Family curator

The things we do for our parents...

Happy Birthday!

I've mentioned before that my oldest and dearest friend was pregnant.

Not anymore!



Look at that beautiful face...

Iconic summer images

I love a good beach and it appears to run in the family.
Some extended family was in for the week and they usually spend a day at the beach - it was bit chilly, but we had dinner at the docks. The kids wanted to go to the shore and so did I.
Luckily, the "real" adults were willing to indulge me when the kid's requests were tuned out.

I'll never understand why so many adults lose the urge to scramble on rocks, wade in the waves and skip stones... but I'm proud to say I'm not one of those adults.



I love this picture, it looks like he's squaring his shoulders and preparing to take on the wind and waves.

A rose garden & a miraculous hydrangea

I was in Lorain on the 3rd, making my 3 day weekend a 4 day mini-vacay.
It was a little rainy, but I stopped by Lakeview beach to see the rose garden in bloom.

It's been such a rainy summer, so things are lush and full and green and splendid, as evidenced below.









That evening, I went to Berlin Heights to prep for the big family party on the 4th. At my grandmother's, she told me to go out back and look at the hydrangea... I didn't think anything of it until I realized that this was a non-hearty indoor plant that I gave my grandfather in the last few months of his life.

Following his death, my mother tended the plant at home for the next year or so. We gave it to my grandmother a year later and she planted it. It weathered the first winter, but never bloomed - a florist told me it never would, given the species. But lo and behold, this year it's got a lovely bloom with more threatening.



Given that our family history seems to be told through plants it makes sense that this this little fellow has thrived.

A new blog...

Instead of random family posts - I'm creating an online collection of stilgenbauer what-not.

Inspired by my father and his endless need to create (and my need to keep and display whatever I can), I started stilgenstories to keep it somewhat organized.

Work in Progress I

Happy February!
About a year ago or more (cringe) I took on a project for our family to organize and create a generational quilt for my grandmother.

Pretty basic, just squares with embroidered hand prints and names... but I wanted to do something fancy for the center.

So of course it took me ages to get things back on track. This week I swore I would have the top done to hand over to my aunt to quilt and finish....

Ta Da!



Close up...

Out martha-ing martha

After a friday night of Strongbow fueled debauchery at Prosperity, I went to visit the family in Erie Co.

Dad got a smoker from my uncle and has been obsessed with cooking the perfect smoked turkey. As usual, it was amazing. Got-up-at-five-a.m.-and-started-the-process amazing.
And since it's that wonderful time between summer and fall harvests, we had the best of both along with dinner.

Sunday, I spent the day gathering the final tomatoes, zucchini, seckel pears from my grandmother's garden; but the lion's share of the time was spent gathering and husking chestnuts.

These aren't the kind that fell prey to the early 20th century blight, but they are edible and now represent my favorite part of fall.

We go out to the trees in turn, each coming back with a full half-peck basket. They're so plentiful that we sell them at a stand up the road, which is good, since I got gourds and pumpkins gratis.

I came home with a basket full of goodies, and spent this evening making concord grape sorbet and chocolate ice cream infused with chocolate mint.

I roasted chestnuts last evening on my neighbor's grill... v. good, but we left them too long with the chatting and the beer.

Throughout this weekend, I spent my free time knitting because after 3 attempts, I seem to finally get it.

So as long as I live within walking distance of downtown, I'll maintain my rural side. And I'm sure if I moved to a rural area, I'd become hyper-metropolitan.

So for now, I imagine my grandmother's as the country house and my apartment in Tremont as my pied de terre.

Quit yer bitchin

Ok... ok... a little self-pity never really hurt anyone, did it?

Anyway, fab weekend.

I stayed at my grandmother's who is out of town in ALASKA.
On a CRUISE.
With her BOYFRIEND.
She's 83~
Good for her.

*shakes head sagely*

Anyway, stayed there all weekend.

Went to the TIffin Flea Market...
1. NASCAR
2. Jesus
3. The War

o, and a beautifully felted cloche for winter wear.

But mostly NASCAR.

Spent the next day at my cousin's pool sunning and swimming and drinking Brandy Alexanders
with cousin K and her friend T who happened to have lived in my 'hood.

More sitting outside, but overlooking the Huron River at night.

Then more pool time the next day with a turkey smoked by daddy-o.
Everyone brought starches... with cheese... flavored with bacon...
It was like the Fourth all over again.

Interspersed weekend with biking, hiking, planting and picking... and a little wool-gathering.
Not to mention pushing a 1920s tractor out of a rut and into a barn...

I brought back 3 zucchinis as big as all outdoors from Nana's garden.

From one I have made:
Zucchini pumpkin bread - 1 loaf, 6 muffins
Chocolate zucchini pumpkin bread, 1 loaf, 3 mini loaves
12 zucchini feta latkes.

I have 2 more... any thoughts?

They are HUGE so not very good for raw use....

I may simply make loaf after loaf and freeze.
I think the chocolate will be good (it's baking now... yum...)

What a great way to end the summer.

Up next.. what to do with apples, pears and chestnuts....?

hmmm

So today was a weird day for me- not the best day - not the worst day -
but it brought home alot of things...
that bad things happen,
but good things happen, too
and they're often happening at the same time.

today i had birthday plans,
but then i got horrible news

so... what do you do?
it wasn't necessary for me to go home - my parents were dealing with the family to whom it happened, and i wouldn't be of any real help... i was even instructed to not send anything until further notice...

but birthday plans seemed empty knowing the depth of grief so close to me...

so i talked with friends... and went to the beach... and out to dinner...

i kept thinking about striking a balance between the need to be frivilous and fun when there is so much that needs attention and so many people who don't have the time for frivolity...

i knew someone years ago who spent so much time tending to those in need: homeless, hungry, disabled and sick - it was wonderful, if you were homeless, hungry, disabled or sick - but if not... well... get in line.

i know that in the time i knew him, i had a lot more crisises than ever before - or since - coincidence...?

so i know that balance is important - and i know that sadness breeds sadness and joy breeds joy - so today i decided to stick with joy, and save the sadness for a more appropriate moment...

so here's a little joy from about thirty years ago...

2 tragedies to add to the thousands

in the past week, two family friends were killed by sniper fire in iraq - two separate incidents - two wonderful men - two families sit at home with their grief.

the most recent one was 23 - he was a neighbor - he used to hit golf balls into our garden.

my dad would swear when he'd run over them with the lawnmower.

i remember when he was born - i was young, but old enough to hold him.

and his parents got a visit in the middle of the night last night - two soldiers with a terrible duty - a message and a flag to deliver.

its the stuff of a military parents' nightmare visions - and i'm sure they're brokering deals with the universe as we speak for it all to be terrible misunderstanding - that it was someone else - some other son.

eric should have come home whole.

bruce, too.

and countless others as well.

Thought

You know what I haven't done in a while...?



...ridden a carousel.

That sounds like fun.

Silhouettes

On June 21, 1953 my grandmother married my grandfather. It was a second marriage for both of them and my model for a working partnership. They took a short first honeymoon in Niagra Falls and the following year, went to Mexico. It was there they had this silhouette done.

My grandmother is recently widowed, and as a way to celebrate their 52 years together, I was asked to design, coordinate and create a family quilt for her. The sticking point had been what to put in the center.... but then I saw the silhouettes in her guest bedroom.

I took it to a friend's studio in the neighborhood, and they scanned, retouched and shaded it into this....



Aren't they GOOD?! I love it when skill and technology meet up.

They printed it on fabric so I can stitch it into the quilt top and get it to the "real" quilter to finish it.

It's in my blood

So my dad does art too. Except he would never say he does. He would say he's a craftsman. He has, at various times in his life been a: carpenter, painter, basketweaver, and blacksmith. Metal is still the current medium of choice.

Every year, Eikona Studios in Tremont holds an "Auction for the Artists." They clear out the scaffolding and icons and gather work from local artists for this annual event. I worked with them a couple of years ago, and thought it would be a great way to get my dad to see his art sold as ART. Which happens... every year. But I think he still doubts it... esp. when he sees similar things for sale at Home Depot for less than what it costs him to buy the steel. Anyway, here is a clip of the auction from December, 2006, which happens to be a Polish eagle my dad created based on the crest at Sokolowski's University Inn.



Neighbor Joe is the auctioneer, Neighbor Tim is the guy showing it off.