Flo Bluethunder Sewing During April 09 Visit

I have enjoyed learning from traditional Lakota people about the traditions over the years. Florentine Bluethunder is a special friend I met near St Francis South Dakota back in 1990, when I first visited the Rosebud Reservation. Over the years, he has been a valuable teacher and friend, from whom I have learned songs, language and stories of the people. He stopped by this April here in St Louis Park, and I was able to share my apartment with him and with his friend from Valentine SD. His young friend went to Yale undergraduate school during the same time as my neice, Val Weaver and her husband Chris Grosso. Small world indeed! Here Flo is sewing a traditional pow-wow dress after we shared breakfast in my space.

Jean Luc Chapelier - Sharing Genealogical Laptops in St Germain

Here Jean-Luc uses his lap top. He knows where to find the Chapelier and other french connections and has helped with the Arnauds of near La Rochelle. He introduced me to the archivist in Uzes who connected me through Chris Chappelear of Ohio to Steve who lives in Columbus OH. We trace our connection to Elias and Zachariah in Maryland and Virginia to OH. Perhaps we can all meet and share sea food for a Chappelear-Chapelier reunion some time. Merci and bon chance Jean- Luc. The white Mac is the one I am writing on today.

Cevennes France St Germain de Calbert Chapelier 2008

Well, back to the August 2008 adventure to the roots of my Chapelier Huguenot ancestors in Languedoc France. Here is a view from the mountain retreat of Jean Luc Chapelier, in St Germain, who was kind enough to introduce me to the "desert" where my pro-test ant ancestors hung out when the dominant French Catholics (think Cardinal Richeleau and all) persecuted our people back in the day of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Robert Lewis Stevenson visited here in 1879 and wrote in his Travels With a Donkey "“That these continual stirs were once busy in St Germain de Calbert, the imagination with difficulty receives; all is now so quiet, the pulse of human life now beats so low and still in this hamlet of the mountains Boys followed me a great way off, like a timid sort of lion-hunters; and people turned round to have a second look, or came out of their houses, as I went by. My passage was the first event, you would have fancied, since the Camisards.”
“I took refuge on the terraces, which are here greenly carpeted with sward, and tried to imitate with a pencil the inimitable attitudes of the chestnuts as they bear up their canopy of leaves. Ever and again a little wind went by, and the nuts dropped all around me, with a light and dull sound, upon the sward. The noise was a of a thin fall of great hailstones; but there wet with it a cheerful human sentiment of an approaching harvest and farmers rejoicing in their gains. Looking up, I could see the brown nut peering through the husk, which was already gaping; and between the stems the eye embraced an amphitheater of hill, sunlit and green with leaves. I have not often enjoyed a place more deeply. I moved in an atmosphere of pleasure, and felt light and quiet and content. But perhaps it was not the place alone that so disposed my spirit." I too felt a deep peace in these mountains. Merci Jean Luc

Pay it Forward Day in Atlanta Heartsfield Airport April 20

Here is a couple from Bloomington Indiana that I snapped in Hoolihan's on the A Concourse where I had breakfast and a lunch ($7 of which was covered by Delta). When the gate person announced they were overbooked for the 8:30 AM flight and a person needed to get to an 11 AM meeting in the Twin Cities, I decided to leave the flight and do a pay it forward moment. It was fun to strike up conversations here in the airport. Folks from Poland and all over at the Delta Crossroads. Well, we'll see what leg room is like in 1st class on the 5:15. Bon chance.

Defeat Autism Now Atlanta with Master Supplementeur' Jeff Thurston

I had the honor of presenting the Master Supplement cadre of four products with Jeff Thurston, one of the owners, pictured here generously sharing products with families of autistic children at the recent DAN Conference in Atlanta. Recent scientific work has found that there is a strong link being gut, intestinal health and eubiosis (in short a good ecology) with balanced immunity. It seems some 70% of the human immune system is around the gut and having quality allies, eg Lactobaccili in the small intestine and Bifidobaccili in the large interetine seem to support the T cells (immune cells) that regulate immunity throughout the body.
Leading credence to "a gut feeling" being our second brain. Thanks Jeff for sharing your big heart with the folks over the years at the DAN Conferences...and likely more to come.

Pont du Gare 2008 Aquaduct over the Gare River

Jean Luc photographed me with the massive aquaduct backlite. In the background is the river Gare with many locals enjoying a refreshing swim.

Uzes Vallee Gare East View from Dukes Tower

Here is the landscape to the east of Uzes as seen from the Dukes Tower. Jean Luc and I climbed the stairs here to get the view. In the shadows to the east is the Pont du Gare, which we then visited. It is the world famous Roman aquaduct that carried spring water from Uzes to the Roman City of Nimes, "back in the day."

Creme Brule' - Place aux Herbes Uzes France

Here is the" piece de resistance", the finale to a meal of a nice salad and fish I share here with Jean Luc Chapelier. Peg always liked "custard" and somehow this French dessert always reminds me of her. Here, Jean-Luc and I talked of Louis Chapelier and Simone Roux whom he married in 1633. The hand written book is in the Nice Library that Jean Luc lead me to. What a pleasure to be in the land of my ancestors with an enthusiastic fellow such as Jean Luc. From here we walked to the Ducal Palace and climbed to the tower to see the landscape.

Uzes Place auz Herbes August 2008

After discovering that the Chappelear-Chapelier Family had come from Languedoc and sharing with Peg in 2007 that her people came from French "mushroom" country of truffles (la Truffe) I was delighted to have email contact with Jean Luc Chapelier, a french cousin and genealogist who took time to give me a tour of the beautiful country of our shared ancestors. I thought of him a lot when I visited Maryland and Virginia last week to find the path of the Chappelears-Chapeliers in the New World. Here is the Place aux Herbes as we viewed it prior to sitting for a lunch in August of 2008.

Bio Jardin -Organic Garden near Aix en Provence Aug 2008

Here is the setting of the Garden Francois, Marie Helene and Helene and I are harvesting. The building in the back is a retreat center as well in the south of France. Wonderful energy to be with fellow two spirited friends in France. Merci

Bio Jardin Papillion near Aix en Provence Aug 2008

This yellow flower photo reminds me of the joy and transformation I experienced during my 2008 visit to Southern France in 2008. Here a swallowtail butterfly, papillion en Francais, flitted from flower to flower in a dance of life. My French friends, Helene, Marie Helene and Francois were harvesting Bio (English thought "organic") produce in a spring fed jardin (garden) whilst I took this photo. Grateful for this vision as I ready for another spring-summer in Minnesota USA. The yellow reminds me of the spirit of Peg Weaver whose favorite color is yellow.

Chocolate Soufflé at Roy’s

A fitting finale for me for the slow dining experience here in Atlanta. The lighting of the expansive kitchen highlighting our view for the evening.

Mac Lynch, Roy's Chef and Jeff Thurston Chatting

After our dinner, Chef Mac, stopped by to describe the recipe he created that Jeff had for an item then had a New Orleans flavor to it. It was fun for me to see Jeff have such a good time sharing food and stories here in Buckhead, part of Atlanta.

The View at Roy's Watching the sushi preparation

This is the view we had for the evening. Shorty, the sushi chef prepared our two plates like this and then handed them to us. For me it was a nice tender sensuous gustatory experience. We ate and told stories for some 2 hours, chatting with the wait staff and all. This is Jeff's tenth Roy's, as he likes to search them out across the country.

Roy's Fusion Sushi Appetizer Jeff Thurston Buckhead GA

Jeff Thurston, had been telling me all day about Roy's and the fusion menu he discovered in Philly a few years back. Especially the special fusion sushi. So we took a cab from the Cobb Galleria/Waverly Hotel here in NW Atlanta to the Buckhead neighborhood and took in an evening of slow and deliberate food and service. Here is the sushi plate that each of us had, with Jeff looking on. We watched it being created and then cooked on top with a propane torch from our stools at the counter.

Arlington Cemetery TGW with fruit tree flowering - cherry or crab

Last Saturday, April 11, Dick Ryberg, Carleton Class of 69 and fellow Carleton Singing Knight and I drove from DC over the Potomac to Arlington National Cemetery. It is the end of the Cherry Blossom Festival and he thought this is a cherry tree still in full bloom tho it looks like a crab apple to me. What do I know. It is pretty and I like spring bloomin' fruit trees. I am grateful to be traveling through the spring of the Atlantic, tho the locals complain it is cold here. For a Minnesotan this is the banana belt and it is a joy to be here.

Flowering Dogwood Georgia Cornus florida Spring is here!

Took this photo between the hotel and Barnes and Noble. I am taking a break to check my email and write here while I work the Master Supplements Booth at the DAN (Defeat Autism Now) Conference here in Atlanta. I am so grateful to be working with a Minnesota Company that is on the cutting edge of nutritional recovery in enhancing gut health. It has been a pleasure working the booth with Jeff Thurston, VP of Marketing for Master Supplements and to be present to folks that have a good heart. Fun sharing the probiotic, prebiotic and enzyme products with a variety of practitioners and families concerned for the spectrum of issues that are approached in a holistic manner.

Chappelear, Elias - Zachariah, Virginia Lineage Rappahannock County Historical Society Washington VA

Here on Gay Street in Washington VA are Judy Tole, Executive Director and yours truly, genealogical visitor. The town was surveyed by George Washington and was established in 1793. At about this time Elias and his family, including son Zachariah of my lineage were working the land having moved from St Mary's County Maryland. Being very hilly this was one of the last Virginia Counties to be created, as was separated from Culpeper County in 1833. Zachariah was listed in the 1820 Census in Culpeper County and paid taxes here until 1830 when he moved to Perry County Ohio with his family, including William Woods Chappelear his youngest born March 13, 1811 likely on the family Chappelear family land between Flint Hill and Gaines Cross Roads.

Rotunda U of Virginia Charlottesville April 2009

A moist spring day in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains on my way to connect with Zachariah Chappelear's family in Rappahannock County. Here is the rotunda that Thomas Jefferson designed as the center piece of the University of Virginia. I went up to the third floor that has a dome modeled after the Pantheon in Rome. At one time the library was here connected to student and teacher quarters.

Mt Vernon View from Potomac Side with red bud

I left Dick and Jean's home in Gaithersburg this morning and made it to old downtown Alexandria on my way to Mt Vernon. There is a lot of traffic here close to DC, likely a different picture than in 1928 when Noah Elwood and my dad visited here. I thought of them as likely the only Weavers to get here in the 20th century. Here I am in the 21st to take a tour of the mansion and then to go through the gardens, and finally the 3 mile trip to the mill and distillery that were part of Washington's extensive estate. I am impressed that this is done by a private group, the Mount Vernon Ladies Association.

Arlington National Cemetery Looking at Washington DC

Dick Ryberg and I ventured over to Arlington National Cemetery where one of his uncles is interred. We walked up to the eternal flame set up for the honoring of John F Kennedy in 1963. This photo is taken from just below the flame and shows the Washington Monument from that view point.

Noah Elwood Weaver 1928 White House Portico

Wow, this photo is horizontal on my desktop and I have uploaded it 3 times and it always is on its side! Well, I accept that perhaps fear turns reality on its side sometimes. Here in 1928 my grandfather was able to drive right up to the white house. Noticing the difference today. I am retracing the route my dad and grandfather did. They stayed in camping places for cars. Now that it is Monday, and it is clear that I will be traveling alone for the next two days, I will stick to my plans, pick up AAA Maps and find Mt Vernon, Williamsburg and Jamestown, perhaps finding a place to stay near the Atlantic on Virginia Beach. Grateful for the spirits of my ancestors today.

White House 2009 view with Dick Ryberg Carleton 1969 Classmate

With new clarity with a Canon digital camera, I was able to capture this image of Dick, the guy smiling with his new Cherry Blossom Festival Hat, with the white house in the back ground. Unlike the 1928 era when Noah Elwood Weaver and his camping crew could drive the road into the portico area, there were many security folks here to do crowd management. We were thinking behind the barriers here, is where the proposed MIchelle Obama gardens might be happening. Dick and I sang in the Carleton Knights together for four years in the 60's. I was able to met is wife Joan of 3 years at their townhouse in Gaithersburg where I was treated with a warm welcome and a grand meal of pork loin with fruit and all. On Easter, after I returned from a sunrise inipi ceremony at Gaia Center near Mt Airy, we met his daughter Claire on U Street in NW DC to take in a musical production of Crowns at the Lincoln Theater.

Harpers Ferry - Layers of History at confluence of Shenandoah and Potomac

This is a blurry photo on the walking bridge over the Potomac from Maryland Heights and the B and O Canal with Harpers Ferry lowertown in the background. It was here that John Browns small group tried to take the storehouse of US guns prior to the beginning of the Civil War. With plenty of water power, George Washington had chosen this place for a place to manufacture arms at an earlier time, thus sealing its fate as a focal point for future power struggles. Jayson, Dixie Marie (from Pikesville) and I walked the streets of the lower town, then visited the visitors center across the Shenandoah in W Virginia before we went hiking along the Bolivar Ridge where Dixie introduced me to my first rufus sided towhee, a beautiful bird that was in the underbrush above some of the new spring wildflowers. Noticing the variety of levels of transportation here, water, rail, canal and now hiways, we stopped for dinner at the Anvil in Bolivar.

Dove at St Mary's City Maryland

Pete was a great docent, while we visited the plantation acted by folks in the 1600's voice. Herb garden and tobacco mounds started in the spring, reminding me that tobacco was the currency of the time when the Chappelears came to the upper part of St Mary's County in the 1700's. Pete described the current economy is focused on the large Patuxent Naval Air Base. Carl, the blonde here, along with Pete gave a colorful description of how the Dove, a small boat carried passengers to the new colony.

Pete Himmelhaber and Cool Springs Charlotte Hall MD

Pete and I walked from the visitors center to the location of the spring. Sadly I dropped my camera in the airport whilst removing my belt for homeland insecurity in the MSP airport and the focus is not working well. I am sitting here in Germantown MD at a Star Bucks and getting centered and grounded writing this blog. I stopped in a Penn Camera in Rockville and picked up a newer Canon for more focus! Nice to know Jesse is writing his blogalog from across the pond. I am enjoying reading his posts. Pete really knows his land in St Mary's county and has located the description of the Chappelear lands.

Chappelear Drive St Mary's County Maryland Apr 2009

A cheerful day and a cloudy camera, as the focus does not seem to work. I am standing here in the Chappelear area of St Mary's County northeast of Charlotte Hall. May have to call customer service for Canon as the F stop seems stuck on the wider apertures. Pete Himmerheber, docent with St Mary's City First Capital etc and on the Historical Society board, along with Linda Reno, genealogist and author, met me in Charlotte Hall for the tour of the Chappelear holdings in the upper part of St Mary's County. Issac and Elias of my lineage where here in the mid 1700's and Elias' Brother, James I think, stayed in the area and many of his decendants stayed in the area. Many of them in the Charles County area according to Linda.

Harry Chappelear Glessner 1953 Thomas Glessner Weaver in Faribault MN home

My Glessner grandparents, Harry and Inez would take the train, to Owatonna or perhaps to the Twin Cities, later driving the 600 miles from Findlay Ohio. Here, at age 5, Granddad Glessner as I called him, played a game of Chinese Checkers. The bas relief of Mozart above, is an image created by my dad, Paul H Weaver when he was an undergraduate student at Antioch College in Yellow Springs Ohio. It is still a favorite reminder for me of his deep appreciation for art and music that holds a place of honor on the wall of my humble abode. Grateful both of my sons were able and willing to play classical stringed instruments in their High School education, Nate, the violin and Jess, the cello.

WestLake Park LA Filming in 1921

Peg Weaver in her 1983 autobiography states " In Los Angeles we rented a small apartment near Westlake Park, where we walked under the palm and pepper trees. I was thrilled to watch a movie being made beside the lake -- seeing the actors and actresses, the director, all the cameras and paraphernalia." Trying to find the park today I found: according to Wikipedia "The park, originally named Westlake Park, was built in the 1880s, along with a similar Eastlake Park, whose lake is artificial, in East Los Angeles. Westlake Park was re-named May 7, 1942; Eastlake Park was re-named Lincoln Park. In the mid-1800s the area was a swampland; by the 1890s, it was a vacation destination, surrounded by luxury hotels. In the early part of the twentieth century, the MacArthur park area became known as the Champs-Élysées of Los Angeles. Wilshire Boulevard formerly ended at the lake, but in 1934 a berm was built for it to cross and link up with the existing Orange Street (which ran from Alvarado to Figueroa) into downtown Los Angeles. Orange Street was renamed Wilshire and extended east of Figueroa to Grand Ave. This divided the lake into two halves; the northern one was subsequently drained." Well I wonder what it looks like today.

West Lake LA Apartment Margaret Glessner 1921

Peg Weaver, describes her journey to Los Angeles in her 1983 Autobiography "In Los Angeles we rented a small apartment near Westlake Park, where we walked under the palm and pepper trees. I was thrilled to watch a movie being made beside the lake -- seeing the actors and actresses, the director, all the cameras and paraphernalia. In downtown Los Angeles at Angel's Flight we rode on a cable car which took us to the top of a hill (Bunker Hill - 315 feet). " This looks like the car her parents rented as they took the Santa Fe Railroad during that time.

Harry Chappelear Glessner, Margaret Glessner 1921 Busch Gardens Pasadena

Here is Harry C Glessner with his perhaps 11 yr old daughter Margaret in a photo labeled "Busch Gardens". I just googled Busch Gardens Pasadena and am writing to a Gary Cowles (relative?) to learn more about the Garden. According to the web site" "Adolphus Busch, president of the Anheuser Busch Brewing Association and his wife, Lilly, arrived in Pasadena in March of 1904. They arrived on the eighty-foot long, Palace Pullman car, Adolphus, and took 10 rooms at the elegant Hotel Raymond south of town. In a few weeks it was announced that Mr. Busch had acquired a property overlooking the Arroyo Seco canyon near Pasadena’s southwestern boundaries. This was a stone-faced “pile” built in 1898 designed by architect, Frederick L. Roehrig on less than 2 acres. This would be the Busch family winter home and axis for all future properties added to “Ivy Wall”. see www.pasadenagardens.com/ Would be fun to revisit this sometime.!

Margaret Glessner Busch Gardens Pasadena 1921

Margaret Weaver in 1921, 5th grader Findlay OH who writes on p 13 of her autobiography in To California with my parents "On our drives around Hollywood and Beverly Hills in our rented car we ogled at the beautiful mansions and poked around ill some model homes. The Bush (sic) Chinese Gardens were fascinating with their unique, arched bridges."

Peg Weaver New Years 1958

My Mom, Peg Weaver, serves herself from the lazy susan on New Years as well. At this time, she began her 12 years on the Faribault Public School Board. She was an active correspondent with an international stamp collection until the early 1960;s when her curiosity about mushroom identification led to her enrolling in a graduate class at the University of Michigan Field Biology Station in Pellston in 1963.

Tom & Peg 1959 Stamp Collecting -Paul H Weaver New Years 1958 Faribault Home - Margaret with Indonesian Fabric from the eye of an 11 year old son

1959, Tom Weaver, age 12 working on his own postage stamp collection, with his father's pipe fingered is his right hand.  Peg, his mom, keeping an eye out for her youngest son, at Pelican Lake, cabin surrounded by memorabilia of the contemporary Weaver family as collectors.  Phoo by Paul H Weaver......Posting this during the COVID -19 pandemic while I am mounting United Nations CITES, Convention on International Trade in International Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

 Paul H Weaver - born Dec 24, 1910 at age 48, New Years time in 1958, wearing a white pressed shirt with his classic bow tie, and how he relaxed as a busy country doctor in small town rural Faribault MN, a drink of alcohol with Planters Peanuts to snack on, and lighting his favorite smoke, Bond Street Tobacco in his pipe  --

These tin cans were a common thing in my family home, as my dad, smoked his pipe daily, I hear from college in around 1929 to the 1960's when he had heart issues, like angina!  He just loved his pipe and the advertising of the product as an intellectual thing too https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_Street

Here is my dad, Paul H Weaver MD, with his signature pipe at home, with his white shirt and tie, serving up a New Years snack with the Christmas "tanne" or fir tree in the background. In 1958, he had practiced in Faribault for 19 of his 36 years in town as a general practitioner with the Faribault Clinic. I was a boy of 11 when I took this snap shot of our annual New Years celebration in our home at 425 SW 3rd St.


My mom, in 1958 with a snap shot I took of an Indonesian cloth, I think is a kind of batik -----I still have one of these ---she got it from a international stamp collector!
http://www.expat.or.id/info/batik.html

 
1958 Tom Weaver with a collection of Malaysian butterflies that his mom request from a scientist near Malacca who was a postage stamp collection ---large Atlas moth  - very excited boy then, building on my interest in Nature and respecting all of creation ---

  Here are my framed lepidoptera collections, butterflies on the left and the moths on the right-----hung at the large Pelican Lake Palmer Cabin in 1969 two years after the three Weaver Brothers invested in the property on Big Pelican Lake and Lougee Lake in 1967

I went to the Pelican Lake Cabins with my parents in North Central MN, and here in October closing up the cabin before the October freeze!

 
1958 October an 11 yr old Tom Weaver with my short legs, at the Weaver Mail box by PHW

 
One of my favorite childhood photos, that my dad took,  Age 11 a sitz spot, a sitting place in the forest by Markee Lake, Crow Wing Co, Minnesota  -- Oak and Pine forest where I still feel so very much at home ---the tree and plant nations are some of my best friends still!!  

Minneapolis Skyline from Swedish Hospital in 1938

In the 1930's the Foshey Tower was the tallest building between Chicago and the west coast. Here is a photo in 1938 looking at downtown Minneapolis from Swedish Hospital where my dad, Paul H Weaver MD, 1938 graduate of Ohio State University, did his one year internship from 1938-1939.

Paul H Weaver MD Swedish Hospital Minneapolis 1938

My father, Paul H Weaver MD is pictured here at the enterence to Swedish Hospital in 1938, where he served as an intern from July 1938- July 1939. My folks lived in Vine Hall on LeSalle Ave near Loring Park for that year until they looked at a small Minnesota town where a doctor was needed to raise their family. Faribault was chosen and they rented three homes from 1939 through 1943, when they purchased a home at 425 SW 3rd St Faribault with the financial assistance of both their Ohio parents.


Here is the certificate he received after one year of service at Swedish Hospital in 1939, the year he and my mom chose to move to Faribault.

Swedish Hospital is now a "east wing" of HCMC, Hennepin County Medical Center. Here is the view from Elliot Park from the south.

A close up of the door area which has been closed off since the time of my dad's being house officer 74 years ago, the beginning time of the Weaver family in Minnesota. 

Carleton College Basketball 1967 Hook Shot

This is a photo of yours truly that I found in the year book, jersey #42 taking a hook shot over an opponent in the Carleton Men's Gym back in 1967. Our coach, Jack Thurnblad was honored this past year as we dedicated a score board in this building for him and his wife who dedicated their work and home to many Carleton students over the years. Being 6'8" + got me recruited to playing this non contact (;-) ) sport in high school and college. Division III was just about right for me. I hit the floor enough to deserve back surgery for sciatica in 1991 which relieved the extruded disc and allows me to walk and ride a mountain bike with reasonable flexibility.

Jesse Weaver at MSP Airport April 1 2009

This is the Kilians Red that Jess is sipping as we share stories over European Maps. Here I have a map from the trip Sue and I took back in 1977. We left on Aug 16 on World Airways (Charter?) and arrived at Gatwick, staying on Russell Square London, with a side trip to Scotland. We met Herbert and Birgit Kaiser in Koblenz and then visited Steinwenden Pfalz where the Eicher family lived prior to emigration in 1833. Franz Eicher and family walked from Germany to Le Havre and took a 3 master to Baltimore and then he staying in Hagerstown MD for two years, prior to walking the National Pike to Ohio. It is during that time we visited Jacques and Michelle Gravier in Poitiers France as well before returning to Minnesota on Sept 7. Jess and Ted will be touring Europe via Eurail and I lookforward to reading his blog.

Jesse Weaver French Meadow Minneapolis Packing off to France

Here is a photo from Wednesday, April 1, as Jesse is ready with his packed bags to venture to France. He is encouraged by his Mom. His Mom, Sue and friend Paul Mote, Jess and I shared a meal at the French Meadow at lunch prior to my driving him to the MSP airport. It was fun to survey the maps of France, Germany, Switerland, Italy, Austria, Netherlands and Belgium as he shared the route he and his friend Ted Schmid have planned by Eurail. Happy we could share stories over sipping a beer in a restful environment. Bon Chance, Bon Voyage, Leb Wohl