Annie's Ghost

I actually read this book a while ago but I think it would be good to describe it now: Annie's Ghosts by  Steve Luxenberg.  Steve is actually a journalist rather than a genealogist but still describes the research he did to find this lost Aunt.  The start of his search came after his mother died and they receive a notice from the cemetery about flowers.  But the notice lists 3 graves, rather than the two expected.  A girl named Annie is listed.  Most of her life, Steve's mother repeatedly stated she was an only child but once when she was sick, she mentioned a younger sister who was institutionalized at the age of 2.  So after finding out the name of this mysterious Aunt, Steve goes looking for the truth.  The story is set in the Detroit area and also describes the treatment regularly given at this large institutions.  Good story and worth a read!

Knitting

So another thing I have neglected over the last few years is knitting.  I actually like to knit quite a bit although not during the summer.  In the winter time it is great to have some yarn and needles in your hand!

It is actually a family tradition to knit!  My mother (plus sister), my mother-in-law and both my grandmothers either knit or crochet.  Both my grandmothers crochet'd (is that right?) until they were quite old since it kept their fingers nimble!  I was actually surprised to see some samples of my paternal grandmother's rather delicate crochet samples.  I have a hard time picturing her doing this type of work since I don't remember her ever doing it in front of me. I do have a couple of ornaments she gave me.  My maternal grandmother actually made wash clothes which is why they are a favorite of mine.  Ever christmas we could pick one out.  Now I wish I had saved one...

So I have to get back into knitting, learn how to crochet and spend less time on the computer.  Good luck with that right?!

Birthdays Through the Years

Grandma and her oldest granddaughter

So I worked on a "secret" project last year (2012) for my older sister Deb (not pictured).  My sister has done many many birthday cakes over the years for the kids of her siblings, plus others.  My job was to help her find a new cake each time so I had a ton of different cake ideas on my computer.  So I printed out recipes for all these different cakes and then made prints from all the kids birthdays.  We did parties from when they were 1 until they were 10 years old.  I actually was able to find almost all of them except for the three oldest because that was before I was regularly taking pictures.  I had the project done by Christmas time and gave it to her then.  She was so surprised!  She said it was her favorite gift and she really enjoyed looking at the book, as did everyone else at the party.

So that got me thinking that it would be really cool if I could find a picture of myself for every birthday.  And if I could, I would make a little photo album and it might be fun to get out every year.  Of coarse, I am almost positive I didn't celebrate every birthday as an adult.  So what would I do for those years??

People of Borculo Addition

So here is my own people of Borculo picture from my collection.  This is a picture of my grandparents, Martin & Agnes (Stremler) Groenhof.  They worked at the Borculo gas station during the depression era.  The gas station was located where the road use to curve around but now is under the pavement, or so I was told.

While my grandfather is wearing the traditional overalls typical of a gas station, my grandmother is rocking the dress, shoes, jacket and hat!  Plus I cannot get over how much my grandmother looks like my aunt Hazel and they are not even related!

Photo Discovery

Yes, I know I have totally failed at keeping up on blog posts in the later half of last year.  But that is behind me and I can try again this year!  I just have to stop ignoring the blog page and just do it :)

By chance I found a picture of my great-grandfather on a web page.  BUT the picture looked familiar..

BECAUSE I have a copy of the same picture!  Above is our family copy and the other is on the People of Borculo site!  (Luckily it isn't the People of Walmart!)  So now I know which person is actually my great-grandfather since my picture wasn't labeled.  In the back: John TenBroeke, Gerrit TenBroeke, Henry Wesseldijk, Joe Wesseldijk, Albert Bosch and Ben Groenhof - in the front: Minnie (Wesseldijk) Bosch, Cecilia Bos, Catherine Bos, Alena Bosch, Ruth Bos, Louise Gahan, Catherine Bosch, Dorothy Geurink with Henry Geurink out in front.