Cracker Hats (& Jack) -- Along Route 79

It has been a pleasant week even including the couple of routine doctor visits that we both had. I usually have an elevated blood pressure at the sight of the white coats but even that was well within the acceptable range. Maybe it has to do with the fact that we both are going to a new doctor and we have good expectations as to the working relationship and followup.

Route 79 played a part in this week's festivities -- it seems just a bit ago that Route 66 was popular . . . 79 is actually back East probably covering a lot of the region where our ancestors lived two hundred and some years ago.

World Series -- Cracker Jack -- and the "Beards"

Last week at this time we did not know who was going to be playing the St Louis Cards in the Series, but of course we now know -- the Bearded Boston Red Sox. And the Series is tied at one & one with a game coming up shortly in St Louis.

So there you have it -- a Cardinal nesting in the beard of one of the Red Sox and that beard is one of the better looking ones -- it seems that we are back into the "60s" with so many beards showing up -- now if only the beards would cover up some of the tats. it might be worthwhile.

Speaking of Facial Hair . . .

Baseball does not have a monopoly on facial hair -- as mentioned above the 60s and 70s were well known hair periods. For me though the 40s and 50s era hair seems more "athletic" and "clean-cut". Some of the players today do not appear as though they are "Wheaties" candidates.

But I have to plead guilty as well and above you can see some of the folks from our tree that for whatever reason sprouted facial hair. There are a lot more that are in the tree but these were accessible for now.

And Speaking of Hats -- Sort of . . .

The times have changed as to the "wear-ability" of hats for women. There was an era -- up until the 60s and maybe a bit beyond that women wore hats everywhere. I can remember being blocked from seeing the pulpit e.g. because of the magnitude of a hat in front of me -- not always a bad thing.

The main difference with hats on men versus women is that most men removed their hats when inside a house or building -- women usually did not.

Above are some examples of hats from a by-gone era. My Grandfather and his cronies looked fairly dapper in their straw hats -- my Grandmother on the other hand made a different statement.

Above are a few examples of my Grandmother's numerous hats. The one in the middle is my all-time favorite. As my brother pointed out -- she is wearing that black hat in a "rakish" manner. I can only imagine if that hat was worn like that today . . . that is a picture of my Grandmother -- Mamie -- as she came to visit us in La Grange, Illinois -- that is my sister and me about 1945 or 46.

The bottom picture shows my Grandmother, Mamie with her sister Tada. Mamie has a major flowery hat on while I hope that is an umbrella over Tada's coif. The thing about that picture that interested me the first time that I saw it was -- what is Mamie holding -- and then with closer examination I can see that it is a box of "Cracker Jack" and a larger size than what we see on the shelves today . . . and I think she just got to the "toy" and is examining that. Some things do not change.

Birthdays & Anniversaries -- From the Tree

This week again there were several folks celebrating birthdays and a few celebrating a wedding anniversary.
This would have been the 101st wedding anniversary for Gail's paternal Grandparents. And this week I saw the birthdays of my two brothers -- they are thirteen years apart with me in the middle.

Since my one brother lives only a few blocks away -- within walking distance -- we held a Route 79 party for him -- and just like when we were kids -- he got to pick the menu.

Route 79

We spared no detail for the celebration and dinner especially since it is one of my favorite entrees as well --
meatloaf, twice baked or mashed potatoes and fresh green beans.

We utilized the traditional meats -- beef, veal & pork -- to make two loafs. I am always afraid that we'll run out OR there won't be enough leftovers for sandwiches . . . but thankfully we have just enough for a few lunches.

The twice-baked potatoes, I eat the skins and Gail eats the "meat" works out well and we have extra of those too. For dessert Nancy brought a delicious cake along with a representative number of candles.

Above you can see some of the dinner prep along with a very relaxed Dino. We used a "ricer" to ensure that there were no lumps in the potatoes and the rich bronzed color of the "loaf" was appealing -- at least to me.

We had a leisurely dinner with the World Series on (with no sound) just to keep track when interested. Following a couple of helpings of meat and potatoes we had the traditional birthday dessert including pyrotechnics.

And following that course we headed back to the family room to enjoy a round of gifting and visiting. We both expressed how we enjoyed the evening and are pretty sure everyone else did as well. The gift in the middle is a bowl of Himalayan Salt Crystals that are brightened up via a light and supposedly gives off healing and calming ions . . . we enjoy ours. Another gift was the book that our cousin Melissa wrote --"I Tried Being Tasteful" . . . which Gail and I thoroughly enjoyed.

And so ended the evening and another family celebration -- we are looking forward to the coming Holiday season just around the corner starting next week with Halloween . . .

Webinar Wednesday -- Church Records

I did not think that I would learn a lot on this webinar -- but was I ever mistaken. I guess the reason is that I am not sure how much some of our family attended church and so for them -- what records would there be anyway. Now after this webinar I have a "road-map" to hopefully uncover the church attending habits of our family.

I know about growing up and the church involvement at that time -- but prior to that I'll have to do some investigative work -- but there would be some real potential rewards by doing that -- I look forward to uncovering that aspect of our ancestor's lives.

The presenter was Mary Hill who was excellent and "knows her stuff". She used a very helpful interactive approach which actually demonstrated the search process.  In the above map -- which Mary used with permission from the originator (David Dilts) Nancy may find that name interesting . . .

I hope that I can find the time to delve into this and see if it will unblock a few of the brick-walls . . .

And Lastly . . .

I can multitask sometimes while enjoying football or baseball on the couch. I have a portable scanner that I use to scan photos and a tablet (or two) to work on genealogy while enjoying the game -- and so I have mixed reaction when I see comics like the following:

Zits is one of our "must read" comics daily and we do enjoy the strip a lot -- but this is a "cheap-shot" as far as I am concerned -- I say, you can enjoy both AND I certainly do.


And so that is a bit of our week -- we hope that you had a great week as well! See you in a few.

Hamburgers tonight . . .