I sure did think

that I would be able to spend more time on my blog once winter hit but that certainly didn’t happen did it?

I just keep finding more stuff to fill my days. Lately, it has been cross-country skiing. I told myself that this year I was going to learn how to ski “skating” style. So far, I have not had much success. Maybe I should have tried to get a better handle on the classic style first?

I also flew down to St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands - my first ever tropical vacation. Quite an interesting little island that is. Especially Coki Beach. It was a beautiful beach filled with an eclectic mix of people and as an added bonus (for me, anyway), it had a tiny private cemetery. I was not allowed to enter the cemetery but I did manage to take a few pictures from outside the fence.

Something to consider

When selecting a headstone/cemetery for a family member (or yourself, if you’re the kind of person who wants it all taken care of before hand), please remember this:

If you select a flat stone and live in a state that gets snow, it will be very, very, very, hard for family and friends to find your grave in the winter. Even if they visit it all the time when the weather is good. Even if they have a map from the sexton. Take it from someone who spent almost a half hour looking for my Aunt and Uncles’ graves this Christmas season.



So, if you want a nice wreath at Christmas or a visit on your winter birthday, pick out a headstone that will stand above the snow and a cemetery that allows them.

My favorite ornament is this little guy

I found him some years ago while cleaning out my aunt’s basement after she moved into an assisted living center.

The tag reads “To: Mrs. Cogshall, From: Florence Nelson (my grandma). It is dated 1914. I wonder why she never gave it to her?

In that same box of Christmas stuff, I also found some vintage GE Ice light bulbs

and a small bag containing about $15 in silver dollars. It almost made up for the weeks of pouring through hundreds of boxes trying to decide what was going to auction and what to toss in the trash hopper. Almost. Since I inherited all the same pack rat genes as my aunt and grandma, sorting through all that history was not an easy chore for me.

Thanksgiving

is almost over.

I did all the cooking and I am tired, but it was a great day. To me, anytime the family gets together is a good day. We laugh and we bitch, but in the end it's all OK. That's what families do.

Later I watched the news. A guy was being interviewed and he was bitching because he was laid off and couldn't afford to buy a turkey for his family. I almost felt sorry for you but I didn't. First of all, you were smoking a cigarette. I am not one of those anti-smoking crusaders, in fact I use to smoke. And because I used to smoke, I know that if you had cut out 4 or 5 packs of cigarettes over the last couple of weeks, you would have had enough money to buy that turkey. Second of all, you didn't look like you needed a turkey dinner. If fact, you looked like you never missed a turkey dinner or any other meal in your life.

I know that sound harsh, if not downright mean, but how about thinking about the things you could be thankful for? Let me help you count your blessings. You were able to talk, you had legs and stood unassisted, you have a family, your clothes looked clean and warm. You are better off than many if we just stop there.

No matter how bad you think your life is, it could be so much worse. Every time I start to feel like I deserve more, I remember a photograph I saw that brought tears to my eyes. Let me share it with you so that you will be thankful too.

Ok, now tell me again what your problem is.

This is the war we should be fighting. In today’s world of gluttony and waste, NO ONE should have to live and die like this.

It is estimated that the cost of the Iraq war is $255 million per day, or a little less than $1.8 billion a week. That figure includes both military and non-military spending on things like reconstruction. Just one week's worth of that money would stop this tragedy. It all sounds so very simple to me. But it must not be, right?

Just some pictures

It's pretty safe to assume he is not still with us...so why didn't anyone engrave the date he died? And look how good these pictures still look!

FIX THESE!!!

Seashells! I wonder what this looked like when it was new?

A dead rose for the dead.

A country cemetery

Self Portrait

Here lies Abraham Lieuzadder

He is not the interesting part of this story. The fact that he served under George Rogers Clark, the brother of William Clark (the Clark from the famous Lewis and Clark team) is still not the most interesting part of this story.

What I found interesting was this. A co-worker of mine, who is an avid hunter, decided to travel some 300 or so miles down to southern Ohio to bowhunt whitetail deer. His destination was a 12,000 acre parcel of state owned land. He wandered around looking for just the right tree to place his stand. He climbed a hill and reached a flattened spot of land. Looking around, he saw two trees, on opposite ends of the plateau, that he thought would work for him. He selected one and headed towards it. As he approached the tree, he noticed headstones with American flags next to it. Both stones were for Abraham but one could not be read due to its age. Someone or some organization had placed another stone next to it to document the grave.



So here’s a guy, walking around 12,000 acres, who just happens to stumble across a single grave that is over 180 years old. Now add the fact that this same guy is also an avid reader of historical books dealing with early Americana and had read the autobiography of George Rogers Clark! What are the chances of that anyway?

In Oakwood cemetery, located in Muskegon, MI

are the graves of 4 members of the Cogshall family.




Father James Henry

Mother Electra Force

and two of their five children:

son, William Ellsworth

and daughter, Rose Adelle

I do not know where the other children, Jennie May, George Theopholis, and Bela Nelson Lavern are buried.

I am not related to the Cogshalls, nor have I ever met any relatives of the Cogshalls (that I know of) but I know a lot about them.

I know that James had a large department store in downtown Muskegon in the late 1800’s and in his later years ran for a school commissioner position. I know they were Masons. I know they had a son who ran away as a teenager so he could fight in the Civil war and that his mother wrote a letter to the government demanding his return. I know their daughter, Rose, never married. I know what they all look like.

Why do I know all this? Because all this information and more was collected by my grandmother and was inherited by me when she died. I have pictures of them, letters written by them and newspaper clippings about them. I have more pictures of the Cogshalls than I do of my own grandparents.

My grandmother worked for them in the art department of the Leahy Store when she first came to Muskegon. She and Rose, although a little older, became best friends. I can remember her talking about Rose and her family all the time.

Oh how I wish I had listened as she rambled on and on about these people that I had no interest in whatsoever. Because maybe then I would have a clue as to how to track down possible relatives and pass all this information on to them.