Young Augustins in Deutschland

Thanks to cousin Britta Augustin in Germany, a faithful blog reader, for these charming photos of her niece and nephew, Sophie and Marvin Augustin, the children of Britta's brother, Bernd, and his wife, Katrin. Sophia will be 7 on June 14; Marvin is 4. They live in Ruschwedel, Germany. (As blog readers know, Grandma Sprick's maiden name was Augustine; the "e" got added to a legal document by mistake and it would have cost $40 to correct it, so the family let it stand. But originally, the name was Augustin.)

Honoring the aunties

Aunt Kate found these great photos of the Magnificent 8 Sprick girls: Annette, Emma, Florence, Alverna, Anna, Adelaide, Marion and Kate. Don't have a year on this one, but it was taken at Christmas at Grandma Sprick's old house on Washington Avenue in Lake City.

Anna, Annette, Grandma Sprick, Kate, Adelaide, Emma, Marion, Alverna and Florence in May 1961.

Hangin' out at home

Instead of heading to lovely Lake City this weekend, your scrapblog editor hung out with her No. 1 son, Noah, at her Robbinsdale house. The weather was splendid, and we spent a lot of time sitting out in the lawn yakking with the neighbors and listening to the Twins games. A couple photos: Noah makes a funny face whilst taking our family portrait. We had to keep a close eye on old Lucy, who several times was seen chasing a baby bunny around the lawn.

Noah is 19 and will be a junior at the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis this fall. He's living at home with me this summer, and will move back into a Dinkytown apartment with friends in the fall.

Even mo' Mo

Cousin Moriah Miller's senior photos were taken by the best portrait photographer we know -- her mom. Wish we'd had her take Noah's senior portraits! Here are a couple we really like: Next, a couple of Moriah doing her thing in track and field. She cleared 5'2' in the conference meet and, according to that unbiased source, her dad, would have been No. 2, not No. 3, if a German foreign exchange student hadn't won. Recruiting out of the country now, are we, some schools?

Nature notes

Nature notes from your urban cousin Pam: A couple of years ago, Uncle Joe told me to expect the emerald ash borer to arrive in Minnesota soon to devastate our ubiquitous ash trees (there's one in my Robbinsdale yard). Just today, the Star Tribune reported the first ash borers have been detected in the Twin Cities. So if Uncle Joe ever predicts a plague of locusts or terrorists, we better pay close attention, eh?

This weekend, your intrepid scrapblog editor and her nature-walk pal Heather will be tromping to an undisclosed location in search of the wily morel mushroom. Will we find any? Stay tuned, folks! Update: Didn't find any despite ideal terrain (it might have been too dry and cold), but had a wonderful day bushwhacking in beautiful woods nevertheless.

What I did on my spring vacation

The days of basement slide shows may be past, but now there's something even better -- blog slide shows! Yes, cousins, your scrapblog editor proudly presents these snapshots from last week's vacation to Grand Canyon National Park and other scenic sites in Arizona, where she went hiking with old pals. We didn't hike down into the canyon -- that's for younger, fitter, braver folks like cousin Dan -- but rather on the trails along the rim, good workouts in themselves. The canyon looks so cool in photos, but in person and up close, it's beyond splendid. A glimpse of the Colorado River, which carved the magnificent ditch over millions of years. Over time, water trumps rock, geologically speaking. Several times we saw California condors soaring over the canyon. With friends Jeffrey Rezab and Deb Farley. Met Jeff through Deb, who, along with her sister, Kathy, has been my friend since we met as hotel maids at Yellowstone National Park in 1975. A year later, New York natives Deb and Kathy moved to Minneapolis to be my housemates. In Minneapolis, Deb married Dennis Ferguson, who also became a dear friend. Deb, Dennis and I traveled to France together in 2004. Sadly, Dennis died in 2005. Deb now lives in the Atlanta area. After a few days at Grand Canyon National Park, we traveled south to hike and bird-watch in the red rock canyon country near Sedona, Ariz. Here, Deb placed a pinch of Dennis' ashes in a pretty trout stream he would have loved. Sedona is home to many funky New Age types who believe it is the site of several vortexes of balance and harmony. While hiking in the woods, we encountered many stone cairns. When I fretted at seeing what I thought was a helium balloon stuck in a tree in the woods outside Sedona, my hiking partners had a good chuckle, telling me it was foil deliberately placed by people trying to attract benevolent aliens to the "vortexes." To our disappointment, we did not encounter any aliens. In this photo of large, delicious margaritas, you may also notice the scrapblog editor and her old pal Deb. These we drank in Phoenix while staying with friends Jeff and David. At the canyon, we ordered prickly pear margaritas at the El Tovar lodge after one long day of hiking. Much as I enjoyed the trip, it was a relief to fly back to Minneapolis' 54 degrees from a searing 104 in Phoenix. (It was much cooler at the Grand Canyon.)

Happy Mother's Day, mama cousins!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in our extended family, birth and adoptive, as well as fervent good wishes to all the aunts who nurtured us! OK, uncles, too! Here's a delightful representative photo of cousin Cindi with hubby DanO, mom Mavis and dad Elmer Sprick.

Jumpin' Nick Flash

Whoa! Look at cousin Nick Broberg leap! He plays tennis for his Hopkins school's team. Nick with his tennis pardner, Eric.

Remembering Wally and Marion

Today would have been the 85th birthday of Uncle Wally (Wallace Martin Broberg, 5/10/24-4/13/89). Here's a toast to his memory! And this Mother's Day, cousins Dan, Sam and Sarah also fondly remembered their dear mom, Marion Gertrude Sprick Broberg (8/21/22-6/6/87). Here's to her wonderful memory, too!

Mo' of Mo

The scrapblog editor feels a tad guilty posting so many photos of Millers. That's what happens when you're a blog administrator, cousins! You can run amok and no one can stop you! Mwah ha ha, as the scrapblog editor's lovely niece, Moriah Miller, would say! Oh, the heady power! Anyway, here are yet more prom photos of said lovely niece Mo Miller. Mo, in kiwi green, book-ended by her mom and dad, Mary and Chris Miller, who thankfully did not accompany her to the prom. Mo and her dad, cousin Chris, whom she looks a lot like, except that she's female, young and beautiful. Mo with little sisters Hannah and Elizabeth, who wish they had a dress like that! Someday, girlses! The lucky guy, Eric, with our Mo. Mo with her dear friend Casey Olson in preprom photos at the Walker Sculpture Garden in Minneapolis. Mo and her lovely pals. Say, weren't they toddlers just a short time ago? How time flies!

Track, field, ouch!

Cousin Moriah Miller, a track and field competitor for Centennial High School, gracefully cleared a hurdle at a recent track meet. And look at her jump! But, ouch! Here she stumbled and fell during a race, scraping her legs and spraining a wrist. Oh no, Mo!

We present ... another stash of photos!

Just when you thought the scrapblog had settled down in the absence of any more old photos, we found some more! This time, they were in photo albums even deeper back in Anna's closet. Given the fresh photos and a rainy day off from work, your faithful scrapblog editor set to work posting them and making up 100 percent true captions for them. At right, for no real reason except that spring finally seems to be here, is a photo of German cousin Britta Augustin's hollyhocks that we found in Anna's stuff. Read on, cousins!

A leisurely afternoon with the aunties

Cousin Janie relaxed on Aunt Emma's lap while Vi and Adelaide read nearby. The tall, cool drinks and radiant sunshine are so appealing in this photo, one of many gems we found in Anna's scrapbooks. We think this one was taken in Aunt Annette and Uncle Hart Kulseth's living room in Maple Grove, Minn.

The cousins play cards

Cousins Leah, Joe, Janie, Sandy and Darrell played cards during a family reunion at Aunt Annette and Uncle Hart Kulseth's place in Maple Grove, Minn., in the 1960s. Looking on was Aunt Katie. We think that's Patty and Karl back by the old-fashioned TV.

Four of eight sisters

"The shed needs painting," reads the scribble on the back of this old photo of Grandma Sprick with Anna, Adelaide, Alverna and Katie at her old place on Washington Avenue in Lake City, Minn. The shed is still there, and still needs painting, we noticed the other day on a walk through Lake City.

Anna's very good friend Jan

Anna in 1993 with her longtime neighbor and dear friend Jan Suhanek. She remains a wonderful friend, visiting Anna often in her Red Wing, Minn., apartment. Jan also has taken time to show Anna the blog. Thanks so much, Jan! You're wonderful!

A proud homeowner

Cousin JoAnne Schmidt keeps her place along Hwy. 61 south of Red Wing neat as a pin, with lovely flowers on the front porch. Here she is in August 1995.

Mr. and Mrs.

A nice portrait of cousins Steve and Patty Pepin.

It's hard to sing when it's so ding-dang hot

Sweet little cousins Moriah and Hannah Miller sweated through a performance of "I Have a Little Teapot" for their relatives at Grandma Miller's place in July 1995. Disembodied hand, at right, kept them from keeling over.

Sandy and kiddos

Love this photo of cousin Sandy Kirkwood Turner when her wonderful kids, Paul and Kelly, were younger. They're all grown up now. Kelly's glamorous high school graduation photo, 2004.

Tres fab Flo

Florence Sprick as a young woman. We believe this was taken when she graduated from nursing school. Or maybe confirmation or graduation? Now that Flo has a computer and checks out the blog, she can let us know and we'll update it. Florence and Harry Greason welcomed in 2004 at the Beaumont German Club buffet and dance in Beaumont, Calif. A recent photo of Florence, who never seems to age.

Katie Jo get a visit from Aunt Anna

Katie Jo Sprick may have been one of the politest little kids Anna ever visited. First, they read a book. Next, they sang "I Have a Little Baby Bumblebee." Then they had a tea party! No wonder Katie Jo was elected prom queen last week! She has royal manners.

Reading to children

Cousin Danny read to Christine and David Pepin. Love Christine's cow-spot jammies and stuffed Holstein toy. Aunt Anna read to cousin Noah. We love it how little kids hug their stuffed animals whilst listening to a good book.