Surprise Prayer Ending

 

Surprise Prayer Ending

Often when our children are small, we teach them prayers they can say at mealtime and bedtime. Many years ago, when my son was about kindergarten age, he would say one of those prayers. One day he added another request. Before saying Amen, he added “God Bless Chuck Norris”. This karate aficionado caught his attention. For months he always added that request. If we said Chuck Norris, he would correct our pronunciation even though it sounded the same as his. Recently I reminded him of this. He had forgotten it and was amused by his boyhood prayer.

#Prayer, #Children’s Prayer, #Humorous Prayer, #Chuck Norris

Earl and the Swimming Hole

 

Earl and the Swimming Hole

My dad, Earl Moore was orphaned at 5-yrs-old. His oldest sister was an adult but unable to raise him, so he was sent to the PA Masonic Orphanage in Elizabethtown, PA to live. The orphanage was a good place unlike most in the 1920s (think Lil Orphan Annie). A retired Army colonel was in charge, so it was fairly regimented. The houses were new and quite nice, made from gray stone. There were underground tunnels so that you could travel from building to building underground during bad weather. They had a basketball court in one of the buildings’ basements. There was a music room and more. There was also a small pond. I’m don’t think it was for swimming but instead for the crops and animals. The children’s and senior homes complex were totally self-sufficient, raising crops and animals for food.

When our family went to reunions there, I would hear stories about how they got a swimming pool. Apparently, my dad was skinny dipping one day in the pond and was caught. The home decided it wouldn’t do for the boys to be swimming naked and get caught out by one of the girls or seniors. So, it was decided to put in a regular swimming pool that the children could wear bathing suits and go for  a swim. Dad also had a nickname of Bertie or Birdie that may have come from this incident.

#Earl Moore, #Pennsylvania Masonic Home, #Swimming, #Skinny dipping

Christmas Cookies 2022

 

Christmas 2022

It’s December 24, 2022 and I am making my first Christmas cookies of the season. Not going to have many made this year. This first batch is “Aunt Ernie’s Sour Cream Cookies”. This is my boys’ favorite cookies but not until I stopped calling them Sour Cream Cookies and just said Aunt Ernie’s Cookies. Names make a difference. Each time I make this recipe I’m reminded of my Great Aunt Ernestine Wiedrich. She died several decades before my sons were born and I wish she would be more than a cookie to them. She was very personable and raised a large family in Oakfield, NY. My great   grandmother, Sarah Wiedrich loved visiting her. She would say how enjoyable it was.

Aunt Ernie’s Sour Cream Cookies

By Ernestine Schramm Wiedrich

1 c sugar

½ c shortening (margerine or butter)

½ c sour cream

2 eggs (beat in one at a time)

Mix at medium speed for 2 min.

Add

2¼ c flour            ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp nutmeg    1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt             1 tsp lemon extract

nutmeats (1/2 – 1 c chopped walnuts is good) or coconut opt.

Mix well. Drop by teaspoons onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle tops with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 min.

Pictured Ernestine and Sarah Wiedrich

#Ernistine Wiedrich, #Sarah Wiedrich, #Christmas 2022, #Christmas Cookies, #Sour Cream Cookies

Veteran's Day in Washington 2022

 

I had an amazing Veterans Day weekend. Reporting to Fort Meyer at 6AM to be Covid tested and go through 2 security checks. Then boarded a bus with others to the White House for breakfast. Another security check before entering.

A military orchestra was playing in the foyer.

A buffet was spread in the State Dining Room with Lincoln’s portrait looking over me. The food was lovely.

I also had a picture taken with Chief of Staff General Milley.

Then I went to the East Room to eat beneath the portraits of George and Martha Washington and hear remarks by the President (taped), First Lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. 

I sat next to two charming young Navaho brothers who were in the New Mexico National Guard. I was also so honored to have a picture with Medal of Honor recipient, Thomas Payne. 

Guests were then taken to another room but first another security check and leave our possessions (mine was a wallet and camera). In the next room each of us was introduced individually and had a picture taken with Jill Biden, Kamala Harris and her spouse (Joe Biden was in Egypt for the G20). Don’t know if I’ll ever get the picture – last year’s guests didn’t get theirs. Then it was back to the buses and on to Arlington Cemetery. White House guests were escorted to the rear of the amphitheater to see the Vice President lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was torrential raining and people on both sides of me had umbrellas that they kept aiming their runoff on me.

After that ceremony myself and about twenty t other “VIPs” were escorted to the stage in the amphitheater for the national ceremony. Each of us was introduced to the audience and later when I watched the video of the ceremony on CSPAN my name was scrolled on the screen. It was very exciting. Vice President Harris gave the main address.

Then, as National Commander of the Army and Navy Union I laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

After this we rode busses back to Fort Meyer for my car. I was staying in a hotel in Fairfax with the rest of the Army and Navy Union members. The next day ANU spent the day doing ceremonies and laying wreath at ten monument/memorials throughout Washington and Arlington.  

Great weekend.

#Arlene Baker, #Veterans Day 2022, #Arlington National Cemetery, #Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, #White House Veterans Breakfast, 

Video from Arlington www.facebook.com/ArlingtonNatl/videos/1939139263144596

www.c-span.org/video/?524171-1/vice-president-lady-participate-veterans-day-observance-part-1

www.c-span.org/video/?524171-101/vice-president-harris-veterans-day-remarks-arlington-cemetery

 

The one-room school where my mother, Millicent "Midge" Wiedrich Moore went to school in the 1930s. It was on the Creek Rd just outside of Batavia, NY. My mom is 1st person on the left in the 3rd row up. Her sister, Bonnie Wiedrich Selb is the 1st person on the left in the bottom row. Her other sister, Connie Wiedrich Davis may be the small girl 2nd from the left in the 2nd row up. Later when the school was closed the teacher bought the school and converted into her home.

#Creek Road School, #Batavia, NY, #One Room School, #Millicent Wiedrich, #Millicent Moore, #Midge Moore, #Bonalyn Wiedrich, #Bonalyn Selb, #Constance Wiedrich, #Constance Davis

 Abel Bristol

When Abel Bristol was born in June 1749 in New Haven, Connecticut, his father, Aaron, was 34 and his mother, Ms. Abigail, was 35. (1) He married Mary Norton on January 24, 1775 (some sources say 1774), in Harwinton, Connecticut. Where they resided for a time. (2) About 1776 they moved to Albany, New York. (3) Abel Bristol served in CPT Amos William company  and later COL  Gay’s 2^nd Battalion during the American Revolution when he was 28-yrs-old. Both he and his brother lost their guns in the York Island retreat of 1776.  In later years the DAR records him attaining the rank of CPT with the Columbia NY militia. (3) In 1778, the couple lived in Ontario county, NY. (4) He was elected "Supervisor" at the first town meeting of Lima held in the "Brick School House" on 4 Apr 1809. (4) He had four children: Lois, Miles, Abel and Norton. He died on May 11, 1827, in Lima, New York, having lived a long life of 77 years, and was buried there. (5)

(1)     Ancestry.com, Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection) (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006), Ancestry.com, Database online. Record for Abel Bristol. Bristol Genealogy, vol 1 p.27.

(2)     Ancestry.com, Connecticut, Town Marriage Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection) (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006), Ancestry.com, Marriage date:  24 Jan 1774  Marriage place:  Harwinton  Residence date:    Residence place:  Harwinton.

(3)     New York in the Revolution as Colony and State,, Vol. I - Extracts; Publication Place: Albany, New York; Publisher: J. B. Lyon Co.; Publication Year: 1904; Page Number: 237. Also listed in the DAR and SAR records.

(4)     History of Livingston County New York

(5)     Ancestry.com, U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012), Ancestry.com, Record for Lois Warner. http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=FindAGraveUS&h=12537881&indiv=try. and Bristol Genealogy p.27

#Abel Bristol, #Bristol family, #Lima, NY history, #NY men in the Revolutionary War

Most Unusual Source – Court Martial

 

While researching my great grandfather, Charles S. Moore, I went to the New Egypt, New Jersey city clerk’s office. I asked if they had any wills or deeds for him or his father. They were busy but said they would get back to me after tax season. A few weeks later they called saying someone else was looking for the same person. They gave me that person’s name and phone number. It turned out that the person, Fran Born was also a great granddaughter of Charles. We got together and had a nice visit that started collaboration of our research. They had Charles’ original discharge papers from his service in the 4^th NJ Infantry during the Civil War. They also had a transcript of his court martial for disobeying an order. The order was “ stop shooting the mules with dry corn kernels”, which he was doing for fun. As soon as the sergeant turned his back he shot them again. Thus, his court martial. The transcript was like being there and listening to him speak. Another fact that came out was that he was late for a battle due to bad feet. That explains why my dad and I had feet as flat as pancakes and bunions. The punishment he received was being docked $10 of his $13 a month pay. Another revelation was that he had left his company in Virginia without leave to return to NJ when his father died. Several siblings had died too, and the house was being repossessed. On his return to Virginia, he was arrested as a deserter. But since Abraham Lincoln had made a proclamation that said any deserter who was returning of his own volition would not be prosecuted. All of this told me so much about my great grandfather who died almost eighty years before I was born.

#Court Martial, #Charles S. Moore, #Civil War Court Martial, #New Egypt, NJ, #4th New Jersey Infantry