Feb 15

Soap ends

What in the world do you do with the ends of your bars of soap? I don’t really think there is much soap in the soap. Not so long ago, if you took a bar of soap out of it’s wrapping it would dry out and harden up. I always brought them home and stored them in a onion bag or a basket to dry. They really did last a lot longer then. These days soap bars melt at the first hint of humidity; not a good situation when you have long-showering grandsons using the bathroom frequently.

I know that I’m almost the only one in the world that uses bar soap, the manufacturer makes is especially so it will melt fast, so I’ll buy more.

Papa’s great-grandfather was a soap maker in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. The factory was “down by the river” in New Brighton. According the a centennial history larger businesses failed after and during the war of 1812, but, “..There were small businesses such as the fancy soap and candle business started by Isaac Warren Sr. in 1812 around Seventh Street.”

Now we know that the afore mentioned Isaac Warren didn’t arrive in Pennsylvania that early. His naturalization papers say, in part: Isaac Warren, a native of England, being duly sworn according to law saith (sic) that he came to America in the year of 1832. The burial record on file at the cemetery where he is buried says: buried 1870, age 79, Isaac Warren, first soap maker from Canterbury, England, 5th generation soap maker.

Isaac Sr.’s nephew, also known as Isaac, apparently born in Pennsylvania about 1838, is the great-grandfather of whom I speak. The younger Isaac was a nephew of the older, and named as such in the Isaac Sr.’s will. Isaac the younger and his sister were raised from a young age by the senior Isaac and his wife. Probate records, orphan’s court records, cemetery records or any other source that we’ve been able to find do not reveal his parents names, nor can we find where they came from, went to or when.

But I think that if either Isaac were here today, I could get some soap that wouldn’t melt up in a week. And I could probably get my questions about them answered, too.

Feb 14

Winter

It’s a beautiful day, if you can stay inside. GS2 helped me clear the driveway, or perhaps I helped him. For reasons that are obvious once you live here, the snow drifts up in front of our doors, both the entry door and the garage doors.  This makes clearing the mess up a little harder.  It was great to have him home from school to help.  Speaking of school, don’t know why they closed.  All the main roads are clear, and weren’t bad this morning, according to Papa

The sun is shining and warming the house, making my little spot here by the bay window a great place to be.

As soon as we came in, I noticed a message on the machine from my mother, worried that I was working too hard clearing the drive.  I wish I could grow up and not worry here, but I guess it’s not possible.

If you live around here, mark your calendar.  Bobby Osborne and Rocky Top X-Press will be in Flat Rock at the Huron Valley Eagles Saturday night.  We’ll be there, and I hope you will be too.

I’ve got my wash underway, maybe I’ll finish it this time.  Maybe not.  I did back up the computers, do some bookwork, answer some e-mail and generally get a little done so far today.  Next, I’ll just dust everything, carefully moving all my piles from one place to another!

I’m pushing pretty hard to get my genealogy site in shape to re-post.  I guess it’s about time.  I’m using a free tool, which you all might like to check out:  Amaya.  It works well for standards based coding, it’s in my price range.

Check back, I’ll get it out there soon!

Feb 12

Good morning, Michigan

It’s cold, again or still. The first e-mail I read this morning was from My-cast, and instead of the usual “cast” it offered a winter storm watch. If they think I’ve to time to watch for a storm they’ve got another think coming.

We returned our granddaughters yesterday, meeting their mother and GS3 halfway.  Sesame Street Live was a lot of fun. This year’s title is, “Super Grover, ready for Action”.  Super Grover’s entrance included a flight across the stage.  in the flight, he looked a little like a piece of plywood with some fur attached.  Of course, only adults noticed this slight defect.  Grover lost his superness and it took the whole show for him to find it again.  For the first time, we sat in the balcony. The ceiling of the Fox is a beautiful sight, and I looked at that more than the stage. GD1 remembered, and described the “big ball” hanging from the domed ceiling to my Mother the next day. The trip consisted of “spinners” the lovely, useless but irresistible toy offered from the SS concession, AND Elmo balloons, which were offered at a price that made even a grandparent choke. But they made little girls happy.

GD2 had a cold again, and I’ve got the sniffles already. I sure wish I was immune to that stuff. Perhaps by the end of the winter?

Sadness prevailed in our little corner of the bluegrass world this weekend. John Rigsby’s brother, Joe, was killed in an automobile accident. Sadly, our friend Ada’s brother, Ken Duty, also passed away last week. We had expected to see Melvin Goins and the band (including John) at the Kentuckians of Michigan this Friday evening. Melvin cancelled in order to attend Joe Rigsby’s funeral. We did go to the Kentuckians for a while on Friday; Mike Adams graciously played that evening. On the stage with Mike were Jeff Tuttle, wizard of the mandolin, John Coffey and Danny Blankenship.

Feb 08

Four Things

Thing One:
The Bluegrass Blog reports that Darren Vincent and Jamie Daily will begin touring with their new band, the Dailey Vincent Band, in 2008. Now, that’s something to look forward to. I’ll be looking for a way to see them ASAP. The Blog gives some specifics.

Papa and I are big fans of Jamie’s current band, Doyle Lawson’s Quicksilver. A couple of years ago we actually purchased a CD because of a Vincent-Dailey duet on it. I just listened to that song, “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem,” and three other tracks of the same song by other artists. The Dailey-Vincent version featured great harmony, they are a great pair.

Thing Two:
Dust. I can’t get rid of it. I know that it’s not a personal defect, but sometimes I wonder how the “House Beautiful” babes do it.

Thing Three:
Daddy was an Undertaker, by McDill McCown Glassman is the title of a book on my shelf.   Inside the cover, an inscription reads, “To Marge from Pamela, Christmas 1952. The book is copyright 1952, Vantage Press, Inc, and comes from the 3rd printing, 10,000 total had been printed.

Marge is my mother, I’m Pamela, and my dad was an undertaker, too. I’ve read this book several times and each time I learn something new about my old self and my current self. In the prologue, Mrs. Glassman says, “..I have attempted to dispel any false notions that undertakers are inhuman and without feeling.”

As a child of an undertaker, I lived the rituals of death over and over, sometimes on a daily basis. In my case, the effect was to give me comfort in the familiar process. I do remember elementary classmates asking way to many question and making me uncomfortable. At times during that period of my life, dad’s work was a part of our daily lives. At various times, we lived upstairs, kept quiet during funerals, answered the business phone, set up flowers, set up chairs, vacuumed, and numerous other mundane tasks. This was no different than children of farmers milked cows and helped with other farm tasks.  I guess I don’t have any brilliant conclusions about this, except perhaps people who have experienced certain situations can speak profoundly to others who have similar experiences.

Thing Four:
A couple of days ago, I discovered the problem with our humidifier. I cleaned it out and replaced the filters, which had fallen into the bottom of the tank. The humidity in here is now in the 40’s instead of the 20s. And it really does feel warmer. The outdoor temp is 7, not -7, but the humidity does help. Why doesn’t anyone talk about “moist heat” the way they talk about “dry heat”?

The only thing that matters today:
I’m off to retrieve my granddaughters!

Feb 07

Let It Snow

Snow Picture OneSnow Picture TwoSnow Picture ThreeSnow Picture FourSnow Picture Five

Last  Sunday morning, Papa and I woke up early.  We were “up north”, at M-In-L’s house.  It snowed a little, and blew a lot.  I took a few pictures of the snow.  Now nobody wants to hear this, but I almost cried as I edited them.  We’re long moved south, where there aren’t long cold winters with snow.

But, there is something about going out when it’s cold and crisp, and quite.  My camera flash picked up the frozen water in the air, it was not snowing when I took these.

Feb 07

Busy, Busy, Busy

For whatever reason, I haven’t felt well the past couple of days. Even so, time rolls on and I have to keep on keeping on. I’m doing some crazy things these days. I’ve got about 5 balls in the air and I keep letting them fall.

I’m sewing for GDs 1 and 2. I’m remodeling some clothes for my Mom.  I’m selling some stuff on E-Bay®. I’m cooking, washing, cleaning and being a good cat-mom.  I’m revising all my sites so they are valid XHTML and CSS.  Just a little going on.

Tomorrow, I’m going to retrieve the GDs and the fun will begin. When they are here, all else stops, the world comes to a halt and I just watch in amazement. I’m probably worse than most grandmas. But, those five children (not just the youngest two) are my reward for hanging around this long. I intend to enjoy every minute of it.

Feb 06

We Missed It

We had a 7:00 p.m. appointment, thank goodness for the internet.  Read about the Kalamazoo Promise story on the CBS news site, and watch the video from last night’s CBS News.

BTW, Granny thinks this is good idea.  Additionally, you might notice that the superintendent and the news anchor interviewing her are both female. That’s a big change from the days when Granny was in school!

Feb 05

Winter makes an appearance

It doesn’t happen much around here, but the world is frozen.  It was below zero last night, and many of the schools are closed.  It’s a great day for GS2 to sleep in, after all the Super Bowl food he ate last night. 

We went “up north” over the weekend and visited M-in-L. Her birthday is really closer to next weekend, but Sesame Street prevents us from going up then.  We had a good visit.  We took cake and ice cream so we had it with every meal great fun, especially for Papa and I who never have such foods. 

 We slid home yesterday morning.   Saw lots of accidents and spin outs along I-75, especially near Flint.   D2 reported that there was plenty of snow in Kalamazoo.  It was a lot less exciting here in Troy, so we unloaded the car, put our items away, and watched the game.

This morning, the pop in the side room froze when I opened it. It’s plenty cold when that happens I’ll be putting a little heater out there and burning up some electricity to keep it all from freezing.

Bean soup and homemade bread will be on the dinner menu, that’s my kind of cold weather food.  I’ll spend the day making small, purple bathrobes!

Feb 02

Promise, The Saga Continues

You may remember that D2 and her family moved to a new town at the end of the summer.  She took a job with the Kalamazoo Public School District.  Most school districts in Michigan are on hard times, but  the Kalamazoo district has a little something going for it, the Kalamazoo Promise. 

This is a pretty big thing, a guarantee of free college tuition for qualified graduates of the district.  You might want to read up on it on the Promise web site, it’s pretty interesting. 

D2 reported to me that she had been interviewed for an article about the Promise which would be published in the teacher’s union magazine.  Apparently it has been published, because D3’s boyfriend called her and told here that he was saving a magazine article his mother cut out and, “It has a picture of your sister and all her children in it.” 

I do want to  report that D2 has 3 children, not as many as one might think when you hear “ALL her children”.  And, her husband, S-in-L, was also in the photograph.  The article was about the Promise, and explores reasons why some families have relocated to the Kalamazoo district. 

I’ve been told that Dr. Janice Brown, the superintendent of the Kalamazoo District, is being interviewed by Katie Couric.  The interview is scheduled to appear in the Monday Night broadcast.  If you can’t watch, it may be archived on the CBS site later.

Jan 31

Winter in Michigan

It’s cooled off, some days are even cold!  I’ve been enjoying  the chance to go out and scrape snow off the drive.  There hasn’t been a lot, but there is something about spending 15 or 20 minutes outside that makes the house seem warmer.

For the record, we didn’t go to the auto show at Cobo, and we didn’t go to the camper show down at Ford Field.  Now, some people might say that it isn’t safe to go downtown, but we’re not among them.  We will be going downtown to the Fox next week to see Sesame Street Live, a treat we’ve enjoyed since GS3 was 3 or so.  We’re on the downhill side of it, GD 1&2 will be visiting for the show, and the weekend.  Next year, GD1 will be in school (!), so she won’t be going.  Seems like they grow up pretty fast.

Last Friday, we saw a great concert at Oakland Community College, Waterford Campus, featuring IIIrd Tyme Out.  These guys aren’t as old as Granny, but they aren’t snot-nosed kids either.  And for those of you know the band, when I compare ages I’m mostly talking about the long-time members of the band.  Anyway, that was great singing, just great.  We procured their newest CD, Round III at the MAC, and it’s seen a lot of play time around here.

I have the purple fleece, so the sewing machine will be in use soon!