Home Alone

In the 1990 movie "Home Alone" Kevin McCallister is left alone in his Chicago neighborhood for three days. As the story line goes, the McCallister family, with some extended family are heading to Paris a few days before Christmas to spend time with another family member. The power goes out overnight, causing them to wake up late and almost miss their airport shuttle. In the ruckus, eight year old Kevin, who everybody complained about the night before, is left behind.  When Kevin is sent to bed by his mom on the night before the trip, he says, in a way only an eight year old can do, that he did not want to see her or his family again. For the first day alone, he is pretty happy, but later his Christmas wish is for his family to come back. What is interesting is that the basic plot mirrors the Gospel account for Holy Family Sunday. In the Gospel account of Luke, when Jesus was 12 years of age the family traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. 

Painting of Mary finding Jesus in 
the Temple at age 12

Like many observant Jews, Mary and her husband Joseph would travel to Jerusalem for the spring Passover and related celebrations.  At the time, the main temple was in what is now a Muslim site, Dome of the Rock. The Wailing Wall is the west wall of the old temple. With all the crowds departing  after the festival, Joseph and Mary left for Nazareth and Jesus, somehow unbeknownst to them, stayed behind.  According to Fr Stephen Brunner on Sunday, December 26, Jesus stayed behind at the command of his father, and he obeyed his father--God. Today, if a child was left behind parenting skills would be questioned and the child likely placed with Child Protective Services for a time while things get sorted out. Charges of neglect may even be filed. Kevin McCallister did not meet this fate due to his smarts of avoiding questions from inquiring minds, like the grocery store clerk.

Dome of the Rock, onsite of Jewish Temple in Jerusalem
Photo by author

Jesus' inquiring mind had him, for the few days that his parents searched for him, in the temple where he was being instructed and instructing. Luke says: "After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers." Here we have a father  (the big guy in heaven) who apparently directed his son to stay behind in the temple, as his mom and step father left and traveled at least several hours if not a day (not unlike Kevin's family) before they realized he was not to be found in the Nazareth bound caravan. Why would God put Mary and Joseph through that? Was there a miscommunication? God could have sent Gabriel, or some other angel to Joe and Mary with a message to allow Jesus to stay behind. Or--why did Jesus tell them he had learning and instructing to do in the temple, authorized by God?  If I had allowed one of our sons to stay longer, at say an out of town camping trip, and I did not tell my wife, within the few minutes, (Yes, with a Momma Bear it would be minutes not hours, and certainly not days) it took her to notice he was gone when he should have been home, I would have been in a deep, very deep pile of manure, to be more exact the pile without the straw. And no paddle. But, I am not God, and God can apparently get away with it,  because, well being God. The other thing, while Mary gave birth to Jesus, she was not his spouse. God does not have a spouse. Hence, his dynamics are quite different from mine as I have a spouse to answer to.

Home Alone advertisement

Then there is the ending where Luke is trying to make sure we all understand that Jesus was never disobedient, or disobedient after this event. Luke phrases it this way: "Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them." I think God allowed Jesus to have a lower bar to qualify as disobedient. Its a good thing he was obedient from then on, because how would Joseph and Mary ever punish him? After all he is God made flesh. I think purposefully going missing for three days at age 12 counts for a whole childhood of disobedience. 

Mary, the mother of Christ, also has an interesting take on what the situation meant to her; Luke puts it this way: "But his mother treasured all these things in her heart." She is obviously a saint, because I find it hard to believe most mothers would suggest that a pre-pubescent boy missing for three days is a thing to treasure. A mother would be more than upset about this type of incident. A mother would remember, but I doubt she would treasure the event. She may be proud of her son at the temple and how he surprised the learned on his knowledge of scripture, but the whole thing of him going AWOL for three days is a big red flag. If I had failed to tell my wife, as outlined above, that incident would be not so much be treasured in her heart as tucked in her mind to be brought out again and again, when she saw fit. 

While Christ is getting instructed and instructing the rabbis with his erudite answers and extensive knowledge of the Jewish scriptures, Kevin McCallister two millennia later is setting traps for burglars. Yet, as Kevin makes his way around his wealthy neighborhood, this young boy is assisted by people on the lower rung of the economic ladder--a store clerk; a guy in a Santa suit with a parking ticket on his car, but who gives Kevin the last thing he has in his pocket--a tic-tac. Kevin also meets the next door neighbor in church as a choir practices O Holy Night and finds the neighbor is not the serial killer his older brother made him out to be. The man is estranged from his adult son and Kevin suggests he call the son and invite him over the next day--which he does, and the son and his family arrives on Christmas Day. Kevin's family also find their way home. Kevin's mom finagles her way to an evening flight, not wanting to take the available morning flight, and by a series of odd flights goes south then north and ends up in Scranton. But, she cannot get to Chicago from Scranton, until a Polka Band from Wisconsin offers to give her a ride in a Budget Rental truck and offer to drop her off on the way to Milwaukee. After all, that is what Polka band people from Wisconsin do. Kevin is a little put off the rest of the family is not with her. The Dad and the rest of the kids arrive just after the mom, by a much less taxing, and polkaing, way. 

Home that served as McCallister House in Movie

Kevin can be forgiven for being home alone because it was not his fault he was left unaccounted for in a full house. He was still up in bed and no one thought to wake him. But, I cannot say the same about Jesus. Jesus bears, in my mind, some responsibility for not having let his parent know his intentions to stay a few more days, or at least to ask if they all can stay back. As Jesus is part of the Holy Trinity, I don't think Mary and Joseph could say "No" to him. With this interplay, I will now read/hear the passage from Luke, and see "Home Alone" in a different light. 

Unless otherwise noted, images from Google.

Not at the Inn

Over 2,000 years ago there was a small town in Judea with with a then population of about 300 persons. During one week, late in the year, it had a great deal more people due to a census being undertaken by the Roman authorities. Apparently the census record did not survive so we could have an actual accounting of the total population of the small town. Bethlehem.  Bethlehem is still small by today's standards with a 2017 population of about 28,000. As we all know Bethlehem achieved notoriety as the birthplace of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Luke gives the most famous account of the birth of Christ. This post will be about one aspect of the birth of Christ--his birth not occurring at the inn in Bethlehem.

Purported place of Birth of Christ
Church of the Nativity

Most of us are familiar with this very basic exhortation from the Gospel of Luke: Mary "gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn" Some translations replace "inn" with where "traveler's lodged", or "guest room", but the meaning is the same-- there was no space for the couple at the bed and breakfast, or Budget Inn. To get around in this era most people walked, so towns, or rest stops, were generally not more than about five or six miles apart. Joseph and his new, and young wife, Mary, traveled about 70 miles south from Nazareth to reach Bethlehem for a census ordered by Caesar Augustus. The small community was overflowing with people to be counted.

View of part of Church of the Nativity

Joseph and Mary arrived for the census, and sometime later they attempted to find a place to spend the night. But, as one could expect with a census going on, there is no extra lodging available. I have long wondered why the innkeeper did not give up his room or perhaps ask one of the room holders if they may be willing to accommodate a pregnant woman and her partner. As we know no one gave up their room, or offered a room in their house. I always thought the innkeeper was a poster child of the uncharitable by failing to give up his room. After all, on his doorstep is a  man, and a very pregnant woman, and even I would have enough sense to recognize the situation. Mary being the Virgin picked by God, perhaps showed no signs of pending birth, other than her large tummy.  Did she have labor pains?  Had God kept her from the "minor discomfort" of birthing a child (the term "minor discomfort was used by a doctor in one our birth preparation classes 30 years ago)? For years, in my mind, I have questioned the innkeeper's actions. If one believes that God plans all things, then God knew they would not find room at the inn and hence why put the innkeeper to blame? If given some sense of free will to act, then yes, some of the innkeeper's actions need to be questioned.

Manger Square

Some argue that Mary probably had more privacy in a stable, as inns at the time were crowded and not very comfortable places; there is no indication this statement came from the Hospitality Association. The question also arises as to why Joseph and Mary did not stay with relatives? (Were all the Airbnb's booked?) After all, Joseph was from the house and lineage of David, which persons had to report to Bethlehem, according to the Gospel. Perhaps the relatives had all moved out of Bethlehem by that point in time; second, maybe any relatives who lived there were already full with other relatives; or maybe they did not wish to put up a relative involved in scandal. Think about it, here was Joe with a pregnant teenage girl, who had a child conceived before they were married. Premarital intercourse, and of course such a pregnancy that results, was an event of extreme scandal. How many relatives would have thought that God had a hand in the pregnancy, and that Joseph was told to marry her?

Manger Square in later afternoon

 

Thus, did Joe have relatives who shunned him and his new wife? The innkeeper did not have a room available, but he did have a place where animals stayed, commonly referred to as a stable. The stable was likely a cave in the limestone rock common to this area. Bethlehem had a great deal of limestone and rock outcroppings.  Interaction with water dissolves the main component of the rock resulting in crevices and caves. When I first thought about writing a blog post on the matter, I was going to go after the innkeeper, for not being, well Christian, before Christianity. But, then, looking through some old information from my parents I came across a set of six typed cards, probably from many years ago, when at least one of them was in school. The index cards contained the verses to a poem by Joyce Kilmer (he of the poems "Trees" and the "Rouge Bouquet") titled: "Gates and Doors." (While undated, some date the poem to 1912 or 1913.)

Moon over street behind Church of the Nativity

This poem threw everything I was thinking about upside down. Kilmer, who died at age 31 in 1918 while serving in what we now refer to as WWI, makes positive references to the innkeeper. In the first stanza he writes: 

There was a gentle hostler
     (And blessed be his name)
He opened up the stable
     The night Our Lady came.
Our Lady and Saint Joseph,
     He gave them food and bed
And Jesus Christ has given him
     A glory around his head.

He credits the innkeeper for at least letting them stay in the stable, rather than dissing the person. Later in the poem, in the third stanza, he writes of the innkeeper in a similar positive manner:

There was a courteous hostler 

      (He is in Heaven to-night)

He held our Lady's bridle

      And helped her to alight;

He spread clean straw before her

     Whereon she might lie down,

And Jesus Christ has given him

     An everlasting crown.

 And in the fifth stanza he has this to say:

There was a joyous hostler
     who knelt on Christmas morn
Beside the radiant manger
     Wherein his Lord was born.
His heart was full of laughter,
     His soul was full of bliss
When Jesus, on his Mother's lap,
     Gave him His hand to kiss.

Rather than focus on the fact that the innkeeper did not give his room, or kick someone out of a room, Kilmer takes some poetic license and praises the innkeeper for what he did do, giving them space in the stable. I have to say, I never thought of giving the hostler an everlasting crown, much less any credit at all. My wife says I well live up to my name sake, St Thomas--he who doubts. What Kilmer shows is that I, like many of us, look to faults rather than positives (although I still don't think there were many positives about the Packer special team performance against the Bears on Sunday night, Dec 12, or again on Sunday Dec 19 against the Ravens. I guess Mason Crosby not missing an extra point in the past couple games is a good thing for the Packers).

Kilmer could have left the poem with a story about the young couple and what the hostler did. But, his even numbered stanzas stand by making demands of us. Here is the second stanza: 

So let the gate swing open
     However poor the yard,
Lest weary people visit you
     And find their passage barred;
Unlatch the door at midnight
     And let your lantern's glow
Shine out to guide the traveler's feet
     To you across the snow.

Then we are met with the fourth stanza, which we could interpret as meaning only the birth of Jesus as the guest, but a wider interpretation may be more appropriate. The fourth stanza asks of us to unlock our door:

Unlock the door this evening
     And let your gate swing wide,
Let all who ask for shelter
     Come speedily inside.
What if your yard be narrow?
     What if your house be small?
There is a Guest is coming
    Will glorify it all.

Why leave open a door given our times of break-ins, smash and grabs and car thefts? As Pope Francis says, "don't let fear keep you from welcoming a stranger." We all have our justifiable fears in this day and age and welcoming strangers may be something we all would question. In the final stanza the Pope and Kilmer seem to be on the same page. A wider reading of this stanza would be one directing us to not just literally unlock the door and open the gate, but do that for our hearts and our soul for the Christ child. By doing so for Christ, we do it for all.

Unbar your heart this evening

     And keep no strangers out,

Take from your soul's great portal

     The barrier of doubt.

To humble folk and weary

     Give heart welcoming,

Your breast shall be to-morrow

     The cradle of a King.

Instead of focusing on what the innkeeper did not do, Kilmer focuses on what he did do to assist the young couple. I guess he should not be disparaged, as I originally thought, because he did do something. What is interesting is that Kilmer juxtaposes the action of the innkeeper (the odd numbered stanzas) with the even numbered stanzas which focus on us--he asks us to keep our doors and gates open, and in doing so we may not what goodness we may find. 

Nativity Set

However, the stanzas related to us could be metaphorical--that is beyond the literal meaning, it may also mean that we have to make room at our own inn--our own heart for Christ the Savior.  This comes to me from the first part of the last stanza--"Unbar your heart this evening"; this is followed up slightly later with "Take from your soul's great portal, the barrier of doubt." In doing so, we should look to others, for giving rather than receiving, for service rather than obtaining. As Eric Hollis, OSB wrote earlier this week: In the best season of the year there is no gift more thoughtful than an extra dollop of love for those who need it most." 

Shepherd's Fields were located in this area

That is the story of lodging on the first Christmas in a small Judean town. I think I would do well to recall how Joyce Kilmer looked at the positive aspect of the hosteler lending his stable for the birth of Christ.  As much as I try I am not sure there is a positive message in the Packer special team play this season. Christ was not born at the inn, but being born in a stable was more consistent with his overall message of assisting the poor and the downtrodden--of which there are many--people who lost love ones in Waukesha, senseless violence in our streets and stores, lives lost to natural disaster, and refugees seeking a better life--not unlike those from Afghanistan. Kilmer  suggests that we need to open the door, or gate, to our own heart to allow the love of Christ to enter. So, while there may not have been room at the inn for the birth of Jesus, we need to open our hearts and let Jesus in. That is the real lesson of Christmas. What did not happen at the Inn is really not the important part, the important part is the lesson we learn about letting Christ In.

What's with the O's

We are now, on 14 Dec,  eleven days before Christmas. Since the start of Advent, the spouse and I have been listening to Christmas music--as we drive and as we do many varied chores in the house, and as I write this. We are nearing the shortest day of the year, and the late sunrise and early sunset make one want to get the most out of their day, and listening to Christmas music can give a lift during these times of darkness and short days. Christmas music is often nostalgic, some say it has us look back to what we viewed as simpler times--our childhoods. The most popular Christmas music today are often songs recorded by fabled artists of generations gone past--Bing Crosby, Johnny Mathias, and others. Listening to Christmas music got me wondering what is up with all of the O's in Christmas hymns?  Given this popularity, it is mainly seasoned citizens like my wife who listen to the music. 

Nativity Set
Author photo

Let me count the O's just in Christmas hymns of which I am familiar. O Holy Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, O Christmas Tree (aka O Tannenbaum), O Come all Ye Faithful (aka Adeste Fideles) and of course the one that outdoes the others, with O's, O Come O Come Emmanuel (albeit more an Advent hymn). I guess the O is a nice introduction to these pieces. Holy Night, as a title, or at the beginning of the first line to the hymn just does not have the same ring to it as does O Holy Night. Although I am probably used to it with the O so without the O it sounds strange. The same could be said for the other songs I have identified. I am sure I have missed some of the songs that begin with O. 

Most of the O songs, like Christmas hymns in general, seem to be an invitation, welcoming us to an event, or at least participation in the song and invite us to a relationship with Jesus Christ. However, there is one that is rather unique and stands out from the rest. This hymn is about Advent and not about Christmas.  That song is O Come O Come Emmanuel. 

Most Christmas music lifts one up, and instills wonder and joy in the senses and the depths of sould.  But, O Come O Come Emmanuel is different, it has a mysterious type quality to its music and in its cadence of a "quiet persistent speed" (J McDermott, source #2). This mysterious nature, in my opinion, is enhanced even more when played on an organ. More than any other instrument, the organ can express a variety of emotions--joy, mystery, and even death knells.  O Come O Come Emmanuel is, to me, rather different from the other hymns noted (and most Christmas hymns), which invite us to Christ, in this we are inviting Jesus to us.  O Come O Come Emmanuel is also one of the oldest of Christmas pieces, although not in the iteration to which we most enjoy. The English translation was translated from Latin and arranged by an Anglican priest in the mid to late 1800's. The piece comes from he O Antiphons of the early Christian-Catholic Church. Yet, the English and other translations do not do the full hymn justice as what exists in the original Latin, particularly the call and response. Showing the strength of mind of the early creators of the O Antiphons, when you take the first (in Latin) letter of the first word of each of the seven, and go from last to first, it spells out ERO CRAS, which means "I am coming." I doubt this is accidental, although it may not be the monk mind as much as the Holy Spirit was at work. Overall, I find the O Antiphons speaking of Advent in a curious sort of way.

Four of Seven O Antiphons as
painted by Sr Ansgar Holmberg
From Source #1, below

The O' Antiphons have been around at least since the sixth century, and possibly longer since the earliest mention in writing dates to that century. To be mentioned in a sixth century document, they obviously existed at that point, but that does not rule out them having existed prior to being placed  in writing.  As Simca Fisher has written in "America Magazine" (source #1) "The O Antiphons are a series of seven verses dating from the sixth century and prayed during vespers during the last week of Advent. Each antiphon is a name of Jesus taken from Scripture...."  The last of the seven O Antiphons uses Emmanuel and is the basis for the name Emmanuel in this classic Advent hymn.  Yet, this hymn captures the other six days of the O Antiphons in its lyrics. The O Antiphons, in a monastic sense, are generally chanted one on each day for seven straight days starting on Dec 17. 

O Antiphons 
Source:  Google Images

As joyfully expressive as most Christmas hymns are--they provide us an invitation to think, celebrate, and engage the Christ child, why does a hymn with such a mysterious melodic nature engage us to invite Christ to our lives?  With our time of anticipation and preparation inherent in the Advent season, why does Emmanuel speak to that?  I think part of is because we all find Advent to be a bit mysterious. Each of us looks to advent in a different way, whereas Christmas is for many very similar--celebrating with family and friends and sharing of gifts as an expression of appreciation. A Baylor University document (2010) had this to say about the hymn O Come O Come Emmanuel, and you will notice it uses the word haunting. 

These seven prayers—the Great Antiphons, or O Antiphons—are among the richest treasures of Advent. With a montage of haunting (bold by author) biblical images of creation, redemption, and ultimate restoration they remind us that Christ, whose glorious return we anticipate and patiently await during Advent, is surrounding and sustaining us already. He is truly Emmanuel, “God among us,” for he is at once the wisdom who creates and orders the universe, the lawgiver who establishes righteousness through Israel and the Church, the redeemer who has overcome death and rescued his creation from sin, and the great king who is drawing his children from every nation and restoring them in love.

What is most unique about Advent is the paradox that it provides. One the one hand we are in preparation as we look forward to the celebration of the birth of Christ, and asking Christ to come to us, but on the other hand, Christ is already with us.   

Christmas Tree
Author photo

We now return to the use of O. I think the purpose of the O's as the first word in each title is to invite us to listen with our minds and hearts. Each hymn, with an O, and other hymns as well, give us a story, but we are engaged in more than a story--we are engaged in a way of living. That invitation to engage in a story that is in itself a mystery and is dependent on faith. When looking at  O Come O Come Emmanuel, I think of the mysterious, haunting, nature of both lyrics and music. They engage the human mind and soul because they speak to the mystery of the paradox of advent, and the Christ Child. There are some things some of us take on a matter of faith--one being the nature of the savior.  That is the mystery that we celebrate on Christmas Day, that God so loved the world that he sent his only child. We celebrate the use of O's because they represent an invitation, and celebration of that most special of occasions. 

Sources:  

1. https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/12/22/advent-o-antiphon-paintings-239567  

2. https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2021/12/03/o-come-o-come-emanuel-history-241963 

3. https://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/125498.pdf

After Life of Clothes

I suspect most of the readers of this blog donate, or have donated, clothing to one of the many second-hand stores that operate within the bounty of these United States. Marie Kondo, de-clutterer extraordinaire, has started a craze of Americans looking at a piece of clothing, or another item, and asking themselves if it "Sparks Joy."  If it sparks joy you keep it, if not, you get rid of it. I am not sure if that is a good thing or not.  For example, an old wool hat may not spark joy during spring cleaning, but in the blustery winter it could be just what the head ordered. This blog post will be about the after life of clothes, and some rather disheartening statistics on second-hand store clothing and online purchases.  The after life of clothes is not always what we think it is.

Warehouse with bales of clothing
Source:  Google Images

Many Americans often go for what is currently in fashion, and discard or donate what is no longer in fashion.  I tend to not have this problem, since I have clothes that I wore as a teenager that I still wear. I may be out of style at times, but as readers know, I fancy myself on being ahead of the trends. For example, take distressed jeans that has yet to "go out of style" for many persons.  My jeans get distressed from wear. The last thing I want is to buy a pair of distressed jeans--brand new.  My wear is most common the knees.  I have jeans that my spouse has repaired three or more times--sometimes in the same spot. At some point they become no longer worthy to wear, and are discarded. You know we live in a land of too much money when people buy purposely ripped and torn jeans from a major retailer. I mean, how much wear can they get with holes in the knees or the thighs?  

Distressed Jeans sold at Retailer
I would be happy to sell my used
jeans distressed by actual wear to someone
I did not know my worn jeans would be so cool.

The thing is clothing wears out, and as I have come to observe, even at some point it is no longer worth repairing. Some old clothing we use for rags. My wife re-purposes t-shirts for people by making t-shirt quilts, or for making bears. She also uses scraps of material to make quilts. She evens the pieces, sews the together, and makes a quilt that she donates to varied places--from Hospice to children respite centers. At some point clothes need to get thrown out, due to wear.  What would be nice if someone could come up with a way to use worn clothing, so it does not have to go into a landfill. Some places the clothing is used, but it is not like we can put worn clothing in our recycling container. I recall Tri-North Builders office building in Fitchburg used insulation made of old blue jeans.  What a good measure to re-purpose used clothes.

Bears made by my wife for a person
using old T-Shirts
Author photo

As you Marie Kondo your clothes it may be wise to keep this blog post in mind. According to greenamerica.org, the United States generates 16 million tons of textile waste a year, or about 6% of overall municipal waste (by comparison, plastics disposed of in landfills make up about 13%). Of this amount about 2.5 million tons gets recycled, three million tons are incinerated, and 10 million get sent to landfills.  A smaller amount, about 700,000 tons, they say, is sent overseas.  On trips to Mexico, Africa and the Mid-East I saw plenty of persons dressed in what was probably discarded US clothes. That earlier mentioned website notes that for Goodwill stores, clothing remains in the store for about four weeks before being moved to outlets which sell clothes for 99 cents per pound. Some are sent to recycling centers.  However, a Nov 25, 2021 article in the National Catholic Reporter noted that about 20% of the clothing at second-hand stores is actually sold at a secondhand store. Quoting from a Fashionista site, from 2014, this article notes that 11%, or about 22 million pounds of clothing donated to Goodwill was not fit for sale, and were discarded in landfills. This is old data (being from 2014), but calls into question where the non-usable clothes actually go.  

Over the past 12 years, I have been in Jaurez, Mexico, the Mid-East, and Africa. At each location I  visited at least one market.  I saw retailers selling used American clothing alongside locally made clothing. The value of American clothes sent overseas is said to over $720 million annually. Here we think we are doing well donating clothes, but so many end up overseas, and we often think of that as a good thing. Yet, the founder of the OR foundation, as reported by NCR, cites one market in Ghana and the challenges used clothing pose. At the Kantamanto Market in Ghana, this market, like others in the developing world, the clothing retailers will take out loans, often at 35% interest to buy bales of clothing for them to sell. It is further noted that only about 20% of these retailers make any profit, meaning 80% have taken on a risk that produces no positive return. The NCR article refers to this as "unjust risk." Elizabeth Ricketts of the OR Foundation notes that these donated clothes which often travel halfway across the world, has a large environmental cost, as 40% of the clothing sold at the market (about 40 million items of clothing are sold at Kantamanto every quarter) is burned, ends up in the gutter, or more likely dumped in in informal settlements where vulnerable people live. It poses a deep dilemma. Ricketts also notes that such cheap clothing causes issues with local persons who make and sell clothing as they cannot compete with the prices for used verse new clothing.  Hence, they have no way to develop local textile manufacturers. Many developing countries still depend on individual producers and merchants.  

One of many quilts my wife makes 
with pieces of left over fabric
Donates to varied Charities
Author photo

Given the amount of clothes discarded to landfills in the US, it is certainly better to donate, but if a large percent of donated clothing is discarded anyway on the receiving end, what has been accomplished?  Less space in a US landfill, but an environmental cost somewhere else. 

Third World Market with clothing bales
Source:  Google images

Then there are the big online retailers. This figure is staggering: over 30% of online purchases are returned to the place from which it was purchased, think Amazon. Of clothing purchased on line, about half, that is 50%, is returned.   If you think the current supply chain is a problem, there is a bigger problem with returns, as little exists in the backward supply chain. Clothes are often simply discarded since there is little value in the item making its way back through the system. Part of Amazon returns are sold to secondary e-commerce sites, like liquidation.com. Yet, Business Insider reports that studies have shown they destroy millions of items a year. I don't think Jeff Bezos cares much about this issue, as he sits on his exorbitantly sized yacht in the ocean. I recall ordering a book to give as a gift, and we returned the book three times, because each of the books had thick black magic marker line along the side.  Even though the calls to Amazon made it clear we did not want a book with such a mark to give as a gift, they kept sending a different book with the same issue (the marks were all in different places so I knew it was not the same book being recycled back to us). 

US Textile Waste
Source; greenamerica.org

So, what to do? First, I think the best thing is to not buy clothing online, unless you know it will fit and be what you want. Second, per the NCR article, choose items that will last, and consume less.  Consuming less means we do not have as much to donate, particularly when the item does not spark joy.  As for me, perhaps it means, I should have those jeans repaired a fifth time. If someone wants some distressed jeans they can come to my house, and buy a pair--at a reasonable price. We live in a society which produces too much and allows us to spend too much, when we need to be more conservation minded.  Being conservation minded, or perhaps frugal, is good all the way around. Next time you look to buy clothes, think of the after life of the clothes once they no longer meet the Marie Kondo test. In a sense when we purchase we should think of the 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. The after life clothes is to important to not think about what is purchased.

Mustache

It was on this date, in 1976, that I decided to grow a mustache. Every Thanksgiving, I am reminded of my mustache, because it was the Monday after that I started to grow a mustache, with one full day of growth. This year, Thanksgiving also reminded me that this would be my 45th anniversary of having a mustache. I started growing the mustache when I got back to college after Thanksgiving break.  Looking at a calendar, I found that Thanksgiving for this year (2021) aligns with Thanksgiving in 1976. Forty-five years, at least within my overall age, is a long time.

2021

I am not sure why I decided to grow a mustache, and I know I never thought I would have it this long of time. I would have departed back to college on Sunday, November 28, 1976, and I would have shaved that morning before leaving. But, I did not shave the upper lip the next day, Monday, November 29,1976 that being the date I can turn to as having decided to grow the mustache. My wife has not known me without a mustache. Five years ago I thought about shaving it off thinking 40 years was long enough, but I could not bring myself to do so. I wonder how long it would take my wife to notice if I shaved it off.

There was one time I did shave it off.  It was just before Easter 1977, and I was trimming my mustache, and just could not get it right, and ruined it more than I helped it, so I decided to cut it off. Later that day I saw a teacher my youngest brother had in elementary school and she greeted me as Peter. Peter is several years younger than me, and I guess at age 18 that was not taken as a compliment, with no offense to Peter. Well, that was sufficient for me to grow the mustache back right away.  After that, if I mis-trimmed the mustache I would let it be. More recently it has gotten to the point that my wife, when she cuts my hair, now trims the mustache.  I would not have allowed that years ago when she first started cutting my hair. It took 30 years for me to trust her with the mustache.

1990

The mustache has become part of my personality, I think.  On our wedding day, near Halloween, my college friends gave me a walrus mask. My walrus like mustache led to a beanie baby walrus gift one time.  I have to say my walrus mustache is not like the one Kansas City Coach Andy Reid has.  It could be worse, it could be a Fu Manchu style.  For some reason I have noticed that the Fu Manchu style is popular with firefighters, at least locally. 

Several years ago mustaches seemed to be popular. I had a nephew who got a game about mustaches, and there are pillows that play on mustache with a mustache emblazoned on a pillow and the words, "I Must Dash." Or something to that effect. Given this, it is just another example of how so far ahead of trends I have been. 

1987

The mustache has grown old with me. It is has changed from a brownish-red to gray, but still is nice and full.  My hair has always been darker than my mustache, but unlike my mustache, I have a balding head. But, my hair, for the time being, is mainly its dark color, with tinges of gray. My hair has thinned so much over the past several years that my hairdresser no longer comments on my thinning head of hair. I think she is now resigned to the thinness of my scalp. In cold weather, I have icicles that will form on the mustache leaving behind water droplets when I come inside.  

Not counting that one error of a mis-trim near Easter in 1977, I can say 45 years a mustache.  I now enter another year. I could go to the grave with a mustache, or perhaps sometime I will shave it off. Time will tell.

Halloween and Behavioral Economics

It has now been a few weeks since Halloween was celebrated. Best known for trick-or-treating by children, the day is becoming a big sensation in the US. So  big that Americans spent over $10 billion for this one day event in 2020. For a few years now my wife has been wanting to end our providing treats on this day, but I have continued the task. After the experience this year, I may re-think the whole situation. Although, at present, I am not willing to fully cancel. I realized this year that I am doing an experiment in behavioral economics.  I had not thought of it this way last year.  Halloween 2021 coincided with a book I was reading at the time, The Why Axis. Thus, I will have two years of running a behavioral economics experiment, albeit in slightly different ways over the past two years.

Up until 2020 we did the standard task, kids come to the door, say the magic words and we would put some candy in their respective container. Say something about the costumes, as hand out the candy.  Close door, go back to your task and wait for the next group. Last year (2020), with COVID, I placed candy bars in pairs on a flat board, and had a sign asking persons to grab a pair. I had three types of candy bars, and two or three sets of each for the five different combinations available. In this manner, we were all social distanced, and children (or their parents) did not have to worry about touching candy by grabbing out of one container, and touch a candy wrapper that some other child touched with their dirty fingers. There of course was the added benefit of not having to open the door every time the doorbell rang. This worked quite well, and I was impressed with how compliant the children turned out to be. I had a great deal of candy left over, but thought, perhaps fewer were trick-or-treating, given the pandemic.  I also know that our neighborhood, and the one adjoining has a few, but not as many children as say 25 years past, and the number of trick-or-treaters is way down from 25 years ago. Two years ago, I think we had eight trick-or-treaters.

This year I decided to do something similar, with one small change from 2020.  I placed all the available candy in a shoe box and had a sign, similar to 2020, wishing them a Happy Halloween, and asking them to help themselves to a couple pieces of candy.  While I did not keep watch, I checked several times on how things looked over the treat hours. I did see one mom pop up and grab some candy, but no big deal. Moms need their candy, too.

Sign used on Halloween, 2021

However, about 7:00 pm my wife thought I should bring the candy in and shut off the light. I decided to wait a while, as treat hours went to 8 pm.  About 7:15 I was making my way to the kitchen, and I looked out to see if there was any activity and saw a person reach in and grab candy. I thought I would look to see how many people there were, to check on supply when they were gone. To my amazement she reached in again and again and again. Yes, four or more times grabbing candy. As she departed, I opened the door, and with her back to me, as she was walking off the step, I nicely said something like: "Do you really need that much candy?" She did not turn to look at me, and so I repeated myself.  She then turned and looked at me and did not make a response for short while, and then asked if she should return it.  I said no, keep it.  If, I had been thinking better, I should have said, "What do you think you should do?" At that point she and her partner started to leave and I look in the box and see only a few pieces of candy left.  I checked it not much earlier, and my wife just a few minutes before, and there was a good amount of candy.  I did not hear any one else approach in the few short minutes between the time checked by my wife and when she arrived, so I doubt there were any others who grabbed some candy between those two time periods.  I can say with high level of confidence that she took a great deal of candy, perhaps 20 pieces or more. I used 'couple" to allow some leeway for a child who may accidentally have grabbed, say, three.  But, four hand fulls went well beyond the intent of the clearly posted candy declaration.

I have to say, I was warned about this.  My wife had said that someone was going to just grab and run with a good amount of the candy.  I looked to last year when that did not occur.  I also looked to what I had read in The Why Axis. The book, consistent with what I previously heard from Chef Heide, that if a specific price is not identified for an entree on a restaurant menu, that, overall, most people would pay more than what the menu would have identified for the price. I was extremely confident, setting the candy out, that someone would not grab most of the candy.

After the grab occurred, my spouse, who I think took some schadenfreude in my discredited position, posted on Facebook about our candy being stolen.  We found out we were not the only ones. People had candy and even containers stolen. I used a shoe box to avoid having a container stolen, you have to be desperate to steal a shoe box. What we found amazing is the people, mainly women, who justified the action of this girl. Such things as, the poor kids did not have trick-or-treating last year (false), or the girl said the sign said take what you want (also false), and that the sixth grade girl does volunteer work. They did not say where she did volunteer work, perhaps it was at the Dane County Jail.  And, does volunteering really excuse her action that night? What really irked me were the other lies and misrepresentations.  She told one of the women who defended her, that I yelled (I did not, I calmly asked) and she said after our encounter, I took the sign and candy in the house in a huff.  Yeah, they used that word, huff. She did not say I allowed her to keep the candy. Well, but for a few pieces in the box we were out of candy, so how does it look if a group of four comes up and there are only three pieces of candy?  Would I regret the piece or two I ate while checking on the candy? The Facebook poster then said, I was spying on them, and wondered why I would do that and not just hand the candy out, or sit on the bench outside. That too is false, I was going to the kitchen, and porch side light is visible down the short hall on my way to the kitchen. As most people who know me can attest, I make a lot of trips to the kitchen for food during the day and night. I was not spying, but simply looked at the door sidelight while walking to the kitchen. The sign was standing up on a bench, with the box to the right side of the sign, and this was all located under the porch light, right next to the  door sidelight (window). The porch light made it quite easy to see her hand go into the candy box, not just once, but three more times. She made at least four trips into the candy box. Of course, one poster suggested, that she was grateful that there was not any vandalism. So, apparently stealing is OK, as long as they did not vandalize. I was not going to sit outside in the cold, and anyway, my wife would have complained about all the trips I would be making into the house to keep my stomach satisfied. "You are letting the heat out coming in and out so much."  

The Why Axis book cover

Showing how bright kids are, this girl took a selfie of her taking the bowl and candy of some other homeowner, and posting it on Instagram. That is how people easily identified the culprit. She was a known FF (frequent flyer to the nurse office) at the elementary school. Stealing of bowls occurred at multiple homes.  Again, why I used a shoe box--that part I thought of.  I would be having braces on my legs right now if I put the candy out in one of my wife's Longaberger baskets, and the basket was stolen. 

The question I have for the women who defended her, is what about the trick-or-treaters that may have been coming after her, and did not get any candy from a house because she took it all?  How would those children feel about now having one less house dispensing candy? I would not be able to pull a Frank Barone because we don't have any condoms in the house. I guess I could have changed my chalkboard sign and written, "Sorry, all of  the candy is gone thanks to a girl dressed in white with purple hair." 

One of the authors of The Why Axis, is from my hometown, and is a professor at the University of Chicago. I grew up on the same street as his grandfather lived. The book goes through several different behavioral economic experiments he and his coauthor accomplished.  So, what does my two years of experimentation show?  It only takes one bad actor to disrupt something.  I guess, like the rotten apple in a barrel, or the bad egg in a crate. I could care less about her having volunteered, or her purple hair, or whatever excuse was used. It was bad behavior and in a civilized society it disrupted the cultural norm, to which so many other adhered, regarding Halloween candy. I am not sure what her hidden motive might have been.

What does that say about behavioral economics?  I guess that some will take things in their own hand when it is to their benefit, regardless of common courtesy and an identified set of rules. It also shows me that you probably need to do more than one experiment.  I wonder if she had shown up last year what she would have done. As for next year and Halloween candy distribution, after writing this, I may wish to repeat the experiment.

The Center of the Northwest

On October 5, 2021 my spouse and I journeyed north to between St Germain and Sayner. Our idea was to enjoy a few days the Northwoods offered for fall color, plus do a little hiking and some biking. On the way north, we made a couple detours.  Well, I made the detour decisions, much to the chagrin of the wife. The second stop was at Timm's Hill to climb the tower and view the colors. It turned out we were probably a few days late as the color, while enjoyable, was beyond the peak. It was crowded, however, showing the attraction the highest point in Wisconsin can pose in the fall. The first stop, on what was a nice, mostly sunny mid-day adventure was to the center of the Northwest quadrant of the earth, which is the 45 x 90 location in Marathon County.  We were at one of only four places on earth, and one of two in the Northern Hemisphere.

Detail of 45 x 90 Marker
Appropriately set in Wausau Red Granite

For a few years I have been wanting to stop at this unique location, and the thought occurred to me this would be the perfect trip to visit the 45 degree x 90 degree geographical marker located in Poniatowski, WI.  Poniatowski is an unincorporated hamlet, and I suspect this is the only thing of interest in that hamlet. If we went through the hamlet on our way to the marker, I must have blinked.  For those desirous of exact information, the marker is actually located in the town of Reitbrock (as is Poniatowski). My wife thought this visit a waste of time.  I don't think she appreciates the significance in the 45 x 90 maker. As a trained geographer, it is right up my meridian. 

One side of Commemorative Coin

While England has the Greenwich Meridian, here in Wisconsin this point marks the half way spot from that Meridan to the International Date Line, or 180 degrees longitude. I think that is appropriate since England thinks of the themselves as the center of the universe (the whole sun never sets on the British Empire thing), and Wisconsin, is well, a seemingly inconsequential state in the Midwest United States known for cheese, and the Green Bay Packers. As an aside, the Packers are the only NFL team to not have played a game in London, (the center of the Universe) England. Why? Because their home games are vital to the local economy, and the NFL allows a team to not opt out of a home game. So, why not as a "visiting" team?  Well, the Packers have a strong, loyal fan base that will travel, not to mention a fan base that crosses the ocean blue.  This leads to the issue that no "home" team wants the "visiting" team to have more fans in the stands. Enough of the digression. 

Opposite side of Coin
I am a member of the 45x90 Club

The 45 degrees marks the halfway point between the equator and the North Pole, or the place where Santa lives. I am not sure why the wife did not find this of any significance, I mean how often can one say they were at the exact spot that measures the center, yes the center, of the NORTHWEST part of the EARTH?  I don't think it occurs too often, and so far for me, only once in my lifetime. No other place on earth can make that claim. Yes, there are other points: one in the Pacific off the south coast of Chili; one in the Indian Ocean, off the southwest cost of Australia, and one in the mountains of China. But, this one is significant as it is the only one easily accessible.  I suppose she could argue that there is only one, yes only one, 43 0'35" N, 89 17"12 W on the face of the earth, too.  Those coordinates happen to be our house. 45 X 90 just did not do much for her. Get rid of the N and W, and there would be four locations on earth.  But, 45 and 90 tend to hold special meaning, due to geometry. 

The Final Passage to the Marker
Appropriately in the midst of a Corn Field

It was a nice sunny day when we arrived, and appropriately the marker is in the midst of a cornfield. How much more Wisconsin can it get?  The corn is used to feed cows, and the cows are used to produce cheese. The marker sits on private land, and for years there was a sign pointing out the location from the road, about a 1/4 mile away.  The original sign was placed in 1969, and so for decades it was a sign distant from the marker. In 2018, however, an easement was acquired from the landowner and a path along the edge of the field, and then turn up to the marker (among the corn, was constructed. The narrow walk from up to the path gives a distinct flavor with a terminated vista of the mature corn that was drying out and now ripe for harvest. Varied kiosks provide information on the significance of the marker and how it came into being. Not all was perfect with the original, circa 1969, sign, that was a 1/4 mile away from the marker near the road.

Information Kiosk on the 45x90 Points on the Earth

The first sign was mis-titled calling it a geological marker. Geologically, there is nothing unique about this location, but geographically there is. A sign notes that locating this point, and highlighting it, was the brain child of John Gesicki, who owned a small store and tavern in Poniatowski. John had a book, still in use, where visitors to the marker could stop by his store, and enter their name in the book.  When John died his wife took over the store and retained the book until she retired in 2003. As I think about it, it was a masterful move of marketing by John Gesicki.  He got people to view, at that time over corn, the site of the 45 x 90 marker, and then they went to his tavern to sign the book, and perhaps get a beer, and maybe a sandwich.  After John's widow retired the log book was taken over by the Wausau/Central Wisconsin Convention and Visitor's Bureau. After stopping at the marker you can go the Wausau Visitors Center in downtown Wausau, and they will give you a commemorative coin and you can enter your name in the log book.  However, with COVID-19, they ask that people contact them, send a few dollars for shipping and they will mail the coin and enter your name in the log book for you.  Hence, my plan of stopping at the Visitor Center upon our trip home did not need to occur. 

Information kiosk on John Gesicki

To say that my wife was as giddy as a school girl seeing her favorite rock star when the coins arrived in the mail a couple weeks ago would be a large overstatement. To put it another way, the Land Girl was not a Fan Girl of the 45 x 90 marker, much less its commemorative coin. She was about as unimpressed as watching paint dry. I handed her coin to her, which she quickly handed back to me. She thought the few dollars for the cost to mail the coins was a waste of money.  However, how many persons can say they have the commemorative coin which celebrates your having visited the exact center of the Northwest part of the earth?  I know of no one else, but me and my wife, who has visited this unique place on earth. Although I doubt this comes up in everyday conversation. I suspect, if I said to a friend, "Hey, I visited the 45 x 90 geographical marker of the exact center of the Northwest part of the earth, I would get a quizzical look. I mean, most people are probably not as aware of latitude and longitude as I am, unless of course, you also studied geography, where it is of some importance. I know this because I tried it out on one of my daughters-in-law, and i got that quizzical look.  When I explained it unique nature, she commented that it may have some interest. Polite people would probably pull a Marie Barone response and say, "That's nice." Others may ask whey they should care. 

Me at the Marker

As uninteresting as this may be to my spouse, I find it equally interesting, We were not the only people to stop and see the marker on that beautiful fall day, which I think was a surprise to my wife. The marker is located just off the aptly named Meridian Road. I could have spent the afternoon there basking in the glory of being at the center of the Northwest part of the world. But I sensed that my wife, as is he wont, started to get impatient after I took some photos, and her one of me lying by the marker. So we headed out, for the next destination, Timm's Hill.  For a few, brief, but delectable moments, I can say I was at the center of the Northwest part of the globe. 

Photos by author, except last photo by my wife

Passenger Number 420

One Hundred years ago today, on 7 November 1921, my great grandmother Theresia (nee Kamenova) Pitzenberger passed away.  Theresia was a wife, mother, farm worker, and merchant. This blog post will provide some information about Theresia, and in that way perhaps give a small glimpse into her life. I suspect her life in many ways mirrored the life of other small town farm women in the Midwest. My 1 November 2021 blog post was about her husband, Mathias, in honor of his 148th birthday. I am not sure how many of Theresia's descendants will even recognize that this is the 100th anniversary of her death. I may be the only one. This shows how time tends to affect us.  We can lose our sense of history, our connections, as the day-to-day activities of life move us more to the present and future than to the past. While her life began in Bohemia it ended in the United States. 

Koln Passenger Manifest
Source: Ancestry.com

To me, one of the most interesting aspects of Theresia's life is that she appears to have immigrated to the United States alone. Theresia, at times referred to as Lizzie, was born in Bohemia, in the village of Ujezd, on 13 April 1848.  In 1872, at the age of 24, she appears on an immigrant ship manifest as passenger #420. What makes this unique is that, if in fact she was a lone traveler to the United States, she was more an exception, being female. Research shows that it was not unusual for a young male to travel alone.  Lone male immigrants were often referred to as a lone wolf.  One example, was my great grandfather Stephen Eireiner who arrived by himself in NY NY. It was a different matter for young woman, particularly in that era. It is possible she did not travel alone, but other nearby names on the ship manifest do not match her name, and there is no discernible relationship with other nearby names. Today, a traveler from the Czech Republic can hop a plane to the United States, but back in the mid to late 18th century it required a lengthy travel time, much of it aboard a crowded ship.  

Immigration Card
Source: Ancestry.com

How long would travel time be in 1872?  We can get a hint from a news article written about a relative on the Hovel side.  The Hovel side is representative of what is known as Chain Migration, the whole family came over together in 1868, to join a burgeoning Bohemian and German enclave in southern Wisconsin.  Jacob Fitzl, who would marry Anna Hovel, was already in place in Jefferson, WI, and he was from the same village as the Hovel family. Hence, he probably wrote back to the home village about opportunities in the United States, particularly Wisconsin.  Anyway, the news article about my great grandfather Martin's sister, Catherine Hovel Popp, was on the event of her 50th wedding anniversary. The article noted that at age 5 she moved with her parents to America, the whole family--mother, father and children all moved at the same time.  The article then notes that "the long trip across the ocean required seventeen weeks."  That is over four months! That is over one-third of the year! 

Memorial Card

We know, from Theresia's memorial prayer card, issued for her funeral, that she was born in Ujezd Boehmia. She must have been proud of her Bohemian heritage because for decades it seems many Bohemians claimed they were from Germany, or Austria.  For many years my Dad thought the Hovel family came from Germany. Probably understandable as his parents spoke German, different German, but German. Theresia would travel from Ujezd to Bremen, and depart on the ship Koln.  Noted as passenger number 420 on the ship manifest, her age is listed as 24, but she is said to be from Germany. I suspect the recorder of the information rarely asked, and simply noted Germany at the top of the page, and used the ditto symbol (she is second down on the page, see first image in this blog) for all others on the page. The passengers of the Koln disembarked in Baltimore on 10 June 1872. Assuming Lizzie had a similar length journey to the Hovel family immigration of 1868, she would have spent her 24th birthday traveling to the US. The Hovel family traveled in 1868. and their ship, the Baltimore, departed Bremen and also arrived at the Port of Baltimore. I think the German Lloyd line had agreements with the Port of Baltimore. The shipping companies also had relationships with railroads to take the freshly arrived immigrants to the American heartland. As far as we know Lizzie made her way directly to Iowa. 

Pitzenberger Farm, Fort Atkinson, IA
Sec 20, Washington Twp, Winneshiek Co, IA

The thing is I really have no idea why she came to the US, or specifically to Iowa.  It appears, as I noted, that she traveled alone. Iowa, however, did make some sense as a destination. Spillville, IA, about ten miles from Festina, was a major site of Catholic Bohemian migrants. Was she a mail-order type bride? Was she coming over to work for someone? Or, was she simply stepping ashore hoping to find work and a better life? As with most of our immigrant ancestors we lack the answers. There are many questions we would like to ask, so we can rely on general trends.  But, if Theresia did travel alone, she bucked the norm of a female traveling with others. We do know that she married Mathias on October 20, 1873, so one year and four months after her arrival in Baltimore.  Whatever the case, if she indeed did travel alone, it was a gutsy move on her part. (As an aside, Winneshiek County, the location of Festina and Spillville, had the distinction of being the only Iowa County to condemn the KKK in the 1920's.  This is probably due in large part to the large Catholic population, and the KKK being anti-Catholic.)

Theresia with son-in-law Rudy Hovel, daughter Ida
and grandson Roy Hovel

It may have been an odd situation with Mathias since he and Theresia reportedly each spoke a different language, High German and Czech, respectively. Theresia, with a fifth grade education, likely knew some German from her school years in Bohemia. If they had communication issues due to spoken language it did not affect their marital relations. The union between Mathias and Theresia produced seven children. Mary Therese was the oldest born about 1875, followed by Andrew (1876), John (1880), Frank (1882), Matthew (aka Mathias) who was born in 1886 giving Theresia a break of a few years.  My grandmother, Ida, followed a few years after Matthew, in January 1890, and the baby of the family, Matilda, was born in 1892. All of these children lived into adulthood. All the children were, for some part of adulthood, involved in farming or as merchants.

Theresia with grandson Roy Hovel

In terms of farm work it was common for the wife to undertake some of the farm chores.  The children would assist her in some of the chores.  As the male children aged they would assist with field work. We can see how the sons helped with farm and field work as in some of the census documents, they are listed as farm laborers. According to historians, the main effort for the farm wife was the care of the poultry and the harvest of their eggs.  The Pitzenberger farm produced 500 dozen eggs in 1879, and were said to have had 70 poultry on hand as of June 1, 1880. The farm wife would also have been responsible for the family garden.  Other chores may have varied by farm, or age of children, but the farm wife would likely have assisted with milking the cows, of which the Pitzenbergers had three, and from which they produced 275 pounds of butter.  The butter churning was likely all the hand work of Theresia. She would have helped dress and preserve other items, fruites, vegetables, and butchering of the pigs, of which five were recorded for the Pitzenbergers in the 1880 agricultural census.  Among other crops, the Pitzenberger farm produced 115 bushels of Irish Potatoes on one acre of land. It is quite possible that Theresia would have assisted with the harvest and packing of the potato crop.  In a sense farm work is like child rearing, there was never a day off.  Perhaps, that is why God gave women the ability to multi-task.

Theresia Kamenova Pitzenberger

Multi-tasking is what was required for home and farm life in the mid to late 19th century. Changes were starting to occur in the nation that were bringing creative destruction to certain parts of the economy. Industrialization was one aspect of this, with its differentiation of labor. Changes were also occurring on the farm due to opening of lands on the prairies further west, along with disease and insects. For example, Wisconsin used to be a big wheat growing state, but the chinch bug infestation of the mid to late 1800's changed that. Wisconsin farmers tried a few other crops, such as hops, but mainly transitioned to Dairy. Chinch bugs did not like alfalfa. But, they did like corn, grass crops like wheat. Yet, as the agricultural census shows, these small farms remained diversified handling a variety of animals and crops. I recall my grandpas farm in Sun Prairie as having stalls for sheep, pig pens, chicken coop and accommodations for other animals. He started his Sun Prairie farm in the late 1920's. 

Pitzenberger Clan, circa 1928

With her husband having died in 1912, the 1920 census has her living alone, with her occupation identified as farmer. She was a land girl to the end. We know this from the 1915 Iowa Census.  While the census identifies her occupation as merchant, she also ran the farm. She had two milk cows valued at $80, one horse valued at $100, two swine at $20, and 50 fowl with a value of $15.  The main census page notes a total value of farm at $4,100. Her total earnings for a year were identified at $1,000. An earning of $1,000 for a year would be equivalent to about $27,000 today, putting her in a lower class bracket. Although there were a good number of $1,000 annual income on the census forms, so the number is probably somewhat suspect.  After all, who wants the census taker to know how much income they had?  It is hard to tell if, at 67 years of age, she was being weighed down by chores on the farm and in the store. The census record has her age as 65, not 67, but we know she was born in 1848, per her memorial card. 

1915 Iowa Census for Theresia p 1
Source: familysearch

Just as Theresia had to make accommodations due to the death of Mathias, both of them would have had to make accommodations in the farm chores she accomplished as children were born, were ill, or the  other instances of life get in the way that would demand the attention of the mother. As the mother, she was probably the one who made sure the lesson plans were complete and prayers were said.  All part of that multi-tasking required of moms.  I think the 1915 Iowa Census shows a woman who ran a farm and also a store. A remarkable achievement, for this lone wolf.

1915 IA Census for Theresia, p 2
Source: familysearch

Great grandma Pitzenberger, whose daughter, Ida, gave birth to my Dad in September 1918, would have known my Dad for only three years. My Dad would have turned three years of age the September prior to her death. She would never have met Dad's only sibling, my Aunt Anita who was born in 1924. Theresia's youngest daughter, Matilda, turned 21 just five days prior to Theresia's death. Theresia did not die in Festina, but rather in Winona, MN.  She may either have been living with, or visiting her daughter Mary Theresia, who was, with her husband, probably running a grocery store in Winona. However, she was buried in the St Mary's--Our Lady of Seven Dolors Cemetery, next to her dear departed husband, Mathias.

Mathias and Theresia Pitzenberger 
Grave Marker, St Mary's Cemetery, Festina, IA
Source: Find-a-Grave

Her last will and testament was rather simple.  It bequeathed a sum of $1,000 to St Mary's Church and Fr Rubly, or his successor, for masses for the repose of her soul. The remaining sum, after payment of all debts and funeral charges, was to be equally divided among any of her surviving children.  All  seven children would receive their portion of the estate, since none predeceased her. I wonder if she was ill, or knew death was knocking, since the will was signed on 25 October 1921, or just shy of two weeks before her death.

Last Will and Testament
Right side
Source: Ancestry.com

Theresia Kamenova Pitzenberger set herself apart by taking what appears to be a journey of one from Bohemia to the United States. It was a long journey lasting about 17 weeks from her village of Ujzed, Bohemia, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to the rolling hills of eastern Iowa. Only knowing Czech, and perhaps some German, on her arrival in Baltimore, she had to deal with unfamiliar surroundings, language and customs. It is also in this part of Iowa where she would marry her husband, and give birth to, and raise the seven children she had with Mathias. All the while being a farm wife and helping at the local hardware store in Festina. If it was not for passenger # 420 on the Koln, which arrived in Baltimore on 10 June 1872, my grandma, dad or me would not have had the lineage, or life experiences we have had since we are formed by our ancestors. Such is the luck of life.

Images without source notation are from family archival sources