Darrel Murdock at
the frozen falls
Enlarged picture
Darrel's website,
AAALynx's Cool101
Kathy Skow enjoys
the sub zero
winter scene
Kathy's website,
Red Fox Imagery
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HOWLETT REUNION 2005
Polly Soberg
Feb. 26: In case John and Cathy don't get their message in soon enough for the Muse this time, we decided to go for the date July 23 for the family get together, as Claudia and Dennis will be here at that time. Please plan to come up at that time if at all possible.
[Ed. Note: Many thanks to Polly for this timely note. (John and Cathy's message did arrive, Feb. 27. See table of contents, part 2) Last Monday I was ready to put down the $190 for a quilt retreat I had been looking froward to for that weekend, but a friend suggested I make sure to check my calendar first to be sure an upcoming business trip didn't interfere, as $100 was not refundable. I would have put down the money this coming Monday, as the trip is earlier. Whew!--NAM]
WINTER THRILLS
Darrel Murdock
1/16: Sub Zero Hike at Canada/US Border (Click here for slideshow.)
1/30: January 28 Adventure. Although it was going to be a cloudy day, Kathy and I decided to go up north anyway to attempt our greatest feat yet, reaching the high falls at Tettegouche State Park in the middle of winter. We had prepared and trained for this and could not resist trying, despite the fact that we knew we could not get good pictures on a cloudy winter day. We of course took our cameras anyway, just in case.
On the way there we stopped at one of my favorites, Illgen Falls. The path was gone, so I decided just to climb over a snowbank to see what it was like. I sank in up to my thigh, decided to abort the mission, and then sank in up to my shoulders. While Kathy laughed her head off, I clawed my way back to where I had fallen in and said maybe we should not try this one. Kathy agreed. Thankfully it wasn't our primary target, as we just don't like to quit once we start. (Click here for photo and mini video clip.)
2/6:Second Round. We didn't get to explore this weekend due to sudden flu attacks, but I went back and revisited our Crosby-Manitou trip and found some photos that had missed the first-round draft and were pretty nice. The one with Lake Superior in the horizon (by Kathy) is from the overlook on the Sawtooth foothill between the trailhead and the cascades. The others are all shots from by the top and side of the cascades, and they are not zooms, as you can crawl all around those gushers. It does make me feel like returning on a warm day; it's not one of our winter targets though. [Ed. Note: Darrel's travel emails usually come with 6-12 pictures, all interesting and beautiful. If you would be interested in receiving these, as we do, just let us know at murmuse@comcast.net.--NAM]
2/9: Sunrise/Sunset These are some new sunsets that I haven't added yet. One I know I will use. I'm debating on which of the other two I should add. Which of the Arrowhead do you like best, the sunrise or sunset? [Ed. Note: After looking back and forth at both several times, I vote for the sunrise, mostly because it is different in color from "Reflected Sunset," which he had already selected. They are both full of changing colors.--NAM]
(Click here for photo of "Reflected Sunset.")
MAWHINNIE ROOTS
John Howlett
Feb. 10: I found some interesting info on the family history. To access this -search on Mawhinney. This will bring up a list of sites. Click on Mawhinney Family Genealogy Forum. Within this site scroll to New Brunswick Canada Mawhinney's by Dan Sweet dated 4/23/03. Then look at New Brunswick Canada Mawhinney's by June Fournerat dated 8/17/03.
Both of these sites refer to Chipman Mawhinney,his brothers, sisters, parents, half brothers and half sister. The second site relates that for "some unknown reason" Chipman changed the spelling of his last name to Mawhinnie.
Our original ancestor Robert "Robin" Mawhinney was born in Ireland in 1795 and emigrated to Canada in 1830.
Feb. 14: Just poking around on the net. Confirmed by multiple sources.
Great-great grandfather: Robert "Robin" Mawhinney
b.8/18/1795,d.9/6/1882. Born in town Ahoghill,county Antrim, Ireland. Married Mary Wilson b.8/12/1801 d.1/8/1844. Born in Belfast,Ireland. Both died in Maces Bay,N.B.
Great grandfather David M.Mawhinney b.6/30/1839 d.11/22/1908. Married (3rd wife) Sara Jane Craft.
Background info- Mawhinneys originally part of clan McKensie in Scotland. Moved to Ireland late 1700's.
Name in Scotland meant "sons of the whinney bush". Whinney bush is a plant with yellow flowers that is/was used for fuel and fodder.
Feb. 15: Still possible that Sara Jane Craft was our great grandmother. She was born 1822 and died in 1854, the same year Grandfather Mawhinnie was born which would tie in with your info that his mother died when he was very young.
Still working on where the Native American portion of our lineage came in. It's possible that Sara Craft was adopted Christian name of a Native American. Still working on getting into church records in Maces Bay area.
Feb. 16: ONE CORRECTION AND MORE DATA
Correction: Sara Jane Craft actually b.1831, d.1874; this correlates with Nan's info that he was about 3 years old when his mother died. (It also means that he wasn't 103 years old at death-a big DUH on me.)
Also-Nellie Centenial Derby married Chipman Mansfield Mawhinnie on 7/2/1901 in Fitzwillial N.H. They were married by Reverend Arthur Wardsworth.
[Ed. Note: We were told that Grandpa didn't like the "y" in his name because it went below the line and got mixed up with the next line of writing. This may have had something to do with the fact that he went only to fourth grade. Then he went to work for most of the rest of his life. Even after retirement in his later years, he would take on a job of sharpening a saw. I can still see him in his workshop, patiently filing each tooth of the saw separately, chatting with a friend as he worked and smoked his pipe.--NAM]
RETURN TO KAKABEKA
Darrel Murdock
Dec. 17: On a beautiful sunny day mid-February we set off for Canada again for another look at Kakabeka Falls. The temperature was perfect, just cold enough to keep it dry but warm enough to require cooling off after vigorous hiking. With a recent warm-up in the NE portion of Minnesota called the Arrowhead, the snow had gotten packed tighter, but the trade-off was the coat of ice over much of it. We had anticipated that and were eager to visit some of our favorite State Parks on the way to the border, to incorporate all of the skills we had recently aquired, to go where few had.
We were thrilled at what we found, almost surprised by the pristine winter beauty. We ended up with far more than we had hoped for, despite the fact that we were robbed of the much anticipated sunset at Kakabeka Falls by a rogue, perfectly timed large cloud in an otherwise cloudless sky. Yeah, we were going back anyways.. there is no doubt about that.
This first part is all from Temperance State Park, where the Gorge and the "Cauldrons" are more of a draw than the waterfalls cascading along the drop to Lake Superior.
Cross River Falls is along the way, just a quick stop you can view from the bridge over it. We hopped out and snapped a few, took a video then stopped along Lake Superior for some rock climbing down to the beach before stopping at the State Parks on the way to Canada.
Feb. 27: End of February Wisconsin Trip.
This weekend we went to see some Wisconsin State Parks that we had really enjoyed last fall. We went to Potato River Falls Park first, where I descended an endless flight of snow and ice covered stairs to get pictures from the bottom of the gorge. The banks of the river were covered with snow that had only footprints from a few rabbits, smooth and beautiful in the sunlight, with the muffled gurgling of the rapids punctuated only by an occasional throaty caw from a raptor that had been surprised by this rare human sighting.
We went to Copper Falls State Park next, for a three mile hike up and down steep ravines with massive confluence structures, three waterfalls and the Devil's Gate on the Bad River to see along the way.
Then as we were heading back home, we stopped at Amnicon Falls State Park to see if we could catch the sunset there. We were a little early, so we took some pictures of the thawing river that drops several times under covered bridges in this quaint little park, then drove to a good location and snapped away at the sunset.
Although it's very tricky getting good photos in forested river parks on sunny days in the winter, we counted ourselves lucky to have witnessed these quiet paradises on such a beautiful day. Everything was so smooth and creamy that we hardly noticed our muscles demanding overtime pay after walking on miles of ice and snow.
VALENTINE'S DAY
Becky Murdock
I hope you had a nice Valentine's Day. I bought Ian a nice shirt of his favorite brand, and some candy. I gave it to him so he would have it when he woke up. The kids told me he was so excited because he loves that brand. He wore it to work, he loved it so much.
I received a cute Valentine e-mail from him; then when I got home he was already home to surprise me. He had got off early because he had to work all weekend, so they let him off a couple hours early. I opened my e-mail, and he had done another cute Valentine message on my home e-mail. The came out with a cute bear in a cup. I was very happy, and pleasantly surprised.
ISABEAU'S HEART MURMUR
Claudia Lindsey
Feb. 10: When our granddaughter, Isabeau, was four months old, her
pediatrician detected a slight heart murmur. She was sent to a child
Cardiologist and an ultra sound was taken. They thought that she would
outgrow it by the time she was a year old and no further steps would
have to be taken. Unfortunately, she has not outgrown it, so next
Wednesday (Feb. 16th) the Cardiologist will do a simple procedure to
fix the murmur. This is an outpatient procedure, so she should be home
with us that evening, if everything goes as planned. We have not told
anybody about this sooner, as we were hoping that she would outgrow it.
If I have forgotten anybody on the above list that you think would like
to know about this, please feel free to tell them.
I will email all of you, probably next Thursday, of the outcome of the
surgery.
Feb. 16: Just a quick note to let you all know that our little one came through the surgery to repair the murmur in her heart with flying colors. The murmur is no longer there. She got to come with us tonight and Marti is
now trying to get her to go to sleep for the night. We are all tired, as
it was a long and exhausting day waiting to hear what the doctors would
do and then waiting to hear the results.
Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts.
A LITTLE SNOW EXCITEMENT
Nancy Murdock
Feb. 26: There is snow all over the yard today, but at a little after 9:00 AM the temperature was already 32 degrees F. on the balcony, which is usually the last place to warm up. The sun is out in force, so it looks as if a lot will melt today.
We were released a little before 3:00 PM on Thursday, as the snow was really accumulating. There was so much piled up on the driver’s side that I had to open the passenger side door and crawl over the gear shift to lift the lever that opens the trunk, where all of the snow removal tools were located. (Yes, I agree. That is not where they should be after severe weather warnings!) By the time I got my car swept down, more had covered it. I finally caught on that this could go on for a long time, so I gave it one last swish and assumed the wipers would do their job until I got home, especially since it was less than three miles.
Yesterday, Friday, we opened 2 hours late at work, which meant that we had to know our fixed schedules, which generally have no meaning, since we follow the rules for flexible work schedules except when they interfere with meetings or training. Depending on the schedule we are authorized to work, FLEX time calls for 8 ˝, 9 ˝, or 10 ˝ hours between 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM. So I can arrive at 8:30 and still fulfill my daily requirements. But different components have different FIXED start times, and ours is 8:00. Yesterday people arrived at various times, and some didn’t even imagine we might open late, so they never dialed the message line. But most of us did remember the two reminders we had recently received (and also we had a high degree of optimism), so we got there around 10:00.
I was, however, 15 minutes late! I had been finishing a message to my poetry and short story discussion group, and the nice hours got away from me. One colleague said she thought I had wimped out and decided to stay home. She should know that 73-year-olds who are working full time don’t wimp out easily! We just tend to get immersed in highly important things.
Today, at 11:00 it is already 40 degrees. And our next snow isn’t until possibly Monday. Time to look ahead to spring!
This morning I received a beautiful message from a friend in Japan. She is the sister of my hostess, and my translator, from my trip to visit our sister parish, All Saints Tokyo, in 1990.
“Is it snowing there? Here we have had a slight snow fall and chilly.
“The plum flowers are starting to bloom in my yard. Young green baby leaves of Hyacinth are looking at me as if the Easter is coming.
“Please have a happy Easter. With warm regards, Akiko.”
COUNTING THE DAYS UNTIL SPRING
Polly Soberg
Feb. 26: Winter seems to have really sprung on us in January this year although we haven't had it as bad as the Boston area.
In the midst of all the snow in February our snowblower decided to break down. Thank heavens Carl knows of people with plows so we were plowed out. On his way home from work he hailed one of the guys as they were passing the house. Yes! my shoveling for the past half hour was in vain but the driveway looked much better. I'm counting the days until spring!
The store where Carl worked for the past 4 or 5 years was sold and he is now working at Sears in Concord part time. He works in the service and parts dept where one would buy a part for a lawnmower, vacuum etc. Also they take in small appliances and send them to Massachusetts for repair. I think he likes the job but is having a difficult time dealing with the young man with ADD who works there. Carl just isn't the type to see someone knock over a can of paint and just walk away trailing the footsteps of paint behind him. Carl is a tremendous help to the manager, who is a female and has been working with the ADD person for some time. What a difference in help!!
I'm still working full time at Riverbend Community Mental Health and expect to keep working for awhile. I work with two other ladies that are 65 and one of them jokingly stated she thought she might have to have signs put up to guide her to the office from home at some point!!!! (She was joking as she is very together.)
Shannon is graduating from high school this year as is Danielle. I believe Danielle's calling is in the culinary field and she will be attending a school in Massachusetts to further that education. Shannon is going for the engineering field and has been accepted at Worcester Polytechnic Inst.
Remember that place Bob? I am very proud of both of my grandaughters and wish them the best in life.
Clyde is still alive and kicking at 95 years old. He's a little slower walking now but still playing games on the computer every day as well as surfing the net and buying stuff.......
That seems to be most of the news from here and I await the news from everyone else via the MUSE. I enjoyed the pictures of Darrel and friend's travels. Sorry I can't think of her name at the moment. (It comes with age) don't laugh!!
Thank you both for all the work put into this newsletter as it keeps us all up to date on the happenings, travels etc of the rest of the family and extended family. Keep up the good work!!
Bob's Response 2/26: Your update is full of interesting news. Carl's job at Sears, and Shannon accepted at WPI - wow! As you can imagine, I am delighted. I was sorry to learn that the country store was sold. It was always fun to shop there (especially when Carl was on the staff).
Click here for Part 2 of the March-April 2005 Muse.
Any comments? Contact the Muse editors at murmuse@comcast.net
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