All-time very top outstanding scrapblog photo

We love this photo so much we hardly know where to start. It has all the elements of an ideal scrapblog entry photo. It's historic: from a Stump-in in the 1970s. It has great characters: crusty Uncle Ed and the Lamars, the original inspirations for "The '70s Show." It has drama: Ed appears to be trying to lock the Lamars inside the little structure. And one Lamar appears to be trying to murder the other Lamar. (The Lamars would get irritable when there were no CHICKS around.) And best of all, guess what they're building? You got it: an outhouse. Believe us, this is a photo, and a situation, that only a Sprick cousin can understand, much less appreciate. You can bet that by the end of today, every Sprick cousin in range will have it installed as his or her computer background.

Claus and pals

Claus Sprick, right, and two pals party down in this very old photo submitted by cousin Dan.

Strange rituals of the native Spricks: A cake for every occasion

What, you haven't ever heard of a Stump-in cake? The only question was where they kept the ice cream, given that it was out in the boonies. Note: It's a good thing Grandma Sprick and Aunt Marion were wearing nametags, or we MIGHT HAVE FORGOTTEN WHO THEY WERE!!?? (Not likely.) But Joe and Mavis ran a tight ship. Every Stump-in ran smoothly, and nobody ever forgot who they were.

Stump-in hayride

This may well have been the last hayride Grandma Sprick took in her life, but it certainly wasn't the first. With her are cousin Jane, Aunt Mavis, cousin Cathy and Aunt Emma. That's probably cousin JoAnne behind Chats, but we aren't sure.

McCahill Park through the years

Found this postwar scene of McCahill Park in Lake City, Minn., in a box of old postcards. Grandma Sprick's writing on the back says: "The little park where we watched them give boat rides July 7 [1946] during evening Water Carnival." Twenty years later, the photo of Pam was taken at the same spot.

A sweet thing

The scrapblog editor found a weathered little leather autograph book in the bottom of the family trunk. It was Aunt Emma's childhood autograph book, from when she was about 13. Most of the entries are little rhymes from her childhood friends. This one, from her mom, Grandma Sprick, reads: "Theilman, Minn. Nov. 8, 1929: Dear Emma, Strive to keep the 'Golden Rule.' And learn your lessons well at school. Your Mother, Mary Sprick."

Annette at Eagle Lake

Annette on a trapeze! This undated photo is probably from the 1940s.

Pizza party at Sam's!

From the Jan. 2, 1991, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Sam and Bridget's Ginelli's Pizza is now Mill City Pizza, and it's even better. (Click on article to make the pizza really big.)

"Friends, nobles, countrymen, Spricks..."

No, Uncle Bill wasn't giving a stump speech in his (successful) campaign for Goodhue County auditor in this 1970s photo. Rather, he was at a Stump-in, giving a passionate nomination speech for a Burnt Wienie candidate.

Good-hearted Harter

With only mild-mannered Seth Kulseth I to protect him, Uncle Hart dared to wear Vikings colors into the heart of Packers territory during a 1970s Stump-in. Because he was the world's nicest guy, Joe and Mavis didn't toss him into the Black River. Sadly, the cigarettes he loved so well would eventually kill him in 1985 (as they also killed another beloved uncle, Ed). We picture Uncle Hart in heaven in a lawn chair, with Aunt Annette nearby, slipping delectable treats to the Seths, with a white pail of homegrown spudadoes nearby. By golly!

A handsome family

We like this 1960s photo of the handsome Kirkwood family, though it's inexplicably missing Joe. (That's his ear on the right.)

We are sad to announce...

We are sad to announce that Dan, Sam and Sarah's Aunt Delores (Laudie) Broberg, age 87, passed away Thursday night at a Twin Cities nursing home where she'd been staying since breaking some ribs. She had just gotten a visit from her sisters, Harriet and Lavone. That's Delores in front, then Lavone and Harriet, in this Christmas 2005 of the Broberg aunts. Delores' full funeral notice will be in the Sunday Star Tribune. Services are set for noon Saturday, March 3, at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. Arrangements are by Washburn-McReavy's Edina chapel, 952-920-3996. Our heartfelt condolences to our cousins. May Delores rest in peace.

Marion and Wally: A lady and a gentleman

Marion and Wally at the Millers' in the early 1980s. Marion was undergoing treatment for cancer, but you wouldn't know it by her smile. (Wallace Martin Broberg, May 10, 1924-April 13, 1989)

A woman who could really wear a hat

That's Aunt Annette, wearing the hat she inherited from Grandma Sprick, in 1987.

Three generations

We love cousin Leah's eyewear and way-fashionable ensemble in this treasure Uncle Joe found. Vi and Leah-Jean look lovely, too.

Aunts Vi and Anna

Vi and Anna, on the Millers' sunporch, probably some time in the 1970s. Probably Anna didn't need to wear a nametag; we didn't really get her mixed up with anyone else that often.

Alverna and Bill's 25th wedding anniversary

Aunt Emma presented Aunt Alverna and Uncle Bill with a cake on the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary.

Major brush with celebrity!

Yes, cousins and groupies, that's Jeff Gordon, only the most famous race-car driver in the world, hanging out with our own Bridget. Sam and Bridget met him at a "private NASCAR meet-n-greet in Las Vegas." Wow! The only celebrity the scrapblog editor knows is Sid, and he has no idea who she is!

Mountain man

Cousin Dan went hiking this month in the Grand Canyon with friends Daryl and Tim. That's him in the red bandana. The trail they were taking out of the canyon rim was 6 miles long and 3,100 vertical feet. In honor of Danny's wilderness ways, here's a poem we like: THE TRAIL IS NOT A TRAIL I drove down the freeway And turned off at an exit And went along a highway, Drove up the side road Till it turned to a dirt road Full of bumps, and stopped. Walked up a trail But the trail got rough And it faded away -- out in the open, Everywhere to go. -- Gary Snyder (American, 1930-)

Sprick chicks extraordinaire

Our kids are just...so great! Aren't they? Here are three wonderful, brilliant ones, A., K. and C., the children of Dave and Sarah. We think they look a lot like their grandparents, Joe and Mavis. One reason we treasure the younger generation so much is that at some point they'll be visiting us older cousins in nursing home, tenderly readjusting the wigs we've put on backwards, lovingly clipping our nose-hairs, sneaking us red wine and Tab in flasks, gently reminding us who we are. Right, kids?

The next generation

The cousins have such wonderful kids. Here are seven at Easter 2005 at Sam and Bridget's. E. was brand new to the family, and enjoyed several platefuls of food, just like her dad, cousin Chris, and the grandpa she never had the fortune to meet, Bill ("I'm so hungry I could eat a whole horse!") Miller.

Bittersweet

It's the most beautiful plant in the woods, and only those who know the wild lands of southeastern Minnesota well know where to find it. Ed always knew.

A lovely life-goes-on moment

1985 was a tough and terrible year for Grandma Sprick. Her beloved sons, Ed and LeRoy, had died unexpectedly within a week of each other in cold and deadly January. She was 98, and had a year to live. But on the day Sarah brought her firstborn, A., to see Grandma, she was filled with joy. And who wouldn't be, with such a beautiful great-granddaughter (and granddaughter-in-law)?

Strange rituals of the native Spricks: Blue plates

There's no trustworthy genetic test for a Sprick, since some of the Sprickiest Spricks are adopted. (We notice, however, that even the adopted ones seem to develop the Sprick monobrow, which has to be shaved into submission weekly. But we digress.) However, there IS a foolproof test that will tell a Sprick every time. Here it is: You can say to a Sprick suspect: "Tell me about...THE BLUE PLATES!" If he or she looks stricken and says, "Please! No! Don't make me take one!" you know he or she is a Sprick cousin! There isn't a Sprick cousin out there who doesn't know what I'm talking about! (And there isn't a non-Sprick who DOES!) The BLUE PLATES! You got them for Christmas when you wanted a Cat Stevens album! You lobbed baseballs at them in the kitchen when Mom wasn't looking! You used them for ashtrays in your college dorm in 1978! Aunt Alverna told you they were "worth a fortune"! You still have some, packed in a rectangular box and Styrofoam, down in your basement! Hang them up! Right now! The scrapblog editor found the rhinoceros and wolf motif blue plates shown above on the Web, and really is taken by that tender rhino-madonna-and-baby scene. The scrapblog editor has blue plates in her kitchen. So does Uncle Joe. Aunt Florence has a collection. And somewhere, tomorrow, a Sprick cousin will check e-Bay to see if blue plates are REALLY "worth a fortune." In th 1987 photo above, Aunt Emma, in a Sunday dress that complemented but did not overshadow the blue plates, guarded a wallfull of the priceless things at Ten Oaks. Every single one, you know, is WORTH A FORTUNE (in Sprick family memories).

Before there was pizza, there was FISH

Cousin Sammy wore a James-Dean smile and a natty hat as he displayed an impressive stringer of striped bass in this photo from around 1970. Perhaps our favorite Minneapolis skyway eatery, Mill City Pizza, could add a new item, striped-bass/braised-artichoke/ pineapple pizza? Speaking of Mill City Pizza, the scrapblog editor occasionally goes there with her motley journalist friends and fellow union officers and has noted the mayor, city councilors and bishops chowing down there. Tres fab place, Mill City Pizza. Say! Perhaps we can get Sid to endorse it in an ad?

LeRoy, hunter and trapper

Raccoons were apt to die of unnatural causes when Uncle LeRoy hunted and trapped down by the Zumbro. He was shooting for squirrels and trapping for raccoons. Cousins, did we ever eat raccoon for supper? I seem to remember a lot of fried and baked squirrel, and occasionally biting into buckshot. And I seem to recall that the Broberg boys had raccoon hats. But I don't think we ever ate raccoon and wore squirrel.

Three little cousins

Sandy, Patty-Lou and Cindy visited Grandma Sprick's house in about 1954.

Play ball!

Dad/Uncle Bill played a little outfield in this photo taken in about 1951 in West Germany.

Listening for the angels

Grandma Sprick had just a couple of weeks to live in winter 1986 when Uncle Joe wisely helped her celebrate her 100th birthday a little early. He and Alverna were both present when she peacefully passed away at the Millers' in Old Frontenac. The scrapblog editor likes this snippet of poetry, which she used to start a 2/17/07 Star Tribune story about a dying woman: "You few who understand know that when death is near, the food you give your soul must be supreme." -- Semonides (Greek poet, 7th century B.C.)

Ed's arrowheads

Remember Ed's arrowheads? With the exception of the black one in the middle, a donation that turned out to be a fake, every one was a treasure that he found in the farmfields and riverbeds of the Hiawatha Valley. Ed willed the collection to the Wabasha County Historical Society, and you can see it at at the Read's Landing Museum. Hours: 1-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays May 16-Oct. 1 and by appointment. When the cousins were kids, the items they most wanted to see were those little rattlesnake rattles, which Ed seemed to bring home regularly from his forays in the sandstone cliffs.

The marriage of Maria and Claus: Nov. 20, 1907

Claus Sprick, born Oct. 13, 1874, in Germany, and Maria Katherine Augustin, born April 27, 1887, in Belvidere Township, Goodhue County, Minn., were married on Nov. 20, 1907 at St. John's Lutheran Church by the Rev. William Franzmann. He was 33; she was 20.

Davy on drums

Our very own Keith Moon, Ginger Baker, Ringo, Charlie Watts, Buddy Rich, Mick Fleetwood, John Bonham and/or Art Blakey is cousin Davy Sprick, otherwise known as Stig, who plays drums for Bailiwick. We want to hear "Go Your Own Way" at the next family reunion. (Check out Bailiwick's website to see their play list.)

Mary-Alverna Poppins

Don't know when this was taken or where she was headed, but we love the delighted look on Mom/Aunt Alverna's face as she got ready to head somewhere with her parasol and suitcase.

Winter? No problem

Cousin Dan and sons M. and N. spent some time in rural Carver County this past weekend, gathering maple syrup on a friend's farm. N. and Rosie surveyed the scene while M., whose winter wilderness skills are second to none, built one of his spectacular snow forts. Dan was waxing wistful about tapping all those maple trees behind his Old Frontenac cabin. If he does, the scrapblog editor will provide the paMcakes.

Listen up, cousins!

Cousins! Getting sick of seeing photos of the scrapblock editor's incredibly cute kid (top photo taken in 1991, bottom one in 1994) day after day? Send in photos of your own incredibly cute kids (or selves, or parents, or dogs or cats), and we'll post them, too! Time to scour your scrapbooks, attics and basements for old photos and/or to send us your latest family ones. We'll post them all, and promise not to make fun of your funny outfits or expressions! E-mail them to the scrapblog editor at pmmiller1@comcast.net or mail them to her. She'll get them back to you, maybe with a few Tab-cola and red-wine stains.

The most famous Sprick family photo

They're all here except for the little lost boy, Clarence (who died in 1929 at age 10), in this famous family photo, probably taken in the late 1930s. Front row: Anna, Katie, Grandma Maria (Augustin) and Grandpa Claus Sprick, Joe and Florence. Back row: Emma, Alverna, Adelaide, Ed, Annette, LeRoy and Marion. A reminder that if you click on a photo, you can make it very large, which is especially cool with this photo.

Grandma Sprick's smile

You can easily spot Grandma Sprick in this family photo because of her Mona Lisa smile. That's her at upper right. Also in the photo are her immigrant German-American parents, Hinrich (also called Heinrich) and Anna Augustin, and her brother, Henry Jr., and sisters Anna (who would later marry into the Leonhardt family) and Emma (who would outlive three husbands named Stegemeyer, Klindworth and I forget the last one). If they look a little melancholy, it could be because they had just endured a diptheria epidemic that killed little Johann (John) Augustin. Makes all those trips to the doctor to get the kids vaccinated seem well worthwhile, eh? Some of you have asked why Grandma's maiden name appears variously as Augustin or Augustine. Uncle Joe tells me that the "e" was added when Uncle Henry Augustin received a document with his name misspelled and was told it would cost $40 to change. $40 was a fortune in those days, and so the family went with the name change. That's why our German cousin Britta's last name is spelled the original way, Augustin.

Below is the obituary/biography of Grandma's brother, Henry Augustine, the boy in the family photo above. He was born on Nov. 11, 1896 and died at age 90 on Jan. 31, 1987.

Pam and Ed go fishin'

It was December 1967, and Uncle Bill was in Vietnam. Uncle Ed was filling in as dad, uncle and grandpa figure, providing fun distractions, and doing it very well. One cold afternoon he took Pam, age 11, fishin' down at the Old Frontenac beach. Looks like they did OK.

The Sprick Tabernacle Choir?????

Wow, we wish we had video on this one. It's a mixed choir (Alverna, Vi, Bill, Margaret Lamont, Mavis and Marion) singing "Oh, that Strawberry Roan" at a gong-show competition at the 1977 Stump-in. The words were rewritten by Aunt Katie to tell the sad story of Joe K.'s Mustang.

Grandma and her girls

The Sprick sisters were so glamorous and tidy! Here they all are: Adelaide, Emma, Alverna, Grandma, Katie, Annette, Anna, Marion and Florence. We'll guess this photos were taken in the 1960s at Anna's house in Red Wing.

Aunt Alverna's crowning glory

Uncle Joe provided this primo photo of Mom (Aunt Alverna to you cousins) crowing over her Blueberry Queen title. She won it for being the fastest blueberry picker in 1975. "If there had been a cow-milking contest, she would have won it too," said Uncle Joe, a reminder to us middle-aged cousins that our parents have some skills we don't think about too often.

Whoa! Anna reels in a whopper!

Uncle Joe offered this comment on this one: "Throughout the ages, history has never recorded a Sprick who was more trustworthy and honest, or of higher moral character. Why, then, when Anna hooked this monster northern pike one October morning on Lake Pepin, did she have to endure relentless grilling from certain family members, especially those who'd never caught a fish like this? Witnesses to the catch included Mavis and Joe, who sat on the fish to hold it down till they could reach shore. Anna was using a Rapala chartreuse No. 5 shadrap. This is most certainly true!"

Fishin' in the pond

Cousin Chris was never much interested in fishin', but his son, Zachary, is, and has even passed all four of Uncle Joe's fishing-agility phases. In 1995, he showed off a good-sized crappie during a fishing trip to the New Frontenac pond with Grandpa Bill and Uncle Joe.