The Exorcist

The Exorcist was released in US Theaters on 29 Dec 1973. Whether or not it was released "In theaters everywhere!" I do not know. Much of the theater viewing occurred in 1974, or fifty years ago. The movie is based on a real life occurrence of an exorcism performed by two Jesuit priests near St Louis, MO. Recently, I came across a letter my mother had received from her brother Joe Sweeney dated 25 Feb 1974. I know my parents saw the movie, The Exorcist, based on the book of the same title. My uncle Joe, had been a Jesuit priest, but left the priesthood, and for a time he was employed in Texas with Amoco. This provides the connection to the real exorcism and this is that story.

Christmas 1972, Uncle Joe was in Kansas City for Christmas with friends from Amoco. Attending the same party was Fr Thomas Bowdern, a Jesuit priest whose brother, William Bowdern, was the lead exorcist in the Missouri case. The book by William Peter Blatty was first released in 1971;  I am not sure if Uncle Joe had read the book at the time of that letter, although he knew of the stor y, probably from the Jesuits and his education at Campion High School, Loyola University, and at seminary in West Baden, IN. Fr Wm Bowdern was asked to consult on the movie, but was forbidden by the Bishop. Fr Wm Bowdern was the rector at Campion, a private Jesuit run school in Prairie du Chien, WI, from 1937-1942, starting two years after my dad graduated from Campion in 1935. The real exorcism was of a boy 13 years of age, now revealed to be Ronald Edwin Hunkeler. At times he was referred to as Roland Doe. Ronald was baptized in the Lutheran faith. His mother was Lutheran, but his father was baptized Catholic, but a non-practicing as were his parents. A great deal of information is in a transcription of a diary kept by Fr Bishop of St Louis. Fr Bishop, consulted with the family after being asked by a cousin of the boy and that is how the whole thing started in St Louis. You can find a copy of the diary here.

Fr William Bowdern, SJ

Fr Wm Bowdern was assisted in the exorcism by Fr Walter Halloran. Halloran graduated from Campion four years after my dad, but also taught at Campion and Marquette University. Fr Mike Montague, SJ, who taught my Uncle Joe at West Baden Seminary in 1957, was with Walter Halloran at St Louis University at the time of the exorcism. Fr Montague had told my Uncle Joe, at a party years before the 1974 letter, that Fr Walt Halloran used to drive Fr Bowdern to a "small home in the country where the boy was kept." Fr Montague had told my uncle that "Walt would show up for breakfast sometimes all scratched up!" Uncle Joe goes on to say that "Evidently he was somewhat of an 'assistant' to the exorcising priest."  Fr Halloran's brother was a classmate at Campion with my Uncle Joe. Who knew that a small school in a small rural outpost in Wisconsin had such a deep connection to perhaps the most famous exorcism in the United States, if not the world.

The boy originally played with a Ouji board to contact a recently deceased aunt who was involved in the occult, and with spiritualists. The tale starts in January 1949. Normal during the day, things took a bad turn for the boy at night. Doctors, psychiatrists and other medical professionals were consulted, but to no avail. Two Lutheran ministers took on the task, along with a spiritualist, but they too struck out The ministers, in a rare bit of ecumenism, recommended a Catholic priest. Fr Hughes of Maryland, did not see the boy, but advised holy water, and prayers. The mother sprinkled holy water in the room and placed the jar on a shelf. Directly after placement on the shelf, she reported an unknown force threw the jar across the room, breaking it and spilling the holy water.

Walter Halloran
1939 Campion Photo

With little luck in Maryland, the family moved the boy to St Louis where the boy's mother was from and had relatives. It would be too lengthy and disturbing to report all manifestations witnessed, but let me review a few, many of which made the movie, some which did not. Scratches on the boy, bed moved violently, guttural sounds and a trance like state occupied the boy, X scratched on his chest, a pitchfork emblem emblazed on his thigh which moved to ankle. Urinating on the bed and in the room. In March 1949 the family was deciding whether or not to take the boy to St Louis, they found St Louis scratched on the boy, and later Saturday, as the day to take him. Why they obeyed such commands is another matter. A cousin of the boy inquired of his teacher, Fr Bishop, who viewed and did consultations with others, leading to the involvement of Mr. Halloran (he was still in formation and not yet ordained) and Father Bowdern. Bishop also assisted and kept the diary linked above. 

My uncle writes to my mother that "it was all hush-hush, and no one in the SJ community knew what was going on. Evidently, Fr Bowdern and "Mr" Halloran were sworn to secrecy ('sworn' at least in the sense of professional ethics prevented any mention of the case.)" My uncle notes that as the news articles say the exorcism was a  success. He goes on to say the "man today is happily married and has no memory of it all."  Ronald would go on to be an engineer with NASA, his name as the one involved only revealed after his death in 2020.

Halloran grave marker, Cavalry Cemetery
 Milwaukee, WI

Fathers Bishop and Bowdern and Mr  Halloran first met and said prayers on 7 Mar. and then again daily from 9 March to 15 March. For the intervention on 16 March, Bowdern had received permission for the Rite of Exorcism to be performed. Ronald decided to become a Catholic and on 23 March began instruction for entering the Church. On Friday, Apr 1, he was baptized, but the devil fought the baptism, which took a long time to complete. Prayers of exorcism continued after the baptism.  Due to the toll on the family it was decided to go back, by train, to Washington DC area. The entourage, including Fr Bowdern and another priest, left on Monday, 4 April, but by 7 Apr they had to return to St Louis due to doctors not wishing his placement in a medical institution run by the Daughters of Charity. Bowdern made arrangements at the Alexian Brothers Hospital in St Louis. Exorcisms continued daily at the hospital until Easter Monday, 18 Apr, when prayers, placement of holy relics and medals on the boy, against the desires of the demon, started to work. Eventually that night, the demon decided to depart the boy. According to the Bishop diary, the most extraordinary event occurred at 10:45 pm that night with the following: "In clear, commanding tones, and with dignity, a voice broke into the prayers. The following is an accurate quotation: 'Satan! Satan! I am Saint Michael, and I command you, Satan, and the other evil spirits to leave the body in the name of Dominus, immediately. -- Now! NOW! N O W!'"  A very violent seven to eight minute encounter occurred and then as accounted: "R, in a tome of complete relief said, 'He’s gone!'"

R, or Ronald, then described the battle that occurred between Michael the Archangel and Satan. Satan called in reinforcements, but the power of St Michael overwhelmed them all. (See p 28 of the above linked diary.)

My uncle, in concluding the section of the letter regarding The Exorcist, would state: "It is a movie of doubtful value, of strong and disturbing imagery ...not for the young and immature. You'd be out of your cotton pickin' head if you let Greg or Tom see it." We were 16 at the time, and certainly my twin brother was of a high level of maturity to have watched the movie, but we were almost a year shy of our 17th birthday for an R rated movie. I suppose it represented a dilemma for our parents as to allow Greg but not Tom to watch the movie. I have seen it a couple times, all on DVD. Uncle Joe also included a copy of an article written by Fr O'Malley, SJ, who played father Dyer in the movie, and was a consultant on the film. 

Ronald, in later life, had told a person he made it all up, he was simply a bad boy. I wonder why he all of a sudden became a good boy that Easter Monday? I don't think bad behavior changes that quickly. The events have several witnesses, many independent from the others, such as parents, aunts and uncles, Lutheran ministers and later Catholic priests. While Fr Hughes had been consulted by the Lutheran ministers in Maryland, he never saw the boy. Actual involvement of Catholic priests with the boy only came upon the family move to the St Louis area to the home of an uncle and aunt. His comment is an easy one to avoid getting involved.

Is not getting involved part of the devil's plan? I participated in five zoom sessions over the past five weeks on Laudate Deum (the Pope's Apostolic Exhortation on climate change), arranged by the Catholic Multi-cultural Center in Madison. It centered on the effects of climate change in various parts of the world, with speakers from Central America, Africa, and the US and the effects and efforts being used to combat climate change. On Monday, 2/12, we had a fifth session which allowed more discussion by the group on the document. During that group discussion, one person relayed the following story: The devil asked three little devils how they would convince people to have their soul destroyed. The first one said to tell people there is no heaven, which the devil dismissed as people have hope; the second said tell people there is no hell, which was dismissed as it would not long last; the third said to whisper to people there is no hurry. Getting over the reticence of climate change in much of the population requires a change of heart. And, perhaps simply saying he was a bad boy was Ronald's way of explaining what occurred, after all, he may have had no memory of it at all.

Evil is all around us today, although it has been common in history. The wars in Ukraine and Gaza are just two of varied ongoing conflicts. There are conflicts in Nigeria, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines, just to mention a few. The boy in Maryland may have or have not been possessed by the devil 75 years ago. If he did not it must have been quite an elaborate ruse given the observations provided by a variety of observers. Today there are many procedures, as well there should be, for an exorcism to take place, at least in the Catholic Church. Exorcisms are apparently practiced in some eastern religions, such as Buddhism. It may be human way of dealing with bad events. I am not sure what really happened with Ronald 75 years ago, but an exorcism was performed, and Jesuit Fr William Bowdern was the exorcist.

 

Censored

On the last Tuesday of January I was at book club at St Ann's in Stoughton, WI. While we normally discuss a chapter or perhaps chapters of a book at each meeting, we read The Giver  over one week and discussed the full book that evening. Before beginning our discussion, the leader of the group read an email she received from a friend of hers. The email recounted how a live stream of a mass for her parish (the last Sunday in Jan) on Facebook suddenly disappeared. Turns out the broadcast had been censored by Facebook during the second reading. 

Scene from Movie "The Giver"
Jonas (r)  and friends Fiona and Asher

At the time, the parish leaders did not know why the feed was cut, and I suppose it took a bit of time to realize it had been cut off. A techie at the parish was able to reestablish a live link before mass concluded. Reasonably, the parish leaders wanted to know what caused the live stream broadcast to be cut off. They discovered that Facebook had censored it due to its content. What content was so egregious to Facebook that it had to censor that mass? The censor, probably AI, got upset and cut off the stream due to the second reading which involved 1 Corinthians (St Paul's first letter to the Corinthians), 7:32-35. The reading goes like this:

 I would like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is concerned about the  things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the things of this world, how he can please his wife, and he is divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in both body and spirit. A married woman, on the other hand, is anxious about the affairs of this world, how she may please her husband. I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to impose a restraint upon you, but for the sake of propriety and adherence to the Lord without distraction. (Bold by author)

Facebook's censors, although as I said probably AI to catch it even before it aired (meaning their must be some delay), apparently thought the reading too much for their liking. I suppose the use of a husband wanting to please his wife,  virgins, followed by married woman wanting to please the husband was too much for the censor algorithm. The affected Church, in a funny quip, noted that the church was not banning bibles. The person who wrote the email the church sent out had a good sense of humor.

Scene from Movie, "The Giver"
Jonas saving baby Gabe from being euthanized

The book The Giver, was apparently banned for a time in a few states, the first being California. It was banned in the 1990's for its sexual expression and euthanasia of children and adults. There is some irony about this middle school selection being banned and mass the prior weekend being censored. The book is actually quite good, giving a glimpse into what the pursuit of sameness can affect a world or society. They even lacked color, with much in black and white and 50 shades of gray. It is also a movie, available on Netflix. Our copy of the book notes an interview with Taylor Swift and a few other actors in the movie. I did not realize that Tay (we all know Tay as Trav's girlfriend; the NFL is not about to let Tay travel by her private jet back from Tokyo only to see Trav lose in the Super Bowl; a power couple that Roger Goodell seems to love the money they bring) was in the movie, but when watching it a couple weeks ago, she had a fleeting moment playing the Giver's daughter Rosemary. Blink and you would miss her. 

Those who wish to ban or censor material cannot have it both ways--cutting out what they don't like, but keeping what they do. This reminds me of the scene in the move Footloose, where Roger starts burning books. The pastor stopped the book burning, in part by asking "When did you all decide to sit in judgement?" and later saying while pointing to his heart: "Satan is not in these books, it's in here." Would Roger have thought the bible so salacious that it too should be burned? When it comes to censorship, who decides? That was the point of the pastor in the movie. In the US, social media companies now play a large role in censorship. 

Mother in the Parlor

I have mentioned previously that Land Registers from Bohemia often provide some tidbits of interesting information. The Jan 17 2024 post dealt with the Penicka's in our family line and how in 1673 Bartholomej willed a cow to his wife "on account of her long-standing marriage and faithful service at all times."  Today, let me turn again to the Penicka line, which is Konzal through marriage, and deal with the mother in the parlor.

Martin Konzal Birth (1702)

Christina Penicka of Nebahovy, a daughter of Bartholomej and his faithful wife Dorothea (yes, the one who received a cow on her husband's death) married Mathias Konzal of Zernovice on 3 Feb 1692. Mathias purchased his family's farm holding on 19 Feb 1689 following the death of his father. On 11 Apr 1738, one year and four months after his father passed away the holding was purchased by the youngest son of Mathias and Christina, Martin Konzal. His sister Barbara is my 6th great grandmother, making Martin my 6th great great uncle. His handover document is where one starts to wonder about the family dynamic. Martin was the youngest of six children and, being in his early thirties at the time of his father's death in 1736, likely did much of the farm work for his mother until he was able to purchase the holding in 1738. 

Martin Konzal Marriage (1743)

It was customary for a new holding owner to take on not only the cost of the farm, but also providing retirement benefits and funeral expenses of his surviving parent(s). Many farms had a smaller house on the property referred to as the retirement annex. If not used for a retired couple it may have been living quarters for a farm hand or rented out. Although farm hands often lived in the family quarters. Moms or stepmoms often outlive their husband. Grimm tales are noteworthy regarding the prevalence of evil stepmothers. In Martin's situation the document notes the following: "The conditions of the purchase follow that the widow Christina, as the new holder’s mother, should be permitted to remain in the farmhouse parlor for as long as she can get along with her son (italics by author for emphasis), however, should they not get along, Christina is permitted to remain in the retirement annex." For some reason, the mother wants to live in the house and not the retirement annex, but if they cannot get along she has the right to live in the retirement annex. Martin was single at the time, and perhaps desired to keep an eye out for him. Or, she desired someone to talk to. Many widows seem to be lonely, but at that time and culture, the parents were near a son or daughter, at least in the farm culture.

Summary Translation of Provisions for
Christina and Mariana required by Martin Konzal (1638)

This case either upends, or proves what I think I know about mother's and their youngest son. From experience as a child, the youngest son (I am a middle child) of a large family was often the most spoiled child in the family, particularly a large family. I am thinking this proves the point. Christina really wanted to stay in the house so she could continue to dote on her son. He did not marry until 27 Oct 1743, so five years after his purchase of the holding. He may well have needed his mother to help around the house as he worked the fields. His sister Marianna never married, and she, like Christina obtained retirement benefits from Martin. This often indicates some level of disability for a sibling, although there is not indication in the land register summary I had completed that she was disabled in any way. 

Christina Birth (1670)

Records often record a disability and the need for care of a sibling. The purchase agreement contains provisions to provide not only his mother with varied harvests from arable land, straw from certain fields, flax seed, a four beds of cabbage, but also fruit from specified fruit trees and three klafter (just under three cords) of firewood. Upon her mother's death Mariana would receive rye, barley, hay, peas and three field beds of cabbage. Both Christina and Mariana are thought to have died in or before 1767. 

Part of original text of Provisions for Christina and Mariana

When Martin took on the holding, his mother lived in the parlor, or the retirement annex for 29 or 30 years until her death at about age 97. Given that length of time, I sure hope they did in fact get along. There is no available record to indicate if she was pushed to the retirement annex, but Martin and his wife had seven children and so that may well have occurred. For an idea of a typical farm house in Bohemia, please see this post. Life with extended family was common, and so Martin's wife, just bore the load with the mother-in-law in the house, or next door. Martin died in 1794 at age 90, three months and three days after his 90th birthday. He must have had his mother's longevity gene.

I think Christina was a force to be reckoned with as a wife and mother. Two instances in the record show this: first, that she received a cow on the death of her husband (a great gift for a true land girl), and second that she was allowed to live in the parlor, but only for as long as she can get along with her son. It is not her son getting along with her, but her getting along with her son. Maybe it is best to think of her as an 18th century version of Marie Barone, who truly doted on her youngest son, even in a family of two children. Whatever the situation, living to 97 she sure made an impact as the mother in the parlor.

Source: Land Register for Zernovice, Prachatice District, Bohemia, Ord 21 image 11 at: https://digi.ceskearchivy.cz/720428/11/2603/2430/18/0

Summary Translation by Richard D'Amelio, 2023.

Letting Me Down

This is an unusual blog post. I really don't know what to write about this week. I can usually count on my wife for material, but she has fallen down on the job; she has failed to give me some good material for a blog post. She has let me down.

With the cold weather the past week we have been stuck inside a great deal. Not with my continuing foot problems I get out much. The wife has spent much of her time working on jigsaw puzzles. I think she is on her fifth puzzle. Putting puzzles together does not provide really good material. Except, when she gets exasperated because when a puzzle contains a piece that can be used in more than one spot. She may get half or 2/3 of the way through and realizes that something is wrong. The current puzzle has Piglet getting carried up by a few balloons and Pooh has grabbed him and is going up too. Strong balloons to take Pooh up I have to say. Oh bother. 

Pooh Bear Puzzle

For Christmas, from my sister, I got a couple puzzle books, a clock to put together and a 3-D puzzle. I may let the wife do the 3-D puzzle of Notre Dame Cathedral. I think the wife will have to help me with the puzzle, because it would probably take me longer to put it together than its current restoration effort. The first book I have started working on is titled, The Ultimate Activity Book for Intelligent Men and I have to say I probably should have had the book for non-intelligent men. One puzzle has the names of what they say are famous composers, and nine of opera singers, and you have to select who is a composer. The composer names are not Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Handel, or even Chopin. I think of the 18 names, I only have one, Gustav Mahler. I think he wrote the Resurrection Symphony. 

There is a similar puzzle with nine currencies and musical instruments. What is a Zloty, sounds like a currency, but I am not sure. Sistrum sounds like a disease, but perhaps a musical instrument. We are talking obscure names, words I really have not heard. That is how I handle the puzzle, what they seem like they could be. Koto could go either way, but I am guessing instrument. Then there is the one to distinguish between birds and reptiles. I don't recall seeing a Gharial at the zoo. Maybe I need the puzzle book for dumb men.

The puzzles I have been quite good at are the mazes. Perhaps because they are spatial, but I get through them quite fast. I leave the Sudoku puzzles for the wife. Sudoku really does not leave much room to write about, other than how good she is at them. She has started an even more difficult version of Sodoku called Sumoku. 

The thing is, even a guy like me found a few mistakes in this Intelligent Men's puzzle book. One was a spelling error. They provided 42 words that all begin and end with E and you have to place them in a crossword like puzzle. A couple words could go in more than one place, and one word (actually two) was misspelled they had Enfant Terrible in the word list and it is actually enfante terrible. This means it had 15 and not 14 letters. That stumped me for a while until I realized it was misspelled. Other than that, it was a fun puzzle to do.  

Puzzle with words that begin and end with E

I guess the cold and now dreary weather has indoors more, and with the wife putting crosswords puzzles together she just does not provide sufficient material for a blog post. I have counted on her antics many times for a blog post, but now she is letting me down.

One Cow

Old documents can be rather interesting, and they can include some amusing tidbits. A recent translation of a some land register entries of one of my ancestral lines from 1694 provided an amusing insight, but also a marked difference between our current time, and the time of our ancestors 330 years ago. My Bohemian ancestors were peasant serfs and had not only to do their own farm chores, but also were required to provide significant labor to the estate under which they served. Life was not easy. The land records may provide some detail that give a glimpse into their lifestyle. At that time, one cow was, apparently, a big deal.

Paart 1 of B. Penicka Last Will and Testament
Land Register, Trebon Archives

Based on lifestyle we can glean information about the person or family in terms of occupation and status (which at the time was often tied to occupation, and land held) within the community. In Bohemia, most of my ancestors hailed from small villages with perhaps 15 to 20, maybe 25 homes. Most of the homes were occupied by farmers, many of which were what was called half or quarter farmers (based on their arable land). Typically each village had a pub, blacksmith, and a herder who watched over the sheep or a few other grazing animals owned by village residents. The village would also have had some cottagers, persons with only a few acres, who worked a trade or were day laborers. Some day laborers would live in the house of the farm to which they were employed. I have mainly farmers in my line, but there are cottagers and laborers. 

Part 2 of B Penicka Last Will and Testament

Let me now delve into the case of the Penicka (diacritical marks are missing) family, who farmed in the village of Nebahovy. One of my eighth great grandfathers is Bartholomew Penicka who took over the holding from his father Tomas. Sometime in early 1694, but before 14 March 1694 when his son took on his farm holding, Bartholomew knew the end of his time on earth was near. In the presence of the village headman, jurors of the domain and at the Libejovice estate manor house, he dictated his Last Will and Testament which is recorded with the land registers for the Libejovice estate. The Will is not dated, but his son's purchase document notes that "Following the death of Barolomej Penicka a short time after making his last will and testament, the holding accordingly passes to his so Jan..."

The part I find amusing comes after he designated Jan to take over the farm. This section provides detail for each of the other of his heirs, and here we find: "Then he bequeaths to his wife, and to his children as marital estate namely: Dorothea--1 cow, on account of her long-standing marriage and faithful service at all times" It then lists what other children may or may not have received, four received nothing in this transaction as the father had previously provided them with a marital estate, or in the case of one son, his father assisted him with the construction of his holding.

Translation of part of the Last Will and Testament
of B Penicka c1694
Christina is in bold as she is the next direct line ancestor

There you have it, his wife, for her faithful service, received one cow. The family must have had two cows, because one daughter received a cow as marital estate, and the youngest son received a yearling ox. We know from the 1654 Berni Rula, forty years earlier, that the Penicka holding had four oxen, four cows and four heifers. Even though the farm was owned by Bartholomew's father until 1673, Bartholomew must have managed the holding for some time as the 1654 Berni Rula notes him as the farmer. While not explicit, similar records often indicate that the heir taking over the farm had to provide for the retired couple, or any surviving parent. 

One may think that Jan got the better end of the deal, but he had to not only buy the farm, and pay the other heirs (eight including his mother) their share, but he also was required to pay the debts on the farm and pay his father's funeral expenses. In this case, the heirs generally received 10 shock Meissen. Son Michael had his reduced by 5 since his father helped him build up the Koutny holding, and his daughter Anna's was reduced by 8 (so 2) as Bartholomew also helped build up the holding on which she lived, the Vopicka holding. Hence, in addition to the cow the mother received a payment, spread over several years, of 10 schock Meissen. While no retirement benefits are recorded for his mother, other records indicate such being an acceptable practice. Retirement terms seem to become more defined in later decades or centuries. 

The thing is, my ancestors had little in terms of possessions, and most of what they did own, was for the farm operation. Jan got all of the remaining household equipment with his purchase of the farm, which he needed to run the farm. The family also had a gelding horse at this time, which seems rare compared to other families in my ancestry that lived in Bohemia. The remaining household and agricultural equipment is stated as being "mostly made of wood", which is also a clue as to their possessions. Times have changed quite a bit in the past 330 years. I am not sure how Bartholomew's widow felt about receiving one cow, but it may have been a thoughtful gift. Our 21st century minds may question the suitability of such a gift to the spouse, but that may have been about all that was feasible. 

Note: I was going to make a joke about buying a cow to have on hand to give to my spouse at my death (if I predecease my seasoned citizen), but I thought that would be rude to our ancestors who lived difficult lives and made do with what they could. 

Howard "Houdini" Hovel

Our first grandchild was born on 1 Jan 2024 at 2:31 am. Howard "Howie" Leo Hovel entered this crazy and beautiful world in the dead of night on a the first day of the New Year. We often see images in the newspaper of a young infant or toddler with a sash reading the year, and old man time, representing the prior year, moving off to the side. The movement of time is one of the few certainties in life. The little boy will get bigger and pull off varied antics. His paternal grandmother was/is quite the adventurer so it may be in his blood. His first night home he was able to de-swaddle himself, hence the moniker Houdini.

Howard, 1 Jan 2024

I believe it was my son who said one medical provider was impressed with his eye--hand coordination. Perhaps this led to his determination to get out of his swaddle. I like that, it shows tenacity and determination. Today, apparently due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), infants are tightly swaddled, and laid not on their side or belly, but on their back. The swaddle makes some sense to me as they were in a tight space in the womb, but another part of me wants to start a campaign to Free Howard Hovel. Let him move those tiny arms and legs to build muscle. Let him kick and squirm. The way infants are tended today is a marked change from even twenty years ago.

Howard and his Hovel grandparents, and dad

Even though Howie turned only a week old as I write this on 8 Jan 2024, one week can represent a big change in the life of an infant. My wife cried when each of our kids turned a week old. Why? because they were a week old. Time was changing them. The funny thing is sometimes I feel more anxiety about Howard and how he is doing than I did or do about my own boys. I chalk it up to the fact that I saw my kids regularly and tended to know what was going on, but that is not the case with Howard. It is in part because babies are so vulnerable, and reliant. They need a great deal of care, and hence I wonder how Howie is doing. 

Howard with his parents, 2 Jan 2024

When in-utero, the parents would not tell us the name they had picked out. In utero he was given the name Dallas by my sister, which is a long-story about a Dallas her husband works with. I am not sure if the guy is a trouble maker or what the deal is. Hence, we started to refer to the unborn child as Dallas. I still find myself referring to him a Dallas. But, I do like the Houdini nickname, my son gave him for his escape from his swaddle that first night home. It has that alliteration we all like to see. My first son was to be born Christmas Eve in 1991, but came three weeks early. If he had been born on his due date I was going to name him Homer Howard Hovel, Ho Ho Ho, for short. Although, I am sure I would have had to battle with my wife on that name. Here, I now have Howard "Houdini" Hovel. The way children are, I can see him pulling off a few more escapades. Not that his rule-following grandfather would even encourage him. 

Howard and his Hovel grandparents
2 Jan 2024

When they chose the name Howard, neither of the parents knew that my wife's father was Howard Gerald, since he always went by Jerry. I had a brother, uncle and grandpa (maternal) that were all named Leo. Here is a fun fact, in Dallas', I mean Howard's, Hovel line of direct ancestors, I have to go back to Howard's eighth great grandfather, Simon Havel, to find a direct line male ancestor who first child was a girl. Now, the males in the line were not all first born, but the first child born to them and their spouse was a boy. Just an odd fact that I realized as I was typing this that I would pass along. 

A proud and beaming grandma,
Too bad the mask is on

Howard, showing the patience of his paternal grandmother, decided to arrive ten days earlier than his due date. As a first born child, it will be interesting to see the traits he develops, and whether he follows those traits, that are so exhibited in his first born dare-devil paternal grandmother, or the more laid back, rule-following approach of a middle child exhibited by his paternal grandfather. Howard, my thoughts are prayers are with you as you grow. I am looking forward to the fun times we will have. 

Thread Bare

When the colder weather arrived in October I started wearing long pants, rather than shorts. Wearing shorts pretty much ended the last week or so of October. Much of the pants I now wear during the day are pants I had worn to work, and had started to "show their age",  or in the new lexicon, "were well-loved", so to speak. When the knees wear out my seamstress patches them. Some may be cut into shorts. Many of the pants cut into shorts have now fully worn out. I try to get as much mileage out of a pair of pants as possible, even if they are becoming threadbare.

Side pocket

I had a pair of Lee Khaki pants that I have been wearing now since I retired as regular day-to-day pants. When I was a child it is what my mom would refer to as play clothes. I am not sure now that I am much older what the term I should now use. I don't want to use the term work clothes, perhaps regular clothes? I am not sure, but maybe play clothes is the best option. 

Knee patched, with need to patch thigh

I have had three pair of such pants I have been alternating between, but two pair were to be laundered, so I had to relegate myself either to jeans, many of which have seen better days, or to the final old pair of former work pants, that had been patched, about four or five times.  

Patch on other knee

I decided on the old khakis in an attempt to see how many wears I could get out of them. Things were going along the day I put them on, until I changed out to go biking and when changing back into them my foot caught the the front left thigh part of the pants produced another gapping hole.  was going to ask my wife if she could repair it for me, but I thought the better of it. I also wondered about purchasing a sew on patch. I was thinking of every possible way to repair the pants to yet get more wear out of them. When she saw me, she commented to the effect that why is she the one that has to throw out worn clothes, and that pair of pants should be in the trash. Well, I had to wear them another day just to get one more day of wear out of them, but I chose to change pants when I went to book club that evening. 

Patch on back pocket

As I assessed the pants, I thought of making them into shorts, but the repair near wear my wallet sites, the twice repaired hole in the pocket, and the now gapping hole by the thigh dissuaded me. After all, I don't have the sew skills to hem when cut into shorts (I don't think I would be allowed to touch the wife's precious Janome sewing machine), and I was not about to do it by hand. I had to draw the line somewhere. Part of me wanted to patch the pants, but the wife's comment got the better of me. If they were blue jeans I probably could have sold them for some money since some people like to wear what are called "distressed" jeans--and they buy them that way. My distressed pants are naturally wear that way. 

Inside of pocket was patched twice

I started writing this as a reserve to use when I ran out of material. As I am about to post this, the jeans I am wearing have holes in the knees, which have been patched, but holes are now forming in varied places on the thigh. If the wife notices, these two may not pass her test and be relegated to the trash.

Look close and you see the fabric becoming thread bare