Getting Ready

In just a few days, I will be on my way to Holland to visit my daughter. I don't like to fly, so I am taking two lady friends with me. We will fly from San Francisco directly to Amsterdam, an 11 hour flight.
My daughter will meet us there and then we will take a taxi (a van) with all our luggage and go to her house in Haarlem, about a 30 minute drive.
There's a nice article about Haarlem at wikipedia.
My sister is going to house-sit; cat-sit and water the yard. She is going to be very busy. Her gardener is going to come over while I am gone and remove 3 peach trees, prune back an over-grown vine and do some other clean-up in the back yard.
It's going to be so nice when all that is done. I have some ideas of different plants to put in the back yard this fall. So exciting!
But, back to getting ready. Thursday evening, I slammed the car door on my thumb. then the pain in my hip kept getting worse. By Saturday I decided I had to do something about it. The doctor's office was closed and also the chiropractor's. So, I went to Urgent Care, got a shot and 3 different kinds of medicine to take for the pain in my sciatic nerve. Good grief!! Is my body trying to tell me to stay home? Too late now.
I will be taking lots of pictures and post them on flickr. We plan to ride on canal boats and maybe have lunch on one of them; go to several museums, including the Anne Frank museum. One friend will fly to England for one week to meet two cousins she's never met before and see where her grandfather was born and raised.
While that friend is in England, my daughter will take me and the other friend to Friesland and Gronigan in the north part of the Netherlands. I am hoping to find something in Gronigan to prove my Dirks ancestors were there.
Sorry I don't have any pictures to post here, but my daughter has a nice picture of an old church at the market place in Haarlem. We'll be seeing lots of old buildings.

What Came First?

What came first, the chicken or the egg? That seems to be a rhetorical question that is never answered to everyone's satisfaction. -- So, the next question of course is, What came first, the Winton history book or the Winton Historical Society? LOL.
Many people mistakenly think the "Memories of Winton" history books are a society project. They are not.
Rosalie and I started working on the history of Winton in 2001, researching the newspapers on microfilm at the library and driving around to find the facts on early Winton. We finally finished the book in 2004, with part of the book order available at the Winton Old Timers reunion the last Sunday in September of that year.
After the book was published, a few people in Winton thought we should have a historical society. Our first meeting was in November 2004, with Rosalie elected as president and I as treasurer.
Now we are working on the next history book of Winton and we are again asking people to let us scan their pictures and maybe use them in the next book.
I don't want people to think it's for the Winton Historical Society. It's a personal project of two people who get excited about uncovering historical facts and pictures of the town of Winton and her people.
We hope to see you at the Winton Old Timers' Reunion, and maybe with pictures in hand for us to scan into my computer.
The above picture came from my aunt; it's Winton's fourth grade class of 1937.
We are looking for Winton pictures, up to 1975, that are not in the first Winton history book. Thank you for any help in newly discovered pictures.
Lorraine CalifNative37@aol.com

Winton Old Timers

A group of us met at the Community Law Enforcement Office (CLEO) on Tuesday to mail out reminder postcards for the Winton Old Timers Reunion that will be held Sunday, September 28.
Registration starts at 10:00 a.m. A chicken dinner will be served at 1:00 p.m.
Remember to bring your pictures of Winton, (that are not in the "Memories of Winton 1911-1950" book) from the earliest days, up to 1975 to be scanned while you wait. They may be included in the next Winton history book.
This will be the last Winton book by Rosalie and Lorraine, so don't miss this chance to have your photos included. After the Winton Old Timers Reunion, we will be working hard on the next book, so let us know at the reunion or soon after if you have pictures or stories for the next Winton book.

Reflexology Treatments

Today, my sister and I had another reflexology treatment in Turlock.
Lately the muscles above my right eye have been tightening up and I feel like I must be frowning. These are the same sensations I felt 25 years ago before I realized my right eye was sinking in. People used to tell me "stop frowning" so often that I finally got tired of it and wanted to shout "I can't help it; I'm not frowning." So, now I am thinking I must be working back through and my body is undoing the damage that was inflicted upon it years ago.
It was a very gradual process when all my problems started with double vision, locking jaw, etc. so it's not surprising to me that it is a gradual process getting back to normal.
I've made giant leaps with the healing through reflexology and I would be very happy with the status quo, but I am now confident that more healing is taking place.
Read what Kevin Kunz says about "going back through" in his blog.
I know some people expect a complete healing with one reflexology treatment, but that probably depends on how long they've had the problem or how severe it is.
Today I tried out my new compact camera on Miguel and his wife, Blanca. It's a Kodak Easyshare V1273 and it takes really good pictures, but the operator needs more practice with it.

Verna's Birthday

Yesterday was Verna's 95th Birthday Party. Her daughter invited many friends and relatives to their home to help Verna celebrate her birthday. A delicious home-cooked meal was served at noon. Verna's family of Smith and Logue helped develop the town of Winton when it first started in 1911. Winton will soon celebrate its' 100 year anniversary.
Also in attendance at Verna's party was Harry Tighe, who just turned 100 this summer. Harry is doing very well and I expect he will be the oldest man in attendance at the Winton Old Timers again this year. (Sunday, Sept. 28) All those 90 years old and older will be honored, so encourage the Winton senior seniors to attend.

Yesterday

Yesterday I picked up this picture at the Merced County Fair office of my daughter and granddaughter with Craig Morgan. My granddaughter had to come to Merced to see Craig Morgan's show at the fair. They were lucky to get "Meet & Greet" tickets to go backstage where this picture was taken.
When Laura went back to school, she told her friends that she met Craig Morgan. They didn't believe her. Now she will have proof, as soon as I mail this picture to her.
Also yesterday, we had a meeting at the Winton Historical Society at 1:30, so to save on gas, I decided I would go in the morning and take pictures of tombstones at the Winton Cemetery. Well, when I got there, my rechargeable batteries were DEAD! The one thing I should have remembered from the camera class is; "Always recharge your batteries before going to class" (or leaving home). So, I had to go buy some regular batteries and still had time to take a few pictures. I thought I would go back after our meeting and take pictures for the requests I had, but it was so hot by then. I did find two of them. Oh well, another day. I had several other errands to do and it seems like it's hard to think of more than one thing at a time. Good thing I gave up chewing gum.

Next Winton Book

People keep asking Rosalie and I "when will the next Winton book be done?" We thought it would be finished before now, but so much has been happening. My husband was getting cancer treatments for a little over a year before he died in May last year. My brother broke his neck and was a quadriplegic for about 15 months before he died in February of this year. I had two brothers-in-law die, one two years ago and one this year. So, it's been hard emotionally for me. The most devastating was when my husband passed away. Besides the emotions you go through, the work has doubled. He used to take care of most of the yard and did the cooking. I'm still trying to sort things out, decide just how much can I really do myself. I have way too many fruit trees in the backyard, and I think I will have more taken out. It's just too much work. Well, I didn't plan to go on about my personal stuff.
About the Winton book: Rosalie and I plan to 'hit it hard' after the Winton Old Timers. We are hoping that more people will bring their pictures of Winton and people of Winton to the Old Timers so I can scan them into my laptop computer.
This next book will have the history of Winton from 1950-1975. We have already researched the information in the old newspapers.
I don't have that many school pictures. I did get a 1934 fourth grade class picture from my aunt and even though it's an older picture we will include it since it was not in the first Winton book. (Memories of Winton - 1911-1950) So, if you have pictures, that are not in the first Winton book, we would be interested in scanning them and may be able to include them in the next book. Thanks. You can email me at CalifNative37@aol.com People who know me can call or email.
The above picture of Dave Koehn, the bus driver is also from my aunt. Probably taken in 1942.