Idaho vacation

well... it's back to work,sleep,eat routine after 12 lovely days in Idaho with TnT's family. They treated us so welcome-ly... Tara is a wonderful cook, makes super healthy meals, and taught me a lot about her adventure with food and healthy eating. Mike got to help Tim in the pizza kitchen and the business for gluten-free pizza crusts is growing. The kids were home on spring break and we got to shop, play cards, play Scrabble, and just talk and tell stories and bond. Will is progressing well and a change of school situation is in the works because he can learn so quickly and doesn't need to be held back by a slow pace of learning in a full classroom.
I uploaded lots of video to my youtube channel "grammajayne" for those interested in viewing the Idaho fam. they thrive there, and we had a lot of fun.
I get to work tomorrow and Friday, so will sign out and catch some zzzz's.

Not much new

HI!! It's been awhile and I haven't wanted to put my blog ideas here because I been too "otherwise occupied". Ok. I been working, and sitting in my easy chair on my days off except for a bit of gardening when I feel some spurts of energy. This first pic is of my baby cauliflower a few weeks ago.
I been working hard, using a lot of energy just to work part-time; but I ain't bitching, just tellin the facts, ma'am. We got through the Christmas Holidays with some good times with our daughters' families. Sure miss Tim's family but we plan to go see them for 10 days in March. My Mass nurse friends will come visit in early March so they can get in temps higher than 38F... maybe we can give them 10 days of pure good ol SoCal sunshine. Because if we do not, they laugh and mock our "storm watch" tv news, telling us we don't know what a REAL storm is. and we don't. Thank God.
It kinda hurts to garden... but it hurts to NOT garden, so what the hell. My friend Arthur-itis and his brothers Burr-sitis and Myo-sitis, who used to live with Gram, are present all the time now. But if one ignores them, life ain't too bad. Just so ya don't let in the Rheea sisters: Gonna, Dia, and Rhino you're doing ok.


Here's a pic of the cauliflower Mike picked for me today. The stem is so thick, I can't harvest it by myself, so Mr K cut it for us. cool, huh?
If we had to have a garden or die of starvation, we'd die for sure... but garden experiments are fun, and we hope to plant more vegs for summer again. Oh... and Mr K said he may uproot his side lawn in the front of the house and plant fruit or avocado trees. Now I know for sure the end of the world is at hand if Mr K gives up his lawn.

JnJ's anniversary

In 1964 my brother got married in Texas. It was Joan and my senior year of high school and mom n dad told us we'd be going to Texas for the wedding. Mom drove there with Gram but Joan and I flew there with Dad on a Friday night I think it was. Dad was apparently scared to death of flying because he got bombed before we left LAX. But he did manage to write me a great poem about using the plane barf bag... written ON the plane barf bag... I wish I still had that poem. It was so funny. "If this bag you have to use, please don't puke upon my shoes..."
We landed in Dallas/Ft Worth and had to take a "puddle jumper" to some town about 40 minutes away by air. Dad had his hands white-knuckled to the armrests on the last plane. It was so bumpy and a great thrill ride if you are 17 and excited to be flying somewhere. But for Dad it probably brought back memories of military flights that he hated to recall.
The wedding was fun but my brother had a silly dazed look on his face that day... I would later learn we ALL would have that silly dazed look when we got married. It is just a look you get when you're getting married.

We all posed for a family photo at the reception.

My mom's father (Grandpa Dennehy) and her sister Stasia Cadieux and brother Eddie Dennehy came as well from Chicago. My dad would tell his in-law family that they were all a bunch of dirty damn democrat hoodlums and crooks, and Uncle Eddie or Grandpa Dennehy would say, "Well, at least we ain't from da land of da fruits and da nuts like youse guys in Louse Angelsss". It was always so fun hearing dad talk about mom's relatives. not.
Anyway, it was the 60's. We were all nicely dressed for the occasion, me in my sack dress with fabric belt, Joan in something quite more stylish as usual. I am on the left by Dad (with his big white hair he sported in those days). Joan is on the right next to Gram. A few years later there would be a famous bride that had the same look as Jean did that day... Priscilla Presley! Dark hair, dark eyebrows blue eyes.
I recall Jim telling his sisters (us) to stay away from his buddy Roger, the Eskimo, because he drank too much and wanted a wife to take back to his Alaska igloo, and Jim didn't want one of us to be her.
So Happy 45th Anniversary tomorrow, Jim n Jean!! Hasn't it been an adventure!!

Grandpa Matthiesen

Here's the story as I know it of my mother's mother's father: my great-grandfather Lauritz Matthiesen (sometimes found spelled as Mathisen, or Matthisen. My mom always pronounced the name as "ma-TEE-sen").
I was fortunate to make the acquaintance of a gal from Denmark recently who graciously came to my home to translate a few old documents for me which allows me to put this story together. Many of the old documents are written with the old Gothic alphabet, but my friend was able to scan them and sent them to her dad in Denmark and he helped translate as well.
Lauritz was born in Hojrup, Denmark, June 22, 1852. He was born to farmer Soren Matthiesen and Ellen Juul Matthiesen. The following photo is scanned from a scanned copy of a photo of Lauritz, date unknown.

The next photo is from an old postcard-like photo that on the back is written in Danish "home of Lauritz Mathisen" (in Denmark) and it states it was sent by "sister Dorthe and family" and states in Danish "goodbye dear family". It is not stamped so it probably was enclosed in a letter when it was sent or it was hand carried to America. My mom told me her grandpa Matthiesen told her many times the story of his leaving home and walking across a big field to go to the city and turning many times to wave to his mother standing outside their home. He would tell that the last vision he had of his mother was a speck of white handkerchief she waved at him as he left and kept waving till he disappeared from her sight.

We have documents that tell that Lauritz was baptized in the Lutheran Church Feb 7th and vaccinated Oct 1853 (smallpox I assume since that was used since the 1700 and before).
He was confirmed April 28, 1867 the first Sunday after Easter that year. In the "church book" it is noted that he "does well for knowledge and behaviour." the next Sunday he did communion for the first time. These notes were made in Ribe, Dec 1867, as part of a document or "Book of Character" that all boys had. Lauritz kept his when he came to America and my mom passed it on to me.
My Danish friend's dad told us all children got a book of character as they were leaving school. It contained rules and regulations that were of importance to the person owning the book. If one disobeyed the rules or lost the book and did not report it to the police, you could be fined or go to jail for a few days on nothing but bread and water.
We have a document stating "at the requested time, his papers are not in order and he has been asked to leave immediately and return to (the town of )Ribe... per Varde police January 1872."
Lauritz did obtain a Royal Danish passport in April 1872. On it is stated that all military or civilian citizens had to offer assistance to a Danish passport holder. He apparently came to America in 1872, possibly with his brother "Mads" Matthisen who was born in 1848.
The history of Denmark is interesting. The Southern part of the country was at times part of Germany and at other times it was part of Denmark. The Matthiesens were from the Southern part and were Danish as my mom told me, but some of the documents and pictures are in German.
The next photo has no date or names on it but the photo frame in in German from the town of Tondren, in the area that was at times Danish and at other times German. This couple could be Lauritz's parents, or they might be Lauritz wife Meta's parents.

Lauritz settled in Chicago, Illinois, and became a naturalized citizen of the USA on October 26, 1880. He had to renounce allegiance to the Emperor of Germany at that time.
My mother told me many times that her Danish grandfather's first wife died giving birth to their child, and the infant died as well, so Lauritz buried them in the same casket. This always struck Mom as odd for some reason because she'd say, "imagine that!" as if this practice was odd. Maybe it was.
Anyway, Lauritz married again to Metta Maria Christina Thomsen in Chicago. I have an old Danish vaccination record from her in Denmark dated 1863. It is in German. I believe she was born in 1856. She was always called Meta, and she was a member of the South Jutland Settlers organization of Chicago for many years. (Apparently Denmark is known as Jutland, and the southern area that was fought over by Denmark and Germany is South Jutland.)
Meta bore Lauritz nine children but apparently only 6 made it to adulthood. This I found out from viewing online a census that listed Lauritz and Meta and 6 kids but indicated Meta had bore 9 children total with 6 living. (The US census used to ask personal questions!)
I have three documents from a Lutheran Church in Chicago "The Independent EV Luth. Bethania Church" telling of baptisms of children.
One is for Charlie Soren Mathisen born Sept 24, 1882, and baptised Dec 18, 1882. Another is for Ingebor Marie born Oct 14, 1883, and baptised Nov 1885. (I think that is an error because all 3 documents were signed by the same guy on July 31, 1885. Ingebor must've been baptised in Nov 1883 because they did infant baptism).
The third is for Christian Thomsen Mathisen born June 1885 and baptised July 1885.
Then I have a receipt for burial for a Christian T Matthisen dated Dec 18, 1888 at Oak Woods Cemetery on Sixty-Seventh street in Hyde park, Illinois. The receipt says six dollars was received from "Lawrence Matthisen" for interment of the remains of Christian T Matthisen.
(It's funny how "historical documents" change things. We overlook mistakes like that and history changes a bit. Anyway, I find it interesting.)

The above photo shows the Lauritz and Mette Matthisen family in Chicago in 1909. From top left is Louis born 1892, Celia Willimena born 1890, Johannes Jack born 1894, Ella Julia (my grandmother, mom's mom) born 1886, and Thomas Christian born 1889. Seated left to right are Meta, Charles Soren born 1882, and Lauritz.
The only ones I ever met were Uncle Charlie because he moved to LA and lived not far from Gram Powers. Uncle Charlie was a painter and did a lot of work for Dad and his father. In 1963 Mom took us kids on another trip to Arkansas and Uncle Charlie went as well to see his brother-in-law Grandpa Dennehy. I must tell the story sometime of "travels with Charlie." It was quite entertaining!
I also of course knew Ella, my grandmother. But mom has left me stories about almost all of her aunts and uncles, and I may write them here someday.
Below is Lauritz in 1926.

And the next photo is Lauritz in 1938.

Lauritz died in Chicago Sept 20, 1941. Just before the start of WWII for America.
I have more to tell about the Matthiesens but will save it for another day. I get long winded. But hope you've enjoyed the family history lesson. If any of my cousins dispute the info here, I will let you know about it.
What say you, Marilyn??

Gram Powers

Tomorrow is Sept 3rd, our beloved "Gram's" birthday. Wendy also shares this birthday. Gram was born in 1896 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Here is a photo of her about 1 or 2 years old. The photo jacket has "Louisville, KY" printed on it.

Gram's parents left KY for LA about 1900. Gram always said she was 3 when they moved to Los Angeles. But she always talked of LA being "home" not Kentucky. One of her first LA memories she recalled was being up on her dad's shoulders during a parade in LA when the President of the USA went by. I think it was McKinley, but you can look it up if you need to know.
Gram was the first of 4 children. Here is a picture of Gram with her brother Eddie and her sister Elizabeth. Gram may have been 9 or 10 here, I am not sure. But I know Gram was 12 years older than her second sister Helen who is not in the photo.

Gram was about 16 or 17 in the next portrait and then you can see her wedding photo. She married J A Powers on May 6, 1914, in LA. She met him in or near MacArthur Park when groups of kids would hang out to meet each other. She told me that cops on horseback would come around at curfew at night and make them all leave the park. Gram lived with her folks apparently about that time in LA off Main street near where the San Antonio Winery is now. There is an old brewery too where her dad worked. The house still stands where she lived.


When Gram married JA, they lived with JA's mother in LA. One of JA's older brothers, of which he had 3, came to visit and put the make on Gram. It was brother George, a womanizing drunk. This, among other happenings, put Gram over the edge, and she packed her suitcase and went to her folks house. She knocked on the door and her mother answered but would not let her come inside! Her mother told her, "You married him; now go back and live with him!" So gram went back to grandpa but insisted they get a home of their own, so they did.

The above photo is Gram in 1932. She was very active in the Eastern Star ladies organization; Grandpa was a 32 degree Mason, and they led their lodge for a time.
Gram was fun loving and very smart and active in Republican politics, PTA when her kids were in school, and an active partner in grandpa's business.
It was always fun to be with her and she seemed to love spending time with us kids. The photo below was taken in LA's Chinatown sometime in the 1960's. The lady with us was Gram's friend Mae who we saw often. Mae's husband and grandpa both died about the same time in 1952 from mets from prostate cancer. Gram later told me that grandpa, Mae's husband and another friend all got treated by the same quack doctor for "prostate cancer" using some new experimental treatment, and they all died about the same time. All I know is he died too young at 59 or so.

Gram loved to tell me "Your children are not your Children..." which is taken from the book The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. She said God could take them home to Heaven any time. Gram had a baby daughter who died in the Spanish Influenza pandemic in 1919. She and Grandpa and my dad who was 2 lived in San Pedro at the time. The baby died and no one could come get her body because the undertaker parlours were too busy to go out to get children. Gram told me of having to ride in their car holding the dead baby while Grandpa drove to the undertakers. Gram also knew "the state" could take away your children if you neglected them. She told me she'd seen this happen too as a PTA officer.
Gram lived to be 96, saw family born and buried, married and divorced, happy and unhappy. She survived earthquakes which she dreaded, and saw much "progress", but she always seemed to be glad to be alive and upbeat when we visited.
Some people just stay with you always, even after they've left this visible world; Gram is one of those people for me... with me always!!

40th wedding anniv party

Last weekend our 3 beautiful children gave us a 40th wedding anniversary party at Kim's house. It was wonderful! Especially wonderful is the fact that they each profess to still love us in spite of our poor parenting skills as they were growing up. They each took a turn in front of the guests telling stories of growing up in our care, how we nurtured and loved them with wire-hangar spankings and motherly F***bombs... which apparently worked because those techniques helped shape them into wonderful adults! The good memories of our camping trips and other travels with their Kelly cousins was fondly remembered as well.

Kids don't come with handbooks telling the parents exactly how to nurture each one, so it is all a crap-shoot if you ask me. Learn as you go. But we tried hard and worked ourselves into grey-haired grandparents, Thanks be to God, and the result is good.

We are all doing OK and are thankful for that.



The evening was a lot of fun, the food was excellent, all our grandkids were there and it will be fondly remembered for a long time.

An added bonus was having Lara visiting from Australia. She lived with us in 1988-89 as an exchange student. She and her mate Tom are in the US for a month visiting. They arrived here, bought a van then they drove to Ohio to buy up bikes to ship home and sell. Quite an adventuresome pair! The reunion has been sweet!
Here's Lara with us the night of the party (and Braden getting into the act too):



A real highlight for Mike and me is the photo we were given of all our kids and their families. Tara's mom was the photographer and, with her sharp skills on the computer, everyone is looking at the camera! Thanks to all for agreeing to do that photo shoot. It probably was not easily done what with a few known wiggle worms present! Hopefully a few cold ones eased parental nerves afterwards at home! Thanks, again, Kids; the photo now hangs over our mantle and I love it!
Here's the fab photo:


God willing, and the creek don't rise... we will make it to 41!

THANK YOU AGAIN, children of mine; it was SWEET!

all together again

At a birthday party for William, we all gathered and had a family photo shoot. It was difficult to get all persons looking forward, smiling, keeping their hands to themselves.. hahaha.. but the expert photographers kept clicking away, and this is a good result. It is excellent because all of us were together and that rarely happens these days. Here you see Mike's mom with Mike and me, our kids and their spouses and their kids. Thanks to Pam and Moe for hosting us all, and thanks to God for this season of enjoyment of each others company.