I do not understand how to add friends to this site or how to follow other blogs or even to look up interesting blogs to follow. Will someone take pity on me and help me?
I would think this would be simple enough for Koko the gorilla but clearly Koko has one up on me.
What is with all the settings/layout/monetize (as if I could make money on my stupid ramblings) and all kinds of weird google friends etc, which tells me I have no friends. Big shocker.
I accidently clicked on the follower tab so I am the only one following my own blog and I couldn't even delete myself if I desired.
Maybe I should call the University help desk and get fired. Hmmmmmmm....
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Klonopin Blues
While waiting for my anesthesia consult I managed to knit up the Ashford Cowl in my new favorite yarn: Rowan's Cocoon -which is soooo soft and shiny and pretty. I managed to finish the cowl in one skein of light/grey blue and still have one skein left as well as two dark grey skeins. No ideas yet what I am going to knit up. The photos do not do the color of the yarn justice. I neglected to do the scalloped edging but it keeps me warm and looks good.
Doctor Evil likes is as well as the unidentified man walking by as I took this photo at work.
In other news my knee replacement should be set to go on November 17th barring any orthopedic surgeon in influence- grrrrr
Sally seems to have recovered from her false pregnancy and all things are back to chaos and doggie wildness. More on this later after I get some sleep and begin again tomorrow.
Maybe I will have chosen a new Rowan project by then.
Peace out,
ab
Doctor Evil likes is as well as the unidentified man walking by as I took this photo at work.
In other news my knee replacement should be set to go on November 17th barring any orthopedic surgeon in influence- grrrrr
Sally seems to have recovered from her false pregnancy and all things are back to chaos and doggie wildness. More on this later after I get some sleep and begin again tomorrow.
Maybe I will have chosen a new Rowan project by then.
Peace out,
ab
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Forays into the past
I am still learning how to post on this site. I have no idea what all these buttons and pictures mean and not sure if I need any bells and whistles. Maybe later.
Back to the exciting world of genealogy.
I have been flip-flopping between finding more Blumenthals and more Schoenbergs. Neither search has been very successful. My great-grandfather David Michael Blumenthal seems to have appeared in the US out of thin air. I cannot find his passenger record, despite his naturalization papers giving his date of arrival as August 17th, 1881. Nor can I find his first marriage certificate or where she came from. I am not sure if Blumenthal is his real surname or one he picked, or was his mother’s to avoid conscription in Russia. Sigh. Jewish Genealogy is incredibly difficult due to the myriad ways in which Jews switched identities, used several names and changed their ages over time. For example, David’s first wife had been known as “Amelia, Male, Malka, Mollie,” and possibly “Anna.” Her last name was “Greengrass,” also listed as “Gryngras” and “Gringras” and a million other spellings and pronunciations. I cannot find her passenger record either, but I am convinced (as are other Greengrass researchers) that she came from Radizilow Poland and was somehow related to one of the Falk Gryngras’s that came from that town. On her son’s death certificate her name was listed as “Molly Falk.” If I hadn’t studied the history behind the Gryngras’s from Radizilow I would have assumed that was another surname. But there are hundreds of Gryngras’s from that town and they descend from a male named Falk. All speculation of course. What is even more strange is that the story everyone had been told was that Mollie Blumenthal (nee Greengrass) had died after having 4 children: Anna, Julius, Gus and Ida; and that David Blumenthal was remarried around 1896 to Rivke Schoenberg, a 19-year old sent over from Russia for an arranged marriage. The problem with that story is that I received Molly’s death certificate from Rochester, NY and she did not die until 1903 of TB. And she was living a few doors down from where David lived with his new wife Rebecca, her children and his new children from Rebecca. It also lists her as married on the death certificate. There is no other info listed, as if she died alone and no one came forward with any info. I am going to send away for another search to make sure this wasn’t another “Molly Blumenthal,” but if it is true it begs several questions- Was David a bigamist? Did he leave her when she contracted TB? Did he get a “get” which enabled him to remarry Rebecca? Did the children see their mother or were they told she was deceased? If David did handle her care and support her financially why did she die alone with no one to provide her family information? It may also explain why everyone was reluctant to speak of the family’s history. My grandmother was actually named after her and her half-sister Ida named her daughter Molla after her, so she must have been remembered fondly. BIG MYSTERY.
Another issue with David Blumenthal and his family as they are missing from the 1900 census. I have searched through page after page of the Rochester, NY census and the house where they supposedly lived was skipped over or the page is missing. I think it would help solve some of the mystery by showing who lived with them. Rivke (Rebecca) came over from Kuzmin Russia in 1896 with her mother Rozia Schoenberg (spelled Schoeneberg on the passenger record) and Rozia seems to have disappeared. Did she go back to Russia? Did she live with David and Rebecca and the kids in 1900? Or did she die (a search for a death certificate yielded nothing)? Maybe she remarried? I can find no record of her anywhere. Nothing on Jewish Gen (actually I have found zilch on Jewish Gen thus far and wonder how people find their ancestors on that site), nothing on Ancestry, or any other site.
Another less important mystery is a listing in the Rochester NY Directory for a “Tontiff Schoenberg.” After posting on the Ukranian list serve on Jewish Gen I was emailed by several people suggesting that is real name would have been “Yom Tov,” a name given to males born on a holiday. Or a misspelling of “Yontiff,” another Yiddish worrd for holiday. I am not so sure. I cannot find him listed on any census, passenger record, etc. but I thought maybe his name was a form of “Joseph,” or “John.” I may try and send away for a death certificate but I have no date of death and I am not sure if he even lived in Rochester, past 1900.
I guess that is all for now. More to ponder and speculate
Back to the exciting world of genealogy.
I have been flip-flopping between finding more Blumenthals and more Schoenbergs. Neither search has been very successful. My great-grandfather David Michael Blumenthal seems to have appeared in the US out of thin air. I cannot find his passenger record, despite his naturalization papers giving his date of arrival as August 17th, 1881. Nor can I find his first marriage certificate or where she came from. I am not sure if Blumenthal is his real surname or one he picked, or was his mother’s to avoid conscription in Russia. Sigh. Jewish Genealogy is incredibly difficult due to the myriad ways in which Jews switched identities, used several names and changed their ages over time. For example, David’s first wife had been known as “Amelia, Male, Malka, Mollie,” and possibly “Anna.” Her last name was “Greengrass,” also listed as “Gryngras” and “Gringras” and a million other spellings and pronunciations. I cannot find her passenger record either, but I am convinced (as are other Greengrass researchers) that she came from Radizilow Poland and was somehow related to one of the Falk Gryngras’s that came from that town. On her son’s death certificate her name was listed as “Molly Falk.” If I hadn’t studied the history behind the Gryngras’s from Radizilow I would have assumed that was another surname. But there are hundreds of Gryngras’s from that town and they descend from a male named Falk. All speculation of course. What is even more strange is that the story everyone had been told was that Mollie Blumenthal (nee Greengrass) had died after having 4 children: Anna, Julius, Gus and Ida; and that David Blumenthal was remarried around 1896 to Rivke Schoenberg, a 19-year old sent over from Russia for an arranged marriage. The problem with that story is that I received Molly’s death certificate from Rochester, NY and she did not die until 1903 of TB. And she was living a few doors down from where David lived with his new wife Rebecca, her children and his new children from Rebecca. It also lists her as married on the death certificate. There is no other info listed, as if she died alone and no one came forward with any info. I am going to send away for another search to make sure this wasn’t another “Molly Blumenthal,” but if it is true it begs several questions- Was David a bigamist? Did he leave her when she contracted TB? Did he get a “get” which enabled him to remarry Rebecca? Did the children see their mother or were they told she was deceased? If David did handle her care and support her financially why did she die alone with no one to provide her family information? It may also explain why everyone was reluctant to speak of the family’s history. My grandmother was actually named after her and her half-sister Ida named her daughter Molla after her, so she must have been remembered fondly. BIG MYSTERY.
Another issue with David Blumenthal and his family as they are missing from the 1900 census. I have searched through page after page of the Rochester, NY census and the house where they supposedly lived was skipped over or the page is missing. I think it would help solve some of the mystery by showing who lived with them. Rivke (Rebecca) came over from Kuzmin Russia in 1896 with her mother Rozia Schoenberg (spelled Schoeneberg on the passenger record) and Rozia seems to have disappeared. Did she go back to Russia? Did she live with David and Rebecca and the kids in 1900? Or did she die (a search for a death certificate yielded nothing)? Maybe she remarried? I can find no record of her anywhere. Nothing on Jewish Gen (actually I have found zilch on Jewish Gen thus far and wonder how people find their ancestors on that site), nothing on Ancestry, or any other site.
Another less important mystery is a listing in the Rochester NY Directory for a “Tontiff Schoenberg.” After posting on the Ukranian list serve on Jewish Gen I was emailed by several people suggesting that is real name would have been “Yom Tov,” a name given to males born on a holiday. Or a misspelling of “Yontiff,” another Yiddish worrd for holiday. I am not so sure. I cannot find him listed on any census, passenger record, etc. but I thought maybe his name was a form of “Joseph,” or “John.” I may try and send away for a death certificate but I have no date of death and I am not sure if he even lived in Rochester, past 1900.
I guess that is all for now. More to ponder and speculate
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Baboons do not fall in love
Well maybe they do but how can you tell?
I am going to try once again to start a regular blog. After failing miserably several times I should really give up but I read all these interesting, fascinating tales of daily life that I am compelled to add ennui to the mix for balance.
Katy went to the vet for a check up on her lumps which seem to be fatty cysts. Like me she is getting fatter in her older years and these weird lumps pop up. In interesting news I found an ICD-9 code for "fatness,' while looking up fistula. I wonder how many code the bills with fatness. The term seems out of place- is it a state of being? Patient A has simply gained weight or is morbidly obese while patient B has "fatness." Hmmmm.... things to ponder.
Supposed to go to Evie's tonite for dinner, candy and some delicious wine I picked up in Normandy. I am sure one glass will have me slurring and drooling. Last time I went to Normandy, I bought my boss back a bottle of Calvados after asking a man in a wine store about a good wine in my atrocious French and his stunted English. I am completely ignorant about liquor and wine and it turned out it was Apple Brandy which nearly seared the tissue off of my bosses throat. Unfortunately, I have a slight fever and was vomiting yesterday so I am not sure I should be eating tonnes of chocolate and exensive French Wine.
In positive news, my foster beagle seems to be recovering from her false pregnancy and doesn't seem to regard me as one of her litter anymore. She hasn't attacked poor Katy in days and her snapping and snarling is down to a minimum. She is still nesting and licking me, and the lactating is still continuing. I wonder if someone needs a wet nurse doggie? I could loan her out. The testosterone meds do not seem to be working. I keep waiting for a voice change and weird hair in odd places. Except that she is a dog that has hair everywhere and an already deep bellowing howl. Let's just hope and pray that she doesn't grow a penis.
Went yarn shopping and got some Rowan Cocoon which is lovely, soft and shiny. It is a merino/mohair blend. Normally I hate mohair but this is just so soft and the colors are spectacular. I was looking for some Katia 100% merino that I purchased in Brugge. I just made a cowl for a friend and it is the softest, non-splitty yarn that knits up fast and beautiful. I imagine I will have to go overseas to get anymore:( I also bought some Zarina ultrafine Merino in a deep grey and red which I plan to make a double-sided cowl with. Very soft and yummy.
Going to go listen to my newly burned Neko Case and relax. Rainy blah day and tired of errands, wash, cleaning, etc.
Peace
In honor of this rainy day Halloween I am posting my favorite photo of my grandmother Molly, her sister Ruthie, and neighbor hood friends Halloween around 1910 in Rochester, NY.
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