Ginger Root

     My garden has a new inhabitant: ginger! A little guerilla gardening in reverse has brought me some ginger root which I planted in a public place at least 30 years ago. I've been thinking about this for months and finally was in the vicinity of this place 2 weeks ago. I boldly parked and walked in, no one was about, I loosened the soil with my trowel and 2 big pieces came out. Into the plastic bag they went and I was gone in 5 minutes. Back home, I planted the largest piece in front of my house. I had a long root and some above-ground green stem. I suspect that, in time, this stem will die away so I am anxiously looking out for a new stem to push its way up through the soil. One of my outdoor cats has been seen lying on the soil under which the rhizome was planted and so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she won't destroy any new shoot.
      The smaller piece I put into the public flower bed at the top of the driveway, which is quite close to my own garage so I can keep an eye on it. It already had a small shoot on it and it appears that the shoot has survived. Before the daring daylight guerilla strike, I had taken a piece of purchased ginger and simply put it in a pot of soil on my front steps. I kept it somewhat moist but nothing happened for 3 or more weeks, hence my urgent need to collect from my 30-year old plant, before spring was over. What did I see this very evening while sitting on my front steps, combing my stray cat? A green shoot peeking out from the soil of that pot (see photo). When I planted that little chunk of rhizome, it seemed to me it should grow, given the right conditions, despite having been harvested many, many weeks before and having sat in a big pile at the grocery store for who-knows-how long. It took its time but now I have hopes of 3 ginger plants and the future harvest of my own fresh, edible ginger root.

Nasturtiums in the Garden

 

All my posts, to date, have involved family business.  Today I want to publish a few photos of my "garden".  I put that word in quotation marks because what I have is a couple of patches of dirt on the southeast edge of my unit, it is generally heavily shaded, and there is no outside faucet for when I need to water.

  For several years I have had a lush growth of nasturtiums in spring.  At left you can see my cat, DJ, who appreciates the greenery as much as I do.  I can't remember when I first sowed purchased seed, but that one time is all it took.  The plants drop seed like crazy and some will germinate the same season.  They also will germinate in the fall and winter.  By early spring they will be everywhere.    Nasturtiums do fine in shade, and I do get some sun in the middle of the day.  I hate to tear them up until they are fading in summer's heat, but that means it's a problem to start anything else.  The mass of greenery hides snails which nibble on the nasturtiums but it hardly shows.  But they'll also nibble on, and destroy, anything else I might plant.  At the moment I have a couple of tomatoes and gourds, which are doing OK, protected by tin cans with both ends cut out as protective barriers.
  A friend with a much sunnier garden has tomatoes with fruit already the size of ping pong balls.  Of course, she planted started plants, while I grew mine from seed and my seedlings seemed to be very slow in getting any size on them.  The sun, and not so much the size of the starts, is the biggest difference, I think.

Another Sadness

The last of the siblings of my father's generation has passed away. My uncle, Ted Raddish, died on Tuesday, June 22, only 4 1/2 months after his Emma.

Although his memory was failing him, his sense of humor never did. He was as ready as ever with a clever riposte if you were foolish enough to give him a straight line.

Despite some difficult experiences in childhood, Ted's innate good nature and solid common sense turned him toward all those things that are the foundations of a decent and satisfying life. There was nothing grandiose or showy about him and there was everything cheerful and good. I miss him....I miss them all.

Emma and Ted at Thanksgiving 2009

Attached is the last family photo in which Emma and Ted appear was taken at the home of cousins Lisa and Joe Snyder. Although in ill health, Emma did not like to miss seeing her family. It was a beautiful fall day. The air was warm in the middle of the day and we ate out of doors, as usual.

The Old World Passes Away

Death has taken another member of our family. My aunt, Emma Raddish, died at age 92 on February 6, 2010.

Going to Aunt Emma's and Uncle Ted's was always special. Our family usually went there for a holiday party or some other occasion. There was always music, great food, and a house full of people. Aunt Emma was the mover and shaker behind these parties and no one could have asked for a better hostess.

Emma was born Emina Shakan in 1918, in Akron, Ohio, to immigrant parents from Croatia. She grew up in poverty and learned a lesson many such children do, that hard work was the only way to succeed, and succeed she did. Not in a monetary way, perhaps, although her own hard work did lift her from poverty, but in the best way, that of a loving family, a home, and a circle of good friends. She shared her good fortune with others, helping to sponsor other family members to emigrate after World War II, and sending packages of clothing and other goods to family remaining in Europe.

I came to know of these things only much later. Our own lives take up all of our attention and effort so we often don't get to know our slightly distant kin in much depth. That's natural and we should not regret it. At the same time, such family often inhabit the background of our immediate lives in such a way that their loss sharply diminishes the quality of our lives. This is certainly the case with Aunt Emma. Her absence from the world saddens me greatly and makes my own life seems just a little smaller.

Wedding!

My neice Rachel is getting married this month, on Sunday, the 21st. Her fiance is Doug McCauley, who Rachel met in college. Doug had already graduated from the same school, Thomas Aquinas College. Most recently, Doug was living in Colorado, but has moved back to Ventura, where he had been working when he first met Rachel.

The wedding will take place at San Secondo D'Asti Catholic Church, in Guasti, Calif. Ths is the same church where Rachel's sister Alyssa was married several years ago.

Some photos from Nina's 90th

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A surprised Nina enters the party room

Long Time Gone; Time to Remember

Here it is many months later and I'm just getting up the energy to post again. This blogging business isn't as easy as it seems. In February I had written up the post about uncle Wally and was attempting to load photos of Mother's birthday party only to fail utterly. I think part of my problem is the anemic machine I'm using combined with a dial-up connection. I cancelled the post and ignored the blog ever since then.

However, the month of October has turned my thoughts back to this blog. In pagan and Christian tradition, the end of the month was a time to acknowledge the passing of lives of loved ones...the origin of Hallowe'en, of course, and the moment the calendar page turns to October, images of Hallowe'en are everywhere, reminding us of the nearly universal attention paid to death and loss. Twenty years ago this month the Reed family lost its dad, Alex. It hardly seems credible, twenty years. The little Reed family world lost one of its foundations and for me, at least, it was never as bright again. Next month is the fourth anniversary of the death of son and brother, Dan, another bright light whose loss has dimmed our world.

Walter Trutko

Early this month my uncle, Walter Trutko, died. He was my mother's younger brother, the youngest of the children of her family.

He was born in Akron, Ohio, on January 27, 1925, and lived most of his adult life in Cleveland, Ohio. As a youth he worked as a soda jerk and newsboy but enlisted in the Army immediately upon graduating from Akron's South High School. He served in the infantry in the Battle of Bulge where he was badly wounded by mortar fire.

Following his war service he took advantage of the G.I. Bill to attend college where he met Helen Fogg, whom he was to marry the next year.

Walter worked at other jobs but was seriously interested in the stock market. He was able to make an old dream come true when, in 1962, the Bache Company offered him training and a position as a broker. He later worked for other firms but finally earned a position at Merrill Lynch where he stayed for over 25 years.

Uncle Wally and Aunt Helen had three children, Jim, Joanne, and John. Their lives together were replete with happy memories of boating on Lake Erie, football games at Brown stadium, beach vacations, and the simple pleasures of burgers at a favorite hang-out.

I only met him a few times, and when I was very young. What I remember most is his big smile.

Guests at the Party

Nina's party guests included: Adele Chadwick; Ted and Emma Raddish; Uncle George Havale; Joe and Lisa Beth Snyder; Joe and Mary Wythoff, Nina's friends from Anza; Rachel Gray; Alyssa Hichborn, and Alyssa's two children Brandon and Sonia; David Reed, daughter Alexa Wondergem and Alexa's son Eban; Lisa's good friend Nellie; Andrea Reed and her sister visiting from Chile, Maria Elena; Nina's sister Lilian Sundet and Lil's daughter Dianne Sundet, who both live in Denver; Lisa, Elmo, Hollie, Aaron, and Ethan Thibodeaux; and Jane.

Family Blog

Hello everyone...welcome to my blog. I was inspired to blog while driving home today, upon hearing a radio program host tell how easy it was for a person to create a web site, and for free, too.

I'll inaugurate the blog by a description of the 90th birthday celebration for my mom, Nina Reed; photos will follow, as they come in. My sister, Lisa, and I decided to have a surprise party for her on the Saturday following her birthday of January 19, 2006. Many of our relatives and friends were able to make the trek to San Jacinto, where Mother lives, and join us at a local cafe for a light lunch, birthday cake, and family stories. We had a very nice time and I'm so grateful to all who came.

Mother's first surprise was that I showed up at her house late Friday night, instead of at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. I told her my other plans had fallen through. Her second surprise came when she was called into the house for a purported phone call from her sister Lilian; she came in the door to talk to her sister and was presented with her sister and niece Dianne in person. Lil and Dianne had flown in from Denver the evening before, and stayed overnight at a motel in Hemet. I fetched them to Mother's house on Saturday morning, so they would have more time to visit. Mother expected them to come to our annual birthday lunch we always went to.

The party was slated to start at 2:00 p.m. Around noon Mother started making noises about setting off for the restaurant where we'd have lunch. We stalled as long as we could then Lisa, Lil, Dianne, and I left the house at about 1:15. We took the long way, to say the least. We drove around old town San Jacinto; we drove by the high school; we went through a drive-through coffee stall; drove through Art Linkletter's Sierra Dawn mobile home park; we drove here there and everywhere, taking "wrong" turns several times. Finally, I turned back in the direction of the cafe. Mother couldn't figure out why I couldn't follow directions, and just go where she told me to.

We approached the parking lot just as Ted, Emma, and Adele were getting out of their car. I spotted them and drove down a ways to enter at the far end of the lot so Mother would not see them. We parked, just as Alexa got out of her car; I signaled her to turn around and go back. She went back to her car, just as Elmo and the boys drove in. Mother recognized the car and wondered what they were doing there. We were still in the car, while Lisa ran into the cafe on the excuse she had to check with Nellie to finish doing the "favor" which had delayed Lisa earlier. We finally got the signal, went into the cafe and Mother got the BIG surprise when she saw David, and then all the others waiting to greet her in the dining room. Great hilarity ensued.

For the next 2 1/2 hours we ate and drank and visited. Photos in my albums and baby book were spurs to the relating of family anecdotes and histories. A very satisfying afternoon altogether.

I'll add the guest list tomorrow and photos as they arrive. Please e-mail me if you have information or news; I'll it add to the blog.