Mothers and Grandmothers

Left: My Mother Right: Me and Grandma with cousins Jim, Mike, Kathy and Tom.


My 2nd Great Grandmothers, Malissa Joslin Brubaker Bower and Lovina Berlin Yarian with my aunt Phyllis Phend, about 1924.

Today being Mother's Day, I spent most of the day with Mom, just the two of us. It was a very pleasant day. That being said, my tribute for Mother's Day will not be for her, but for all the mothers that came before to get us to this time and place... some known, some unknown. Here are the known, through my Mother and back eight generations:

Hazlette (Brubaker) Phend Dunn Ferguson (1902-1984) Indiana

Maude Catherine (Wise) Brubaker Yontz (1877-1953) Indiana
Susie Lula (Yarian) Phend (1872-1956) Indiana

Louisa (Fisher) Phend (1827-1898) Germany, Ohio, Indiana
Lovina Viola (Berlin) Yarian (1845-1932) Ohio, Indiana
Malissa Mariah (Joslin) Brubaker Bower (1849-1937) Indiana
Sophia Elizabeth (Dunfee) Wise (1850-1916) Indiana

Susanna (Kübli) Phend (1785-1856) Switzerland, Ohio, Indiana
Christenia (Houck) Fisher (1805- ? ) Germany, Ohio
Elizabeth (Switzer) Yarian (1815-1894) Ohio
Susannah (Hoffman) Berlin (1804-1880) Ohio, Indiana
Sarah (Foster) Parkison (1818-1904) Ohio, Indiana
Lydia (Robison) Joslin (1825-1899) Ohio, Indiana
Malissa Ann (Stem) Wise (1833-1901) Ohio, Indiana
Catherine (Jones) Dunfee (1829-1903) Ohio, Indiana

Catharina Phend (1754-1797) Switzerland
Verena (Laederich) Kübli (1747-1824) Switzerland
Eva (Rupert) Yarian (1786-1866) Pennsylvania, Ohio
Mary Catherine - wife of Jacob Switzer (about 1790 - ? ) Pennsylvania, Ohio
Juliana (Dietzler) Berlin (about 1772 - ? ) Pennsylvania
Catherine (Coy) Hoffman (1779-1852) Maryland, Ohio
Nancy (Neel) Brubaker (1797-1851) Ohio
Margaret "Peggy" (Myers) Foster (1797-1820) Ohio
Abigail (Goodrich) Joslin (about 1805-after 1882) Ohio, Indiana
Anna - wife of Henry Robison (about 1794 - ? ) Ohio, Indiana
Christena - wife of Peter Wise (1801-1884) Ohio, Indiana
Indiana (Sisley) Stem (1809-1888) Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana
Sophia Elizabeth (Hazlett) Dunfee (1794-1864) Ohio, Indiana
Elizabeth (Helms) Jones (1804-1883) Ohio, Indiana

Magdalena (Tschiemer) Phend (1722-1797) Switzerland
Anna (Frutiger) Kübli (1720-1790) Switzerland
Margaretha (Williams) Yerion (1745-1833) Pennsylvania
Susan (Wagner) Berlin (about 1744 - ? ) Pennsylvania
Susanna (Alder) Hoffman (about 1760 - ? ) Pennsylvania, Ohio
Mary - wife of Henry Coy (about 1755 - about 1785) Maryland, Pennsylvania
Elizabeth (Steinweg) Brubaker (about 1765-about 1821) Pennsylvania
Rebecca (Franks) Neel (1768- ? ) Pennsylvania, Ohio
Magdalena (Daniel) Foster (1755-1823) Virginia, Ohio
Margaret - wife of John Myers (about 1770- ? ) Ohio
Ruth (Dyer) Joslin (1771-1830) Vermont, Ohio
Sally (Church) Goodrich (1780-about 1831) Connecticut, Ohio
Margaret (Ellis) Sisley (1773-1870) Pennsylvania
Mary - wife of George Dunfee (about 1760 - ?) Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio
Elizabeth - wife of Jonathan Hazlett (1762-1848) Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio
Mary (Swigart) Helms (1777- ? ) Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana

Barbara (Zwahlen) Phend (1701- ? ) Switzerland
Margreth (Egger) Tschiemer (about 1695- ? ) Switzerland
Maria Magdalena - wife of Mathias Jurion (1705-1763) Pennsylvania
Anna Margarita (Euler) Berlin (about 1720-about 1807) Pennsylvania
Anna Elizabeth (Andriges) Kau (about 1720- ? ) the Pfalz ?
Christina Barbara (Kleist) Daniel (1734-1770) Pennsylvania
Sarah (Tarbell) Joslin (1741-1810) Massachusetts
Abigail (Price) Goodrich (1754-1827) Connecticut, Ohio

Lucy (Wilder) Joslin (1715- ? ) Massachusetts
Elizabeth (Bowers) Tarbell (1707-1756) Massachusetts
Sarah (Dewey) Goodrich (1712-1782) Connecticut

[note: Updated with some links and additional names May 11, ..]

Waxwing and Mountain Ash Berries

With the cold weather hanging on for another night, I figured I would get up early and drive to Grand Marais to photograph the steam behind the lighthouse. What I wasn't figuring on were the thousands of Waxwings that were hanging out in the various trees in the Grand Marais campground. I found one area where all the Mountain Ash berries had blown off the trees and down onto the ground. I watched as hundreds of Waxwings hopped around amongst the berries, choking them down just as fast as they could pick them up. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to isolate this one bird against the backdrop of berries. It is my favorite shot of the morning.

In the Woods

We took our first trip to the Jemez Mountains last Thursday to start woodcutting for the winter. When we got there we had to sit in the truck and wait for a rain shower to pass before we could start cutting. After the rain I noticed this nice pine tree with lots of green moss on the left side and the log and rock at it's base to make a nice photo.

We love new gear.

The very wise marketing team at Wild Country (UK) wereconcerned about me climbing on French made gear. Not safety, style.They are so style conscious, the Brits.So they chose this stunning outfit for me.The Wild Country Ultralite Elite harness.And they racked it up, left and right, with their latest and totally techno-fabulousHelium quickdraws.



Climbers, you know I'm not that fussy about harnesses and quickdraws, I've used a lot of junk in my time and I never blame my gear,but when I took this lotfor a burl today I felt like I was using the best.Good gear matters.

















The Helium Quickdraws areabsolutely superb. They are lighter than anything I've used before.The dogbones are fat, the way I like them, andthe wire gate secures in an ingenious recessed fashion, no doubt made possible by tricky new manufacturing techniques.And how good do they look?



The first matching set of quickdraws I ever bought were Wild Country, and I fondled them all the way home in the car from Brisbane.

I don't know what a quickdraw will look like in 10 years, but for now this is as good as it gets.Thanks Wild Country, thanks Steve Foster.

Gushing, I know.But don't tell me you guyshaven't slept with your new gear beside your bed.





Good night.

jj

'Lovely' Touring Bike, Given Away!

In case you did not catch the updateon the original post and the subsequent twitter announcement, I selected the recipient for the Lovely Touring Bike give-away a couple of weeks ago. This give away has proven to be an especially difficult one, and I wanted to make sure the bike and the new owner were a good match before making the announcement here. Happily, it seems that they are.

It was a year ago now that I spontaneously bought a beat up Shoguntouring bike, because the geometry looked promising and I liked the colour. As I didn't need another vintage roadbike, I decided to turn it into a Lovely Bicycle project. It occurred to me that if refurbished with new components, it could make the perfect "starter" bike for a woman who does not otherwise feel confident on a roadbike. What makes the bike good for this purpose, is that it has fairly relaxed angles, stable handling, a comfortable feel over bumps, and no toe overlap. The combination of these characteristics is not easy to find, particularly with smaller sized frames. Upon a reader's suggestion I decided to try and solicit sponsors for refurbishing the bike and then give it away. There were glitches along the way with component choices and sponsorship commitments, and the project took longer than anticipated. But once finished, the bicycle came out wonderfully:

In the end, there were two main industry sponsors for this project: Velo Orange donated a headset, crankset, fenders, leather handlebar tape, and touring saddle - components that were specifically requested by me. Harris Cyclery assembled the bicycle and contributed spare parts. A number of readers (Justine,G.E., Neighbourtease,Spindizzy, Cedar,Somervillain)made crucial contributions to the build, including components, accessories and monetary donations, and I too made personal contributions. The total worth of the bicycle as shown is around $1,000 and most of the components are described in detail here and here. Granted, it is a large sum to spend on a vintage frame. But no equivalent bicycle exists today at that price point.

Because of the unique nature of this project, it was extremely important to me to give this bike to a person who I felt really understood what they'd be getting, and best stood to benefit from this bike's combination of characteristics. A lot of thought went into the component choices, with the goal of maximising comfort and minimising the aspects that normally make people uncomfortable and nervous when riding roadbikes. This was not meant for a roadcyclist who was simply unhappy with their current bike, but specifically for someone who had trouble handling roadbikes in the first place. No effort was made to make this bike "fast" by roadcycling standards, which pretty much made it unsuitable for anyone interested in that aspect of cycling. The way I saw it, the "lovely touring bike" would give the new owner an opportunity to travel long distances at their own pace, on a bicycle that was lighter, faster and better at handling hills than an upright city bike, with multiple hand positions afforded by the dropbars but without the intimidating "racy" qualities of typical roadbikes.

The give-away entry requirement was to submit a ride report, which would be included in a Lovely Bicycle compilation some time in the future. My criteria for selecting the recipient were that (1) they were the right height for the bicycle's 52cm frame size, (2) they submitted their own entry, and (3) what they wanted in a roadbike was compatible with what this bicycle could give them. I was somewhat overwhelmed to receive over 70 entries from around the country: I'd thought that the limitations of the sizing alone would yield a fairly small circle of applicants. But as I read through the entries, I was even more surprised how few of them seemed relevant to this particular bicycle. This is an issue I experienced with previous give-aways as well, but this time it was more acute than ever. The majority of the entries gave no explanation for why they wanted this particular bike, other than that it would be nice to win one. Others entered on behalf of their wives or girlfriends. Others still interpreted this bicycle as a more comfortable alternative to their modern racing bike. In the end, I received a grand total of four entries that I felt were truly relevant, and interestingly, two of them were local.

When I picked a name from the 4 finalists at random, I selected someone who was not only local, but had her own bicycle blog and was not a stranger to me... which made me worried that selecting her would be biased. So I nixed my selection, went back to the entries and re-read them, considering each entrant's circumstances more carefully... and kept coming back to the local blogger as the obvious choice.She had a fear of bicycles with drop bars after an accident some time ago, but really wanted to give them another try.She had been looking for a bicycle exactly like the one I was giving away, but not having much luck. She had an appreciation for vintage steel frames and knew what to expect from them. She was interested in comfort over speed. She was the ideal height for the bike. Finally, being local she could try the bike first and determine whether she would be able to ride it. And that is exactly what we did.

In short, please meet "cycler," the bicycle's new owner and the author of Biking in Heels. You may recognise her as the owner of "Gilbert" - a customised Raleigh Lady's Sports, which is her daily transportation bicycle. After much, much deliberation, I concluded that since nothing in this give-away indicated that local readers and other bloggers were ineligible to participate, it would be biased not to give the bicycle to cycler at this point, given how right they were for each other. After she tried the bike, this was confirmed; they are a perfect match and I wish them many happy rides together.

The "Lovely Touring Bike Give-Away" was an experiment that I enjoyed, but also found more difficult than any other give-away I have done so far. For a number of logistical reasons, repeating it is probably not feasible - though I suppose never say never.

There is also the huge collection of ride reports I've received from readers! Some submitted ride reports despite not entering the give-away, and I have over 100 total. I am thinking of making a compilation over the winter, and making it available in some sort of (free) e-zine format. One option I am considering is choosing a handful of my favourite ride reports and publishing them in full. Another option would be to play more of an editiorial role and publish excerpts from many reports according to themes. My thinking is not entirely clear on this yet, but it could be interesting. Or it could take forever. Suggestions?

With sincere thanks once again to all of my readers, to all of the "Lovely Touring Bike Give-Away" entrants, to the donors, and to the project sponsors Velo Orange and Harris Cyclery, wishing you all a wonderful weekend and happy cycling.

Wandering Along

Monday, April 4th - - Upon leaving Copper Breaks State Park, I continued northwest in the general direction of Amarillo. My intended destination was Palo Duro State Park, which some claim is the second largest canyon in the United States (the largest being the Grand Canyon).



However, I tired of battling the wind which was coming from the north with gusts of 35-50 mph and turned south after about an hour of driving. Several other factors added to the decision to forgo Palo Duro at this time – my left leg has been giving me some problems making hiking on uneven, rough trails a bit problematic – the wind was not due to let up until later in the day – the overnight temperature was going to drop into the low 30s - and tonight Butler was going up against UConn in the Big Game! So Palo Duro would have to wait for another time.



Just east of Silverton on Texas Highway 256 a rest area at the top of a ridge provided good views of the road just traveled.





This simple wooden cross at the top of the ridge honored “Gran” and “Pop”.





And this is the view that was off to the right... looking north.



Looking northeast.

Yes, I stopped at a motel for the night. And was disappointed by the outcome of the game. Neither team played all that good but Butler played a little worse, dashing the hopes of everyone cheering for the underdog.

Finally, He's Moving

Sunny decides to walk across the pen and Tuffee walks after him thinking she is herding.

South Dakota :: Sunflowers & Cemeteries

Monday, August 22nd - - The Joslin Rendezvous was at an end, everyone departed to return to their respective homes or on to their next destination. Though I was going to go further west, I first had to go east to take Babs back to the airport at Sioux Falls. There were several stops along the way as Babs had Chastain ancestors buried in cemeteries near the towns of Winner and Bonesteel.





This field of sunflowers was on State Road 44 southeast of White River.



And this field was further east, it seemed to go on for ever.



Babs is standing beside the gravesite of one of her relatives in Winner Cemetery. It was a very nice and well-maintained cemetery. In fact, we were both very impressed with the town of Winner itself.





The burial site of her Chastain ancestors in Bonesteel Cemetery. Some are inside the fence and some are outside... it's a long story! I'll just say that Babs has some very interesting ancestors!

Paradise to Muir -

December 29th,

I just did a nice check on Camp Muir this morning. I left Paradise at about 9:00 a.m. It was a little chilly. I was really surprised how few skiers were actually out. Kudos to the brave soul who marched up the Nisqually and skied the chute solo. Style.

First things first. Attention everyone. There was a wicked layer of surface hoar that didn't get any sun action today before the clouds started rolling in. It's going to get buried. There are all sorts of facets in the snow in the top 20 cm. What's worrisome is that the surface hoar is growing on a layer of sun crust. Underneath the sun crust is another layer of facets. Check out the snowpit profile.


Click on the image for a better, more readable size.

Expect these faceted layers to remain intact on all aspects for a while.


So the rest of the trip to Muir was outstanding. Skiing was 7 out of 10, for the windswept snowfield, anyway. The new snow that is forecast should make the skiing even better.


One thing I want everyone to be aware of is what we call the "Ant Trap". Remember that sand pit that Luke got thrown into by Jabba? Well, this is kind of like that.

It's located right next to McClure Rock. Click that picture to the right and note the coordinates on the bottom of the photo: -121.724123 46.808050 (WGS84). Plug that into your GPS and avoid it like the plague.

Many people have been eaten by the Ant Trap and more than a few have broken bones because of it.

Things are looking good at Camp Muir, albeit there is a lot of snow. Remember you'll have to dig your way into the upper half of the middle toilet. So plan on a little shoveling before you are moved to use it!



Also, remember if you're coming up to climb, to stop at the Paradise Old Station (the A-frame in the upper parking lot) and self-register. You can also pay the 30 dollar climbing fee to the 'iron ranger' there as well.

A storm was quickly moving in, so I had to ski-dattle. Down at Paradise, the parking lot is completely full! Hundreds of cars and sledders.








December 23rd, - Sweet Turns at Paradise!

This is it. Finally our snowpack at Paradise is back to normal at 78 inches. The rain from the last warm spell has stopped and we have up to 18 inches of new snow that has consolidated and another 5 inches of pretty light snow on top of it.


I started up the road this morning after we opened it at around 08:00 am. The light on the mountain was absolutely spectacular. It was clear and there was a little bit of surface hoar when I went to the weather station this morning. Here was the weather obs:

High: 22 Low: 16 Current: 22 Precip: .02 New: Tr Total Snow: 78" Winds: N @ 3-4.

We had our morning chores to do, cones in the parking lot, bumping sign andbamboo in the snowplay area, then folks started coming in droves.
The snowplay area is open and the runs are fast. However, because there's relatively little snow, we can only put one run in. The lines are a little long. Remember to get out of the run when you've come to a stop!

About noon we headed up towards Pan Point. What's this? It's noon at Paradise on a sunny day and there's no tracks? Where are all the skiers? Gary Voigt was up making turns in upper Edith Creek below McClure.


We've been telling people for years that the right way up Pan Point is in the trees on the nose. However, sometimes I think you're better off just going up the gully. We should've. The south facing part of the nose of the ridge was a little wet and heavy. It was starting to crack as we got onto steeper ground >40 degrees.

Always evaluate your own avalanche conditions!


We crested the ridge and decided to head for the top of Pan Point at around 7200 feet.

I was still surprised to see no tracks up above us since we had such a late start and the Paradise parking lot was FULL.

Whatever, the more powder for us.


Well, the way down was fabulous. My favorite run is to cut underneath McClure Rock. It's a little less exposed to the cliff bands around Pan Point. I rarely find avalanche conditions out this far. However, I did notice a crown feature on those cliff bands back down towards Pan Point. East facing, steep, ridge top... no surprise.

However, out where we were, the snow was outstanding.

Once we hit the flats to the east of Pan point, we traversed down the top of Mazama Ridge until we got to a slope locally known as Bundy's Blunder. It's just upridge of Sluiskin Falls. There was some slide deposition on it from the sun action today. It was only 4-5", but wet and heavy. It was enough to carry us, so we traversed out a hundred yards to the right and merrily made sweet turns all the way to the Paradise Valley Road.

Here's the latest weather history comparison:

Date 12/23

Max Recorded Snowdepth at Paradise 166 inches

Year of Max Recorded Snowdepth at Paradise 1916

Historic Average Snowpack at Paradise 77.9 inches

Current Snowdepth at Paradise 78 inches

Percent of Normal 100.13%

Percent of Historic Max 46.99%

Average Hi Temp: 32

Today's Hi Temp 22

Average Lo Temp: 21

Today's Lo Temp 16


Come on up! It's good!

Raccoons

We did see some of the wildlife in the area while walking along the warf in Port Angeles. Of course there are raccoons in all areas of the U.S. - or so it seems, but they are kind of cute, even if an unwanted pest most of the time. This mama coon was teaching her 2 babies how to beg behind a cafe. Not a good idea but we couldn't resist taking their photos. We, also, saw several Canadan geese flying over the water.

Fungi forms

Fungus: any of a major group of saprophytic and parasitic spore-producing organisms usually classified as plants that lack chlorophyll (molds, rusts, mildews, smuts, mushrooms, and yeasts).*

Lichen: any of numerous complex thallophytic plants made up of an alga and a fungus growing in symbiotic association on a solid surface.

*Edited to add:
Dave from Via Negativa writes:
"... I would quarrel with "usually classified as plants" - I think most taxonomists now assign molds and fungi to their own kingdom. Lichens can be partnerships either with green algae (Plant Kingdom) or blue-green algae (Monera)."

Thanks Dave! I borrowed that from ol' Webster, who is clearly as behind on taxonomic updates as I am.

Dave also identifies the first shelf fungus below as Turkey Tail.
*End of edit


A Cup fungus


Witch's butter (Tremella mesenterica, a jelly fungus)

Thus ends my knowledge of fungus names. I love all the different shapes though.

Mountains

Would have liked to go to the mountains on this 3 day weekend, but I know they are always packed on the first holiday of the summer. Besides we can't afford the gas, and neither of us is feeling that good to take that long of a drive. So guess we will just hang out here at the house. Pet the dogs, cats, and horses, and watch the car races. I did give Sonny a bath this morning. The horses were attached yesterday by some sort of horrid bitting, bloodsucking nat (gnat). Each one I killed was full of blood. So I made a stronger fly spray and sprayed them good yesterday and today and got out the fly masks. I had bathed Nita and Star a few weeks ago but hadn't done Sonny yet this spring. He really likes his bath and to be pampered with grooming. Now to teach the ponies, Trave and Stormy that they can like it, too.

More Blossoms

Open Balloon Flower

This is an open balloon flower

Wear and Tear

I've been spending a lot of time road cycling lately, and suddenly it seems like all of my gear is falling apart at the same time: Socks are pilling to the point where they no longer look decent. Gloves are developing holes in the fingers. Baselayers are growing threadbare under the arms. A piece of the zipper broke off on my cold weather cycling jacket. And my thermal winter tights are fraying everywhere. The damage to the last two garments is particularly frustrating, because these are "big ticket" items that I was hoping would last for some time. While the jacket is a year and a half old that's still not a terribly long life span. And the tights I've only started wearing this October. It doesn't seem right for things to be wearing out at this rate. Aside from the financial aspect, I am simply too exhausted to start the search for the right gear from scratch. When it comes to cycling clothing, finding the fit and functionality that work can be a nightmare. I don't want to look for new stuff; I want the "old" stuff to last.



Are my expectations unrealistic? I would love to hear from roadcyclists what the typical life expectancy of their clothing is - jerseys, shorts, jackets, etc. If you cycle, say, 5,000 miles a year, what kind of wear and tear do you consider normal?

Young History

My parents and sister are getting ready to fly off to Greece for a month so I may have to turn an eye towards MY DC as in the present. My son just graduated from Hardy Middle School which was actually quite an accomplishment considering the building in Georgetown- the old Gordon Junior High- is being renovated. So this past year, Kit got up at six a.m., and took two buses to Hamilton which is a hulking ugly dinosaur of a school from the 1960s across from the DC Farmer's Market near New York and Florida Avenue. The school system now uses it as a swing space for schools like Hardy. The construction was supposed to be done by this fall, but if you drive by the old Hardy site, you will see that it's not happening. (Remember the Georgetown Flea Market? It used to be in Hardy's parking lot- right across from the social Safeway on Wisconsin Ave.)

So Kit and his friends are free and roaming the city, and it is a city they are getting to know rather well which is a good thing. Next fall Kit will be going to Duke Ellington School of the Arts which used to be Western High School- the same high school his grandparents, Bebe and George attended. Past meets present.

Congratulations, Kit!

If you've got it, flaunt it! COG 55 posted!

And man, the Genea-Bloggers have got it!

Jasia at Creative Gene has posted Carnival of Genealogy, 55th Edition and it is the biggest ever! There are 50 posts by 49 authors covering the "Show and Tell" topic. As Jasia says, "Our esteemed group of contributors is sharing special persons, photos, documents, and heirlooms with you today. You will be truly amazed at the collection of articles presented here! No, I'm not exaggerating. You will be amazed at some of the fascinating items people have shared from their family's history."

My contribution for this edition is Indiana Sisley Stem :: Show and Tell and The Sisley Family Bible. Yes, I submitted two posts, but they are related (pun intended).

The next COG will be hosted by Lori Thornton of Smoky Mountain Family Historian. The topic is "10 essential books in my genealogy library." Check out Lori's post for more information.

Due to the explosive growth of the COG, and the amount of time it takes to put a COG post together, Jasia has a request for all contributors to future carnivals:

Due to the recent rapid growth of the COG, and assuming its popularity continues, I will have to make some changes to the way it is presented. I am asking that all future participants use a descriptive phrase in the title of their articles (i.e. "Miss Kate's Autograph Book" as Denise Olson did) and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blogcarnival submission form (i.e. "I loved show and tell in school. Way back then I was only allowed to bring one item. For this edition of the COG I'm bringing a small valise full of items that are all related to A Pink Ball Gown." as Apple did). This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. I will no longer be doing this for the authors. I just can't keep that up with the volume of submissions. I'm also considering other changes to the COG. I'll keep you posted.

The deadline for submissions for COG 56 is September 15th. Use the carnival submission form to submit your post. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the carnival index page.

Carnival of Genealogy graphics created by footnoteMaven.