Wednesday, December 2, 2009

An Update on Heinz and Ruth

I was able to contact the family of the woman who I though may have been the wife of Heinz Wertheim. Despite the extremely unusual last/maiden name (I could find only 1 in the US), and that the two women have similar birth dates, are from Germany, went through Westerbork, and survived the Holocaust, they are not the same people.

One of my next options is to contact Yad Vashem. I'm pretty sure the right way to look is to Israel, which is where the records say Ruth emigrated in the late 1940s.

As well, the family of the other woman is also being very helpful (after all, they share a somewhat unique last name with Heinz's wife). I'll be talking with them further and may find out more. It's actually been quite a powerful experience to be able to hear some of this other family's experience. Theirs is also a story of magnificent loss, survival, and triumph.

I just wanted to give an update. Things are rarely as simple or cut and dried as we would like, and certainly to locate someone 65 years later may not be easy. I will continue to look for Ruth and/or any of her relatives or descendants, or any relatives of Heinz. I do believe this postcard rightfully belongs to Ruth or whoever may survive either her or Heinz.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

happy halloween :)

a reluctant angel
and happy jack-o-lantern

xoxo

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Halloween Winners!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by :)

The winner of the tarot reading is Annabelle from http://pastoraldreams.blogspot.com/ Annabelle, contact me for your reading.

and

The winner of the key scavenger hunt, and a print from my etsy shop, is Julie from www.tlc-parenting-advice.com

I think the scavenger hunt was quite a bit more difficult than I'd intended, so kudos to those who found all five. Julie, contact me to claim your print.

I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween!

xoxo

Saturday, October 17, 2009

A Fanciful Celebration!


It's time ...


for a fanciful Halloween celebration!


Won't you please come in?


It's so lovely to have company again ...

... it's been terribly quiet around here lately.


Oh, yes, just let me tidy up ... it seems I've made a bit of a mess here.

Oh ... him? Thank you ever so much for asking, but he's ... gone.

He broke my heart, you see ...

... so I broke his.

It was an accident, of course. Quite tragic, really. You understand, don't you? Yes ... I knew you would.

My, you're really quite charming. And, if you don't mind me saying, now that I look closer, you're very attractive as well! Perhaps we should get to know each other better? May I give you a flower?

To be honest, I like you a great deal ...

In fact, I think ...

I

could

love

you
...


... to death.



TAROT Reading!

I'll be giving a tarot reading to one of my readers. Just leave a comment asking to be entered in the drawing. On October 24th, I'll be drawing a name at random. The tarot reading is genuine and in-depth. I've usually found them to be scarily accurate. I'll do your reading by email and up to three questions can be asked. A reading can sometimes be more productive if the winner supplies a birth date, even more so with a time and place.


Scavenger Hunt! Find the keys!


I've hidden five keys somewhere on my blog, in my etsy shop, or elsewhere. Find the five keys, and the words on them, and you could win a signed print of your choice from my etsy shop. I'll be choosing from the entries at random. Please send your words in an email to lisacole690@aol.com ... Winner will be chosen on October 24th.


A Recipe!

Pumpkin Ice Cream
(a raw vegan recipe from my other blog
Raw on $10 a day (or Less!)

1 cup raw pumpkin chunks ($.10)
4 bananas ($.45)
1 cup nut milk ($.40)
1 cup carrot juice ($.10)
1 in piece ginger, peeled
2 tbsp raw honey ($.30)
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice ($.05)
1/2 tsp cinnamon ($.02)

Plan to make this at least a few hours ahead of time. Juice 3-4 carrots, plus piece of ginger, to make about 1 cup liquid. Add the carrot/ginger juice and pumpkin chunks to a blender and puree until smooth. Add bananas, nut milk, spices and honey. Puree until smooth. Process in an ice cream maker and then store in freezer, or pour into bowl and place in freezer, stirring every 20 minutes or so until firm.
Optional: to make a nice soft serve style ice cream (or a very thick shake), or to make the process go more quickly in the freezer, start with frozen bananas and frozen pumpkin.

nutritional information (per serving):

calories: 363
fat: 4 gr
carbs: 80 gr
protein: 3 gr

Miniscule - Halloween Paranoid from Bluebird on Vimeo.


Thank you for visiting! While you're here, take a minute to look over the party list (it's on the left!) and drop in on the other participants.
xoxo



Tuesday, September 29, 2009

halloween celebration



there's frost on the pumpkins ... well, maybe not quite, but there will be soon enough ...

meanwhile, there's a halloween celebration to be had ... hosted by the lovely valencia at a fanciful twist ...

the fun begins october 17th, so stop on by ... i'll be having some spooktacular giveaways here (did i just say spooktacular?) ... maybe even a tarot reading?

xoxo

a pumpkin story





cut pumpkin in half or into wedges
bake at 400 f for about an hour along with 2 or 3 onions
remove seeds and scrape pumpkin flesh and baked onions into food processor or blender
add water or vegetable stock
add salt, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper to taste
puree

Thursday, September 24, 2009

The Name on the Postcard was Heinz ...

I emailed back and forth with a very helpful researcher from Westerbork, who couldn't find any record of a Henry Wertheim ... so I sent a copy of the postcard, and it turns out that the first name on the card is actually Heinz.

They were able to tell me that Heinz Wertheim was a shoemaker apprentice who was born on June 26th, 1921 in Bremke, Germany. He married a Dutch girl named, Ruth Sara*, and they lived in the Netherlands and were sent together to Westerbork. They were so young ... he would have been 22 and and she just 21.

In Westerbork, on May 6, 1943, they had a baby and named him Paul Freidrich.

The baby died six weeks later.

I just noticed that the postcard was written on May 5th 1943, the day before the baby was born, and postmarked May 8th, two days after. Perhaps they got money from someone outside Westerbork because they were expecting a baby (the postcard said, "Many thanks for the money you sent.") ... and I imagine Heinz wrote the card on the 5th, then was busy with the new baby and didn't get a chance to mail the card until the 8th.

Shortly after the baby died, on September 14, 1943, Heinz and Ruth were sent together to Auschwitz.

Heinz died at Monowitz, which was a labor camp at Auschwitz, on December 12, 1944, after surviving there for more than a year. He was 23. His wife, Ruth, survived Auschwitz and was sent to Ravensbruck and then Malchow, a subcamp of Ravensbruck. She survived the death marches from Ravensbruck before being liberated in Neustadt. She eventually emigrated to Israel.

There's one more thing.

I think Ruth may still be alive and that I've possibly located her. She would be 88 now. I have probably the only thing that still physically exists that her young husband touched ... all those years ago, right at the same time their baby was born.

So, do I leave well enough alone, or try to contact her and ask if she wants the postcard?

*During the Holocaust, Jewish women were made to use the middle name "Sara" to state their Jewishness. I don't know if this is her real middle name or not.


Monday, September 21, 2009

CoSM trailer ...

trailer for alex grey: chapel of the scared mirrors ... netflix has it right now as a "watch instantly" ...


xoxo

Saturday, September 19, 2009

corn salad






6 ears corn, cut off cob
2 onions, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 avocado, chopped
green or red pepper, chopped
salt
pepper
1-2 tbsps olive oil

toss

Thursday, September 17, 2009

a postcard from henry



i bought it from an antiques dealer … a slightly faded postcard ... from a man named henry … sent to herbert hirsh …


it was sent from westerbork … (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westerbork_concentration_camp) … a transit camp for jews and others during world war II … 107,000 people left there on trains destined for auschwitz-birkenau, sobibór, bergen-belsen and theresienstadt … 5,200 of them survived …



“many thanks for the money you sent”


i’ve contacted westerbork for information on henry … to see what happened to him … and, perhaps, discover who he was …

Monday, September 14, 2009

canvas frames

the large canvas is one i built (overbuilt) from 1 x 3 pine ... it makes a nice, big edge that i really like ... much better than the smaller, purchased one ...


these videos by jane kenoyer are excellent canvas building tutorials ...









putting by







Sunday, September 13, 2009

Saturday, September 12, 2009

happy birthday, bread




yes, this bread is a year old ... we decided to keep it and see what happened ... a year later, it's about the same, except for some dehydration ... it's been sitting on top of the fridge since this time last year ...

even mold won't touch it ... which can't be a good thing

Friday, September 11, 2009

summer blue dress






Wednesday, September 9, 2009

tree swallow eggs and sunflowers


And in this nest there was an egg,
The prettiest egg that you ever did see ...

They leaned to me, the sunflowers
And whispered, long ago__