StevenC's blog

Today was one of those warm days in the spring that really make you feel optimistic about it all...

Rich Tuohey, Eric, Ken Freeman, and I headed out on Rich's fishing boat to see if we could pull a halibut or two out of the Bay -- and Rich brought us to a sweet spot on the east side of Tiburon that yielded this 25+ lb. monster:

 

 

Jeremy and Erica should teach a class on throwing parties -- the cookout they hosted on the West Bluffs (the area of Crissy Field closest to the Golden Gate Bridge) had a band, a hotdog cart, firepits, tablecloths, and heaps of fun people (and the views of the Bay and the Bridge rock):

 

 

 

 

A glass of Burgundy, a goat cheese salad, and foie gras on the way = happy Momo.

We cruised up to the Russian River Valley for a day trip.   Had a great lunch at Mosaic in Forestville, then headed to Williams Selyem and Freeman Winery to taste and pick-up some orders.

 

 

 

 

Later that night we had a great dinner at Andalu in San Francisco's Mission district, and this morning we had a killer brunch at Le Zinc in Noe Valley -- lots of great food and wine!

Lunch at Casa Mexicana in Noe Valley

A good burrito for lunch, and then a smorgasboard of fine food at the Giants game (playing against Chris' hometown Cincinnati Reds) for dinner:

 

Santana had 10 strikeouts in eight innings of 2 hit work -- then he gave up a solo home run and single to open up the ninth inning and got pulled before San Francisco closed out the 3-1 victory.

 

I remember coming into Detroit eight or nine years ago after the airport was completed and being blown away by how modern it was (the only airports I'd seen that were cooler were in Japan) -- and it's still very impressive:

 

 

Nothing like a bar to keep employees at work late!

After a tour of the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art, my grandfather, George Geise, gave me a guided tour of the homesteads on each side of his family (in the area near Millersburg, PA where he grew up).

The Hepner side of the family is from Mandata, PA (and Hickory Corners, PA).    This is the barn from the "old homestead"

 

This is the tombstone of my great-great aunts Carrie and Geneva Hepner.  Their sister Alene is buried in the same graveyard with my great-grandfather, William Geise.   My fourth great-great aunt, Ida Hepner, is buried elsewhere, and my fifth great-great aunt died in a flu epidemic that broke out in Pennsylvania at the on-set of World War I.     My great-great uncles:  Otto, Ed, and Lee Hepner also lived here!

 

This is the tombstone of my great-great Hepner grandparents, Elizabeth ("Lizzie"), and Adam (who went by his middle name "Serene"):

 

 

The Hepner homestead and farm spanned 500 acres, and was sold to the Meckley's who turned it into a limestone quarry -- Grandpa Geise called Mr. Meckley "a good man".

 

 

I heard a lot about this church, Stone Valley, as a child.  It was a combined church -- Lutheran and Reform (neither congregation could afford their own church).    The services used to alternate between German and English week to week...    Most of the folks who lived in that area spoke German, or a local dialect known as Pennsylvania Dutch ("Dutch" because the German word for German is "Deutsch", which sounds like "Dutch").   Grandpa Geise spoke and understood Pennsylvania "Dutch" before he understood English -- because German was spoken in the house and throughout the community.

The Geise side is from Urban, PA. 

 My great-grandparents on the Geise side were fun to visit when I was young -- they had a great trick to get my sister and me out of their hair -- they would throw marbles in the backyard before we arrived (they had convinced us that they grew in their yard), and they'd have us go out and "pick" them!    My great-great grandparents on that side of the family were George Morris Geise and Jemima Fetter.