Do you speak German?

 I always thought it was amusing that, in my very German small home town, the only foreign language offered in our high school was French.  Mrs. Wetter, one of my favorite teachers, only spoke English and French.  My west coast brother, who, by the way, had French toast for breakfast with his grandchildren this morning, informed me that today is "Tag der Deutschen Sprache" which translate to German Language Day in English.  

You would think that, since my paternal grandparents grew up speaking German as well as English I might be able to speak some German but, as it happened I never really heard them speak German.  My German paternal great great grandparents immigrated to the United States sometime in the mid 1800s.  

My father was born in 1916.  World War One had begun in 1914.  Because they wanted there to be no doubt that they were loyal US citizens, my grandfather and grandmother decided to speak only English at home and that's what their three children learned.  

That was all very well except that when my father was sent to first grade at the local Lutheran school the lessons were being taught in German.  That made for a pretty miserable first grade for him.  

I never heard the whole story but somehow, by second grade, enough families brought pressure to bear on the school administration (probably one teacher for all eight grades) to assure that the classes would now be taught in English.  

So now you know why I don't sprachen de Deutsch. 

we remember...

 All of us, at least all of us of a certain age remember 9-11-2001.  The subsequent 25 years have slid by quickly but that day remains firmly fixed in my mind.  Like the day JFK was assasinated, or the days my children were born, some events are never forgotten.  I remember rushing around getting ready to go to work when my then husband called to me "You need to come in and see this. Something big is happening."  I knew he was watching the morning news as usual and didn't think much about it but he kept insisting so I went into the family room to see what was going on.  

I got there just in time to see a plane crash into the second tower.  We watched transfixed as towers fell and sirens wailed.  As the awful news continued to unfold we learned of an attack on the Pentagon and a plane crash in Pennsylvania.  A friend I was talking with earlier today reminded me of the mass confusion as airports were shut down and people were stranded all over the world.

I didn't fear for my own safety on that day but I did have a concern.  My daughter's best friend from third grade through highschool is Indian and Muslim.  She and her family have lived in the US since she was five years old.  They are loyal citizens but in appearance their dark skin and hair could be mistaken for Saudi.  I feared for their safety.  Happily they lived in a neighborhood here in Fort Wayne where they were well known and accepted by their neighbors.  

These days, when we travel by plane or ship, I try to be patient as we pass through security checks and have our carry-on luggage scanned.  "It's ok," I tell myself, "I'd rather be safe." 

I remember those....

My west coast brother was busy today so I had to find out what special day September 10th is, all by myself.  Here's what I found.  Today is "National School Picture Day" and National TV Dinner Day." 

Each of these is a blast from the past.  I've gone through school picture days myself and with my children and grandchildren.  I have been sorting through lots of old family pictures this week and I found many, many school pictures.  If you ever wonder if buying those pictures is worth it let me tell you what I found today.  In a box of pictures that my dear mother-in-law had collected were school pictures for every year for my two children (her only grandchildren).  Some of the pictures had notes from the kids on the back, and every one of them had the year, the age of the child and their grade in school, so lovingly collected.  

In addition I found a school picture of me from my first year of teaching, a picture of my mother from one of her years of teaching, a fine picture of my west coast brother when he was in middle school and, of course, many, many school pictures of my grandchildren.

But enough about pictures.  Do you remember TV dinners?  Swanson introduced them in the 1950s.  They came in little foil trays with three sections for a meat, potatoes, and a vegetable.  My mother was an excellent cook and we always had good home cooked meals but sometimes, just for a treat (and to give her a break I suspect) we would have TV dinners.  What I remember most is the taste and texture of the mashed potatoes. Especially the texture.  Especially the texture....

Cheers to friendship...

 I think it's fascinating how, when you get together with good friends, things just seem to pick up where they left off the last time you were together.  

My spouse and I had that experience today when we traveled to Winchester (the Indiana town, not the cathedral) to visit with friends of ours whom we hadn't seen for over a year.  When I tell you that we have been friends since college you will understand that we are old friends in every sense of the word.  But, if anything, that made this visit even sweeter. 

It's true that our conversation this time around included a lot more references to doctors, hospital stays and therapies that it ever used to. Each of us had something to contribute to that part of the conversation. But we also found plenty of time to compare notes on how all of our family members are doing and share pictures of a grandchild's wedding and a super cute great grandchild. 

We also talked about trips we have taken, they to Thailand, we to Egypt, among other places, and future travel plans.  As we shared lunch at one of their favorite Mexican restaurants we made tentative plans for them to come visit us in Fort Wayne, probably after the holidays.  They would like to go to a play and their favorite Japanese restaurant while they are here.  Sounds good to us.  I love having future plans to look forward to, especially plans shared with good friends. 

The Great Black Swamp

 My westcoast brother happily told me today that they have had, so far in September, more rain than they had during the months of June, July and August combined. It amounted to 0.32" of rain.  I asked him how that compared to other years and he said it's about the same.  Then he said it "comes from living on the edge of a desert."

To which I replied "Whereas we live on the edge of the great black swamp" so we get plenty of rain.  In case you haven't heard of it "The Great Black Swamp" is a real thing.  

"Long ago, a vast swamp stretched across much of northwest Ohio. Known as the Great Black Swamp, it covered more than 1,500 square miles and reached into parts of Indiana. Most of it lay where today’s northwest Ohio communities now thrive. This massive wetland played a major role in shaping how towns and farms in the area developed. Even now, it continues to influence life in this part of the state."

I grew up in Woodburn, Indiana, 18 miles from the Ohio state line, and definitely part of the great Black Swamp area.  My great grandparents were among the intrepid farmers who cleared and drained the swamp land, creating some of the best agricultural soil anywhere.  It was no easy task though.  Like any good swamp, this swamp was heavily forested.  I read once that you could walk across northern Indiana and touch a tree with every step.  It was also filled with malaria carrying mosquitoes.  Families sitting down to eat in their cabins would have smudge pots burning under the table to keep the mosquitoes away.  While some logs were used to build cabins, hundreds of trees were simply cut down and burned to clear the land for farming. Hence the name "Woodburn."  After the trees were cleared, trenches were dug and clay pipes were layed in the fields.  The pipes would absorb the water out of the swampy ground and it would run off into creeks or rivers.  When I was a young child there was still a plant manufacturing clay pipes in Woodburn.  

I marvel at the ingenuity and stubborn resolve of these early German settlers, and am proud to call them my ancestors.  

Happy Labor Day

 Happy Labor Day everyone (or if you happen to be in Canada Labour Day).  I hope you are all able to relax and enjoy this unofficial end of summer celebration.  

My west coast brother is celebrating by making his delicious barbequed ribs.  It's times like this that I really do wish we lived nearer to each other.

In his daily text my brother informed me that, in addition to being Labor Day, today is also "National Neither Snow Nor Rain Day."  He also commented that this day has an interesting history, so, naturally, I had to look it up.  

This date commemorates the opening of the James A. Farley Post Office Building (the New York City central post office) on September 7, 1914. James A. Farley was the 53rd postmaster general, which is why the building was named after him.

This is the inscription found over the entrance to the building:

"Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

In case you're wondering, as I was, who wrote these moving words, it was the ancient Greek author Herodotus.  He wrote them in 'Persian Wars Book 8, paragraph 98,' describing ancient Persian mounted couriers.  I must confess, I was expecting a much more current author, perhaps someone who wrote in the early 1900s, but I'm happy to know where the quote actually comes from, and now you do too.

about those canals

 I have been interested in the history of the Wabash and Erie Canal for a long time.  I remember, when I was about 15, riding with my family on Highway 24, between Woodburn and New Haven and listening as my father pointed out the deep ditch beside the highway and explaining that it was all that remained of the old canal.  He then would add that it was all dug by hand.  One time my west coast brother, then a curious five-year-old, asked "Weren't they allowed to use shovels?" Yes, those mostly Irish workers were allowed to use shovels.

During one summer during my high school years I worked as a housekeeper and companion for an elderly lady.  She still lived in the farm house that she and her husband had built when they were just married and starting their farm.  She told me that many of their supplies - furniture, farm implements, seeds for crops, and food staples like flour and sugar, had all been delivered by canal boats. I think that would have been about 1890.  By that time the any boats of the canals were owned by individuals, not the state.

Among the things my spouse and I discovered during our clean up after our recent water disaster was a small book (only 56 pages) titled "Indiana's Canal Heritage" published in 1954 and distributed by the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County.  Most of it is a reprint of a book originally published in 1926.  Happily, this book was not damaged. The title was enough to make me read it.

I had no idea that canals became a very popular idea in the early 1800s and that millions of dollars were spent on digging canals across the northern part of the country (connecting variious rivers) at the same time that railroad lines were being established in the same areas.  I won't go into all the financial details but the canals were a money loosing proposition from day one.  Nevertheless, banks loaned huge amounts of money to states, Indiana included, to dig these canals.  Some of these loans got repaid as people paid to travel and ship cargo on the canals but never all of them.  You really need to read the book to appreciate all the 'creative financing' that went on. 

Here's a map that was included in the book.  You can see that the Wabash and Erie Canal extended from northwest Ohio, through Woodburn, where I grew up, to Fort Wayne and then diagonally across Indiana until it ended at Terre Haute where it emptied into the Wabash River. The map also shows railroads and paved "macadamized" roads. 

For a while the canals played a big part in the westward expansion.  It was an interesting time in the history of our country.  You can learn more by contacting the Canal Society of Indiana, https://indcanal.org.