{"id":2492,"date":"2014-05-11T19:44:51","date_gmt":"2014-05-12T00:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=2492"},"modified":"2014-05-11T19:45:14","modified_gmt":"2014-05-12T00:45:14","slug":"happy-mothers-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=2492","title":{"rendered":"Happy Mother’s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Actually, my Mother\u2019s Day was all weekend.\u00a0 I started on Saturday by sleeping in.\u00a0 Rich got up with Sascha to put her out, but that was just his excuse to go fishing.\u00a0 It was a beautiful morning and he had made bait the night before.\u00a0 He was ready for this.<\/span><\/p>\n

I woke up to no dog or no Rich. I knew right away that he finally got out there on the banks of the mighty Fox River to try his luck.\u00a0 That was fine.\u00a0 It meant a quiet morning for me.\u00a0 I got my coffee and headed to the couch to read the paper in peace.\u00a0 I did check on Sascha, but she was totally ignoring in case I wanted her to come in.<\/p>\n

Today, I was getting my Mother\u2019s Day flowers for the deck and patio.\u00a0 This is what I ask for every year.\u00a0 It\u2019s simple and it\u2019s something I truly want.\u00a0 I rousted Rick from his bed to go and be my labor for the day.\u00a0 This meant I had to feed him breakfast.\u00a0 Oh wait, he is a working stiff as of Monday, so he took me to breakfast.\u00a0 We went out to Island Caf\u00e9.\u00a0 As soon as we stepped in the door, Rachel looks around and asks where he is.\u00a0 Who?\u00a0 Oh yeah, Rich.\u00a0 I assured her he was doing something else and it would just be two.\u00a0 Throughout breakfast, everyone asked where Rich was.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t realize he was so popular.<\/p>\n

Then it was off to Castle Gardens to pick out my flowers for the year.\u00a0 I had been planning for this and had decided on the flowers I wanted.\u00a0 On the road just past the Volo Auto Museum, the fire department had the road shut down.\u00a0 The Gardens were just on the other side.\u00a0 This meant that we had to snake through the roads in the tiny town of Volo.\u00a0 The fire appeared to be a field right next to the nursery.<\/p>\n

Once we go there and got a wagon, we headed up the hill to the annuals.\u00a0 I said I wasn\u2019t going to wonder around, but I lied apparently.\u00a0 I walked up and down the rows looking at the colors.\u00a0 Finally, I did settle on purple and yellow jump ups, purple and white alyssum, white snapdragons, red and yellow snapdragons, and purple variegated petunias.\u00a0 I wanted some other things, but decided to wait on those.<\/p>\n

It was back to the house.\u00a0 Rich was just getting back from fishing with his prize. \u00a0It was one lonely, rather large carp.\u00a0 He had a story to go with it.\u00a0 Apparently, he caught the fish after it took his bite and was trying to make its escape.\u00a0 It was a good sized fish.\u00a0 So we left Rich with his carp since my running wasn\u2019t over.<\/p>\n

I still had to go to the grocery store for the week\u2019s load of good eats.\u00a0 Rick went with me.\u00a0 I like the company and the help.\u00a0 He had ulterior motives though.\u00a0 As I said, Rick is starting work on Monday and he wanted to pick up some things for lunches next week.\u00a0 I saw the dollar signs stretching out in a straight line and the pinch on my wallet.<\/p>\n

The grocery store was nuts!\u00a0 Who knew that Mother\u2019s Day weekend was the biggest holiday of the year.\u00a0 It was worse than Christmas and Super bowl.\u00a0 I think it was because the weather was going to be so gorgeous and people were planning to grill out.\u00a0 You don\u2019t always get that at Mother\u2019s Day in the Midwest.<\/p>\n

Finally back home, Rich was done carving up the carp for dinner.\u00a0 There were fish scales all over the yard.\u00a0 We unloaded the groceries and put everything away.\u00a0 Now it was time for me to get busy with those gorgeous flowers.\u00a0 Dinner was a couple of hours off.\u00a0 I might just get this done.<\/p>\n

I have the flower boxes on the deck to fill along with three pots that I keep up there for more color.\u00a0 The sun was warm and the wind was nice.\u00a0 I worked around first to remove the old and dead leftovers from last summer.\u00a0 Then I arranged my flowers in order along the top of the seats.\u00a0 After that, it was all fun and dirt.\u00a0 I finished up in good time.\u00a0 That left the pots along the patio.\u00a0 I arranged what I had left to decide the best coverage.\u00a0 They came out with a very stunning look.\u00a0 I was very pleased with my work.<\/p>\n

That was enough for the evening.\u00a0 Rich started up the burner and we prepared dinner.\u00a0 Rich was going to fry up a mess of hushpuppies before doing the fish.\u00a0 I found a recipe and started creating.\u00a0 The mix was easy and tasted good before they went into the fryer.\u00a0 But they were so much better after they came out.\u00a0 A variation of fried dough is always good.\u00a0 Even the crispies were delicious.\u00a0 Dinner was excellent.\u00a0 Nothing like getting the food yourself.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not obsessed with finding out as much as possible about the next connections that I\u2019ve made in the Zurek family tree.\u00a0 Through more records, I\u2019m finally able to identify Joseph Zurek, Rich\u2019s great-grandfather, in the records and correlate his claimed hometown in Poland.\u00a0 Rudy Rysie seems like an interesting name.\u00a0 I found it on the map of Poland. It is about where I thought it might be, between Krakow and Tarnow.\u00a0 The village is still there.\u00a0 I can open a street view through Google.\u00a0 It\u2019s cute and reminds me of many German villages.<\/p>\n

I tried looking through some Polish genealogy sites.\u00a0 I don\u2019t find much, but not being able to read Polish kind of hurts my efforts also.\u00a0 I just need to find the church records for this part of Poland.\u00a0 I see a Joseph Zurek, but he is three years too young.\u00a0 The mother\u2019s name is right though.<\/p>\n

I did manage to find the immigration record where Joseph Zurek from Rudy Rysie, Poland came through Ellis Island.\u00a0 He came from Bremen, Germany to New York.\u00a0 It shows that his mother was Marya.\u00a0 Now I at least have one parents\u2019 name.\u00a0 I had found a Civil Registration card for what would have been the Selective Service around the time of WWI for Joe.\u00a0 I have a general description of him.\u00a0 This also listed his hometown as Rudy Rysie.<\/p>\n

See, I can get really obsessed with this stuff.\u00a0 But it\u2019s 9:00 by this time.\u00a0 I had asked Rich to make me up a mint julep.\u00a0 We had plenty of mix left from the party.\u00a0 I just need the ice to melt into the mix a little before I can drink it.\u00a0 Rick wants to try a taste.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t really like bourbon, but he thinks it\u2019s pretty good.\u00a0 We settle in to watch an episode of \u201cFather Brown.\u201d\u00a0 I like English detective shows and this one is quirky and cute.\u00a0 Apparently, it was an inspiration for Agatha Christie as well.<\/p>\n

The night is pretty over by now.\u00a0 We watch a couple of other things and I start to think about ready.\u00a0 I\u2019m finishing up an Agatha Christie tonight and moving on to the next book.\u00a0 Sascha has only been nagging us to go to bed since 8:00, as usual.<\/p>\n

That takes us to Sunday morning now.\u00a0 I get up first and handle the dog duties, which includes grabbing the Sunday paper.\u00a0 Coffee gets made to help me wake up and to enjoy while reading the paper.\u00a0 Sascha decides to stay outside since it is so nice.\u00a0 Pretty soon, Rich gets up and heads for coffee.\u00a0 Rick finally gets up.\u00a0 After making it through the comics, he heads to kitchen to make breakfast.\u00a0 We have Sascha\u2019s favorite, corned beef hash and eggs.\u00a0 Maybe that\u2019s because she does expect to get a share in her bowl.<\/p>\n

Rich and I decide to head out and get some supplies to work in the yard.\u00a0 The winter was hard on the roses.\u00a0 Rich lost a couple.\u00a0 I want to get herbs to grow this year as well as tomatoes to add to the garden.\u00a0 We head to Ace first, but we just don\u2019t find what we want.\u00a0 Over at Home Depot, it\u2019s crazy.\u00a0 We do find everything we want.\u00a0 After loading up, we head for home.<\/p>\n

I start working on the flower bed off the patio.\u00a0 I\u2019m putting my tomatoes and herbs in this bed for the summer.\u00a0 I\u2019m just hoping Sascha stays out of it.\u00a0 She loves to dig when the soil is loose.\u00a0 I find I have room for more herbs.\u00a0 I just need to figure out what I can add.<\/p>\n

Rich is around front digging up the dead roses and replanting with the new ones.\u00a0 He sees that not all of the dead ones are totally devastated.\u00a0 Problem is, will they really survive?\u00a0 Better safe than sorry and just put in the new roses.\u00a0 The new roses are grandifloras.\u00a0 These are really huge blooms.\u00a0 They should add to the bed with the rest of the roses.\u00a0 Then it\u2019s time to put down the Moo-Nure.\u00a0 I love the name.\u00a0 The picture of the cow on the front is cute.<\/p>\n

I get the patio bed finished and move on to the garden on the side of the house.\u00a0 The garlic mustard plants are taking over.\u00a0 And they smell to high heaven when you disturb them.\u00a0 Well, they have to come out.\u00a0 They are right in the way of planting my other flowers.\u00a0 Here I\u2019m doing some seeds and bulbs.\u00a0 I plant zinnias for Rich.\u00a0 I have Bachelor Buttons and Anemones for the fence.\u00a0 I have to find a spot for my Dahlias.\u00a0 Unfortunately, I\u2019m finding so many of my plants didn\u2019t survive.\u00a0 The daisies are gone.\u00a0 So I clean out the bed and put the Dahlias there.\u00a0 My butterfly bush looks like it is dead.\u00a0 I have to start all over again!<\/p>\n

While I\u2019m working, Rich comes around to dig up two of the roses that survived along that side of that house.\u00a0 He moves to the front where I have some space for them.\u00a0 More of that Moo-Nure goes in and the smell is a little overpowering.\u00a0 But I guess it\u2019s not as bad as the grass in the compost pile.\u00a0 It really smells this year.<\/p>\n

I convince Rick to come out and burn all of the wood, sticks, and other burnables.\u00a0 The pile is huge and it is threatening to keep growing.\u00a0 He agrees and gets the whole thing going.\u00a0 It burns really fast.\u00a0 I guess the amount of rot is pretty good.\u00a0 Before you know, Rick announces he is done and heading back in to his computer.\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 It\u2019s a beautiful day out here.<\/p>\n

Did I speak too soon?\u00a0 After dinner the clouds start to thickening and rain looks like it is moving in.\u00a0 Sascha must hear thunder from a long way away.\u00a0\u00a0 She cowers under Rich\u2019s desk.\u00a0 The lightning and thunder start up pretty good.\u00a0 Rick attempts to get the trash out before the rain and doesn\u2019t make it.\u00a0 The garbage can is out, but the recycling will have to wait.\u00a0 It pours down.\u00a0 I go out to the garage to watch the storm with Rick.\u00a0 We see some hail, but not much.\u00a0 Then the second wave comes in.\u00a0 This time the hail is pea-sized and quite a bit of it.\u00a0 The storm finally passes and the sun comes back out.<\/p>\n

For one final Mother\u2019s Day taste, Rich is making rhubarb upside down cake.\u00a0 I saw this in the morning paper and it sounded good.\u00a0 Rich wants to do something with his rhubarb.\u00a0 It sounded like a good thing to try.\u00a0 We\u2019ll see when it comes out of the oven and cools off a bit.<\/p>\n

So tomorrow is back to the grind. \u00a0Rick starts up his job in the bay preparing the hardware for the engineers to stage systems.\u00a0 The weather sound like spring:\u00a0 a little warm with showers.<\/p>\n

Happy Mother\u2019s Day to all of the mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, and role models for us all.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>
One of the deck boxes with the flowers planted.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"I<\/a>
I love the smell of the alyssum while sitting on the deck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Snapdragons,<\/a>
Snapdragons, jump ups, and alyssum on deck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"My<\/a>
My bleeding heart by the hot tub survived and was blooming this weekend.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The pots on the patio with their color.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"There's<\/a>
There’s the carp that Rich caught on Saturday morning.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"That's<\/a>
That’s an ugly face.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sascha<\/a>
Sascha always gets excited when there is fish to fillet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Getting<\/a>
Getting the oil up to temperature.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"And<\/a>
And the hushpuppies go into the grease.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rich<\/a>
Rich pulling the golden hushpuppies out of the fryer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rich<\/a>
Rich preparing the carp for the fryer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Fish<\/a>
Fish fry is ready.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sascha<\/a>
Sascha is trying to be patient for dinner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rick<\/a>
Rick was learning to drive Sally on Saturday. He didn’t kill it once.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Actually, my Mother\u2019s Day was all weekend.\u00a0 I started on Saturday by sleeping in.\u00a0 Rich got up with Sascha to put her out, but that was just his excuse to go fishing.\u00a0 It was a beautiful morning and he had made bait the night before.\u00a0 He was ready for this. I woke up to no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,8,9,11,12,13,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2492"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2492"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2509,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2492\/revisions\/2509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}