Category Archives: People

Grandma Patrick and the circus people

People, ,

I’ve written about my Grandma Patrick’s place of birth before, but I only today learned about the owners of the inn during the time her parents worked there.

Rold Gammel Kro is a 3-star inn in the north of Denmark’s Jutland area. It is one of the oldest inns in Denmark, according to a website I happened upon today and a letter from my father’s cousin suggests the business could have been started as far back as the 1100s.

What I found so interesting is that, also according to the geocaching website in the paragraph above, a circus troupe stopped by the inn one year and asked for accommodations, but the owner would not let them stay, so the circus owner, Heinrich Miehe, went around and paid the debts of the inn’s owner and ended up owning the Rold Kro Inn the next year. It was Heinrich Miehe that my great-grandfather,  Christ Nielsen, worked for. Christ and his wife, Anne Marie were the innkeepers while the Miehes were on the road with their circus. Heinrich decided to stay and look after the inn in 1902. I wonder if that is why my grandma’s family decided to emigrate to the US. Or maybe he decided to take over the innkeeping duties because his employees were leaving.

Apparently, there is a circus museum near the inn that was part of the Miehe Circus winter training site.

According to the letter mentioned above, my grandmother’s sister, Antonie, mentioned the Miehe Circus. I’d never heard about until today. I wonder if Grandma Patrick told me about it and I just don’t remember.

Sources:

Aunt Ginny in Profile

Death, People

Not part of my personal declutter, but part of things I found at my mom’s — a silhouette of a young girl with a barrette that I believe is of my Aunt Ginny. I remember that this hung on a wall at my Grandma Green’s house — possibly in her bedroom. And I believe I remember her telling me it was of Aunt Ginny when she was a child. It looks like her profile.

Yesterday was Aunt Ginny’s birthday. She would have been 72 years old.

2016: My year in review

People, Places, Politics, Rant, ,

When I was a teenager I would write a last journal entry the last hour before the end of the year. I was usually babysitting, so was awake at that time — and never was out partying because I was not popular enough to party on New Year’s eve.

Here’s my personal review in pictures…

In January we trekked through a blizzard to attend a Burns' Supper
In January we trekked through a blizzard to attend a Burns’ Supper

In February we threw Mom a surprise 80th birthday party
In February we threw Mom a surprise 80th birthday party

and helped Andrew move into his own apartment in DC.
and helped Andrew move into his own apartment in DC.

In March we visited Austin, Texas and obtained a new chum
In March we visited Austin, Texas and obtained a new chum

and we also visited Chris and Sheri in Winston-Salem in March.
and we also visited Chris and Sheri in Winston-Salem in March.

There have been heated discussions on Facebook and elsewhere about why it is not right to call 2016 the “worst year ever”. Dean and Clare both agree that it is wrong to call it that. I don’t agree with them. There have been many worse years in the world than 2016 — with that I will agree. If the Bible is to be believed, the year Noah had to build the ark because God was pissed off at his people enough to drown all but a handful. Then there were the years of the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition, and the years of plagues and the two world wars, and the Holocaust. Yes indeed, there were many horrible years in the world — much worse than 2016 when a handful of celebrities died and Donald Trump won the U. S. presidential election. So, no, 2016 was not the worst year. But it was my worst year, especially if I tack on the last week few days of 2015.

It was not all bad.

Sure, 2016 had some mighty fine parts. I traveled to some fun places — Austin, Texas; Southern California; Olympia, Washington (twice); Illinois (countless times). I got to hang out with my brother and his family more than usual. I saw my brother marry a wonderful woman.

Despite all the exciting travel and good times with family, I lost two very important people in my life between December 27th, 2015 and August 26th, 2016.

Addendum

One of my favorite people ever, my Aunt Ginny, died December 27, 2015. Her husband, my Uncle Jack called to tell me the news when we were on our way back from our semi-annual post-winter trip to Chincoteague. Then my mom got worse and worse and died in August, three days after I turned 60.

Yes, 2016 was definitely my worst year.