Heaven-seeking hair

In this photo of a delicious lunch featuring cool red drinks, you may also notice -- hold it! Check out cousin Leah's hair! Her 'do is so cool, so high, so B-52's, so gravity-defying! We love it! Her eyewear was wonderful, too. Must have been the 1970s, a decade of which the scrapblog editor is inordinately fond. Here, Leah's having lunch with Anna and Grandma Sprick at Anna's place in Red Wing, Minn. Another very good hair day for Leah with husband Duane and kids Leah-Jean and Richard during a Christmas visit to LeRoy and Vi's in Lake City, Minn. Look! Leah-Jean's hair had the same wonderful properties! Here she is with Richard in the 1960s.

Leah Jean and Richard

The Minnesota cousins recently got to reconnect with their second cousins Leah-Jean Purfee and Richard Davidson, children of Leah and Duane Davidson. A couple cute photos from their kidhood: Seems like the photographer could have given them something better to read than "Happy Street." They smiled sweetly anyway. As preteens at their home in Boca Raton, Fla.

The eldest Sprick aunt as a young woman

Adelaide Anna Margreta Sprick Detlefsen (9/15/1908-8/23/73), pretty as a model, climbed some steps at what appears to be an ocean venue in this undated photo we found in Anna's old scrapbook.

Tuck leads the way

Cousin Tuck held Old Glory high as he led Sammy and Danny, armed with BB guns, and Chatsie, armed with a flute, somewhere or other, perhaps to cross the Delaware. Actually, it was 1975 and they were christening the Brobergs' new land in Old Frontenac, Minn. No one was seriously injured, we seem to recall.

Scenes from the lively life of Leah

Leah (born May 6, 1940) was the first Sprick cousin, and remains the most interesting one (sorry, you other cousins, she just IS). The aunties doted on her as a child, as you can tell from their Leah-loaded photo albums. Here are some from one of Anna's albums: Hart, Emma and Leah at a family gathering in the 1940s. Little Leah in the mid-1940s with young aunts Anna, Alverna and Marion, who was an Army nurse at the time. Stylish Anna with darlin' Leah and her teddy bear, November 1945. Leah's Lincoln High School (Lake City, Minn.) graduation photo. Leah and Duane Davidson at their wedding. With their first child, Leah-Jean. At their home in Boca Raton, Fla., with Leah-Jean and Richard.

Oh, deer!

Daddy got one! When Daddy is Elmer "Joe" Sprick, he ALWAYS gets one, though he doesn't talk much about it. This one, however, got photographed with cousin Cindi in late 1959.

Aunties in paradise

Ah, the blue of ocean and sky in fair Hawaii. Lively Sprick sisters Alverna and Anna traveled there several times on Elderhostel trips. Put a conch shell to your ear and check out these shots from their March 1997 trip to Kauai, where they stayed at the Coconut Beach Resort.

Pretty as a painting

As we've opined before, the Dutch masters would have loved to have painted youthful Aunt Emma, with her classic features and luminous eyes. Here are some undated photos from her youth: With a happy little boy whose identity we don't know. This photo, like the two below it, was probably taken in the 1930s. Despite her early beauty, Emma Mabel Sprick Krociel (5/9/1916-), pictured here in 1995, didn't lead an easy life. Here's a toast to her!

Lovable LeRoy

Found some cool old photos of Uncle LeRoy in Anna's old scrapbooks: This would have been taken in late 1912 or early 1913, when LeRoy Friedrich (his mother always wrote Friedrich, not the Frederick it was later Americanized as) Sprick (6/1/12-1/29/85) was less than a year old. Already, he had a twinkle in his eye that signaled the wry sense of humor that characterized him as a grown-up. LeRoy regaled baby Pam, your scrapblog editor, with a joke in 1957. In this photo of an exceedingly large, delicious cake, you may also notice LeRoy and wife Violet. Don't have a date on this one, but it was probably taken for a major wedding anniversary.

History matters

As regular readers of the scrapblog know, whenever we're not just horsing around, we're all about showing how personal history is inextricably linked to broader history. The arrival of a new flu pandemic offers an opportunity to show a prime example. We're using a photo of cousin Noah by the World War I memorial near our Robbinsdale, Minn., home to illustrate the story. Noah, and all your beloved Miller cousins (yes, that includes CMill!CMill!), would not be here if it weren't for the great scourge that came hard on the heels of WWI, the Great Influenza. Military travel helped spread this deadly strain, which killed tens of millions of people around the globe, including one Charles Norman Martin from Winston-Salem, N.C. Charles Martin was the husband of Mamie Louella Jackson, the scrapblog editor's grandmother and mother of Uncle Bill (William Alton Miller). Five years after her first husband died of the flu on Nov. 4, 1918, the young widow remarried, this time to Clyde Clifton Miller, grandfather of the Miller cousins and great-grandfather to their kids. Charles' death must have been a great sorrow to Mamie and his little daughter Norma (our beloved Aunt Norma, now in her 90s), but had it not have happened, twins William/Brother and Arlene/Cissie and their kid sister Marilyn, Millers all, would not have been born. That, spookily enough, is how history works. To read more about the Miller side of the family, go to our Miller family scrapblog. The scrapblog editor highly recommends the two spellbinding, bone-chilling books pictured above if you're interested in how pandemics, including the one at hand right now, work. "Flu" is by Gina Kolata, science reporter for the New York Times; "The Great Influenza" is by John Barry, an author and historian. The scrapblog editor owns both books if you want to borrow them.

Prom-inent moments

It's the prom season, and at least a couple of young cousins prom-enaded to one last week. Some snapshots: Moriah Miller, radiant in a gathered and tucked kiwi-green gown with beautiful sparkly things on it (the scrapblog editor is a pretty good fashion reporter, eh?), and handsome-date-with-matching-tie Eric Peterson visited the Walker Art Center's Sculpture Garden before Centennial High School's prom. Eric and Moriah are smart cookies! At a fancy restaurant before the big dance, they took care to wear napkin bibs lest they spill delicious food on their priceless outfits. Are we really related to young people as beautiful as Moriah and Katie Jo Sprick? Yes indeed, cousins! Katie, the youngest of cousins Dave and Sarah's brood, was resplendent in a single-shouldered gown. She was not only the loveliest young woman at her Eau Claire prom, she was ROYALTY -- note the "Prom Court 2009" sash. Later, she was voted queen of the prom. Of course! Katie posed with proud dad Davy. We're guessing that young Lamars in Katie's generation get a very stern look from him.

An Alle Augen moment

Grandma Maria Augustine Sprick was born 122 years ago yesterday (April 27, 1887). To mark the date, we're rerunning some photos from past postings: All the cousins have Grandma's prayer, "Alle Augen warten," memorized. Right, cousins? Janie? How 'bout you? Here it is with some of the lovely flowers from Grandma's funeral in April 1986. She lived to be 99.

Grandma, in her fav blue sweater, nifty cotton housedress, hairnet and sensible shoes, posed with some of her grandkids and great-grandkids, one or two of whom was behaving, in the 1970s. Front row: Richard, Sammy, Chris, unidentified cute blond girl, Danny, Tuk and Joe. Back row: Leah, Pam, Leah-Jean, Patty, Chats, JoAnne, Grandma, Darrell and Sandy.

Wearing her fav blue sweater, Grandma lined up her eight lovely daughters: Adelaide, Emma, Alverna, Grandma, Katie, Annette, Anna, Marion and Florence. Taken sometime in the 1960s.

Grandma held new granddaughter Pam in spring 1957. Your scrapblog editor hadn't developed manners yet, much less hair -- note how she was rudely yakking away on her plastic cell phone, probably calling Rewrite with some hot story. Cousins, do any of us dress half as well for anything, much less dish-washing? Check out the fancy aprons, too, during this session in Aunt Adelaide's basement kitchen. Grandma supervised Aunts Adelaide, Mavis and Anna.

To read more about Grandma Sprick, simply search for the word "Grandma" in the little search box in the upper-left-hand corner of the blog page. One fun entry from our archives blog is this one with Grandma's 1960 calendar. It contains Grandma's taciturn one-line accounts of what she did every day in 1960. Sample from one day in January: "Went to see remains of Mrs. W."

Happy 20th Birthday to Nathan Pepin!

Our dashing young U.S. Marine cousin is an electrician at Camp Pendleton, which will be his permanent station unless he's deployed to Afghanistan or on a ship (perhaps fighting pirates??!!), according to his proud mom, cousin Patty Pepin. He gets his mail through his friend Drew's address, because it's faster than military mail, she said. He loves baked goods ... hint, hint! Nathan can be reached at: c/o Drew Renauer 603 Seagaze Drive, #281 Oceanside, Calif. 92054 Attention: Nathan Pepin Some photos of Nathan: With Great-Aunt Annette Sprick Kulseth and step-grandpa Virgil "Bud" Bye. In 1995, the Red Wing Republican Eagle published this great photo of 5-year-old Nathan swinging away like Justin Morneau. (To read the cutline more easily, click on the image to make it larger.) Little Nathan and a pretty big sunny. U.S. Marine Nathan and his Great-Aunt Anna Sprick Smith, September 2008.

The Cookies at Easter

Thanks to proud grandma cousin Cindi Sprick O'Donahoe for sending this cute photo of the Madison Cookies with their Easter baskets: Sonya, 7; Maria, 5, and Perrin, 3. The photo was taken outside Cindi and DanO's Eau Claire townhome. Cindi with Sonya and Perrin.

Happy Birthday to M-Bear!

It's hard to believe that Mary-Bear, wife of cousin ChrisMiller!ChrisMiller!, is 51. She never looks older than 29! Today is her birthday; have a happy one, Mary! A lovely photo from the Millers' 2008 cruise. Though Chris wrote of it, "Only after 10 pina coladas would I agree to this photo," we think he looks pretty happy.

Mary with her girls, Hannah, Moriah and Elizabeth.

Easter Sunday at Sam's

Alas, your scrapblog editor had to work Easter, as she does every Sunday, so missed a delicious dinner and fun time at cousin Sam's. Thanks to Mary for these snapshots: Chris, Mary, Zack, Elizabeth, Moriah and Hannah. Next year Xin will be in the picture!

Back row: Dan, Alex, Marty, Tyler, Bridget, Sam. Front row: Zack, Lavone, Nick and Sarah.