BoJon Friends and Family (Phamily)

This is a sweet picture. My Auntie Ang Jacklovich-Steblay and her friend "Little Ang" Meglen (wearing glasses). Little Ang and Auntie Ang were once room mates. Two BoJon gals working together. I believe Little Ang worked at the laundry with my aunt. Little Ang lived on the 1100 block of Bohmen Street. Her house was a tiny house. When I saw the current rage over tiny houses I thought of Little Ang. She lived a simple life in a very tiny house. She was a kind lady and my aunt visited here regularly and when I was quite young I use to love to tag along.

We knew everyone we grew up with. Most of us attended school together for years from St. Mary's Catholic School into high school. I attended Seton All Girls HS.

On July 28, 2010 my husband and I came to our hometown in Pueblo to attend a reunion of the Seton and Roncalli High Schools classes. Earlier that day we stopped by the old school building and took this photo. Lots of great memories in that school. My husband attended East HS but we both spent our childhood in Pueblo.

I found this and had to smile. We loved being with our friends and we hated to part ways. We grew up in a time when our parents said "get home now" and we did.  We rarely argued with our folks because we knew the outcome would not be in our favor.

Earlier in my posts I wrote about my childhood home and realized it was really the people and things we did that I missed, I was sad my childhood house was so different and not the pretty place I spent my childhood in , but I missed all the memories we made there with phamilies and friends. Mike Barnett and his sisters are lucky, they can still go to their childhood home and visit their dad. The mind is incredible when it can take you back to all those good times and wonderful friends we had. I remember lying on the grass with my friend Karen Mesojedic-Clark for hours at a time watching clouds drift by. We would talk about the different images we thought we saw in them. Life was good and we had no complaints. We enjoyed so many simple pleasures.

Speaking of old friends, Ursula Knific-Perko  and Chuck Perko are enjoying the sights and sounds of Slovenia with their daughter and son-in-law. I went through St. Mary's with Chuck and Ursula was a bit younger than we were. She shared a photo at Face Book that looked almost like a small Vietnam Wall with names on it. She said it was a sobering message in the home cemetery of Chuck's grandparents. In 1945 when WWII ended there was a massacre of all the men over 18 years of age. Our ancestors had so much to deal with. So much sorrow and pain and sadness. Someone shared a story of our Grandpa Kocman saying as a young boy Grandpa's 12 year old cousin walked out the door of his home to be murdered by the communists.  I hope we will never experience such pain. My daughter Noelle knew an older gentleman who use to frequent a restaurant where she worked for many years. His ancestors came from Russian and when he was a younger child Boris saw his father murdered by Communists. He memorized their faces and hunted them down. At age 16 he killed all those men and then told his family he would probably never see them again and fled to another country. He eventually ended up here in the Denver metro area. I am excited to see more shares that Ursula will share with us. She loves the country of Slovenia saying it is very beautiful. I am using a google image here to show the beauty of the country where our ancestor came from.

I wanted to share a lighter note before closing tonight. My sister found this unmarked photo and it appears these two unknown gentleman had a bit too much to drink, in fact, the one looks as though he is sleeping it off! I would really love to know the story behind this picture. Perhaps they had arguments with their wives or girlfriends and went out on a bender. If you have ever had  Slivovitz you will know that it tastes sweet and light until it knocks you on the head like a hammer!

Slivovitz is often called Slivovitsa and is a plum brandy found through Eastern Europe.  The drinks name is based on a type of plum used to make this drink. In some areas it is illegal to make this brew at home but at one time it was quite popular and would leave it's calling card as it was between 80-100 proof! This liquor was brewed in a makeshift sill from old barrels. I remembering having a small sip of this brew as a childhood. It had quite a prominent licorice taste and I heard the adults talking about it's powerful effect. I guess you could say it was BoJon Moonshine!!!

Instead of a powerful liquor perhaps you will join me in having a cup of chamomile tea

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To make an authentic cup of this tea you will need two teaspoons of the dried chamomile flower and pour one cup of boiling water over it. Seep for five minutes, strain it  and enjoy. You may add a bit of sugar or honey to sweeten the taste. With that I bid you: