A Gypsy in the family?

Van Gogh

A query from a grand-daughter prompted me to revisit a family legend - that one of our ancestors was a gypsy.
I've always been a bit sceptical about this, but maybe, just maybe, it's true.

 
When I was in Germany some years ago, I visited the village of Bad Grund, because I knew the Niewand family had lived there at some stage. At the Lutheran church of St. Antonius, I was allowed to look through the church registers, with the help of the Social Worker. We found a record in 1719 of the birth of a daughter, Dorothea, to Hennig Heinrich Niewandt and his wife, Gesa Maria. Unusually, no surname was shown for Gesa. The name is unique in the parish records, suggesting that she was in some way foreign..

Later entries record the baptism of three more children (one of them my ancestor). BUT after the first entry, Gesa's name does not appear, a blank space was deliberately left where the mother's name should have been entered. Gesa Maria had somehow offended the pastor, and the deliberate omission of her name suggests some kind of excommunication. There is no record of a marriage between Hennig and Gesa, either, which suggests they may have married elsewhere.

I looked up "Gesa" and it appears to be a Romani word meaning day or days. It's also a female name still in use today, probably of German origin, possibly a variant of Gertrude. 
So it's  possible that Gesa Maria was a Romani, but I really have no proof. How she fell from favour with the Lutheran Church is a mystery, perhaps she did a little fortune-telling among the villagers?

For centuries Romanies were universally disliked, feared, and even persecuted - you can read more about them here.

 They've also been romanticized, as in this photo of a Russian gypsy girl, and their music continues to influence popular music to this day. Django Reinhardt is perhaps the best known Romani musician, but flamenco music also owes much to the Spanish Romani.

 
Gesa Maria was probably born around 1700 (Which would make her 19 when Dorothea was born in 1719). She was my great-great-great-great-great grandmother. Given that I now have great-grandchildren, she has ten generations of descendants, numbering in the hundreds. Not bad for a lady who was persona non grata with the Lutheran pastor back in the 1720s !



Breaking news
My new textile blog is ready! There's a link over in the sidebar (under my picture) It's taken ages to set up- creating a satisfactory header was a headache, cos I'm hopeless with Photoshop, but I've finally got something I like.

My other idea, for a textile gallery, didn't work out, so I'm in the process of creating photo albums on Flickr.
To see what I've done so far, click the Flickr on the sidebar.

One thing leads to another

I've been thinking that this blog is probably not the most appropriate place to show off my textile creations. It's supposed to be about family history. Ideally, I'd love to have a personal website, and put all my "stuff" on it, but that's way beyond my capabilities.
I decided to start a new blog, just for textile creations.
I made a start on this, but then I thought "what about all those pictures I have of previous projects?" I'd really like to show those to an admiring world...

 So another blog was born (guess that makes me a Serial Blogger)

Setting up a new blog takes time - finding the right template, tweaking it to fit my vision, creating a header... which means I haven't made any tangible work in the past week. But I'm learning new stuff, like how to create a photo mosaic -

isn't that cool?

The new blogs aren't quite ready for viewing yet. I'll let you know when they are.

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble

I've been making jam - the fig tree has been loaded (the birds have been having a fine  time) and the quinces are ripening too.
 I often find that people are nervous about jam-making, maybe it's the mental image of a bubbling cauldron, or the idea that it's a mysterious process, akin to following a witches' spell. So I thought I'd put together a Jam-making 101 post for those of you who are a bit nervous.

It's pretty simple actually. You cook the fruit with a little water until it's soft, add sugar, and cook again to reduce the water content, until it reaches 'setting point',  then pour it into jars and seal them. That's it, really.
The equipment is simple too.

A pot - I use a heavy-based medium sized stockpot. The thick base helps to prevent the mixture from burning. (don't be tempted to buy a cheap stockpot - they are useless). You could use any large saucepan, really, as long as it has a heavy base. I also use a heat-diffusing pad under the pot. You can get them at the hardware store. I don't think they are made with asbestos these days :-)
A long-handled wooden spoon for stirring the jam.
Scales to weigh the fruit and sugar are nice, but not essential, you can just measure cup-for-cup.
Clean, dry jars, recycled are good. I don't sterilise them exactly, just wash them well, then scald them with boiling water and allow to air-dry - the lids too. When you're sure they are bone dry, store with the lids on. Not a good idea to use lids from spicy stuff (pickles, curry sauce) for jam, it's hard to get the smell off them.
Apart from tasting yummy, you want your jam to keep, and you want it to set (not be too runny).
My mother used to cover her jam with a layer of wax to seal it and prevent mould, but that's not necessary with modern jars, which have a rubber seal built into the lid. Screwing the lid on immediately will create a vacuum seal as the jam cools. But the jars must be dry! The sugar in jam is a natural preservative, too.
Setting depends on pectin, a natural fibre found in plant cell walls and most concentrated in the skin of fruits. It is water-soluble and binds with sugar and fruit acid to form a gel
I usually make small batches - no more than  a kilo or so at a time (a kilo is 2.205 pounds or about 35 oz)
This amount cooks faster and, I think, tastes better.

Most jam recipes require that you cook the fruit first in a little water, then add the sugar and boil rapidly until setting point is reached. The reason for this is that adding sugar toughens the fruit skins, so they should be softened first. There a few exceptions to this method - fig jam for instance.
My recipe recommends soaking the figs and half the sugar overnight, and adding liquid and the rest of the sugar next day, then cooking all together.
Here's the exact recipe -
2 lb figs (32 oz), 1 lemon, 28 oz sugar, 11 fluid oz water, including 1/2 cup of lemon juice.
PM - Mince figs, or chop finely, add finely sliced whole lemon (seeds removed) and half the sugar.
Stir well, and leave overnight.
AM - Add liquid and remainder of sugar, cook about one hour, until setting point is reached.
I've modified this a bit, because my variety of figs are large and very juicy, so I don't see the need for extra liquid. And I like my fig jam lemony, so I use 2 lemons.

Here's what I did the other day -
PM - chopped the figs and weighed them = 1 Kilo. Put the deseeded and chopped lemons in the blender,
then added them to the figs with 500g sugar (half the weight of the figs). Stirred well to mix, and left to stand overnight.
AM - A very liquid mixture resulted, so I didn't add any water at all, just another 500g of sugar. If your figs are a bit dryer, you could add a bit of water, maybe up to a cupful.
Cooked just below a rolling boil until setting point was reached. Yummy!

NB these are different from my figs (picture from the internet) and you might need to add water with them.

How to tell if your jam is ready. When I start to cook the jam, I put a couple of saucers in the freezer.
When I think the jam is nearly done (you can see on the side of the pot how much the mixture has reduced, plus the texture changes) I put a teaspoon of jam on a saucer, and put it in the fridge - not the freezer - for at least 5 minutes. If the surface of your jam sample wrinkles when you push it with your finger, it's ready.
No wrinkles? Try again in 10 minutes or so.

A few other things about figs - don't use them for jam if they've been rained on recently - it won't keep;
and did you know, figs are flowers, not fruit?

Next time - quince jelly.

Pretty little things

I promised to show you what I've been making lately, so here goes...

I've been making brooches, quite a lot of brooches actually, it's a bit addictive.
These are all 2 1/2" x 2", hand embroidered  to my own designs. I think this little tree is my favourite so far.

 This one's pink lace over taffeta, with a sprinkle of beads, so pretty.

Another little tree, worked on tan linen.

Puffy little roses, on green linen

back view

not so sure about this one...

OK, this is brooch number 6. I'm having lots of fun, and plenty of ideas for more brooches. But clearly I'm going to have to stop, or start selling them...
Most people who sell brooches mount them on a piece of card, like this. But maybe I can do a little better than that, hmm?


 So I spent an entire whole day  designing a small origami box. A square box is easy, an oblong one is more of a challenge! But I finally got it right -

Now we just need a label on the back.

 Compared to making a quilt or a crochet rug, which takes weeks, these little brooches are almost instant gratification. I can embroider and assemble one in a day (the assembly and making the box takes nearly as long as the embroidery).

These have gone to the gift shop at Buda Historic Home and Garden.

I've made several more since these pictures were taken, though I guess I'll run out of steam eventually - I usually do with these things...
I'm learning as I go - how to make the backs neater, and what fabrics work best. I like to use recycled fabrics if I can, and I'm having fun doodling new designs.

Now I'm thinking of opening an Etsy shop.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

Keats wrote a lovely "Ode to Autumn" celebrating this most glorious of seasons, when the mornings are crisp, and the leaves glow like wine.
We are having a run of beautiful, balmy days, and the garden is a joy - there are figs, and quinces, and a riot of late roses, and the ornamental grape vine looks like stained glass in the afternoon sun.

I took photos this afternoon, and thought I'd share them with you.

 
The ornamental grape, mingled with the lovely apricot Rosa 'Crepuscule'

I've been spending a lot of time on the back veranda, enjoying the autumn leaves

A lucky shot of R. 'Golden Wings'

and my favourite - R. 'Mutabilis'

 and this strange flower, promising some more old-fashioned fruit... anyone recognise it?

A happy ending

It's been nearly two months since I posted here, and now that we have our happy ending, I'd like to tell you what happened.

On Valentine's day, my youngest daughter Susie developed a life-threatening illness. She had been sick over the previous weekend, with what she assumed was the flu, and on the Monday was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, with heart failure.

On Tuesday (Valentine's Day) her condition worsened, and her heart stopped beating.

She was quickly resuscitated, but later that evening it happened again. She was then placed on life support, and moved by special ambulance to the Alfred Hospital ICU (considered the best in Australia for heart problems.) At the Alfred she was placed into an induced coma, and was connected to an array of life-saving machines.

A heart biopsy showed that she had  lymphocytic myocarditis ( a severe heart infection). She was given large doses of steroids, and we waited to see if she would recover.

Nobody knew if the cardiac arrests had caused damage to her brain and other organs, though her family were pretty sure she was still "in there". We held her hand, and we talked to her.

After about five days, there were some signs of improvement, and in a few more days she was allowed to wake up - a bit - and she clearly knew us, and could wiggle her toes! Finally her heart and breathing improved enough to remove her from life support, and she was transferred to a cardiac ward.

She spent another two weeks in hospital. There is some damage to her heart, and she has had a defibrillator implanted. No apparent damage to her kidneys or other organs. She is still a bit weak - she lost a lot of weight, and will take a while to recover muscle tone. She now has to take a lot of pills, some of them permanently, but the doctors expect she will be able to live a normal life.

Susie's home with her family now, getting better every day, and looking forward to doing normal things, like driving her kids to school, and going shopping. She hopes to go back to work eventually, at least part-time.

Now that's obviously just the short version of what happened, and doesn't really convey the awfulness of those weeks, and the impact on those who love Susie. Her husband, Edi, was wonderful - he spent most waking hours (and quite a few when he should have been sleeping) at the hospital. The rest of the family - parents, three sisters, and several good friends - took turns to visit the hospital, and did our best to support Edi and their three daughters.

I read a lot of trashy novels in those first couple of weeks, to take my mind off the situation - Georgette Heyer, Nora Roberts, and so on. Then, when Susie was out of ICU, I came home and made her a quilt, with a lot of help and encouragement from a couple of quilting friends.

Events like this have a huge impact, more than you realise when you're running on adrenalin and doing your best to get through it all. Even writing this post has taken a long time, and I'll be glad to put it all behind me.

In the last couple of weeks, I've turned to my favourite form of therapy - embroidery. So don't expect any posts about family history for a while; I'm going to show you what I've been making instead...