HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIM!
Old school pictures are so much fun to look at. It is too bad your haircuts were not the best (ha, ha, ha).
You look great for your age today! Love, your wife, Kathy
Another Birthday Rolls Around
Author: Katherine J Krein
My name is Katherine J. Krein. I lost my father in June of 2013, and then I lost my mother in November of the same year. After they both died I went through a mind-warping number obsession that has taken me years to control. This is my story. It is now 2025. I still use this site to post some poems and thoughts. My obsession has faded, however, I still notice the numbers. Faith, hope, and love is what guides me now.
Memorial Day 2025: Spotlight on Pfc Ludwig Otto Krein
This Memorial Day I decided to see if I could research the history of my husband’s uncle that died in World War II. In the past when I asked my husband about his middle name, Ludwig, he told me he was given this name in honor of his father’s brother that had died in World War II. After doing a little research I discovered that several men in my husband’s family had the name Ludwig, including his grandfather Ludwig Jacob Krein. I was surprised to see that his country of birth was Moldova which is between Ukraine and Romania. This brought home the current conflict to my mind.
Ludwig Jacob Krein obviously had immigrated to the United States long ago, and he married a German woman, Magdalena Schoepp, and they lived in South Dakota and raised a large family.
Ludwig Otto Krein was the second to the youngest of their children. He was born in 1925 and died in 1945 in a battle in France. I was surprised to see that he was buried at Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial –Epinal, Department Des Vosges, Lorraine France. Later I discovered that there are many cemeteries and memorials around the world, outside of the United States, where our American soldiers have been buried.
Ludwig Otto Krein was only 19 years old when he died in a bloody battle. My husband never got to know him since he died before my husband was born.
Five thousand two hundred and fifty-two of our military dead are buried here. Many were probably just as young as Ludwig was.
Hartell Reunion 1993
I recently received some old family pictures from my stepmother Marilyn. She is my father’s widow. Most all of the pictures were from a Hartell family reunion that took place in Plattsburgh, Missouri back in 1993. I had forgotten the exact date, and the pictures did not help with this. Then I remembered the quilt square my cousin Pam had made for all of Florence Hartell’s grandchildren. Fortunately, she had written the date of the reunion on the back. I have taken good care of my square.
I was surprised to see the picture of my husband, Jim, holding our daughter Laura. She was 3 years old at that time. He is dressed up and smiling. I had never seen this picture before I received this recent package. I had to post this to show what a handsome man I married.
I was raised a Disciples of Christ. My grandparents Hartell attended the First Christian church in Plattsburg, Missouri. My parents, siblings, and I attended the First Christian church in 7-Corners, Virginia. I posted a screen shot of the Plattsburg church, and a screen shot about the Disciples of Christ faith. I was baptized in the First Christian church in 7-Corners, Virginia (Falls Church) I posted my grandparents church because several reunion pictures were taken there, and I remember attending this church from time to time when we were visiting them. The picture of my husband and daughter was taken in the general vicinity of this church.
Red Hats
I just finished reading Ursula K. Le Guin's book Voices. The priests in this book all wore red hats. They were called the Red Hats.
Coincidentally, I have been seeing a lot of red hats in catholic news these days.
The Red Hats in Le Guin's book were not kind men. I am not making any kind of comparison to the real cardinals wearing red hats and working together to pick a new pope in the Sistine Chapel.
Out of curiosity I did a quick search of catholic hats. I was surprised to find so many official hat names.
Natural Bridge in Virginia
The 2025 calendar on my refrigerator was purchased from the National Park Foundation. April 16 in 1908 the National Bridges National Monument in Utah was designated.
Our family trip to Natural Bridge, Virginia came into my mind, though, this is a Virginia state park, and is not the one advertised on my calendar. We have not been to the Natural Bridges in Utah.
This was a pleasant reminder of our trip in 2011. I have posted a few pictures from our trip.
Perhaps one day we will visit the National Bridges Monument in Utah.
The Mission by Ennio Morricone (1928-2020)
Something reminded me of one of my favorite albums today. I listened to the song, The Mission, over and over again many years ago when I was mourning the loss of my parents. See below to listen.
Now I listen to it rarely. I decided to share it here and easily preserve it for my enjoyment.
I will share one more song, and this one is in memory of my mother. Her second husband was born in Paraguay. He speaks Guarani, Spanish and English.
This week of spiritual reflection seems like an appropriate time to revisit these songs.
Three Poems
Hairstreak
Small in size, about an inch, it still captivates. Up close it is more attractive than from a distance. Usually, the opposite is true, especially true of humans.
There are different types and variations of the hairstreak. It has a scientific name. I don't have it memorized. You can look it up.
The sky is overcast today. We are in the future now, and not in the past with this. I have not seen any butterflies yet in 2025.
Honeybees were swarming the skip laurel hedge yesterday. I read it provides an early spring nectar. They seemed a nuisance, but they are important pollinators, so they will be left alone. I am insignificant to them, and probably not even noticed.
The overcast sky today has changed to intermittent sunshine. A storm is forecast for later tonight.
Rose Hips
The season is over, and all the petals have fallen.
The stark and brittle rose stems are left standing.
They remain armed and dangerous with thorns intact.
The blossom bases that were once green begin to redden and ripen.
These jewels are called hips.
They hold value and should be picked.
Fresh or dried they can be used for tea or jam.
If left alone, the birds will find them and be thankful.
These rose hips might even keep the doctor away.
(July 12,2020)
Unadorned
No necklaces, no manicures, no pedicure
Uncut, unpolished, and rough.
Sweaty, grimy, hot and dirty.
I sit completely unadorned in the garden.
The plants, insects, and garden birds take center stage.
The only spotlights are the sun and moon.
In the garden I'm the watcher and director,
When nature decides to acquiesce.
(I deleted it and typed it again today. The original date has been lost.)
P.S. I combined two old posts. I was going to delete them, and decided they could stay here. Why not?
P.P.S Today I added a 3rd poem.
Garden Update April 2025
My husband has been regularly filling the bird seed feeders and the suet feeders. This has attracted all sorts of birds to our garden. The other day I was very surprised to see a Northern Flicker at the suet feeder. I have never seen a live one nor a live one in our garden. It was big for the feeder compared to the little Downy woodpeckers that come around regularly now. When I was in the kitchen baking this morning, I looked out the window and saw the big bird again, but now I am not sure whether it was a Northern Flicker or some other type of woodpecker. The reason I wondered this is because the bird seen at our feeder had a very red head. The red started at the back of its neck and extended up to the back top of its head, and flickers don’t seem to have so much red on their head. However, looking at the comparison pictured above, the bird at our feeder did have the black patch and a mottled look on its front. It must be a Northern Flicker that it is coming around these days, and perhaps its redder head is a variation. In any case, I am very thrilled to be seeing it. It is almost too big for the suet feeder.
The Skip Laurel (Schip Laurel) hedge that is on two sides of our deck is blooming heavily this year. See picture below that was taken with my cell phone today.
Another surprise that I noticed today is a very old tall pink honeysuckle blooming. It was in the garden originally; however, it had been stunted with lack of sunlight for many years because another tree had been crowding it out. The offending tree was cut down a couple of summers ago. The pink honeysuckle is taking advantage of this and is spreading out and blooming. Gardens are always full of ongoing competitions. Next week I will be on break from school, so my plan is to get out in the garden.
Date Palm: Phoenix dactylifera
My fascination with Palm trees continues. With Palm Sunday arriving this weekend, I have been exploring the Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera). There are many of these trees on the property owned by the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park in California. One of my fondest memories is taking my daughter on a Safari drive through this park when she was young. We were visiting my sister who lived in Los Angeles at the time. My daughter was thrilled and a little scared to feed the giraffes carrots. They would come up to the safari truck and with their prehensile tongues they would scoop them out of our hands.
The fruit of the Date Palm tree are called Medjool dates. I bought some the other day at one of our local grocery stores. I have eaten them in salads at restaurants, but I have never bought a box of them to consume at home. We have been eating them today, and I can definitely say that they are delicious. My plan is to chop some of them up to put into a pound cake I hope to make this weekend. I enjoy experimenting. One of my recent goals this year is to try new foods and experiment with different recipes. I am currently focused on the Medjool date.
The dates I bought were grown in the Bard Valley of California. I had to research the name Bard since I attended an elementary school in California in 3rd and 4th grade by the name of Richard Bard. Curiously I don’t ever remember eating whole dates when I was young and lived in California. This is a shame since I could have discovered them long ago.
If I end up making the cake this weekend, I will post a picture. It would be a nice addition to a Palm Sunday brunch.
I made the Vanilla Sour Creme Pound Cake and added chopped medjool dates. I baked it this morning. Now all I need to do is make the brunch tomorrow morning to go with it. It will be simple.
Heart Strings
The common name is bleeding heart, but I like the name heart strings better. The scientific name is written in the caption. The pictures were taken by me long ago at Meadowlark Botanical Garden not too far from our home.
Today we celebrate the 35th birthday of Laura. We had lunch at Carrabba’s Italian Grill. The quote written on their to-go bags is: “There is no love more sincere than the love of food.” I would like to add “and family” at the end. However more people probably agree with their version.
We all agree that Carrabba’s Cannoli Cake for Two was incredibly delicious! Better to have birthday cake out than have a whole cake at home (way too many calories.).
It was shared by two people, and still the calories should not be consumed daily.
In attempts to get a picture of this cake to share, I found many recipes out there trying to recreate this cake at home. It is good to know I will be able to find the recipe if I ever decide to make one at home. I am definitely more inclined to go back to Carrabba’s. They had a wonderful promotion on taking home meals. I should be set for the rest of the work week ahead. Thank you Carrabba’s!
movingforwardslowly 