Portrait of a brave woman

We've published this one before, but are presenting it again in honor of our dear Aunt Anna Sprick Smith, proud Navy veteran of World War II and now a resident of the Lake City Nursing Home. Even since our last recent posting about her, Anna's strength and memory have slipped a little. She's needing help to walk, dress and perform other basic tasks. Old age, like a war, calls for extreme bravery. We salute you, brave Anna!

Easter 1988 at the Millers'

Anna's scrapbooks are yielding yet more treasures. Here are some photos from an Easter 1988 gathering at the Millers' home in Old Frontenac, Minn. In this photo of a table laden with large, delicious food, you may also notice some cousins. That's cousin Cindy with toddler Monty.

Shy Monty was introduced to Aunt Emma (Tex) Sprick Krociel.

Out on the sunporch, a great mix of cousins kibbutzed: Ashley Sprick, David Pepin, Sarah Broberg, Dave Sprick, Kate Kirkwood and Bridget Broberg. Curls musta been in style then, eh?

Richard Leiser had his hands full with his son, Monty, the apple of his eye; David Pepin and Ashley Sprick. Richard passed away last year.

Sweet photos of little cousins now in their 20s

Found these cute photos of cute cousins in one of Anna's scrapbooks:

Paul Turner and David Pepin at a playground in 1988, probably during a visit by the Texas Turners to Minnesota.

Kelly and Paul Turner in December 1988.

Paul, almost 7, and Kelly, 4, on Christmas Day 1989.

Anna goes East

The Millers were always kidnapping Anna for trips. In April 1988, they took her East to visit Miller relatives in Washington, D.C., and at Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. Anna and cousin Chats at the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., where attorney Chats worked at the time.

Chats and Anna in Georgetown. (Cathy got her law degree from Georgetown University.)

Anna was lookin' good on the sands of Myrtle Beach. We're not sure if this was the trip where she broke her leg playing softball with the rowdy Miller clan or not.

"Leah and them..."

Grandma Sprick used to say, "[Name] and them..." to encompass any number of people, such as, "Leah and them are in the photos below." We're not sure, but think they're all from around 1988: This nice family photo of Leah amid five generations appeared in some newspaper, we're not sure which one; the cutline seems a little too accurate for the Lake City Graphic.

Cousin Leah-Jean and her darlin' son, Christopher Sands, visited Anna in the late 1980s.

Chris Sands is all grown up and married now.

Cousins Patty-Lou Pepin and Leah and Duane Davidson dined with elders Bob Irvin, Alverna Sprick Miller and Vi Sanders Sprick Irvin at a Sprick picnic in Red Wing's Baypoint Park in summer 1988.

Anna, ever learning

Aunt Anna Sprick Smith, 89, has been living in the Lake City Nursing Home for four months now. She gets great care there and is peaceful and painfree. Sadly, her ability to speak and memory are slowly ebbing, but she still has a smile for everyone who comes into her room -- relatives, friends or nursing aides. Today, during a visit from your scrapblog editor, she worked hard with Susie, a gentle and gracious occupational therapist. Naturally, we took some photos: Anna did very well at an exercise where she moved loops along an arc, designed to test her balance and range of motion for such tasks as getting dressed and brushing her teeth. Susie explained to an intensely listening Anna another exercise designed to test her balance and manipulation skills. The nursing home uses the results of such exercises and tests to access whether a resident can perform basic tasks herself or needs extra help from nursing aides. Anna's strength and memory are slowly ebbing, but for now, she can move about on her own with her trusty walker and do basic tasks.

Note about blog comments

Those of you who occasionally comment on this blog may notice that I recently locked out comments. That's because of a recent flood of spam from people trying to sell us Viagra, credit cards, negligees, land in Malaysia and other dubious items. If you have a comment, feel free to just e-mail it to me and I'll post it for ya. Thanks! -- Your scrapblog editor

Our Sarah

A shocking bit of news, cousins -- ChrisMillerChrisMiller! is NOT cousin Sarah Broberg's favorite person anymore. Nope, now it is this happy fella, one John Gustafson, who Sarah says is her fiance. Sarah engaged??!! We know better than to argue with Sarah Broberg, so we'll just say, Go, Sarah! On a more somber note, however, Sarah's health has been slipping lately, and she'll soon be moving to a group home in Richfield that offers more intensive care. (We'll share the address after she moves.) Down syndrome folks like Sarah sometimes are prone to memory and function deterioration in their 40s and beyond, and sadly, some of that seems to be happening to our Sarah. We hope she'll be up for a Burnt Wienie gathering this summer (possibly the second week in August, when cousins Chats and Michael will be up for a visit). We love you, Sarah! Happy, er, engagement!

Snow daze

Snow weighing down trees, blanketing roads and roofs ... been there, shoveled that, the snow-weary Minnesota cousins may say. But these photos were taken in Texas! That's cousin Sandy next to her lovely house in Nacodoches. Says Sandy: "The four-letter word in Texas is SNOW! Yes, I am having a snow day today as SFA [Stephen Austin State University] and most other schools in the area have cancelled classes. Nacogdoches woke up to about 4-5 inches of the white stuff, and it is truly a winter wonderland, which we don’t often see here." Thanks for the photos, Sandy! The snow is pretty, and you look great!

Snow day

Your scrapblog editor is enjoying today's snowstorm because she doesn't have to go anywhere. She was going to go to Lake City, but it was too snowy. And she was supposed to meet friends for dinner tonight in St. Paul, but it was too snowy, so we've postponed it. So nothing to do but stay home with Noah and Jamie, shovel, watch movies ("Never Cry Wolf" remains awesome), cook and rest up. Not a bad day, overall. Several more inches of snow fell after this photo was taken, and it's still snowing. That's Jamie and Noah on the little porch.

Robbinsdale Gothic: Jamie and Noah. Jamie, Pam and Noah. So very Minne-sooooo-tan.

Aloft

Who needs the special-effects flying hijinks in "Avatar" when we can watch a young cousin fly for real? That's Moriah Miller floating in midair during a track meet this past weekend at Mankato State University.