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Dost thou love life?
Then do not squander time,
for that is the stuff life is made of.
Benjamin Franklin
Then do not squander time,
for that is the stuff life is made of.
Benjamin Franklin
Monday, January 10, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Agathe Von Trapp
AGATHE VON TRAPP
TRAPP FAMILY SINGER
For the past five decades, after she and her siblings stopped performing as the Trapp Family Singers, she lived a quiet life as ''a virtual recluse'' in the historic town of Glyndon, near the state capital Baltimore.
She had been a kindergarten teacher's helper at a private Catholic school affiliated with the Sacred Heart Parish for many years, according to friend, Mary Louise Kane, with whom she lived.
In 2003 an article in the Baltimore Sun (parodying lines from a song from the film) claimed: ''She was 43 before she stopped relying on someone older and wiser and went to the grocery store and the bank herself.''
The article noted that in the movie that dominated the 1965 Academy Awards and broke box-office records, she supposedly came out of her shell at ''16, going on 17'', but the reality of her life was different.
''It's very strange for me; I've been living a very quiet life. All of a sudden, these people want to see me,'' she said at the time she published her autobiography in which she sought to set the record straight between fact and fiction.
She wanted people to know that her father, Captain Georg von Trapp, a widowed Austrian aristocrat who was played by Christopher Plummer in the film and Theodore Bikel on Broadway, was not cold, unfeeling and distant. She insisted he was a kind and loving father.
''Agathe von Trapp cried when she saw the show at its Broadway opening in 1959. She would have been just as enchanted as the rest of the audience had the characters' last name been Miller. But this was her family's name, and it was not her family's story,'' the 2003 Sun story said.
Among other modifications, the children's first names and sexes had been changed. In real life, Agathe von Trapp had an older brother, but in the musical the eldest child was a girl, Liesl.
As the eldest daughter, Agathe von Trapp had assumed that was her. But as a teenager she never had a boyfriend, much less a telegram-delivering Nazi.
''In those days, people didn't date like they do here, and teenage boys didn't deliver telegrams,'' she explained in 2003.
Agathe von Trapp said the nun (played by Mary Martin and later Julie Andrews) who became her stepmother was not a governess. She was a tutor for one of the von Trapp sisters, who was too weak from scarlet fever to make a 45-minute trek to school. And the children were quite well-versed in music by the time they met Maria, who went by the nickname Gustl.
Agathe von Trapp said the family did not cross the Alps to escape Austria. They crossed the street and boarded a train.
In the 2003 interview, she said she ''could have lived with'' all the inaccuracies ''had it not been for the musical's portrayal of her father''. She insisted he was nothing like the character.
In the 1980s, she began writing her version of the family history. She was initially weakened by a muscle disease and suspended writing for a long while. Once recovered, she went twice to Europe to dig through archives for the genealogy completed in 2000. ''At some point, she began to think of writing for a broader audience. But she wasn't sure she could write well enough. English isn't her first language, and she is dyslexic,'' the 2003 story said.
She had encouragement from her physician, Dr Janet Horn Yuspeh, who, with her husband Alan, financed the publication of 3000 copies of her memoir.
Dozens of Agathe von Trapp's hand-drawn maps, portraits and other illustrations from the past half-century are interspersed throughout her book, which is 211 pages plus a glossy section with family photographs.
The book, Agathe von Trapp: Memories Before and After The Sound of Music, chronicles the Trapp Family Singers, who toured for 20 years.
Agathe von Trapp was born in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She sang with her siblings until she was 43. While in the musical group, she did not stray far from her stepmother, by then widowed and running the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont.
Agathe von Trapp and Kane, who worked at the lodge in the early 1950s, started a private kindergarten in Stowe. In 1958, when the town's public schools began offering kindergarten, they moved to Maryland, they established a private kindergarten on the grounds of Sacred Heart School in Glyndon.
Until their retirement in 1993, Agathe von Trapp and Kane lived on the Sacred Heart grounds.
While Kane taught, von Trapp kept house: tracking expenses, leading German music and art lessons, answering phones, supervising on the playground and making snacks.
For a while, von Trapp went by ''Miss Trapp'', dropping the ''von'' in an attempt to fend off questions about whether she was part of that family. When asked anyway, she sometimes said no.
Survivors include a brother, Johannes, and three sisters, Maria, Eleanor and Rosemarie.
Article via: The Age
Saturday, January 8, 2011
52 Weeks of Sharing Memories...The Climate Where I Grew Up
Following with this wonderful prompt, here is this week's assignment:
"Week 2: Winter. What was winter like where and when you grew up? Describe not only the climate, but how the season influenced your activities, food choices, etc."
I grew up in the Navy seaport of Norfolk, Virginia. So we were located almost mid-point between Florida and Maine. We enjoyed wonderful balmy summers, but also those cold Chesapeake Bay winters!
The temperature often dipped around the freezing mark, and even down into the 20's on occasion. That meant bundling up in heavy coats and scarves, with hats and gloves or mittens.
However, when there was a snowfall, it was very light. Usually less than an inch. But that always meant a day home from school when it happened, [and yes, that was rare!], because Norfolk is not equipped with snow plows!
In the winter of 1972-1973 there came a "heavy" snowfall for the area. We had almost 12-inches of snow! Can you believe the schools were closed for eight days due to this snowfall??? [We laugh now, because that isn't anything compared to our mountain snows here in West Virginia!]
A snowfall always meant a snowman in the yard....and snow cream!!!
Mama would take a big [HUGE] mixing bowl and spoon up snow into it. Then she'd mix sugar, evaporated milk and vanilla and pour over it all and then mix it up.
Heaven!!! It was snow cream!!!
We would get so cold eating the snow cream [worse than "brain freeze! this was total body freeze, even though we were eating it inside!!!] that we would wrap up in a quilt or afghan as we ate it! By the time we'd finish our huge bowl of goodness, we'd be shivering! But, Lordy, was it fun! And GOOD!!!
I continued that little tradition with my own children, and even now they look forward, as adults, to snow cream when it snows!
We also had hot chocolate and hot cider. Mama always put big, fat, fluffy marshmallows in the hot chocolate! We didn't have instant hot chocolate back then, so Mama got out the big can of Hershey's cocoa, sugar, vanilla and milk and made the hot chocolate in a saucepan on the stove. To this day, when hubby and I look for comfort food in the wintertime, we look for a cup of "homemade" hot chocolate. Nothing is better!!!
Mama would buy cider in gallon glass containers. [These containers resembled old time whiskey jugs but were made of clear glass.] She'd then pour the cider into a sauce pan to heat it for us. You've got to remember... we didn't have microwaves back then!
We didn't have the modern conveniences we have now, and which may have spoiled us a bit!, but we sure enjoyed the goodies that came in winter!
Mama would pick a really cold night, several hours after dinner, and while we were watching television she would leave our den and sneak out for something. When she came back she'd tell us we could stay up a little late that night because she had a surprise for us.
Mind you, my Mama couldn't cook a lick. There were a couple of things she managed to do well, but they were few! But she tried, and we didn't starve!!!
Well, Mama would always try to make homemade fudge. Oh, yes, that ooey, gooey, stovetop fudge that required boiling, and boiling and boiling. Remember the kind? Mama didn't own a candy thermometer, and I reckon she never learned about the cold water test [dropping the liquid into the cold water and testing it to make a soft ball]. So Mama tried her best to make fudge.
She greased her favorite platter with butter, and followed her "recipe". It would never set up and become firm! No matter what!!! Even if she refrigerated it.
She would then bring the platter and three spoons [one for my sister, me and one for her] and we would eat her "fudge" with the spoons! We affectionately nicknamed Mama's fudge "goop". And years later when my sister and I were grown, my sister used to call me up and ask me to come over. It would be freezing cold outside, and we'd snuggle up side by side on her sofa, and eat "goop", Mama's failed fudge recipe.
Today... it's simply way to rich for me! LOL But I recall it often, and always with fond memory.
As children, we were outside with the beginning of any snowfall! It was always so much fun to see who could catch snowflakes on their tongue! And of course, there were the infamous snowball fights! And the making of a snowman! Some homes quite elaborate snowmen! Ours was always a simple three giant snowballs, with twig arms, buttons made up the eyes and mouth, and a carrot for a nose. Sometimes we would be allowed to give him an old cap and a scarf... just depended upon the mood Mama was in if we could sneak one out to put on poor old Frosty or not!
There was never enough snow for sleigh riding however. It wasn't until I was a teenager and we moved to the mountains that I got to enjoy that fun! And you have no idea what fun is until you grease down the runners on an old sled and get at the top of a high hill, jump on belly down, and literally fly down the hillside! Now that, my friend, is true winter fun!!! The only event that beats that???
Sledding down a steep hill on a car hood! Woo-hoo!!! The best fun in the whole wide world!!! We'd jump onto the underside of an old car hood [the bigger the better] and I'm talking 6 or 8 of us, and ride down the hill! The weight, and momentum would carry us a long ways!
What did you do when you were growing up during the winter? What kind of climate did you live in? What were your favorite winter activities?
"Week 2: Winter. What was winter like where and when you grew up? Describe not only the climate, but how the season influenced your activities, food choices, etc."
I grew up in the Navy seaport of Norfolk, Virginia. So we were located almost mid-point between Florida and Maine. We enjoyed wonderful balmy summers, but also those cold Chesapeake Bay winters!
The temperature often dipped around the freezing mark, and even down into the 20's on occasion. That meant bundling up in heavy coats and scarves, with hats and gloves or mittens.
However, when there was a snowfall, it was very light. Usually less than an inch. But that always meant a day home from school when it happened, [and yes, that was rare!], because Norfolk is not equipped with snow plows!
In the winter of 1972-1973 there came a "heavy" snowfall for the area. We had almost 12-inches of snow! Can you believe the schools were closed for eight days due to this snowfall??? [We laugh now, because that isn't anything compared to our mountain snows here in West Virginia!]
A snowfall always meant a snowman in the yard....and snow cream!!!
Mama would take a big [HUGE] mixing bowl and spoon up snow into it. Then she'd mix sugar, evaporated milk and vanilla and pour over it all and then mix it up.
Heaven!!! It was snow cream!!!
We would get so cold eating the snow cream [worse than "brain freeze! this was total body freeze, even though we were eating it inside!!!] that we would wrap up in a quilt or afghan as we ate it! By the time we'd finish our huge bowl of goodness, we'd be shivering! But, Lordy, was it fun! And GOOD!!!
I continued that little tradition with my own children, and even now they look forward, as adults, to snow cream when it snows!
We also had hot chocolate and hot cider. Mama always put big, fat, fluffy marshmallows in the hot chocolate! We didn't have instant hot chocolate back then, so Mama got out the big can of Hershey's cocoa, sugar, vanilla and milk and made the hot chocolate in a saucepan on the stove. To this day, when hubby and I look for comfort food in the wintertime, we look for a cup of "homemade" hot chocolate. Nothing is better!!!
Mama would pick a really cold night, several hours after dinner, and while we were watching television she would leave our den and sneak out for something. When she came back she'd tell us we could stay up a little late that night because she had a surprise for us.
Mind you, my Mama couldn't cook a lick. There were a couple of things she managed to do well, but they were few! But she tried, and we didn't starve!!!
Well, Mama would always try to make homemade fudge. Oh, yes, that ooey, gooey, stovetop fudge that required boiling, and boiling and boiling. Remember the kind? Mama didn't own a candy thermometer, and I reckon she never learned about the cold water test [dropping the liquid into the cold water and testing it to make a soft ball]. So Mama tried her best to make fudge.
She would then bring the platter and three spoons [one for my sister, me and one for her] and we would eat her "fudge" with the spoons! We affectionately nicknamed Mama's fudge "goop". And years later when my sister and I were grown, my sister used to call me up and ask me to come over. It would be freezing cold outside, and we'd snuggle up side by side on her sofa, and eat "goop", Mama's failed fudge recipe.
As children, we were outside with the beginning of any snowfall! It was always so much fun to see who could catch snowflakes on their tongue! And of course, there were the infamous snowball fights! And the making of a snowman! Some homes quite elaborate snowmen! Ours was always a simple three giant snowballs, with twig arms, buttons made up the eyes and mouth, and a carrot for a nose. Sometimes we would be allowed to give him an old cap and a scarf... just depended upon the mood Mama was in if we could sneak one out to put on poor old Frosty or not!
There was never enough snow for sleigh riding however. It wasn't until I was a teenager and we moved to the mountains that I got to enjoy that fun! And you have no idea what fun is until you grease down the runners on an old sled and get at the top of a high hill, jump on belly down, and literally fly down the hillside! Now that, my friend, is true winter fun!!! The only event that beats that???
Sledding down a steep hill on a car hood! Woo-hoo!!! The best fun in the whole wide world!!! We'd jump onto the underside of an old car hood [the bigger the better] and I'm talking 6 or 8 of us, and ride down the hill! The weight, and momentum would carry us a long ways!
What did you do when you were growing up during the winter? What kind of climate did you live in? What were your favorite winter activities?
Friday, January 7, 2011
Family Recipe Friday - The Best Ever Peanut Butter Cookies
While this isn't a true ancestor recipe... it's one that my children enjoyed, and now my grandchildren, enjoy each time they are made!
Make them once... and you'll never forget the recipe!
The Best Ever Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup peanut butter [plain or chunky]
1 cup granulated sugar
1 medium egg, slightly beaten
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325-degrees Farenheit.
Mix ingredients well in a medium bowl.
Drop by teaspoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Flatten cookies with a fork.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
That's it!
These are absolutely the best peanut butter cookie you'll ever eat!!!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
New Revelations about Slaves and Slave Trade
Most students of American history understand that a dramatic re-peopling of North and South America began in the years after Christopher Columbus first landed in the New World. But they may not realize that it was Africa, not Europe, that formed the wellspring of this repopulation process.
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In the 3¼ centuries between 1492 and about 1820, four enslaved Africans left the Old World for every European. During those years, Africans comprised the largest forced oceanic migration in the history of the world. Who were they? Who organized the slaving voyages? Which parts of Africa did they come from? How did they reach the Americas? And where exactly did they go?
Strikingly, we can now provide better answers to such questions for Africans than we can for European migrants. The African slave trade reduced people to commodities, but commodities generated profits, and where there were profits there was generally good record-keeping.
Since the onset of the computer revolution in the early 1960s, early modern business and government records have allowed historians to retrieve information on 35,000 slave voyages from Africa to the Americas and make the information available on the internet. For many of these voyages, we have rich detail on the slave ship itineraries, as well as who was put on board, who survived and how they traveled.
A new "Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade" draws on five decades of research in archives around the north and south Atlantic to provide 189 detailed and sumptuously drawn maps that answer many questions.
Read more about this new text here.
In the 3¼ centuries between 1492 and about 1820, four enslaved Africans left the Old World for every European. During those years, Africans comprised the largest forced oceanic migration in the history of the world. Who were they? Who organized the slaving voyages? Which parts of Africa did they come from? How did they reach the Americas? And where exactly did they go?
Strikingly, we can now provide better answers to such questions for Africans than we can for European migrants. The African slave trade reduced people to commodities, but commodities generated profits, and where there were profits there was generally good record-keeping.
Since the onset of the computer revolution in the early 1960s, early modern business and government records have allowed historians to retrieve information on 35,000 slave voyages from Africa to the Americas and make the information available on the internet. For many of these voyages, we have rich detail on the slave ship itineraries, as well as who was put on board, who survived and how they traveled.
A new "Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade" draws on five decades of research in archives around the north and south Atlantic to provide 189 detailed and sumptuously drawn maps that answer many questions.
Read more about this new text here.
Treasure Chest Thursday - Ye Old Cemetery Plot
The couple are buried there.
Henry died 17 May 1977 and Irene 22 Aug 1989.
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