Naming Patterns

    A few posts ago Far Side of Fifty made some comments on how her grandchildren and some relatives were named. It was interesting post and got me thinking about patterns used by different cultural, ethnic and religious groups for naming children.


     Far Side got me thinking about naming children in my family. My ancestors came to Canada in the late 1800' to early 1900's. They came from Volhynia which is in the Ukraine. They had gone to the Ukraine in the late 1700's. So they were cut off from the main German culture. They remained as Germans from the late 1700's.


    So the German naming pattern usually went this way. The first grand son or son was given the paternal grandfather's name as his second name. The second grandson or son was given the maternal grandfather's name. They also had a pattern of giving a child a first name after a saint. The second name would be the name used every day. As with most groups these were general guidelines and variations occurred.  The same pattern applied to female names.


    Now it only took a few generations for these patterns to be forgotten or changed. Many did not learn the German language. Many Anglicized their names. My name was originally spelled Klein. My Dad changed it to Kline.  Some of his family were not very pleased with him.


    The Jewish religion has many fairly strict guidelines for naming children. My friend told me that the Rabbi had to approve the names he wanted to give his children.


    The English had a custom where a child was quite often given a surname for a second name. As a result you see many English names which include  surnames. My brother in law was named John after his father and Elliott after his mother's family. To my way of thinking many of these names had a rather elegant ring to them.


    Icelanders use a patronymic system of naming children. Jon Larson's son becomes Peter Jonsson. His daughter Anna becomes Anna Jonsson. Again they liked to use Saint's names.


    Naming by our aboriginals was interesting to say the least. Children were given names that had significance in a spiritual, animal or place origin. Names were changed when circumstances called for it.  Someone could be renamed if there had been a misfortune and they wanted to change their status to become more fortunate.


    I did not use any pattern in naming my children. I picked up my adopted son a couple of days before Christmas. It was a very unexpected placement and we hadn't thought of any name. Since we were going to my parent's place for Christmas, my wife said, "We need a name before we go for Christmas. I don't want your Dad to name him."


     So I've had a brief look at naming patterns and you don't have to look very far to learn a great deal. 

Red Hot Heat Wave

     For the last four days we have been experiencing a heat wave in Central Alberta. For four days we have had temperatures in the 30 - 32 C (88 - 92 F) range. That is hot for this area. Now I know that some people would scoff at me saying this is hot and a heat wave! I've been watching heat waves in other parts of the continent and they are brutal. You have my sympathy. My daughter keeps me informed about the heat in Chicago.  

      Our usual summer day time highs are about 20 C ( 70 F). A few days each summer we may have a 26 C ( 80 F) temperature and once every five years or so we get what we're getting now. 


     Now very few houses here have air conditioning. It just wouldn't make economic sense to install air conditioning. Our houses have a high insulation value to keep heat in in the winter. Most commercial buildings will have air conditioning.


    However, life goes on here heat wave or no heat wave. Outdoor workers continue the regular routine. Plants, crops and wildlife suffer from the  heat . Farm crops suffer some damage as yields could be less. I remember when I lived on my Dad's farm and we had a heat wave how it would bother my Dad. He knew that he was losing income as long as the heat wave continued. 


    So I have fans running in my house hoping to keep the temperature down. I stay in my house from noon to 3:00 pm to try to stay out of the heat. 


    I hope that all heat waves end now and that we go back to normal temperatures. Then I can stop being grouchy.

Today is International Kissing Day!

    That's right! International Kissing Day today! This day has gradually been declared in most countries.


    Now I'm sure that anyone expected this topic on Hiawatha House. Why I didn't think this topic would ever be on Hiawatha House. However, I heard a piece on CBC radio's The Current about National Kissing Day and it was interesting. 


     So there are pecks on the cheek, pecks on the forehead, kisses on the lips and probably many more that I'm not aware of. There are good kissers and bad kissers. There are favorite kisses. There are kisses that have big influences. Russian men give the big bear hug and kisses on both cheeks when they meet a man.Where did kissing come from? The experts aren't quite sure . Alexander the Great found kissing in India and brought it back. The Europeans are responsible for spreading kissing around the world. 


    Some cultures didn't have kissing but "smelling." We have small musk glands underneath the eye. That scent can be picked up, subconsiously I guess, and in so doing the person is recognized in some way. 


    My Grandma was like most other Grannies. She adored her grandchildren and would shower them with kisses. When my brother and I were little guys we didn't like Grandma's kisses. She would come on the train to visit us. We would be dancing up and down until the train stopped. Then we would run behind the station and hide so Grandma couldn't kiss us. However , sooner or later we had to face Grandma. 


    My most surprising kiss? I was in the staff room one day enjoying a coffee and going over some upcoming lessons. The office staff happened to be in the staff room and they were rather excited. One of them was applying a thick coating of lipstick. So she said she was going to kiss me. I treated it as a bluff. But it wasn't a bluff and too late for me I got the red lipstick kiss. Of course , all the office staff were in on it so that was the reason for their lively behavior and they found the incident hilarious.


    I come from a family of four boys. Once in a while our wives swap stories about their husband's kissing. Then they embarrass us by discussing our kissing habits. So their story is that we are all shy and some initiative has to be taken on their part. They all say we are getting better so that's a good thing.


    My friend's Dad died last year. They were together as a family and talking about what they would miss most about their Dad and husband. When it came mom's turn she said "the kisses." It was something none of them expected but something that spoke volumes about the couple's relationship.


    So to all people out there, "Happy kissing day" or whatever you're supposed to say on such a day. 


     Some bloggers quite often end posts or a comment "Hugs to all " and some "hugs and kisses to all."


     


    

Have a Great Fourth of July

    To all my American readers and followers: 


    Have a great Fourth of July.

My Love of Thunderstorms

     I really love a good old thunder storm. I like the thunder lightning, wind and rain. I like Eddie Rabbit's "I Love a Rainy Night."


    Today my love of thunderstorms cooled off a bit. I had some damage as the result of a severe thunderstorm this afternoon.


     We had wind  and thunderstorm storm warnings today. You could see a build up starting around noon. About 2:30 PM the storm broke . There was lots of thunder, lightning, rain and wind. Rain , thunder and lightning weren't spectacular. However, the wind was spectacular. I don't know the wind speed but the trees really rocked.


     All at once I heard a good bang outside and I knew that something had been hit. I ran to my front window to see a large part of my birch tree had blown down on the car and the back window was smashed out. So a few fast scrambles to get the car under the car port and then the rest of the afternoon talking to insurance. By 5:00PM most of the business with insurance had been done and tomorrow action will take place.

A 6 or 7 m (20ft) chunk of birch tree.

Cleaned the back window out pretty neatly.

My birch that is in the process of its last days.

     Things like this are stressful but I have to stop and say, "Nobody was hurt. All people are safe." This storm was not nearly as severe as the one that took place in the mid west and eastern states. Our power didn't go off. 


    My daughter lives near Chicago and she had a large chunk of her maple tree come down. It missed everything...house, power line, fence, neighbor's house. It didn't even knock the bird bath over. Was she lucky!


     Now just for this afternoon my enjoyment of thunderstorms was cooled . Tomorrow I will look for thunderstorms again.

Brenda Schultz: More Campaigning

        A couple of posts ago I told you about my friend and neighbor who had  serious spinal injury. Brenda is working to find more financial support for her physio therapy program.


       In Alberta as long as you are hospitalized you get physio therapy. As soon as you're out of the hospital you are on your own for physio therapy. Private plans usually cover $400.00 and that doesn't go very far. Brenda was in the hospital from Sept. 2011 to Dec 22 2011. The hospital therapy was good but of limited value in getting back the use of limbs. Brenda went to California for February for a special therapy. When she came back she had made very good progress. She could lift her legs and this made a big difference in her mobility in a wheel chair. Since February she has continued with therapy. As you saw in the picture she can now ride a tricycle.


      Brenda's family and friends have been supporting her in this therapy. They've gone a long way but are about exhausted in funds. I'm including a link for a fund raiser that Brenda is working with. If you feel comfortable posting this link on your blog please do. The more publicity Brenda gets the more success she may have.


     Thank you.

Woodland Flowers

      I went for a walk in the woods yesterday to find some flowers. Well, it actually wasn't a walk. I have a piece of recreational property and very little of it has been developed so there are quite a few wild flowers that show up over the summer. The property has old growth poplar trees. A poplar forest has a heavy undergrowth which by itself is an interesting level of the forest. I have cleared a minimal amount so there are areas where it is open. So yesterday my walk was really mowing grass. However, over the years I have noticed the various plants. This is my first time photographing some and I find that I don't know many names. 

This is the Twin Flower. It likes moist mossy woods. It grows very thickly and is a bout 3-4 in high.

The bell like flowers have a vivid pink center.

Ordinarily the twin flowers hang down

A faded rose with a visitor. It is now the end of season for roses so they look a little the worse for wear.

Lily of the Valley (Maianthemum canadense)

Twinning Honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica)   This is quite common in open woodlands

       So my grass cutting was done in between much flower watching. I was watching for the Round Leafed Orchid. I found two of them but before I could stop my mower I ran over them. I looked for others but couldn't find any.

       I've always been interested in native plants . This has made me put some effort into identifying and  learning about them.