My fetish for Jane Austen and all things Regency…along with a great sale at Handcock Fabrics on patterns has caused me to pick up a dozen or so historical costume patterns. For a buck each, how could I go wrong?
I realize there are probably more historically accurate patterns out there…but considering I still haven’t finished sewing the Raksu I started nearly three years ago…from a lack of ability in sewing in whatever odd foldy-fold pin-pin seaming style favored by bald Japanese monks…I figured I’d do better with a commercial pattern.
(BTW…I’m sure Buddha would have been ALL FOR sewing machines if they were around when HE was around. *sigh* Can’t I just slap a mantra on my Kenmore Machine and have at it?)
Anyway…I figure I can spend the winter picking at costumes. There’s an English Country Dance group in Evanston that gives regular dances…and a group in Champaign-Urbana…and Tim and I have always wanted to learn some sort of dancing. We made a lame attempt at Ballroom Dance years ago…and sort of managed the Fox Trot. And we dropped by for a Caeli Dance lesson at the Irish American Heritage Center…and that’s when we realized we probably needed to start with something a little more basic. Unfortunately the Wiggleworms class at the Old Town School is only for pre-schoolers.
So…on a recent re-watching of Pride and Prejudice…I thought to myself…”Self. That doesn’t look too complicated.” And after poking around on “Ye Olden Interweb” found out that most of the dancing in the movie…would have probably been “called” like a square dance. But since historical accuracy was not the purpose of the movie…looking at Colin Firth in tight-fitting pants WAS…I learned something new. A few more googles…and there you have it. Lists of all the Country Dances…and Jane Austen balls in the area.
Next thing I new…I was sitting next to a toothless old black woman at the Handcock chatting away about bias tape. (Fascinating woman…she looked rather like a bag lady…had gnarled hands…but she sewed choir robes for local school groups and churches…and did a lot of volunteer sewing for children’s theater. She’d worked as a seamstress/tailor since she was a teenager. I wanted to take her home with me…she was that much fun to talk to. She decided that after all these years…she wanted to learn how to make her own shoes…and a conversation about house slippers started. Kwik Sew has a pattern…I digress…)
I’ve always done well with Renaissance sewing. I mean…the first thing wearable I ever managed to sew was the oddly shaped vest I made in Junior High sewing class. (Yes…I’m old enough to have had sewing in school. As did EVERYONE in the seventh and eighth grade in Oak Park, IL. Boo-yah!) The most complicated thing in Renaissance clothing is the women’s bodice…or the men’s doublet…which are both basically vests…so…a few patterns later and I saved myself a bundle on costuming…and now never get called up for the “audience participation” segment at faire.
I think the most complicated thing will be sewing clothing for Tim. I do NOT know how to tailor. But…I doubt he has to look “perfect.” I figure the more complicated things…like a frock coat…I can probably get help with from my Mother…who used to sew all of her own clothing…and still occasionally remembers how. And I’ve usually found that more complicated piecing is easier done by hand. And if I use a natural fabric…I can always use starch and my trusty iron to make up for any pooching or wrinkling around seams.
My current issue with the patterns I bought is the arms. I have abnormally fat arms for my size. And…Empire dresses tend to “pouf” at the top of the shoulder and are more of a cap sleeve sort of thing. On a fat armed woman…this sort of sleeve makes arms look like large cuts of ham. So…I’ve been poking around to see what styles of sleeve will suit a large-armed woman. *sigh* There isn’t much. I think I may just elongate the arms…or possibly hide a gusset in the armpit to give me more room.
I should be able to do a majority of my projects out of my current fabric stash. I know I have a bunch of thin wool I bought eons ago for a cloak that I never made…which is probably enough for a frock for Tim and a Spencer for me. And I have a bunch of green corduroy left over from doublet making.
Handcock has brocade on sale. That will help. I need it for a waistcoat for Tim. They also have muslin and velveteen on sale. I need muslin for my chemise…Tim’s shirt…an Ascot. I may make a Pelisse of velveteen for myself. They also have wool suiting on sale. So if I find a color I like better than the drab grey I own…I won’t go broke.
It’s rather like they’re having a “Regency Costume Fabric” sale as far as I’m concerned. If heavy cotton twill was on sale…I’d be all set.
A few of the commercial underthings patterns in the “Sense and Sensibility” line have managed to go out of print…so I did a search on them…and managed to pick them up for just a little over retail. I’d bought a rather historically ambiguous corset pattern…but knew that Simplicity had licensed a pattern for Regency Short-Stays from “Sense and Sensibility” when the last Austen movie craze was going on. I bought it in small and large…on the odd chance that I either get smaller…or maybe I convince a few other people to costume with me. Or just become a terrorist and make costumes for people I want to drag dancing with me.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Waiting with baited toes...
The best thing about my job is the crap people ask me that has nothing to do with my job.
Question of the Day: What’s the origin of the phrase, “Waiting with baited breath?”
Well Researched Answer: Well...it’s actually spelled “bated” and is a phonetically shortened form of the word “abated.” So the literal meaning of the phrase is “waiting with shortened breath.” (Billy Boy clipped it for increased iambic pentameter value in The Merchant of Venice. Silly poet...clips are for kids.)
So what does this actually have to do with my job? Nothing...I’m just the answer gal for this sort of thing. Because I'm the department's writer...naturally I know all sorts of obscure points of grammar and the etymology of every word in the English language. (Ah...no...not really.) Luckily I have a handy copy of the QPB Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins…so I can amaze my co-workers and win big $$ playing NTN Trivia.
Two weeks ago I corrected a co-worker’s spelling of “tow the line” for about the zillionth time. It should be “toe the line” and is a reference to boxing...not sailing. (Boxers getting up off of the mat after being knocked down would have to put their foot at a pre-marked line on the floor of the ring before the next round could start...so someone who gets up from a beating over and over is “toeing the line” for their manager.)
So...I wonder...can you toe the line while waiting with bated breath?
Question of the Day: What’s the origin of the phrase, “Waiting with baited breath?”
Well Researched Answer: Well...it’s actually spelled “bated” and is a phonetically shortened form of the word “abated.” So the literal meaning of the phrase is “waiting with shortened breath.” (Billy Boy clipped it for increased iambic pentameter value in The Merchant of Venice. Silly poet...clips are for kids.)
So what does this actually have to do with my job? Nothing...I’m just the answer gal for this sort of thing. Because I'm the department's writer...naturally I know all sorts of obscure points of grammar and the etymology of every word in the English language. (Ah...no...not really.) Luckily I have a handy copy of the QPB Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins…so I can amaze my co-workers and win big $$ playing NTN Trivia.
Two weeks ago I corrected a co-worker’s spelling of “tow the line” for about the zillionth time. It should be “toe the line” and is a reference to boxing...not sailing. (Boxers getting up off of the mat after being knocked down would have to put their foot at a pre-marked line on the floor of the ring before the next round could start...so someone who gets up from a beating over and over is “toeing the line” for their manager.)
So...I wonder...can you toe the line while waiting with bated breath?
Monday, October 19, 2009
I can haz accent...
Whenever I talk to Tim's family...I realize I have an accent. I had no idea what a "spicket" was for the longest time. Water in Chicago comes out of faucets. A spigot is an "oldy timey" name for a faucet that is not hooked up to a pressurized water supply. And here...we pronounce the 'g'. If you pump water out of a well...it comes out of a spigot. Ain't that quaint?
Supposedly native Chicagoans speak Inland Northern American English.
I realize I say "grage" (long-a) instead of "gah-rage" for garage. I slip a "g" into the word bedroom...making it bedge-room. And I misuse the poor word "with" with great abandon. Because only Midwesterners say..."You wanna go with?" and imply "me." And to my knowledge...only Chicagoans say "What's with you?" to mean "Have you suddenly lost your bleeping mind?"
But I don't talk like a reject from the mafia.
To a native Chicagoan...the "Da Bears" accent made famous by Mike Ditka is the Bridgeport or "South Side" Chicago accent. It's associated with the old Irish and Italian-American neighborhoods down by old Comiskey Park. Even WE THINK IT'S FUNNY.
When I was still in College...my linguistics teacher told me that I spoke SCWE. "Standard Chicago White English." He was on the seventh year of his study on Chicago neighborhood dialects...and had just published a paper on "Chicago Standard Mexican English."
I stopped him before my brain started to foam.
Supposedly native Chicagoans speak Inland Northern American English.
I realize I say "grage" (long-a) instead of "gah-rage" for garage. I slip a "g" into the word bedroom...making it bedge-room. And I misuse the poor word "with" with great abandon. Because only Midwesterners say..."You wanna go with?" and imply "me." And to my knowledge...only Chicagoans say "What's with you?" to mean "Have you suddenly lost your bleeping mind?"
But I don't talk like a reject from the mafia.
To a native Chicagoan...the "Da Bears" accent made famous by Mike Ditka is the Bridgeport or "South Side" Chicago accent. It's associated with the old Irish and Italian-American neighborhoods down by old Comiskey Park. Even WE THINK IT'S FUNNY.
When I was still in College...my linguistics teacher told me that I spoke SCWE. "Standard Chicago White English." He was on the seventh year of his study on Chicago neighborhood dialects...and had just published a paper on "Chicago Standard Mexican English."
I stopped him before my brain started to foam.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Contract...
I have quite a few bi, lesbian and gay friends....who are disappointed by the anti-gay crap that flies around the political scene in the name of preserving marriage...or the family...or whatever.
It's a bunch of bull. Marriage. Legally...it's a contract and should be blind to gender. If two unrelated people want to legally enter into a contract providing for mutual financial support and responsibility...legally they should be able to do so. Period.
Preserving "marriage" is semantics. Does marriage mean the holy union between a man and a woman...or does it mean a contractual state of cooperative cohabitation and responsibility for the others welfare...where you become responsible for the others debts and can share in their assets?
Can it mean the first in a secular state? No...not really.
This is one of those fuzzy cases where our legal system allows the encroachment of religion in a way that is not only damaging...but inconsistent. I can go online...be ordained by the Church of Universal Life...or the Church of the Holy Hand Grenade...and perform wedding ceremonies. Why...does paying $40 make me capable of ascertaining the fitness of two people to enter into a legal and binding contract? Is there not a flaw here? When I got married...my ID was checked when I applied for the license with my husband...but my gender wasn't. Nobody asked to check "underneath the hood." Obviously it was important...but not THAT important.
And there are biological conditions that put gender into question. If you're born with both sets of gonads...and by some miracle allowed to keep them both until the age of majority...can you pick your gender? Are you both? Does a team of doctors need to evaluate and decide for you? Do you lose your right to marry because you have a chromosomal problem and can't decide what gender to be?
And transgendered people...now I know that the same folks who want to see marriage "preserved" probably also think that transgendered people shouldn't be allowed to exist...much less marry....but do they lose their rights? I mean...sex change operations usually aren't performed until extensive psychological evaluation and therapy happens. It's not something you can just "have done" like a nose job. People change their gender in response to identity issues that can in most cases...cause severe mental illness if NOT addressed. Do they lose their right to Marry because of what modern psychology considers a mental illness/identity crisis?
If marriage is a state designed to keep us from sin...and allow for procreation...do sterile people lose their rights? People who don't want to or shouldn't have children because of a medical condition?
Either marriage applies equally to any two people with the mental capacity to enter into a contract...or we should just abolish it all together. No marriage penalty...and no benefit. You want your life partner to share your assets...be entitled to your retirement...or have legal guardianship of your biological children...you get a lawyer to draw up a bunch of expensive paperwork assigning those rights and responsibilities. Man...it would create jobs for a literal army of paralegals...think of what it would do for the economy!
*sigh*
The world isn't overflowing with love. Love in all of its forms is beautiful...and should be cherished when it happens.
It's a bunch of bull. Marriage. Legally...it's a contract and should be blind to gender. If two unrelated people want to legally enter into a contract providing for mutual financial support and responsibility...legally they should be able to do so. Period.
Preserving "marriage" is semantics. Does marriage mean the holy union between a man and a woman...or does it mean a contractual state of cooperative cohabitation and responsibility for the others welfare...where you become responsible for the others debts and can share in their assets?
Can it mean the first in a secular state? No...not really.
This is one of those fuzzy cases where our legal system allows the encroachment of religion in a way that is not only damaging...but inconsistent. I can go online...be ordained by the Church of Universal Life...or the Church of the Holy Hand Grenade...and perform wedding ceremonies. Why...does paying $40 make me capable of ascertaining the fitness of two people to enter into a legal and binding contract? Is there not a flaw here? When I got married...my ID was checked when I applied for the license with my husband...but my gender wasn't. Nobody asked to check "underneath the hood." Obviously it was important...but not THAT important.
And there are biological conditions that put gender into question. If you're born with both sets of gonads...and by some miracle allowed to keep them both until the age of majority...can you pick your gender? Are you both? Does a team of doctors need to evaluate and decide for you? Do you lose your right to marry because you have a chromosomal problem and can't decide what gender to be?
And transgendered people...now I know that the same folks who want to see marriage "preserved" probably also think that transgendered people shouldn't be allowed to exist...much less marry....but do they lose their rights? I mean...sex change operations usually aren't performed until extensive psychological evaluation and therapy happens. It's not something you can just "have done" like a nose job. People change their gender in response to identity issues that can in most cases...cause severe mental illness if NOT addressed. Do they lose their right to Marry because of what modern psychology considers a mental illness/identity crisis?
If marriage is a state designed to keep us from sin...and allow for procreation...do sterile people lose their rights? People who don't want to or shouldn't have children because of a medical condition?
Either marriage applies equally to any two people with the mental capacity to enter into a contract...or we should just abolish it all together. No marriage penalty...and no benefit. You want your life partner to share your assets...be entitled to your retirement...or have legal guardianship of your biological children...you get a lawyer to draw up a bunch of expensive paperwork assigning those rights and responsibilities. Man...it would create jobs for a literal army of paralegals...think of what it would do for the economy!
*sigh*
The world isn't overflowing with love. Love in all of its forms is beautiful...and should be cherished when it happens.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Fuzzycaid...
I'm not sure what a government run health care plan would consist of...but I do want to see the uninsured...insured. Here in Illinois...there's a requirement for all college students to have health insurance. If they don't...it's provided by a University Clinic for a sliding-scale fee.
That's what I sort of imagine is going to happen eventually.
But I'd rather do what I'd consider to be a few HIGH-impact things before trying to figure out how to provide health insurance to areas of the country that have no "public health" infrastructure.
Like...
-Vouchers for smoking cessation and smoking cessation related products for low-income families. Poor and a smoker? Being a smoker just makes you poorer...and sets you up for other health issues that you can't afford any more than you can afford a carton of cigarettes. Provide some sort of voucher for _proven_ smoking cessation programs and/or things like the patch or zyban.
-Substance Abuse. Treatment centers and rehab...considering the waiting lists for getting into these programs...and the fact that many, many people need to be in two or three times before they can sucessfully complete them...you'd think it would be a prime area of "health care" that we'd want to support before trying to compete directly with the folks at Cigna. With the added bonus of reduced drug use and alcoholism reducing crime. (Especially if crimes related to addiction are decriminalized and the person "sentenced" to rehab instead of jail.) Sure...somebody might make the choice to put something in their body...but very few people do it with the vision that someday they'll be giving out blowjobs so they can earn money to support their crack habit. We need to help these people more than what we're doing now.
-Universal Children's Healthcare. Why worry about adults when we can catch them young before they have a chance to become diabetic? Kids already HAVE TO go to school...tying children's health to the school nurse that SHOULD be in every school in the nation seems like a no brainer. Schools already monitor hearing, sight...and vaccinations...why not provide money to help the schools provide basic healthcare to students? Maybe because education funding isn't a priority in the US? *sigh* Programs that work with schools to provide children's nutrition are some of the best ideas I've ever seen. (Like the backpack programs that send low-income kids home with nutritious food to eat.) Of course...we might have to stop funding schools with property taxes and/or the Lotto to do this.
-Wellness Voucher. I got a $40 voucher from the government because they were changing TV broadcasting. Every seller of the set-top converter boxes was required to accept it. Why not a healthy voucher? Rebate or subsidize the annual wellness checkup for non-insured Americans. Give me a coupon or a voucher or a card so I can see the doctor once a year and get whatever routine tests are suggested for my "age group" and update my vaccinations...get a pap smear...smoosh boobs...tickle prostates...or whatever. Make all of the costs of this annual checkup covered by my coupon. I hear the number of Americans who haven't seen a doctor in 2+ years...and it makes me wanna scream. Maybe fewer people will die of cancer...stroke...heart disease...if they actually GO to the doctor and get it diagnosed early before they start having symptoms and feel sick.
Plus...a LOT of common medical concerns can be treated on one visit a year. Illnesses like high-cholesterol requiring nutritional counseling. Prescriptions for birth control. Allergies. Athsma. Nutritional deficiencies. High blood pressure. Treating certain viruses. Migraines. Cold sores. Etc. Not that it's ideal...but it's better than treating NOTHING on NO visits a year.
You could even put in a reduced cost for treatment of any conditions and/or illnesses diagnosed during this checkup. Or at least some guidance as to where to go for low-cost treatment.
----------------------
Where would the funding come from? Employers who don't offer health insurance. Walmart could pay some sort of 'employee tax' to the government that would help pay for these rudimentary services...or bite the bullet and just provide insurance to employees in order to avoid it. Since payroll taxes are already reported to the government...it's not going to bloat anything to collect another employee based tax from an employer. The self-employed would be required to pay it for themselves.
I'm not an economist...but I do know that plenty of people who work at a company that doesn't offer health insurance ARE insured by a spouse and/or family member who works somewhere that does. So the intake of this tax will probably cover more of the output of the program than one would think. And most business that "balk" will end up showcasing the fact that they don't provide healthcare...which seems like a bad PR move. Better to just pay the $50 - $75 per employee per quarter...or whatever.
That's my $0.02.
That's what I sort of imagine is going to happen eventually.
But I'd rather do what I'd consider to be a few HIGH-impact things before trying to figure out how to provide health insurance to areas of the country that have no "public health" infrastructure.
Like...
-Vouchers for smoking cessation and smoking cessation related products for low-income families. Poor and a smoker? Being a smoker just makes you poorer...and sets you up for other health issues that you can't afford any more than you can afford a carton of cigarettes. Provide some sort of voucher for _proven_ smoking cessation programs and/or things like the patch or zyban.
-Substance Abuse. Treatment centers and rehab...considering the waiting lists for getting into these programs...and the fact that many, many people need to be in two or three times before they can sucessfully complete them...you'd think it would be a prime area of "health care" that we'd want to support before trying to compete directly with the folks at Cigna. With the added bonus of reduced drug use and alcoholism reducing crime. (Especially if crimes related to addiction are decriminalized and the person "sentenced" to rehab instead of jail.) Sure...somebody might make the choice to put something in their body...but very few people do it with the vision that someday they'll be giving out blowjobs so they can earn money to support their crack habit. We need to help these people more than what we're doing now.
-Universal Children's Healthcare. Why worry about adults when we can catch them young before they have a chance to become diabetic? Kids already HAVE TO go to school...tying children's health to the school nurse that SHOULD be in every school in the nation seems like a no brainer. Schools already monitor hearing, sight...and vaccinations...why not provide money to help the schools provide basic healthcare to students? Maybe because education funding isn't a priority in the US? *sigh* Programs that work with schools to provide children's nutrition are some of the best ideas I've ever seen. (Like the backpack programs that send low-income kids home with nutritious food to eat.) Of course...we might have to stop funding schools with property taxes and/or the Lotto to do this.
-Wellness Voucher. I got a $40 voucher from the government because they were changing TV broadcasting. Every seller of the set-top converter boxes was required to accept it. Why not a healthy voucher? Rebate or subsidize the annual wellness checkup for non-insured Americans. Give me a coupon or a voucher or a card so I can see the doctor once a year and get whatever routine tests are suggested for my "age group" and update my vaccinations...get a pap smear...smoosh boobs...tickle prostates...or whatever. Make all of the costs of this annual checkup covered by my coupon. I hear the number of Americans who haven't seen a doctor in 2+ years...and it makes me wanna scream. Maybe fewer people will die of cancer...stroke...heart disease...if they actually GO to the doctor and get it diagnosed early before they start having symptoms and feel sick.
Plus...a LOT of common medical concerns can be treated on one visit a year. Illnesses like high-cholesterol requiring nutritional counseling. Prescriptions for birth control. Allergies. Athsma. Nutritional deficiencies. High blood pressure. Treating certain viruses. Migraines. Cold sores. Etc. Not that it's ideal...but it's better than treating NOTHING on NO visits a year.
You could even put in a reduced cost for treatment of any conditions and/or illnesses diagnosed during this checkup. Or at least some guidance as to where to go for low-cost treatment.
----------------------
Where would the funding come from? Employers who don't offer health insurance. Walmart could pay some sort of 'employee tax' to the government that would help pay for these rudimentary services...or bite the bullet and just provide insurance to employees in order to avoid it. Since payroll taxes are already reported to the government...it's not going to bloat anything to collect another employee based tax from an employer. The self-employed would be required to pay it for themselves.
I'm not an economist...but I do know that plenty of people who work at a company that doesn't offer health insurance ARE insured by a spouse and/or family member who works somewhere that does. So the intake of this tax will probably cover more of the output of the program than one would think. And most business that "balk" will end up showcasing the fact that they don't provide healthcare...which seems like a bad PR move. Better to just pay the $50 - $75 per employee per quarter...or whatever.
That's my $0.02.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Mount Olive...with a side of lutefisk...
I've been doing some research into the family cemetery. I've been doing it because there's no Wikipedia article on it...and as one of Chicago's older cemeteries...that seems a little odd to me. You can find MILES of information on Mount Olivet Cemetery...it's kind of a who's who of the Chicago dead. But not much about Mount Olive...
But I found a juicy tidbit. One of the cemetery founders was apparently famous bank embezzler, Paul O. Stensland. He was the former president of Milwaukee Avenue Bank...and almost got away with $1,500,000.00. Impressive for 1906! I mean...holy crap. Makes the Enron folks seem like amateurs.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9F03E4D61F3EE733A25755C2A96F9C946797D6CF
I found several sources citing that he tried to cover up some of the funds by laundering them as his "salary" as president of the Cemetery Association that bought the land that became Mount Olive.
Unlike a lot of Chicago cemeteries...there isn't anyone particularly famous in Mount Olive. (I think that's because Norskies don't typically BECOME famous...preferring to eat herring and drink beer in peace.) Halvol Michelson...one of the largest Great Lakes shipbuilders of the last century...is buried there in a family plot. Olympic gold medalist in swimming, Sybil Bauer. Earl Herold Juul...pitcher for the Brooklyn Tip-Tops in the 1914 season...in the defunct "Federal League." And Niels Juul (no relation) former U.S. Congressman...and U.S. Collector of Customs for Port of Chicago.
Haven't figured out if Mr. Stensland is buried there. One would think that he would have managed to buy a plot in a cemetery he managed...but then again...all of his assets and property were seized...so...
I guess I'll have to stop by and see.
I need to go take photos of the gate...and the viking fountain. And maybe the chapel...even though it's been shuttered for the last 20 years. When I'm finished, I should be able to post a pretty comprehensive article for Wikipedia. Even though I'll probably be the only person interested in it.
But besides my Great Aunt Helen...who is in Mount Emblem (because it's a Masonic cemetery...and my Uncle Bill and Aunt Helen were big into lodge) all of the rest of the Ericksons are there. My Grandpa Arthur and Grandma Mickey. My Great Grandparents Andrew and Martha. Great Aunts Anne and Alice. Great Uncle Edwin. My Uncle Melvin. None of them historical figures. Most of them people I never met. But family nonetheless.
But I found a juicy tidbit. One of the cemetery founders was apparently famous bank embezzler, Paul O. Stensland. He was the former president of Milwaukee Avenue Bank...and almost got away with $1,500,000.00. Impressive for 1906! I mean...holy crap. Makes the Enron folks seem like amateurs.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9F03E4D61F3EE733A25755C2A96F9C946797D6CF
I found several sources citing that he tried to cover up some of the funds by laundering them as his "salary" as president of the Cemetery Association that bought the land that became Mount Olive.
Unlike a lot of Chicago cemeteries...there isn't anyone particularly famous in Mount Olive. (I think that's because Norskies don't typically BECOME famous...preferring to eat herring and drink beer in peace.) Halvol Michelson...one of the largest Great Lakes shipbuilders of the last century...is buried there in a family plot. Olympic gold medalist in swimming, Sybil Bauer. Earl Herold Juul...pitcher for the Brooklyn Tip-Tops in the 1914 season...in the defunct "Federal League." And Niels Juul (no relation) former U.S. Congressman...and U.S. Collector of Customs for Port of Chicago.
Haven't figured out if Mr. Stensland is buried there. One would think that he would have managed to buy a plot in a cemetery he managed...but then again...all of his assets and property were seized...so...
I guess I'll have to stop by and see.
I need to go take photos of the gate...and the viking fountain. And maybe the chapel...even though it's been shuttered for the last 20 years. When I'm finished, I should be able to post a pretty comprehensive article for Wikipedia. Even though I'll probably be the only person interested in it.
But besides my Great Aunt Helen...who is in Mount Emblem (because it's a Masonic cemetery...and my Uncle Bill and Aunt Helen were big into lodge) all of the rest of the Ericksons are there. My Grandpa Arthur and Grandma Mickey. My Great Grandparents Andrew and Martha. Great Aunts Anne and Alice. Great Uncle Edwin. My Uncle Melvin. None of them historical figures. Most of them people I never met. But family nonetheless.
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