With Pam, Chris and Cathy in Monterey, Calif., in the early 1960s, when he was attending Army language school at Fort Ord.
With first grandchild Zachary William Miller in 1988..jpg)
Here she is: the darling new little Miller who will join us in June. Her name is Xin Qian, which means something like "Beautiful Traveler," and she now lives in an orphanage in Guangdong Province, in southern China. She will be 1 year old on April 9. Her proud parents are, of course, cousins Chris and Mary Miller.
http://www.savethestrib.com/ and sign the petition praising daily newspapers if you're so inclined. The website, and the campaign, was put together by yours truly and other Stribbers to try to save our beloved newspaper. Could be a losing battle, but it's worth having! If it doesn't work out, cousin Chris and I may be moving into your basements with our assorted kids, pets and knickknacks. So hey, it's a good cause!
It's snowing yet again in Minnesota, so if you want to see signs of spring, you have to go to the Internets and google it. We found this recently snapped photo of a bluebird and other cool seasonal images on one of our favorite blogs, Red Wing Nature Notes. Check it out in particular for a fascinating and funny essay by Bruce Ause about hauling a road-killed deer to a site where bald eagles could use it to feed their young.
Chris and Pam in a deer stand.
Pam, Chris and Cathy playing on downed logs. Bet they picked up some chiggers.
In this 1970s photo, the scrapblog editor, inexplicably well-dressed, pursued her favorite activities, reading and sitting in a lawn chair, as Aunt Annette worked hard nearby. This weekend, the scrapblog editor made up for it by working hard on Annette's former Old Frontenac land, now hers, picking up 6,000 sticks and raking out a weed bed or two. She looked for signs of spring as snow clouds gathered, but the only one she found was the happy fresh bright green of new creeping charlie, ready to roll, baby.
This photo doesn't really have anything to do with this family news flash, but for some reason it popped into your scrapblog editor's head when she learned that the latest Miller child has finally been identified in southern China's Guangdong Province (see map below) and will be taking the epic journey to Minnesota in June. The photo is one of many Dad/Uncle Bill took of ragged street children in South Vietnam in 1967-68. The little ones, who had been rejected by their parents (often because they were the offspring of U.S. soldiers) and who took care of each other in the streets, rent his heart.
We think Dad would have been thrilled to meet little Xin Qian, just as he'd have loved Elizabeth, now 5. According to proud prospective serial dad Chris, Jiang Xin Qian (Jiang is her last name, the name of her orphanage) will be 1 year old on April 9. She now lives at Guangdong's Yang Jiang orphanage. Writes Chris: "The internets are unclear on what Xin Qian means, but 'Beautiful Wanderer' is one interpretation. Jiang (her last name) is the name of the orphanage."
Chris and Mary are accepting nominations for her English name.
We hope to have photos next week. Meantime, the happy faces of the little ones in Dad's long-ago photo will suffice.
Life takes strange twists and turns, and sometimes happy moments lend healing grace to long-private sorrows and passages. We're happy to report one such moment for cousin Cindi, who met her birth daughter, the lovely Angela Messick-Foster, this weekend. We are so glad they got to meet, and holy cow, look at those identical smiles! Angela, whose 1972 birth adds yet another layer to the many adoption narratives in our extended family, recently wrote to the scrapblog editor that she, too, collects priceless blue plates.
After a week whose highlights included a bad case of torso flu, a snowstorm and another flurry of mice invading the newsroom, your scrapblog editor sent a couple of poems she'd read this week to Elmer and Mavis that reflected the somewhat unliterary feel of her week:
CHOICE OF DISEASES
Now that I'm sick & have
all this time to contemplate
the meaning of the universe,
Father said, I understand why
I never did it before. Nothing
looks good from a prone position.
You have to walk around to appreciate
things. Once I get better I don't
intend to get sick for a while. But
if I do I hope I get one of those diseases
you can walk around with.
-- Hal Sirowitz
(and)
WHEN SOMEBODY CALLS AFTER TEN P.M.
when somebody calls after ten p.m.
and you live in wisconsin
and you're snug in your bed
then all's I can tell you
somebody better be missing
somebody better had a baby
or somebody better be dead
--Bruce Dethlefsen
Uncle Joe was not terribly impressed with these masterpieces, having already read them on Garrison Keillor's "The Writer's Almanac" when he'd gotten up hours earlier. So he did us one better, his own almanac poem, cast in a Neopostconstructionist Minimalist style with Haiku-Dao overtones:
A FISHERMAN'S ALMANAC
A robin holds reveille
outside my bedroom window.
I dress quietly
so as not to wake my bride
of sixty years.
It is not yet daylight
and she needs her rest.
I turn on the computer in the den.
Weatherbug gives me a favorable report.
The fish are calling.
I click on Pam's family blog:
It is Janie's birthday today.
I click on Garrison Keillor's "Writer's Almanac."
The bottom line reads:
"Be well, do good work, keep in touch."
To be well, I eat a bowl of oatmeal
and walk to the lake.
What will the lake give me
for a hook and a worm?
A sucker? Once pickled,
it will make a Norseman's day.
A catfish? Second only
to lutefisk for my partner, a Happy Dane.
A carp? If smoked, it will go well
with beer and crackers.
A walleye? The thinking man's fish
goes to Dorothy. Her late husband
once provided her with the best of fish.
Bluegills? Anna will enjoy them
for a break from Meals on Wheels.
So we do the best we can --
but it don't amount to much.
We try to keep in touch with the fish --
old fishermen will understand.
-- Elmer Sprick
... and cousin Dan was tapping some this past weekend, along with friends. Here he got some help collecting wood for the cooker.
Perrin Cook, now 3, shown with sisters Sonya and Maria. (March 25)
Nick Broberg, newly 15, celebrating here with his Aunt Lavone Broberg and an extremely lovely cake. (March 24)
Little Taviah, granddaughter of DanO, cousin Cindi's husband. Taviah turns 1 today. (March 26)
Happy 15th Birthday to cousin Nick Broberg, he of the long legs and thoughtful gazes. Aging Rosie is lucky to have such a wonderful caretaker.
"Hello, do you like my hat?" "I do! I do like that hat!"
Moriah, upper left, prepared to high-five the Cougars starters during the introduction.
Mo ready to high-five Kahla Becken, #15.
Mo, center left, and her teammates listened to Coach Jill Becken during the intense game.
The girls were teary-eyed to lose -- but hey! Look at that gigantic second-place trophy! Not bad! Almost as nice as the coveted Burnt Wienie Award trophy!
That's our Mo, headed to get her ribbon, reflected in the gigantic TV screens that hang over the Target Center.
Dad Chris Miller couldn't hoot and holler much because little Elizabeth fell asleep in his lap near game's end after doing a lot of exhausting hooting and hollering of her own.
Zachary and his UW-Stout pal Josiah came to cheer Mo on.
Zack took his turn carrying snoozing Elizabeth after the game. Seems like those two big strong Wolves players coulda helped, too. 
Hannah and two of her lovely look-alike friends wore Centennial collars, scarlet and white. 
Mary and Pam, looking a little loopy, after the game.
Mary and Pam, a little more composed.
Chris and Uncle Freddy Eischen, Mary's brother, in the Target Center lobby. 
Love this pretty photo of our beautiful cousin Cindi, singing and playing the guitar back in the era of classic folk music.
Congrats, Mo and team!
Dad Chris Miller, pictured at right, was a tad anxious during the game! He needn't have been. 
Teddy, Katie and their proud Hagberg aunts.
Teddy and Katie with parents Ted and Jane.
The Hagbergs went all out for Teddy's birthday. Look what they got him! A toaster! An OSTER toaster! We're not sure if they were toasting him or burning him. He looks happy though!
Cindi...
... and Teddy. (No no, Izzbee, it's not YOUR birthday!)
Mo cut down the net.
The winning team, which is coached by Jill Becken. That's our Mo in the back row with the rosy-red cheeks. (The scrapblog editor is very fond of rosy faces!)
Mo with proud sister Hannah after the game.
Mo with little sis Elizabeth and teammate Celia.
That's cousin Davy with the donut tree at Waldesruh a few years back. The tree is famous in Sprick family lore; wonder why it grew that way? Got a theory, Uncle Joe?
