Seasons Are Reversed?

From April 27, when Spring was just bustin' out -- as in the hillside photos above -- to May 7 is just 10 days, but what an ugly reversal:

The gold finches loaded up for a freezing night.  33 Degrees last night; colder tonight.  I moved all the plants from the plastic-covered greenhouse into the house and garage where they'll have to make do until it warms up outside again.

Early Spring, Continued

                      Remember the old song that went "How do the trees put on their robes of green?"
                                                               "They leave them out."
I caught our soft maple doing that last evening (April 21), then made four "kaleidoscopes" from the photos.  The original images are at the end of this entry.

This year's kaleidoscopes are maybe not as good as last year's -- see the June 2009 entry for comparison.

Spring Equinox . . .

Report from rural Mid-Wisconsin: 
The sunsets range from March 22 (just past the equinox) (the top photos) to tonight, April 7 (bottom two).   In between were a spring shower and a hawk of some kind.

Crocus have had a longish blooming time:  were ready to open about March 14, then waited out a cold week, and have been at it ever since.  Daffodils are close to opening.  The first batch of tomato seedlings are 5 inches high, but have had to stay inside this week.

Middle School Kids Do Real Research (Genealogy)

I'm still feeling kind of a glow from the Jan. 27 session with Junior High kids at the PVCW library.  [PVCW = Pommerscher Verein Central Wis.; a 600-member club that works to  preserve our Low German language and culture.]

The Marathon middle school project, "Becoming American", included this trip to our little library/archive in the middle of Town of Berlin in Marathon County, Wis.

Marathon Middle School students came to the Pommern Verein library as part of a nine-week unit on immigration.  Students had taken part in an Ellis Island simulation two days earlier.  They were tracing their family pedigree at the Pommern Verein, the historical society, and the Marathon Branch Library. They will write a story about their family's immigration struggles, and then begin a study of the Hmong in Wisconsin.

Twenty-one students researched their family at the Pommern Verein library.

I think the kids truly were interested in the records, resources, pictures, etc at the library, because they stayed focused for close to three hours!

These were some of the successful searchers:  Carson and Tori Seehafer found their great-and great-great grandfather and a great-great grandmother named Euphronia! 

BreAnn Kreager found a book with a photo of her great-grandmother.  Kourtney Stuttgen found her great-grandfather's farm and a newspaper article about an 1898 tornado that killed Kourtney's great-great grandfather and also killed Shanna Weber's great-uncle. 

Darlene Wiedman, one of the adults helping the researchers, worked with Bryce Schultz who  found his great-, great-great- and great-great-great grandfathers.  She also provided information to Dakota and Dawson Kummerow about Phyllis Kufahl and the Behnke family.  Darlene said,
"I believe the kids were truly interested and were very well behaved.  It was a wonderful
experience for me and the kids.  I hope they will continue to research their
families and their German Heritage."
  
Below:  Teenage boys can conduct a serious conversation with adults!   The adults here are Gary Klingbeil and Bob Gruling.

Justin, Jeremy, and Kayleigh Natzke and their cousin Ericka Kuehn found three of their great-grandparents' homesteads in town of Hamburg.   In the 1930 Farmers Directory (a special version of plat maps) they compared how one of the three farms had a telephone while the others did not, and that one of the farms had "mixed breed" chickens while the other had White Leghorns.  Helen Weber is the (retired) teacher helping the Natzkes and Erica Kuehn.

 

 

These are the first blue skies in several days, with two bonuses:  hoarfrost and a bald eagle.

As usual, these photos are all within 1 mile of our house.  For two of them I just opened a window and took the shots.  I was impressed that the bald eagle stayed put in the tree all the time I was tromping up and down the county road, taking its picture.  This eagle (or some eagle) has been in that tree frequently this winter.

Festival of Trees Followup and a Santa Hat / Purse

Our tree was a modest success!   A lady from Athens (Athens, WI) put in a bid for $350.  Also overheard were several nice comments along the lines of "How did they make that?"  and "Finally, a tree that could actually go in a normal person's house!"  
                                             * * * * * * * * * *

 Below are two views of the Holiday purse my sister Anne made for grand-daughter and grand-niece.

 

If you Gooogle "Santa Purse" you can find other versions and directions for making your own.

But basically all you do is buy a pre-made Santa hat,  cut it in half horizontally, sew the bottom closed, add a lining inside if desired and sew the cut-off hat top (with pom-pom) just inside the open edge of the purse to make a flap closure.  Handles or straps may be added as desired:  my sister bought 2-inch wide fur trim, folded and sewed it in half lengthwise and sewed the ends into the purse for a long strap.

Our craft group -- the 6 of us call ourselves the Sugar Maple Crafters -- spent all sessions this year creating homemade decorations for a 6 foot Christmas tree at the Wausau Festival of Trees.  (90-some trees and decorations are all donated, raffled off, and proceeds go to Wausau Aspirus Hospice House.  The project raises around $150,000 annually.)  This was our group's first attempt.  We are anxiously waiting to see how well our tree does.  Below are views of a few other entries at the 2009 Festival of Trees.

 

Above:  this tree's theme was The Wizard of Oz.  Beneath it is a "dollhouse", but notice that this dollhouse has landed on top of the Wicked Witch and smashed her flat! . . . .

Finally,   somebody made a really, really big wooden train. . . .