August 1959

This is a picture of my 7th birthday party in August 1959. The party took place at my grandparents' farm house in Madrid and all of the kids surrounding the dining room table are my first cousins. (I'm the one at the end of the table under the orange arrow.) My sister Sheila would have been 9 months old at the time. I believe she is in the highchair behind me to my left. There are nine first cousins in the photo and we eventually grew to a total of 18 first cousins. I'm happy to report that we are all still around. What memories!

Mt. Calvary Cemetery -- James Kostal marker

This is the marker for my Uncle Jimmy who was killed in a training accident in 1953. His body was never recovered so this is all we have.

This is ridiculous!

My father passed away in January 2002. In April 2005, a letter addressed to my father came from the Circuit Court of Cook County. It was a jury summons for duty in May. My mother called the jury administrator and notified them of my father's death. She thought everything was straightened out. Not even close! In early May, she received the following letter:

This letter is to inform you that you have been excused from Jury Service on 05/17/2005 as a result of your request to participate in our Opt Out Program, which permits jurors who are 70 years of age and older to be excused from Jury Service on a specific court date. Your participation in the Opt Out Program applies only to the date for Jury Service noted above. Please be aware that your name will remain on the juror list and you may be summoned again for Jury Service at a later date. However, your ability to be excused from Jury Service under the Opt Out Program is always available to you, no matter how many jury summons you may receive.

Dad would have appreciated the humor in this bureaucratic buffoonery.

Mt. Calvary Cemetery -- Stanton marker

This is the marker for my great-uncle and great-aunt Edward and Tonnie Stanton. Aunt Tonnie was my paternal grandfather's half-sister and plays an important role in our family history.

She is the aunt who watched Fred Astaire as a youngster when his father would visit Ravenna and other small Nebraska towns along his liquor sales route. (My Uncle Edward -- who passed away before I was born -- owned "Buddy's Place," a tavern in Ravenna.)

My sister and I also inherited (through my mother) a lot of her antiques and furniture when she passed away in 1964.

Mt. Calvary Cemetery -- Kostal marker

This is the grave marker for my maternal grandparents -- Edward and Agnes Kostal.

Mt. Calvary Cemetery -- Ravenna

Here is the gate to Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Ravenna.

Southwest Nebraska sunflowers

During our August 2002 visit to Nebraska, my mother and I spent quite a bit of time commuting between Ogallala (where our motel was located) and Grant and Madrid. Grant is located 20 miles south of Ogallala and Madrid is 10 miles east of Grant.

There is literally nothing but farmland between Ogallala and Grant. Several farmers are growing sunflowers as a cash crop. Some of the fields were located along the highway. I stopped and snapped several photos of the flowers including this closeup.

Lake McConaughey, January 13, 2002

I was going through some photos I took the weekend of my father's funeral in January 2002. We intentionally stayed in the Madrid area for an extra day after the funeral to see family and friends and to show my wife and son the sights and sounds of the Cornhusker State. They had never been there before so we were determined to show them around.

Since we were staying in Ogallala, we took them to see Kingsley Dam and Lake McConaughey, the big reservoir north of town. We crossed over the dam and were on the north side of the lake. There was a small area just past the dam where we turned off. It was a bright, but a windy, raw day. Something about the area intriqued me and I got out of the car and carried my digital and my video cameras with me. The way the sun was shining through the barren trees created an interesting effect. The cloud pattern combined with the blue sky appealed to me. I snapped several pictures, got back into the car and thought nothing further of it.

It wasn't until I got back to Chicago that I realized what a beautiful picture I had taken. I played around with the photo in Photoshop and discovered that the photo looks even more dramatic when changed to black-and-white. For comparison, here's the original color picture.

Madrid Cemetery -- Chamberlain marker

This is the grave marker for my great-grandparents -- George and Mary Jane Chamberlain. Their daughter, May Chamberlain Cornelius, was my paternal grandmother. George and Mary Jane built the sod house that I wrote about back in October. Click on this link for more information about George and Mary Jane.

Madrid Cemetery -- Entrance

Here's the entrance gate to the Madrid Cemetery. It acts as a lonely sentinel welcoming visitors as they pass through it.