
Now, she has passed and they buried her today at Crystal Lake. It is appropriate to write one last time, but this time about her, not to her. Once again, I won't be there in person, but my heart is there. My prayers go to Maralee, Brenda, Julianna, and their families. She was a wonderful woman, and we are all worse for her passing.
Day to Day R
With Donna Mae
Ashby, MN
Photo © Donna Johnson
Snickers, a visitor to play with Max.
When Housecleaning Seems Almost Fun
With this wonderful weather we've been having, I've been trying to slowly do some house cleaning. Windows open, the fresh breezes blowing in, (really ... not even any cow smells right now :-) and the birds singing -- marvelous! Who would have thought I'd LOVE being able to do cleaning?
My goal is to have a garage sale and get rid of many daycare toys, extra clothing I had for them and anything else that's taking up space. Come to realize, the "less is more" thing makes for easier housekeeping!
Once a person has health issues that say you can't do much of anything for several months, a reprieve, such as the injections I've been having for the past five weeks, is really a blessing. The injections themselves are not the most fun thing, but once done, I am able to DO things again. For how long they'll work, I've yet to learn. But, for now I am appreciating my new-found freedom.
My doctor is going to refer me to Mayo, so maybe I can finally learn a little more about RSD, such as what I should and shouldn't be doing. I found out raking is a "don't," which is frustrating, as there is enough of it to do!
With such a boring week to report, I'll not send cleaning pictures. (Grin)
So, I'll give you puppies having fun ... or was that Max trying to get his toy back from Snickers? Actually, a little of each.
Chris and Jessy will soon be husband and wife, and are we ever excited! It's been a very busy week, getting the kids' clothing ready, my own, all meds and vitamins and numerous other little errands to run, etc. Today I'm packing food to bring along on Saturday; after the kids swim they are always starving and it's too late to take them to eat. Shaves a bit off on the costs, too! Countdown to wedding time!
Photo © Donna Johnson
Max & Snickers tussle over Max's toy that Snickers stole.
Shari Miller Larson sent this poem for Mother's Day and said she'd like to include it as a tribute to her mother, Blanche Dake Miller...
Your Mother Is Always With You
Author Unknown
Your mother is always with you...
She's the whisper of the leaves
as you walk down the street.
She's the smell of bleach in
your freshly laundered socks.
She's the cool hand on your
brow when you're not well.
Your mother lives inside
your laughter. She's crystallized
in every tear drop...
She's the place you came from,
your first home.. She's the map you
follow with every step that you take.
She's your first love and your first heart
break....and nothing on earth can separate you.
Not time, Not space...
Not even death....
will ever separate you
from your mother....
You carry her inside of you....
I'd like to print a poem in honor of my mother, Dorothy Dake Anderson, too.
Thank You For Being My Friend
by Larry S. Chengges
Thank you for believing in me
when I found it difficult
to believe in myself...
for saying what I've needed to hear sometimes,
instead of what I've wanted to hear...
for siding with me...
and for giving me another side to consider.
Thank you for opening yourself up to me...
for trusting me with your thoughts
and disappointments and dreams...
for knowing you can depend on me
and for asking my help when you've needed it.
Thank you for putting so much
thought and care and imagination
into our friendship...
for sharing so many nice times
and making so many special memories with me.
Thank you for always being honest with me
being kind to me...being there for me.
Thank you for being
a friend to me
in so many meaningful ways.
Photo © Donna Johnson
Lori Chap Ostendorf, mother-to-be, relaxing with Tate at the lake ... in "the good old days" (last week). Next year might seem a little less restful!
The Matriarch Speaks W
by Dorothy (Dake) Anderson
Alexandria, MN
Diana Mellon Martin Laid To Rest
Don and I left early Monday morning and drove to Minneapolis to attend Diana's funeral service. After being lost in Crystal, we found a taxi driver who led us out of the wrong area and sent us on the way to North Minneapolis, Dowling exit. We arrived at the Crystal Lake Cemetery, which we now know is not in Crystal Lake at all!
We arrived in plenty of time to visit with Diana's relatives at the Visitation that preceded the service. We met many other relatives, including my brother LeRoy Dake and his wife Vonnie, who came with their daughter, Ginny McCorkell. We also chatted a bit with Betty Droel, Verlaine Weiland, and our grandson Weston Johnson. Then we all sat together for the service.
The officiant for the service was Pastor Tony Martin. He is Diana's stepson and had his dad's funeral last year. He did a reading from The Prophet, a book that Diana had loved. He read a lovely biography that he and Diana's girls had written about Diana's life. It was interesting to hear things about her that I was not aware of -- that she had sung on the radio as a young girl, that she loved art work and did wood burning, as well as other types of art and craft work.
Our condolences go to her daughters, Maralee Johnson, Brenda Fillbrandt, and Julianna Mason, and to all of the rest of her family. (If anyone needs addresses to send condolences to her daughters, please e-mail me.)
Julianna Mason has asked to be added to The Bulletin mailing list. She assures me that she will correspond with us so the Minnesota Mellons of our relationship will continue to be represented.
Who Is This?
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. Richard Weiland supplied last week's mystery pictures.
How many can you identify?
Answers to last week's mystery pictures (click here to review them):
The GUESS pictures were quite a surprise! Loved ones out of the long passed past. The famous Carribean Coral Kaiser that ended up at Don Anderson's dad's place. My brother Harold Weiland, who has passed away; my cousin Mary Bartlett Timmersman; my brother Rich Weiland, and my cousin Bea Bartlett Rutledge, in the alley behind our house on 46th and Sheridan Ave North in Minneapolis. The next picture is my mother, Rosalyn Weiland, who has been gone a year and a half now; Mary; Rich, Harold and Bea.
Whoever sent those pictures in, THANK YOU. Maybe they were sent in to Don when the Kaiser subject was being written about.
Betty Droel
MoundsView, MN
Photo Editor's Note: That's it -- Rich Weiland sent them to Don Anderson awhile back -- but after we had published The Hunt For Carribean Coral.)
Goodness, if I don't know this one I will be in hot water. The first picture, Harold Weiland in suit, Mary Bartlett Timmersman, Richard Weiland standing on bumper, and Beatrice Bartlett; the second picture, shows Rosalyn Weiland, Mary Bartlett, Richard peeking through, Harold Weiland, and Beatrice Bartlett -- a great bunch, right.
Anita Weiland
Yankton, SD
Making Motherly Arrangements
A year ago, while we were working on a Mother's Day Tribute to Amy Dake, Ginny McCorkell supplied a number of photos, including this one of Amy Dake attired in her favorite colors, pink and lavender, taken at Ginny's high school graduation. At the last minute, Ginny withdrew this photo because she felt her lighthearted grandmother looked too sad, not the way Ginny would have preferred to remember her.
We saw her expression as more pensive than truly sad and pointed out the resemblance of this photo to a famous painting, Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Artist's Mother, by James McNeill Whistler. Ginny immediately saw the similarities and reworked the background, adding William and Amy Dake's wedding picture to the wall. She made it look even more like the "Whistler's Mother" composition but worked in her grandmother's favorite colors.
Photo illustration ©Virginia McCorkell
Arrangement in Pink and Lavender:
Portrait of The Matriarch's Mother (Amy Dake).
Photo illustration ©Virginia McCorkell; photo by Jennie Horne
Modern great, great grandaughter Carrie Horne also likes lavender & pink.
LeRoy, Dorothy, Gert & Blanche behind their mother, Amy Dake.
Travelogue t
Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. --Elizabeth Stone
Richard Johnson lands in Ashby after 3,000 mile bike ride.
Nobody Said It Would Be Easy!
by Jerrianne Lowther
Anchorage, AK
I sometimes think the hardest part of motherhood must be letting go. I did it only once. My mother did it half a dozen times. I doubt it was ever easy.
Richard was Twila Johnson's next-to-last ... her youngest son. He was 19 when he left home in Ashby, Minnesota, to hitchhike around the world a bit and seek his fortune, as young men sometimes do. After a while, he knocked on my door in Phoenix, Arizona, in hopes of a meal, a bed and a shower, but still hankering for adventure. If you've been reading The Bulletin for a while, you know how that turned out. He drove a truck North to Alaska with me in January of 1975. Our parents knew nothing of this until we arrived safely in Anchorage.
In the spring, Richard hitchhiked back to Ashby, but he returned to Anchorage in the fall and worked another bitterly cold winter in the junkyard. He rode a new 10-speed bicycle back to Ashby in the spring, leaving Anchorage in April, in hopes the bears would still be sleeping. Mostly, they were, though once he had to leave a picnic area in a hurry when a hungry bear smelled his food.
As I was sorting old papers and photos recently, I came across several newspaper accounts of his 3,000 mile bike ride more than 30 years ago. He left here April 23rd, rode his bicycle 780 miles to Haines, Alaska, and took the ferry to Prince Rupert, British Columbia. He pedaled through Jasper and Banff National Parks, over Crow's Nest Pass and down through Winnipeg, Manitoba. He arrived at the Ashby Laundry, where it all began, six and a half weeks later, on June 7, 1976.
He biked through sleet and snowstorms in Alaska and the Yukon and over hundreds of miles of gravel roads, averaging 70 miles a day through Alaska and the Yukon. He had lots of flat tires and wore out two back tires in the Yukon, on 300 miles of rough, gravel roads. The first 1,800 miles were mostly in the mountains, but he said flat country was the hardest biking, unless the wind was right. "I felt like an ant in a parking lot," he said. He said he averaged over 100 miles per day during the last 12 days of the trip.
Richard camped out some in Alaska and also stayed in motels. He met a lot of good people, especially when he needed help. Some motels gave him free lodging and found room for him when all regular accommodations were full. People stopped him along the road to offer food and drink and encouragement.
Though he was briefly nicknamed "Klondike" after his epic ride, it didn't stick. Neither did his return to Ashby. Before long, Richard was back in California, working for the Green Tortoise alternative bus company. Eventually, he settled in Lowell, Oregon, with his wife, Mia Nelson, and sons Wiley and Arbor. We are hoping for a Family Update from some or all of them soon.
Celebrations & Observances
From the Files of 5
Hetty Hooper
This Week's Special Days
May 13---Mothers Day
May 19---Armed Forces Day
This Week's Birthdays
May 14---Ernie Dake
May 14---Tyler James Indermark (2 years)
May 16---Angelique Ann Freesemann
May 17---Dwight Anderson
May 19---Ryan Hellevang
Happy Birthday!
This Week's Anniversaries
May 14---Roddy and Alisha McNeill (2 years)
May16---Nathan and Brenda Anderson Hill (11 years)
Congratulations!
More May Birthdays
'
May 1---Frans de Been
May 4---Beau Birkholz
May 7---Ben Johnson
May 7---Kim Mellon (Tim's wife)
May 10---Curt Henderson
May 12---James Dake
May 22---Dan Henderson
May 23---Don Pettit
May 25---Amy Ellen Dake
May 26---Rick Anderson
May 27---Tracer Scott Roberson (9 years)
May 28---Jazmine Jane Hill (4 years)
May 28---Jason Hunt
May 29---Kristi Kay Larson Indermark
May 31---Mavis Anderson Morgan
More May Anniversaries
Z
May 27---Dwight and Janie Anderson (36 years)
May 27---Harvey and Gwen Stucker (46 years)
May 31---Tom and Mavis Anderson Morgan (50 years)
May Special Days
O
May 1---May Day (hanging May baskets day)
May 8---VE Day
May 13---Mothers Day
May 19---Armed Forces Day
May 28---Memorial Day
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?
Everyone!
Miss Hetty
+ LETTERS TO THE EDITORS?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last Week's Bulletin Review JKL
by Betty Droel
MoundsView, MN
I knew this Bulletin would be a very special one, but I didn't realize how special until I saw the first picture on the first page. The lovely tribute to our dear friend Diana was so beautiful and so fitting for her meaningful life of caring and loving. We will miss her more as time goes on. It was a year ago almost to the day that she had written an update about her not feeling well. We know Maralee, her daughter who opened her home for Diana in her illness, will be just lost.
It was nice to have the detailed account of Tom's and Mavis's 50th anniversary, plus the pictures. Those flowers were so beautiful. I could almost smell those lilies. What a beautifully decorated cake! Maybe that was even bigger than their original wedding cake. They look so happy, and we wish them well as they begin their second 50 years.
Then the cheery account of the baby showers was fun to read, and for some reason I could think two ladies on the picture could be twins. I'm sure I'm wrong again. I think it would be Mary Lou and Kathy, both aunts.
We have had several cruise stories in our Bulletin, haven't we? It's getting to be a popular vacation experience and looks like Steve and Rose are enjoying their turn.
I wish Donna Mae knew how glad we were for that picture of her. Seems she never allows a picture of herself to be included, but this time we get to see her smile through the pain she likely is bearing.
The pictures of the dock and the dusk hour on the water was so peaceful. Our Minnesota summer is welcomed after all the snow and cold that has finally passed, and anyone fortunate enough to have lake property will enjoy it for the short season it is.
Not having been brought up on a farm, I remember visiting our relations on their farms when we were children. The poem Grandfather's Barn was just so well written to bring back the happy memories we have of times playing in the barn and straw and sinking into the flax piles.
Isn't it amazing how fast the little ones grow and change? Little Madilyn Mae Larson is so big already, but still has her dad's eyes. Sami would be a great help and loving it all the while.
I wonder how many clicked on Miss Kitty's pictures to read the birthday story for each of her four years? I know I did, and loved re-reading it again as it was in the previous Bulletins. We have a special appreciation for Miss Kitty, the trusted companion and friend of our Photo Editor, Jerrianne. I just hope Miss Kitty keeps healthy to have many more birthdays.
I wonder if everyone felt like I did when reading The Bulletin this time. It seemed so short and yet was so full of so many special things in those few pages.
Verlaine and I hope to go to Diana's funeral on Monday.
Thank you again for another Bulletin. Issue #255 -- can it be possible?
Betty Droel
CHUCKLES
Photo illustration © Virginia McCorkell; photo by Jennie Horne
Ethan Horne transfers an important call.
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Quotation for the day: All mothers are working mothers. --Author Unknown
EDITOR'S POLICY: If you wish to subscribe to The Bulletin, simply send me a statement of that fact. If you wish to keep receiving it I hope you will contribute to one of the columns that are running in this family epistle (at least occasionally!). My e-mail address is dma49261@juno.com
This Bulletin is copyright Dorothy M. Anderson; the contents are also copyrighted by the authors and photographers and used with their permission, and the contents are not to be used for any commercial purposes without the explicit consent of the creators.