Treadle Sewing Machine

This might seem like an unusual post, but I think of treadle sewing machines quite often.  The first reason is my Grandma Beck.   She had one. I think it was a singer, but I don't remember.   I also don't know when she got it.  I don't know if Grandpa give it to her or if she had it before they married. She may have, as she did go to Milwaukee's School for Women and graduated as a milliner and seamstress. Her sewing machine was one of her most treasured possessions.  She taught her daughter how to sew on this machine, she even tried to teach me to use it, but I was a pretty scrawny kid, I couldn't push the treadle to make it go.  Grandma could sew pretty much anything on her treadle.  Some of her own clothes, mending and a lot of my Barbie doll clothes.  She even "fixed" my Red Baby a few times so that I would have her so I could sleep.  When I would visit Grandma and I'd be off playing, I could hear the steady rhythm of her feet moving the treadle and the needle making wonderful things.  Sometimes I would sit on her bed and just watch her make her creations or mend a blouse.
Later on in life I got a job with Ashley Pecka at Shu-craft and learned how to repair shoes and other leather goods.  I learned a lot from Ashley.  Working as his apprentice was probably my favorite job.  He had two treadle machines, one treadle machinewas converted to electric, but the other was an old Singer treadle machine.  It was both ours favorite machine.  You had so much control on it, speed, and felt wonderful. It was comfortable, and when I used it in the shop I  always thought of grandma .  I used that machine to fix everything from shoes, purses, customs holsters, to saddles, I even restored a McClellan military saddle, that I used, and still have.                      (this was a Red Baby)

Mitchell Park Domes

courtesy of Alamy.com

I read a news story this week that really saddened me.  The Mitchell Park Domes in Milwaukee have closed indefinitely because of falling concrete.
This park holds so many memories for me, all good.  One memory goes to a song written by Joni Mitchell in 1970.
 "They took all the trees 
Put 'em in a tree museum * 
And they charged the people 
A dollar and a half just to see 'em ".  

The second is field trips.  When I attended grade school in Mequon, we would make a trip to the domes in the spring.  It was fun because we were out of school.
All of the other memories belong to  Grandma Beck and me.  For so many years, the weather didn't matter, when they lived on South 33rd Street, we would walk down to the domes and spent most of the day there.   It was most fun in the winter, when you could walk through the domes and forget that it was winter outside.  All three domes were special.  First Grandma would want to go through the "seasonal dome" and see what special display they would have out.  For Christmas the dome would be filled with thousands of poinsettia.  Then we go through the desert dome, see all the catcus. It was so dry in there.  I swore that I saw lizards there. Lastly we'd go to the tropical dome. It was like walking through a jungle,  Walking over the bridge and looking at the koi fish in their river. Looking at orchids hanging from trees. It was the first time I ever saw orchids and still love them to this day. 

Sometimes we'd stop in the gift shop, Grandma and I would pick out a catctus to take home.

It was just enjoyable to walk through this fantasy land with my Grandma.

Godparents

What are Godparents? 

The Godparents are generally composed of both a female and male member, not necessarily from the same couple. However only one Godparent is actually necessary. One of the Godparents often needs to be a practicing member of the faith into which the child is being baptized and they must be sufficiently well-connected to the family of the child to be able to exercise the responsibilities they undertake in the service. When an infant is baptized he/she can't answer the questions for him/herself, so someone needs to answer on his/her behalf.

Godparents may be asked to perform ritual functions during the ceremony, such as holding the child, praying over the child and to make promises for the child's religious growth. After the ceremony, the role of the Godparents is to look after the child's religious path.

Godparents (also called sponsors or proxies) were originally introduced into the baptism service for this reason.  In the history of the church godparents also promised to bring the child up in the Christian faith, and took responsibility for this.

This is one of the more common definitions of a godparent. I never really thought about my godparents as I grew up. Their names are Bernice and Harry Berth. They were there for my first communion, they always sent birthday cards and Christmas cards to me all during my childhood, (sadly I rarely wrote back) then when I became an adult I lost all contact with them. Mom and Dad would bring them up once and awhile telling me they asked about me. All I knew about them was that Harold K. Berth owned a lot of George Webb hamburger stands in the Milwaukee area and that he served with dad in Korea. Bert – Benice Berth was Harold's wife. After doing a little research I learned a little more about Harry. Sadly Harry passed away in 2008, a year after my mom. Harry was classmate of my parents at Messmer High; he was also a war buddy of my dad's. Harry was quite the man on campus acolyte, class officer etc. Because I don't know Bert's maiden name, I still don't know much about her. What I do know is that Bert is a very loyal friend to the end. Both she and Harry made it to my mom's funeral – only Bert to my dad's. Bert was late to my dad's because she got lost, this is when it hit me as to what a godparent is. It was important to Bert to see me, pay her respects to my dad, and give back a photo Harry had of dad and Bill Borman, right after they had been MIA behind enemy lines in Korea for 3 days. When Bert had caught up to us at the gravesite, it hit what a godparent and a friend is. I will never forget Harry or Bert. Bert is getting old now, I write her and send her cards on holidays as she did for me when I needed and didn't know it. I'm not sure if she gets them, but I will continue to do so as long as I can.

I had the opportunity to be a godparent once. I failed miserably. I was too young and immature. My best friend at the ime choose me chosen for all the wrong reasons. Unfortunityly I didn't really understand what was being asked of me. My friend thought this would be a good way to keep me and my boyfriend at the time togehter, because we were on the verge of breaking up. By the time I understood what I needed to do, I had lost all contact with my godson and his mother. I'd like to try and mend bridges, but I'm not even sure where they live. I was not there when my godson needed me most. I would have to say this is the one reget I have in my life.  

Mother's Day

This photo is of my uncle's Rich and Johnny, Grandma Beck and my Mom. On the back of the photo Grandma wrote:

“May 13^th 1933 Mother's grave and Lena's in the background part of the lot monument Cedarburg” My mom is on Grandma's lap.

This is how my Grandma spent some of her Mother's days after she lost her mother.

Mother's day used to have a different meaning for me. When I was much younger it meant finding something special for my mom and making her feel special. As I grew older it meant remembering to phone home and wishing her a happy day and catching up with her.

Now Mother's Day is mostly an empty day. What I mean by empty is that I have no one I can call or see in person anymore. Now I mostly spend part of the day thinking of the two women who meant the most to me in my life. Even though this might sound sad it isn't really. The thoughts I do have of them aren't sad ones. The thoughts always bring a smile to my face or even a laugh.

Of Grandma – a lot of the the time I'll think of one of our trips to the Milwaukee Museum or walking to the domes and one of the beautiful flower shows we saw there – Easter and Christmas are always breath taking.

Mom, I mostly just think of everyday things, like remembering being a young girl and watching her make sage dressing for the thanksgiving turkey, or her driving me and my siblings to the city pool for swimming lessons.

For those of you who have your Moms, remember now is the time to make memories for when you can't make anymore and you need a smile that feels like a hug.

Happy Birthday Dad

Happy birthday Dad.


Version 2:

Veterans Day 2013

A Soldier's Story

This story was essentially written by my Dad through his photographs.  Dad served from 1953-54. These are and were his "Brothers in Arms".   These are just some of the slides and photos taken by him.  This is a glimpse of how the Korean Conflict was seen by one soldier - my dad.  

Even through this is a longer video I hope you take the time to watch it.  At about the 4:15 mark there's a picture of my dad and his friend Bill Borman.  This was taken by my godfather Harry Berth; dad and Bill just got back in from the field after being lost behind enemy lines for a couple of days.

On July 14th 1953 my dad's home base was hit by "friendly fire", they lost all of their possessions.   Most of the men escaped major harm, my dad was seriously injured in the face by shrapnel - but returned to duty.  Three men were lost.

The photographs were taken by dad after that attack, he used that camera for most of his life. 

Apple Pie

I am sorry to say that I don't have as many memories of my Grandma Piekarski as I do Grandma Beck. One memory though that always sticks out with her, was her apple pie.

Grandma Piekarski made the best apple pie that I remember. When she and Grandpa lived in Whitefish Bay, they had a small orchard in their backyard, about a half dozen trees. I think they were all a cooking apple, because I can't remember just eating an apple right off the trees.

Anyway back to the pie. She mostly made the pies in the fall with fresh apples. The smell of the cooking pies would fill the whole house with the most wonderful smell of cooking apples and tasty crust. Her pies were the perfect combination of apples, spices and flaky crust. My most prized memory of her was one fall when I was visiting her, I think I was around 8 years old. Grandpa had picked apples for her and brought them into the kitchen for her. I was looking to watch her make the pies and then she surprised me and said she'd show me how to do it. So we mixed the ingredients for the crusts and divided the dough – one for her pie and one for my very own little pie! After the work of making the dough was done we filled the crusts with her filling and and waited for the goodness to come out of the oven.

Sadly a few years later Grandma and Grandpa moved out of Whitefish Bay to Thiensville, away from her trees, and she quit making those delicious pies.