Legacy

Tomorrow is the 110th anniversary of the birth of my paternal grandfather in Vienna, Austria.

“Graublau”

That is the word that connects my eyes to my grandfather’s passport. It is the summation of the legacy he left me.

Standard forms never have an option for my eye color, which is the color of Lake Michigan on an overcast winter day. I always have to settle for blue, which is as close at it gets. But my grandfather apparently had more latitude in describing his eye color when he got his passport, because it says simply “graublau” or grey-blue (more grey than blue, I think). Perhaps this is an Austrian trait, because years ago I came across a similar, although even more specific, description in White Stallion of Lipizza (emphasis mine):

“He stood up now and put both hands on the boy’s shoulders, holding them tight. Gray eyes looked into gray eyes for a long moment. Then, “Hans,” he said, “all Viennese are proud of the Lipizzaners. Even I who have never seen them. It is something wonderful we inherit from the past. But for most of us it is a thing to admire from afar. Like stars. Or the moon when it is new.”

I like knowing that I got my eyes from my grandfather, whom I barely remember because he died when I was three. I also like knowing that they may also be a broader reflection of my ethnic heritage!

Quote of the Day

Family might be the people who remember your past, but they’re also the ones riding with you to the future, and wherever we’re going, the only way to get there is forward. Sophie Grace as Kristy Thomas in The Babysitter’s Club

The Top Five–Things I Miss

I’m sure we’re all missing things from our old “normal” lives…here’s a look at the top five things I’m missing, and for once, it’s exactly five items, and I didn’t even have to think to come up with them!

Church/Choir–This one was a no-brainer. I am thankful for our online church services, because we can still hear the Word, but it’s just not the same. I also really miss hearing my family sing in their various choirs at church, even though I am not musically gifted myself.
Extended Family/Friends–Another no-brainer is missing visiting family and close friends or having them visit us. Again, I’m thankful for other ways to communicate, like phone, text, or video chats, but it’s still not the same. We’ve already missed out on so many opportunities to gather that should have been on the calendar, and that’s just sad.
Chicago–I really missed our annual Memorial Day Weekend trip to Chicagoland. I missed it so much, I even created a virtual vacation. Not getting to see the skyline, and especially Lake Michigan, was really hard for me, and even though I enjoyed looking back through photos from previous trips, once again, it’s just not the same.
The Missouri Botanical Garden–I guess this is the number one St. Louis area location I’m missing. Normally, we go to the Garden at least once a month, and in the springtime, it can be more like once a week. Besides missing walking around the Garden and seeing all of the beautiful flowers in bloom, I’m also sad that I had to abandon my yearly photo project.
Wandering Around Target for No Reason at All–This is a silly one, but still a big deal to me. I really miss just impulsively stopping at Target and looking for absolutely nothing in particular. There have been some weeks (including one right before COVID-19 became a big deal), where I have literally stopped at Target five days of the week. Even if I don’t come out with anything, there’s something fun about shopping there, but I haven’t stepped in a Target for over two months!

What do you miss most from life pre-COVID-10?

A Story of Spaetzle

Last week, I shared our family’s favorite spaetzle recipe. But as is the case with so many recipes, it’s not just about the food…it’s also about the story.

I first attempted making homemade spaetzle about a decade ago (give or take). I didn’t have a spaetzle maker at the time, so I just pushed the batter through the holes in a colander. It was kind of a lot of work, but I was so excited to make one of my favorite German foods, and share it with my family.

But 10 years ago, my oldest child was five. And everyone knows that five-year-olds (and their younger siblings) aren’t exactly the most adventurous eaters. So Ryan and I enjoyed the spaetzle, but nobody else even tried it. And I decided it just wasn’t worth the effort to make it again.

Until last year. I was planning a German meal for the Fourth of July, and I decided to give it another go. I even ordered a spaetzle maker, which made the job a lot easier, and this time, everybody tried it. It seemed like the children liked it ok, but I didn’t think they were thrilled with it, so I still didn’t make it too often. But a few weeks ago, I had some extra sauerkraut, so I figured I would make some spaetzle to go with it. And suddenly, children were appearing, and begging for a bowl. Apparently, they hadn’t just liked it last year, they loved it. And they still do.

I’ve lost track of how many batches of spaetzle I’ve made in the last few weeks. Today, I tripled my recipe, just to make sure we have enough to go with tonight’s dinner, and to enjoy with lunches throughout the week. It’s a HUGE bowl, but I bet I’ll go through it faster than I expect.

Ten years ago, I despaired of ever sharing this part of my heritage with my children. Now they can’t get enough. So if you’re dealing with young children, and longing to share favorite things from your past with them, whether recipes, books, games, movies, or anything else, just give it some time. They may not appreciate it today, or tomorrow, or even a year from now, but eventually, their tastes may change, and you’ll be left just wondering what you got yourself into!

Quote of the Day

The holidays are coming!

But let me share with you a typical Thanksgiving at the Turk household: It starts with my mother yelling at my sister for yelling at my grandmother who’s yelling at the television screen, which happens to be the microwave. And then my militant brother Jabari – formerly Bob – gives my father attitude for using the word black, even though he’s referring to the turkey. Which, by the way, only got burnt because instead of turning the oven off, my bi-polar aunt Leslie tried to shove her head in it. But you know what we do? We kiss… and we hug… and we apologize for all the things we said… ‘Cause a month later, we gonna get together and do it again at Christmas! Donald Faison as Dr. Chris Turk on Scrubs

Blessed Easter!

I pray your family’s Easter is as blessed as ours has been!

The Day-After-Thanksgiving Legostravaganza!!!

The day after Thanksgiving is always a fun day in the Markel house, starting with pie for breakfast, and continuing on through the day with TV-watching, leftovers-eating, and turkey soup for dinner. But the highlight of the day is always the building of the new Lego Winter Village set for the year. Everyone gets to join in the fun!

This year, we had a few small sets: a town square and a train ride, plus a nutcracker.

And the big set…the Winter Village Station, to go with the train we assembled last year! I knew as soon as I saw it that I wanted to build the bus, because it reminds me of the Columbia Inn’s taxi in White Christmas! I especially love the presets in the rooftop carrier.

The station itself is also pretty cool…there’s a lot of nice little details, including a coffee shop inside!

The station joined the train under the tree in our living room, and I love the way it adds to our wintry scene of happy travelers!

Seamus Day

Last year, on February 26th, I said this:

After having eaten at Seamus McDaniel’s on February 26th for three straight years, due to varying circumstances, I was so sad last year thinking that our fairly new tradition would have to come to an end after 2/26/2016…and then later in 2016, Seamus announced that they would now be open on Sundays! So here we are, on February 26th, a Sunday, and Seamus was open for us to enjoy lunch this afternoon. We have now had lunch or dinner at Seamus McDaniel’s on February 26th in 2014, 2015, 2016, and thankfully, 2017, as well. After four years in a row, there is no doubt that “Seamus Day” on February 26th is a favorite family tradition!

I know I’ve said it before, but I think today’s burger was the best one I’ve had yet. I do know this…eating lunch at Seamus guarantees the most perfectly rare burger you can imagine!

The Lego Winter Holiday Train

Thanks to the great sink fiasco of 2016, we were a day late building our Lego Christmas set for the year, but this evening, we sat down and got it done.

Each member of our family had a specific task:

In addition to the train itself, there were five new minifigs and a whole bunch of Lego toys and Christmas presents, which were built by Bunny and Chickadee:

Ryan started with the engine:

And Moose built the coal car:

Turkey took car of the toy car, which also includes a cool revolving Christmas tree:

And I built the passenger car/caboose:

The track just fits around the base of our living room Christmas tree, and the gingerbread house that Ladybug built is the perfect complement to the set:

This is the first Christmas set that we’ve built that isn’t a part of our winter village display, but I love having a train around our tree! And if we want to in the future, we can add Lego Power Functions to it, so that it can actually go!

Easter Morning 2016

We had a very joyous Easter morning!

The big four all got to play parts in our church’s annual reenactment outside before the sunrise service. Turkey was the angel, Moose was a guard, and Bunny and Ladybug were the women on their way to the tomb: