Wisconsin Historical Society

I don't know why it's taken me so long, but I finally sent away for my grandmother's grandparents' marriage license from 1896.  (Perhaps it's the release of the 1940 census that inspired me to.) We've had so little information on these particular ancestors, but I did manage to find out that I could order a photocopy of said license from the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Well, it arrived in the mail today, and I was pleased to find that it offered up the names of the bride's and groom's parents.  I also found out that this great-great grandmother was not born in the town that I had previously thought (Ellsworth, Wisconsin), but in neighboring Trimbelle (5 miles due west of Ellsworth).

This set me off on a few hour's worth of internet digging, and I came up with one more generation of ancestors (one born in Tennessee - I never knew!), as well as a variety of spellings of one great grandmother's maiden names.

No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

About 10 days ago, I found out that the thirteenth installment of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency book had just been released.  I immediately logged into the LA Co. Library website to place myself on what I was sure was a long, long waiting list.  Nope!  It was really short, and within less than a week I got the happy email that a copy was waiting at the Claremont branch for me.

Because these books are like a little chocolate dessert for me and can be consumed easily, I finished this one in a few days and decided to be nice to the next people on the waiting list and return it earlier than the 3-week due date.

Although I tried the Sunday Philosopher's Club by McCall Smith, I didn't like the first book, but I see where he has a number of other series out now, so I might just try another one.  The Portuguese Irregular Verbs series has an intriguing title....

Wednesday in the Water-Wise Garden

In today's installment of this series of native plants I love in our yard, I bring you the manzanita.  I cannot tell you what species this one is, nor the ones we have in the parkway along the street (I do not know), but I do know that I have been taken with the red bark ever since I first encountered these plants while hiking in So. Cal.  

This particular plant is a spreading shrub which seems to be very happy in the partial shade of the backyard.  The manzanitas in the parkway have enjoyed mixed success.  Some have thrived, some have not.  Apparently the microclimate makes a difference to the well-being of manzanita.

New Costco Fare

Just when you think you know all the choices at the Costco Food Court....they go and introduce the Hot Turkey & Provolone Sandwich.  And it wasn't too bad, either!

A Little Photoshopping and A Shameless Plug

My dad gave me a little assignment while visiting last week.  He has four published books (comic novels) under his press, Komos Books.  He has started advertising on my cousin's husband's website - the History News Network - and he wanted me to design a banner ad.  We discussed the layout and content, and then I came home and played around with Photoshop Elements to come up with these two choices.  I believe that we both like the bottom choice better, so that's what will be appearing on the website (this week, I think).

Pianos

Last Wednesday while enjoying lunch with my mom and sister at Coopersmith's in Fort Collins, I looked through the window and saw someone playing a piano.  Outside.  Oh, yes, my sister explained.  There are a number of pianos hanging about in Fort Collins, and anyone can sit down and play Heart and Soul or Chopin or improvise to their heart's content.

"Pianos About Town is a collaborative project between Bohemian Foundation, the DDA (Donwtown Development Authority) and the City of Fort Collins’ Art in Public Places Program. The pianos are painted by local artists and then placed around Fort Collins, inviting pedestrians to participate in this interactive experience."

You can read a bit about this project and see pictures here and here.

In a moment of serendipity, my friend Judy sent me this link to this story in the LA Times about a similar endeavor, here in LA County called Play Me, I'm Yours.  30 pianos spread throughout the county - 3 weeks to enjoy.  Judy told me that one of the piano sits by Rhino Records, and I just had to go see it for myself.  Sure enough, someone was playing the piano while people milled past.

The photo gallery on the LA Times site shows how some of the pianos have been painted.

The Titanic - 100 Years Later

My eldest daughter feels a certain connection to the Titanic.  It's not for an extreme fascination with boats and the sea or anything like that, but on the day she was born, one of the headlines read that the wreck of the Titanic had been discovered at the bottom of the Atlantic.  Forward to 1991, and Robert Ballard, the oceanographer who discovered the wreck, was invited to HMC to receive the Wright Prize.  L was 5 at the time and wrote him a letter asking how the smokestacks came off of the boat when it sank. We went to the dinner and lecture with Ballard and I handed him her letter.  He was quite pleased and made the remark along the lines that he loved his fan mail from children.

Two weeks later L received this reply in the mail from Ballard which she has kept all these years.  She recently asked me to scan and email her a copy of the letter which I was able to find.  She had been thinking about her personal brush with the Titanic since it's 100-year anniversary has been in the news.  She also alerted me to Ballard's recent appearance on the Colbert Report.

Benson Sculpture Garden, Loveland, CO

View of SOME of the sculptures

It's Spring Break for the Claremont USD this week, so I took the opportunity to visit my family (parents and sister) in Colorado for a few days.  Although I have been to visit a number of times, we usually find something new and different to do.  This time we took a little ride down to Loveland with our cameras to view the Benson Sculpture Garden.

Here are just a few of my favorite shots.  While there are many realistic bronze works, we also enjoyed the abstract and stylized art.

My favorite realistic people sculpture 

My favorite abstract

One of my favorite music-themed works

1940 Census

Quite recently, the government released the 1940 census for public consumption.  The 72-year privacy restriction has passed, so now family historians have a new treasure trove of information to sift through.

I have done a preliminary scan for my parents and grandparents and found them right away.  However, since I don't have exact addresses of my great and great-great grandparents, and some of them lived in Minneapolis (a large city with lots of pages), I can see where some of my summer vacation is going to be spent.

In Sunday's NY Times magazine I read the entire article about how digital games can monopolize your life, but this genealogy thing can rival digital games for one's attention....

Wednesday in the Water-Wise Garden

In the second installment of a tour through some of my favorite draught-tolerant, native plants in our garden, we feature the mimulus brevipes.  As a child I was delighted by snapdragons, the way you could snap open the petals like a jaw.  This monkeyflower reminds me of the snapdragon, so it became an instant favorite of mine when I first encountered it in Southern California.  We used to have mimulus cardinales in our front yard, the red variety which is harder to find, but it was taken over by the ornamental grasses awhile ago. So now we have the more common yellow variety in our back yard.

Mimulus in our yard