TO:

MY FAVORITE DAUGHTER AND FAVORITE SISTERS

AHEM--did you not get my e-mail about the family tree?

Did you go look??

One bit of out family goes back ELEVEN generations to before 1555...it's worth checking just for the novelty.

(Umm, Primo, wouldja add dad's Army pic to the site, please? It could be his primary picture, too. You have the power). You're all editors, ya know?

lol...See? I can get rough.

xoxo

What color is "Joybubbles"?

If you heard the name "Joybubbles" on the news early this week but didn't pay much attention, here's the rest of the story...

I'd like to claim Joybubbles as purely Minnesotan, but in truth he only spent his last years here. He died August 8th of a heart attack.

Over the years, one of the goofy pleasures in Minnesota has been a column in the St Paul Pioneer Press newspaper called Bulletin Board. It's the best 'feedback' method a paper could want. I used to buy the paper JUST for that, but now it's online, so I read it every day from here...lol

Anyway, Joybubbles was a regular contributer to the give-and-take on BB. Heres a COMPILATION
of contributions he called in over the past few years. It's also a beautiful tribute to a perpetual 5 year old.

You'll notice that one thing he wished for was a Crayola crayon color called "Joybubbles"...and today, another contributer suggested we all go to the CRAYOLA SITE and suggest it!

If you scroll to the bottom of the page you'll fine "Contact us".

Hmmm....maybe a clear crayon with swirls of color in it, and definitely some GLITTER!

Have YOU ever heard of St Nicholas, Mn?

.....LOL...me either, until Shari said her family helped settle the area.


Map from the diocese of St Cloud website.



They came here from Luxembourg (the country) and built Luxemburg (the town, south of St Cloud). If you recall, that little town is on F-L-A-T land.

Well! Evidently, some of those farmers wanted what they knew--good soil, loaded with rocks! They moved west another 10-15 miles and found a gorgeous hilltop to put the blacksmith, church and bar on. But, Oh, oh....land disputes, a different townsite and the bishop gets involved, right? He wants those settlers to move to where they're building a NEW church, about 2 miles farther west.

And that means moving the cemetery.

Some people dug up the relatives and carted 'em to the new digs (oooo!), and some flatly refused.

Who knows why the bish was so adamant, but it makes a person realize that politics and favoritism aren't all that new.


Click the pic...you should get a good size shot of the area, with the original site pinned there in the middle, and the "new" town towards the bottom, with Cold Spring at the top.

So, ok...mystery solved, right? The little cemetery I wrote about is all that's left of the original townsite. As though you'd EVER go looking for it..........lol

Wanna play "Where in the World"?

Here are two pictures, taken within 20 miles of my house. I'd never been to this spot--it's just never been on my radar before this morning...lol

Odd what people do out of 'devotion', huh? I'm not being snotty--I CAN understand the motivation for something like this and I recognize my own ancestors' mindset at work here, too--but what I don't understand is how making (or buying) a painted, gold-leaf, 'realistic' statue of the BVM and building a chapel to house it would accomplish much.

Was it built because of a promise made over the outcome of something? "I'll build you a chapel if...." And did it work out? Or, was it simply to provide a quiet place to meditate? And, why would this enclosure be more holy than the beautiful hillside it stands on?

The cornerstone says 1936. It's in excellent condition, so for 60+ years, someone's been maintaining it. I suppose at the very least, it could be one families' tradition....

See? There are STILL mysteries...lol

Yes, Primo, we're STILL cute

I'm hoping that KQ and MM have a Good Buddy relationship as they grow--like Bid and Willie do--cuz it seems to me we did a good deal of hair pulling when we were kids.

"But Sibling Rivalry is different than competing", right?

Nuh-ah.

Still, maybe Primo was just able to run faster than Secundo on this particular day...lol

Yeah....we were cute; so cute that they kept adding-on to the batch.....

...until they finally got it right...lol

(Bro was frosting after that, IMHO....)

You need more pictures, already?

Like second kids everywhere, I have a feeling this one will have the same experience as I did as a kid.

They forget to take pictures of every new move...they take for granted open eyes and adorable hand waving and tender moments snuggled with mom. It's still WAY cute, but it's normal now, especially with a big sister like KQ.

We Seconds have always just had to tough it out, and live without the daily annoyance of flash photography. Some of us were (and ARE) even cuter than Primo sib, but you can't prove it by the amount of pictures in our albums...lol

Even this proud grandma hasn't been to visit as much as last time, but luckily, his mom sent pictures this week.

Wanna see?






XOXO....Bird