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Memory Monday

December 22, 2008

kids-in-front-of-gate

Charlotte and I figured that this is the oldest picture in the stack, dating back to about 1895.  Just to give you a little perspective, here are a few things that happened in 1895:

  • Volleyball was invented by W. G. Morgan in Massachusetts
  • George B. Selden is granted the first U.S. patent for an automobile
  • World’s 1st movie theater opens in Paris
  • 1st cartoon comic strip is printed in a newspaper
  • Frederick E. Blaisdell patents the pencil
  • America’s 1st auto race starts; 6 cars, 55 miles, winner avg 7 MPH
  • The first professional American football game is played, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, between the Latrobe YMCA and the Jeannette Athletic Club (Latrobe wins 12-0)

While all that was going on, in a tiny town near Vienna, these scrappy looking kids posed for this photo.  Here’s the story:


The five children are my grandmother and her siblings around 1895 in front of their house in a tiny village south of Vienna, Austria. From left to right are: Ferdinand, who later emigrated to Milwaukee, USA; Karola, the oldest girl, who never married, although I was told she had an unhappy love affair in her youth; Emil was the oldest, and he joined the military and became a lieutnant as far as I know; he got married, and his daughter married an American soldier after WWII and moved to Los Angeles; next is Marie (or Mitzi), who married a rich older banker who died soon and left her all his money; and, finally, Josefine, my grandmother, the practical one. Two other siblings, Laura and Paula, were born after the picture was taken.

So, it turns out that the Mitzi in this picture is the very same Mitzi in last week’s post.  Remember her? The one in the wedding photo (the one preparing to board the Titanic – not really but doesn’t she looked like she could’ve been?) with the gigantic hat on.  Turns out she was able to snag the richest guy around, help out her siblings, and live out a comfortable life with her only daughter.

Happy Memory Monday!

We are loving all the snow that blew in over the weekend  and are so happy to be done with school for two whole weeks!  Just one more trip to Target and WinCo and Santa will be welcome with open arms! How about you.  Are ready???



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Memory Monday

December 15, 2008

wedding-1909

Ralf’s parents were here this weekend for a pre Christmas celebration.  Charlotte and I went through the bag of old photos collected from Ralf’s grandmother in Vienna.  Holy Toldeo, there are a lot of fascinating stories to be told!

I affectionately refer to these people as “the boat people”  because they look to me like they’re getting ready to board the Titanic.  This is actually a 1909 wedding photo.  Here’s the story behind it:

This has to be a wedding photo of my grand-aunt Mitzi. She was one of seven children raised in a very small town near Vienna. The family was not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, and all the daughters had to go into service with well-to-do families in Vienna. She was the prettiest of all of them, and found a rather rich, though much older husband, who, in turn, ended up helping out all the other sisters when they came to seek their luck in the big city. At least, that’s the saga I heard growing up. The husband died rather soon, leaving Mitzi with a sizable pension. Her only daughter married a lawyer and lived a comfortable life also.

Next week I’ll post a picture of some of those siblings as children.  We figured out that the picture is from about 1895.  It’s the oldest picture in the bunch.

Winter came to Idaho this weekend in the form some lazy flakes dusting the landscape.  I guess we live in the “banana belt” of the state and it snows very little.  So the kids were thrilled with what little snow we did manage to collect.

snow

The kids had a Christmas piano concert at my fellow blogger/friend/piano teacher’s house.  Every one did a great job.  Will only had to be taken out once.  And there were even brownies afterwards.  Always a bonus.

erik-piano

jack-piano

maddy-piano

me-will-recital

Christmas isn’t complete without gingerbread house decorating, right?  We spent most of Saturday creating these “masterpieces”.

candy

maddy-decorating

oma

opa

erik

jack-and-house

wills-house

Notice my exquisite licorice Darth Vader guarding the front door.

jacks-house

maddy-house

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Memory Monday – Imaginative Juices Needed

November 24, 2008

swimsuit-boys

This is another of my favorites from the pile of pictures Ralf brought back from his trip to Austria.  It just makes me smile.  I was hoping to get a little story behind this picture, but it was new to Charlotte.  Here’s what she did say.

My dad (Robert) is 2nd from the left, sitting down is my uncle Charlie, my dad’s best friend and married to his sister Hilda. This must be in the 1930s.

From what my site reader tells me, I have way more readers than commenters.  And I know some of them are far funnier and better writers than myself. So, for this Memory Monday, I need your help.

Who are these crazy Austrians and what in the heck were they doing when this picture was taken???

I’ll post some of the best comments later in this week for you to read as you’re sprawled out on your aunt’s Barcalounger in a tryptophanic coma induced by too much turkey and pumpkin pie.

Happy Memory Monday!

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Memory Monday

November 17, 2008


When I first met my husband, little did I know that I would become part of such a ski-loving family. Having grown up near the Alps in Austria, generations grew up skiing. And they were all really good at it. I tagged along a few times with the whole family when they came to Utah to visit. I soon learned that my paltry snowplowing skills were no match for the black diamond runs I too often found myself petrified atop of. (OK, they probably were more like really scary blue runs…but still). Soon enough, they learned to relinquish me to the mercy of the green runs for the day (which were conveniently close to the lodge full of hot chocolate and heat.) These days I just skip the snow, awkward boots, and soggy mittens altogether and stay home heating up hot chocolate for everyone else instead. I think we’re all happier that way.

herta-skiing-with-girls

In honor of this skiing family, and with the ski season soon upon us, I found this picture of Ralf’s grandmother. She’s the one on the right. Charlotte sent me this insight into it:

This picture shows Herta and her two sisters-in-law Hilda and Fini in the late 1940s or early 1950s on a ski slope in the town we lived back then. This was a small town of about 1000 people at the outskirts of Vienna. Since many houses were bombed out, my parents had adapted part of a former spa into an apartment where we lived till 1958. You could ski all the way to the house!

Have a great day!

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Memory Monday

November 11, 2008

herta-on-hillThis is one of my very favorite photos of my husband’s grandmother. I love it because it’s so timeless. She looks so peaceful and content. I love the black and white with color added here and there. Here is what my mother-in-law Charlotte had to say about it:

She was 19 at the time, and married just 1 year, and I think this was one of the first outings with her husband. It was a time of war and all kinds of problems, but I think she was very happy in spite of all of that. She even might have been pregnant at the time, since Peter was born the following May. Semmering is and has always been a favorite place to go for Viennese people, since it could be reached by train in a couple of hours. The picture was originally in black and white, but colorized somehow afterwards.

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