"Chasing Our Roots!"





G. G. G.Grandpa Gottfried and Me!



In order for me to attend the Creative Connection last weekend, my Aunt Gail (The Dallas Chick) flew in from Texas to help with my Mom during the weekend.  While here, one of the things she wanted to do was to complete some of our ancestry family tree, by finding missing puzzle pieces, taking pictures and visiting grave sites.  Monday morning began with a trip to Afton, Minnesota, a quaint little town located along the banks of the St. Croix River.  We were on the hunt to find the cemetery that my Great Great Great Grandpa Gottfried Zabel, his wife, Christine Louise and daughter Louise Albertina were buried in. That cemetery is named St. Paulus Lutheran, in Afton.  We drove up and down St. Croix Trail and Stagecoach Trail, not finding a thing!  Finally, we stopped and asked and lo and behold, the cemetery was located directly behind Mudslinger Pottery, go figure!  What an awesomely quaint old cemetery.  Gail and I started looking through the grave stones, only about 30 of them are still existing. Right in the center, nestled between other families we located three beautiful headstones with the names of our ancestors on them. WOW! I can't explain the feeling! Albertina was only 34 when she died, and she had 6 children, 2 died, 1 at birth and 1 a few months later.  So where are the babies and where are the other children.  We know that her youngest only 1 1/2 years old at the time lived with his grandparents until they died when he was 16. His name was Albert Steindorf and he is my Great Grandfather, we know he is buried in Union Cemetery along with his wife, son and his sons wife.  Still, the haunting feeling, Where are the babies?, can't escape us. Yesterday, Gail and I visited the museum in Afton and with this wonderful woman Pam, who works at the museum, we found them!  They are at St. Peters Lutheran Cemetery, in Afton. 

Today, Gail and I are out the door to visit those babies.  So the story continues..........

Kate



Gail making a "grave rubbing"



Grave Rubbings





Gail and Albertina

Please leave us a comment if you have any suggestions in finding our roots.  Thank you!

Hi Everyone,  I'm back from an amazing three day conference that took place in St. Paul, Minnesota called The Creation Connection. The main focus was how to turn our creative passion into a business through social media and marketing.  The personal stories of some of today's most successful names in books and blogs were very inspirational.  I can't wait to share the event with you in the coming weeks, but........
Today is Sunday, it's raining, the Vikings are losing the football game, and I am making a big

pot of Chicken Dumpling Soup.  I know I've shared this recipe with you before but here it is again, in case you
you would like to join me on this lazy creative Sunday.

Chicken Dumping Soup
1 rotisserie chicken from the grocery store of your choice
1 stalk of lettuce, chopped
1 bag of carrots, cut
2 large onions, chopped
1 package of Mrs. Grasses chicken soup mix
2 Tablespoons, give or take of chicken broth powder
celery salt and pepper

Boil chicken in large pot of water for 1 hour. Then strain chicken and put broth back into the pan letting the chicken pieces cool. Now add the chopped celery, carrots, onions the package of soup mix with the egg and the chicken broth powder to taste.  Pick through the chicken pieces and place the good meat into the pot, discarding the bones, skin and fatty pieces.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil and simmer at least 1 hour or until vegetables are tender.


Dumplings
6 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
2 cups flour

Beat eggs, add cinnamon, sugar and milk.   Then slowly stir in flour till thick like brownie mix or even thicker.  Bring soup back to a rolling boil. Heat teaspoon in soup and drop tablespoons of dumplings mixture into the soup.  Cook another 10 minutes and serve.

While my soup is cooking I will spend my time organizing my thoughts about the Creative Connection. I have hundreds of pictures and stories to share with you.  It was a crazy, terrific ,
exciting weekend.  I am totally inspired!!!
-Kate

The Creative Connection: 2011

I'm so pumped!!!  Can you believe it?  We're just days away from The Creative Connection Conference in St. Paul Minnesota, September 15-17 at the Crown Plaza Hotel.  This is a national conference and market, celebrating creative women and entrepreneurs.  Hundreds of women who have a passion for the creative process will gather together for a 3 day extravaganza filled with hands-on workshops in cooking, sewing, knitting, jewelry making, creative writing, journals, book publishing, photography, baking, canning, food styling and more.  There will be social networking and business panels that focus on the practical details of setting up, running and marketing a business and leveraging its impact through the social media and blogging.

The 2011 Market Place will feature over 70 craft and handmade vendors, including: knitting, sewing, jewelry. fabric arts, paper goods and mixed media artists.  Other fun and exciting mini events happening in the Market Place will be blogger parties, book launches, craft demos and workshops.  New this year will be a Market Place Kitchen, which will feature demonstrations from food experts and cookbook authors.  This unique shopping experience is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC for a $10 admission fee for one day, or $15 for two days.  The market is open from 1:30-9:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept 16, and 10:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept 17.



"Jo and Me" 2010

 The Creative Connection is the brainchild of Jo Packham of "Where Women Create" and "Where Women Cook" magazines and Nancy Seriano launched The Creative Connection 2010, an event that united creative women entrepreneurs who are passionate about a creative life.  Now in its second year the event has joined forces with BlogHer.  BlogHer, the largest women's social media network.  I am somewhat new to BlogHer and I look forward to a full day of learning with the BlogHer Handmade Panels.  Friday and Saturday I will spend the day in the classroom learning techniques in "How to make a living as an artist", "Creative Writing classes, "Professional Imaging Workshops" and "How teach in my very own cyber classroom".  I was fortunate enough to attend last years event and would not miss it this year. If this is something you might be interested in, its not to late to join me and other Creative Chick Cafe artists.  Flexible packages are available, including a Weekender Pass or various 'a la carte selections.  registration and fee information, a complete schedule, and course and panel descriptions can be found at http://www.thecreativeconnectionevent.com/  Also, check out our new landing page at http://www.creativechickscafe.com/  There under the "Gallery Section" is a photo visit with the happens of last years event.

I am looking forward to making some new connections with some new amazing creative people and re-visiting with the ones I met last year.  I will post activities and my experiences throughout the weekend so you will not miss a thing!

Now go "Create Something",

-Kate