Blogger's Best Friend Award

Thanks so much to Carol at Reflections From the Fence, for awarding me this fine honor!  She's been a great source of encouragement since I started this blogging thing, and I appreciate it very much.

Swiped from Carol's site: "The developer of the award 'Bandit' "A Blogger's Best Friend Award" says it shall be given to your most loyal blog readers. Thus, the award should be given to a follower of yours who takes the time to comment regularly on many of your posts. In addition his or her blog should be creative, funny and always entertaining. Upon receiving this award, pass it along to two fellow bloggers who fit this criteria."

I have to pass this on to Kathy's Kampground Kapers, and  Greta's Genealogoy Blog, with my appreciation.  :)

Karen

Thank you, Thank you

I'd like to thank Yaya, of Yaya's Changing World for the lovely Happy 101 Award.  I like it very much, but it's making me hungry.  :)

With this award goes the responsibility of naming 10 things that make me happy.  Shouldn't be too hard - the hard part will be stopping at 10!  Here we go, not in any particular order:

1) Getting a few minutes' peace and quiet to post to my blogs.

2) Watching my energetic little Tori so happy she breaks out in dance while she sings "Oh yeah!!"

3) Getting a genealogy goodie in the mail.

4) Working on my websites and getting HappyGrams from people who have found useful stuff.

5) Seeing my little Alyssa's face light up with a big fat smile when she sees her Grammy.

6) Getting a few minutes' peace and quiet to huddle up with my Bible and ponder what it has to offer.

7) Hitting the snooze alarm as many times as I want.

8) Watching my sweet Sierra with tears in her eyes at her gr-gr-gr-grandparents' graves, and seeing the love she has for people she never knew, but feels so much a part of.

9) Reading fun, insightful, newsy and touching blog posts, and getting to know new friends.

10) Seeing my husband's eyes sparkle when he laughs.

There you go. Now, I'm going to pass it on to 10 (again, hard to stop at just 10!) of my favorite bloggers, who haven't already received it:

Lessons from My Ancestors
Genealogy and Me
Reflections From the Fence
Writings by Abby
Greta's Genealogy Blog
Mom's Country Cookin'
Word Designer
Grace and Glory
Those Old Memories
The Ties That Bind

My Irish Genealogy Treasure

    The best Irish genealogical "find" I ever got, or could ever hope to get, was not a photo, not a document, not any single piece of information.  The best asset to our Irish legacy was Uncle Jimmy.

  
    We already had land documents, plats, birth, death and marriage certificates, baptisms, etc.  We had plenty of facts about our Joyce clan of Hand county, South Dakota.  What we were sorely lacking was a depth to their beings - personal stories about them and their day-to-day lives - which Uncle Jimmy was more than happy to supply in abundance whenever family gathered.  Many of his childhood memories are grounded in the tight-knit Joyce clan on his mother's side of the family.  His stories told of tough times, happy times, stories of he and his young cousins stealing liquor and drinking under the porch at Grandpa Pat Joyce's farm home, family gatherings, and the old folks telling stories of their own and the boisterous laughter drifting across the South Dakota plains.  What he brought to our family legacy can't be duplicated in any courthouse or library.  He brought life itself to these folks long gone.

    Uncle Jimmy joined the ancestors last November.  How blessed we were to have captured some of his stories.  He was, indeed, our greatest Irish genealogy treasure.

The Oscar II

Weighing nearly 10,000 tons, the "Oscar II" cut through the waters of the Atlantic ocean at a speed of 15 knots, with over 1,000 passengers on most of her voyages.  She hauled thousands of Scandinavians from Europe to their destinies in America, until she was scrapped in 1933, after 32 years of service.  Among those Scandinavians looking for a better life were my grandparents, Adolph Hammer and his young wife, Agnes, and their 11 month old daughter, Mary. 

I've often wondered how Agnes must have felt on that trip.  Aside from being 7 months pregnant, and tending to a young child, I wonder if she was excited about their prospects in a new country?  What did she think of the spectacular New York skyline - did they, in some imaginative way, remind her of the fjords of Norway?  Was she was homesick for her father, mother and brothers?  Was she afraid she'd never see them again?  (She didn't.)  When she dreamed of their future, what did she envision?

How many young Norwegian women must have crossed the Atlantic with those thoughts in mind...

The Sweetest Chocolate-Covered Cherries

I'm sure it was Lillian's best Christmas present ever.  When she and Bill had been married some 23 years prior, they had eloped, and she had only a simple wedding band as a symbol of their commitment to each other.  There had been no elaborate wedding, and her dirt-poor farmer could not give her a diamond ring, but I never heard her complain.  She often said that she would never have chosen anyone else to spent her life with, regardless of how much money he had.

As Christmas approached, they also prepared to celebrate their wedding anniversary on December 28.  Bill had something different in mind this year. Typically, for Christmas, they gave each other the same simple gifts: she gave him a can of pipe tobacco, and he gave her a box of chocolate-covered cherries.  But this year, he had something different in mind.  Lillian's wedding band was wearing thin, so he took it to the jewelry store to have it "fixed", but instead had it incorporated into a new ring, complete with a diamond.  He then took the traditional box of chocolates, hollowed out one of the candies and placed the ring inside.

Their four teenaged children, who were in on the surprise, carefully picked around the "special" chocolate as she passed her gift around to them.  She knew something was going on, and eventually discovered her special present.  At the age of 46, Lillian finally had her diamond wedding ring.

And So It Goes... Mothers and Daughters

Firstborn daughters of firstborn daughters...

Alfhilde Olsen Monsen, widow of Gabriel Monsen, with her baby daughter Gabriella (later known as "Ella"), this photo was taken about 1885 in Bergen, Norway. Her husband, a sailor, died at sea in a boating accident, leaving her with three small children.

Ella Monsen Christensen immigrated to the United States from Norway at the age of 20, learned English, and worked as a houshold servant.  She later sent for her mother and siblings.  She married Peter Christensen, a baker, in Huron, South Dakota.  She is pictured here with her daughter, Lillian, about 1912.

Lillian and her first child, daughter Betty, on their farm in Beadle county, South Dakota, about 1939.

Betty, with her first daughter, Karen (me!), about 1959.

Kreativ Blogger Award

I'd really like to thank Carol, from Reflections From the Fence for this nomination, and for her encouragement with this blogging stuff.  If you're interested in RVs, family history, or just like a Good Read, check it out.

The winner of the award has to list seven things about themselves and then pass the award along to seven other bloggers.  So here we go:

1) I've got an incredible God who sustains me minute by minute, and crams each day full of blessings I don't deserve.  It's been a Wild Ride, and I can't wait to see what's next!

2) I've got the most wonderfullest husband in the world.  Oh heck, just throw in the whole family - they are the best.  Add the dogs in there too.  Never a dull moment!

3) I love doing family history - mine, or anyone else's, for that matter.  I enjoy doing lookups and research for people, each time remembering how great it felt when I was first starting out and some very kind and generous people helped me get going, and still how good it feels to discover something new or meet a new cousin.

4) I'm addicted to making websites, of course, pertaining primarily to genealogy and history.   I am a volunteer for GenealogyTrails, and host the state site for South Dakota, as well as Beadle and Hand Counties, and Olmsted county, Minnesota.  And I'm the webmaster for the Peoria County (Illinois) Genealogical Society.  Can't get enough.

5) I really need to get off this computer and do something active more often.

6) I love cheesecake, which necessitates that I get off this computer and do something active more often.

7) I love to quilt, crochet, and bake good things!

It's hard to nominate only 7 of the blogs I read... there are some really, really good blogs out there... but here goes, in no particular order:

1) Kathy's Kampground Kapers

2) Those Old Memories

3) Random Relatives

4) Lessons from my Ancestors

5) We Tree

6) Desperately Seeking Surnames

7) Mom's Country Cookin

I hope you check out some of these blogs, if you haven't already.