A Visit to Hustisford

This is a shot of the wooden stairs going to the second floor of the house on Mill St. Upstairs is where Mr Johnson lived. He was the high school history teacher as well as being in charge of all the music. Interesting guy. I guess it is now OK to say that he was gay. They did things differently in those days.

Patriotic Russ Mueller is exploring the basement of the house where there seemed to be a card game going on most weekends with Mr Schlicht, principal and superintendant of the schools, Mr Lehmann, assistant postmaster of the village, and Mr Mueller, County clerk for Dodge Co, the usual suspects present. This is where I learned to swear. Dad used to do fish fries down here on Fridays as well. I guess there were some things the Catholics and Lutherans agreed upon in those days. The smell of the fish is no longer there. I can't remember any Catholic friends except the Wills. I remember my paternal grandmother telling a story about some unexpected good thing a lady had done for her. The punch line was: "und dat lady vas a Catlick!"


Here are the two gigantic maples that grew from the little saplings planted by Walde H Mueller in the back yard of our house on Mill St in 1972.


A view of the back porch of the house. It needs a little work. We used to have a barbecue on that porch. It is a wonder we didn't burn it down.


One of the stained glass windows in the house on Mill St that Peg and Joan remember from their childhood visits. I only lived here about a year before leaving home for Carroll College. When we left for England in 1972 my father planted two little maple saplings in honor of Peg and Joan. See above for the result.

Here is the whole group of pilgrims. The present owners are doing a big job of rehabilitation and were very kind to let us tramp around the house and take pictures of everything. See above and below for more.


The Rock River was very high and running fast. It overflowed its banks as you can see here. The fishing won't be that good until the water settles down.


This is a more or less unchanged part of Main St in Hustisford WI. We lived in the two buildings at the left. The furthest left was the meat market my father owned from about 1947 to 1957. We lived in the apartment above. The second house we moved to after moving from my grandfather's house on the south end of the village where we lived during the war. (WWII that is). It was actually owned by Otto Hensel. When my mother excitedly called in a report of a chimney fire to the operator—our telephone # was 6, simply 6—who lived and worked in the next building down the street she said the fire was on the roof of the Hensel house so the operator sent the Fire Department to the south side of the village where Mr Hensel lived.



No visit to Hustisford is complete without a quick stop at the cemetery. The names on the stones remind us of our past and future.

Mueller Melee II

A smiling Mitch Mueller at Mueller Melee June 2008. Does he know something the rest of us do not?

Tim and Joelle Mueller, not quite newlyweds anymore, at Mueller Melee, June 2008.

An effort at self-photography with Joan laughing at my efforts. She may have snorted during the process, I'm not sure, we were both fairly merry by this time.

Matt Mueller and scary Aunt Joan, Mueller Melee, June 2008

Brother and sister Arlen and Ardis, Mueller Melee June 2008. It looks like Ardis is not quite believing what Arlen is saying. But then, have older sibs ever believed younger sibs? I remember Gerald telling me the facts of life when we were quite young. Of course, I didn't believe him.

Northern Bay Resort: a little inlet from a wide place in the Wisconsin River; fairly new.

Peg early morning dreaming at Northern Bay Resort

Five cousins in the Wisconsin River shallows: Matt, Nick, Matt, Zack and Mitch

Close-up of Nick Mazzuca doing some reading. What else?

Carly Mueller and oldest daughter Isabella at Mueller Melee.

Aunt Ardis and Me & Others: Mueller Melee I

Here are a few random pictures taken at the recent Mueller Melee. We got together, the offspring of Nora and Leonard Mueller, at Northern Bay Resort, near to the Wisconsin River north of Wisconsin Dells, on 28 June 2008.


Above is my Joan, Gerald's Scott and Russ's Tim, all looking reasonably sober and happy. As indeed were we all throughout the day I hasten to add in case any impressionable young mushy minds are reading this.

This is a picture of Uncle Arlen, caught either sleeping upright or maybe just blinking at the wrong time. He gave a good summary of Mueller history, at least back to the boat our foreparents came over on. Thanks Uncle.


Here are Matthew and his mom, Joan, the latter is Ken & Carol's daughter, Walde & Joann's grand-daughter, and then great-grand-daughter of Leonard and Nora. Odd this DNA stuff, isn't it?

Here are a gang of Muellers, all of them first cousins to each other, that is, offspring of brothers and sisters, in this case the children of Leonard and Nora's children. Have I confused you yet? Can anyone suggest a better name for a group of Muellers than gang? I am open to suggestion.

I hope I can remember the names! Starting on the left: Cindy Creydt Brooks (Omer & Ardis), Russ Mueller & Gerald Mueller (Walde & Joann), Jim Mueller (Arlen & Delores), Terry Creydt & Lynne Creydt Glinski (Omer & Ardis), in front Jean Mueller Whitney & Judy Mueller Wolter & Janet Mueller (Arlen & Delores), in back Joel Creydt (Omer & Ardis) and lastly Ken Mueller (Walde and Joann).


An unposed picture of Jean, Delores, Janet and Cindy discussing something important as were all our discussions this day. Perhaps wer were getting our stories straight in case we need to testify on each other's behalf someday.

There may be something to this genetics and DNA stuff, huh? Ardis is my father's sister, and she now reminds me of my grandmother: Partly looks, partly way of talking and thinking. Looks like my rosacea is acting up. Maybe it is a genetic thing to squint when you are having your picture taken. I always do and it looks like Aunt Ardis does too.

Pre-Mueller Melee Gathering Antics

Cautious boys in shallow lake. They get more boisterous and daring as the day goes on.

Carol, Gerald and Joan pose for the camera.

A fine example of the vintner's art in Wisconsin. It was not very good but not totally bad either.

This is a serious little girl, Eilyann, Scott and Carly's youngest, as of June 2008.

Peg, Vicki, Scott and Carly and various towheads in front.

The LuConics of Merrifield MN

One of the 11,000+ lakes in Minnesota. Boating and fishing are the things to do. And this year swat mosquitos too. I'm a poet and don't know it.


A cottage on a lake in Minnesota, up North. What more do you want?


Carol's aunt Ardy, uncle Andy, and Carol herself posing for some pictures. She says Andy looks like what she remember of her grandfather.

We had a great meal at Iven's on the Lake. I mean really good. Terrific ribs, fell off the bones. Andy couldn't resist teasing a very tall waitress about her height. I thought she would whack him but she apparently has put up with guys like this before.

Mississippi River Cities

After visiting Brainerd and nearby parts of up North we head back down South to stop in Winona and Red Wing. I first noticed these cities while going through on the Empire Builder about a month ago. I made a mental image to stop in again as they look to be very attractive cities.

The river is a working place as you can see from the barges being pushed downstream. I wonder how long it takes for one of these to stop?

The St James Hotel is right next to the railroad station and a great place to stay and eat.

The churches all seem to have very tall and thin steeples.

There are some vineyards but unfortunately the wineries were not open til the weekend.

Miscellaneous Twin Cities Stuff

A view of the Saint Paul Hotel with some other larger building behind. A very snazzy place. But then, there are a lot of these places in downtown Saint Paul with some space to set them off as well. We were both impressed.

A dapper musician named Jim who plays the tenor sax, and played some very nice solos on "Night and Day." He sits right in front of Hymie's Haberdashery just behind the Saint Paul Hotel. Are those shoes still available for sale? We used to call them "co-respondent" shoes. I'm not sure the white socks are right but maybe they are OK for summer.

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts where Rent was playing on Sunday afternoon. That is the Saint Paul Hotel reflected in the windows. The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra plays here.

An interior shot at The Saint Paul Hotel. Lots of stuff goes on here. I think they had three wedding receptions going on Saturday.

An old-fashioned barbershop attached to Hymie's Haberdashery. This customer was being shaved with a straight razor. Maybe there was a time warp but that is my wife of today standing and looking around so I think it really is the present time.

The new Guthrie Theatre in downtown Minneapolis. We saw a version of MidSummer Night's Dream by a wiseacre Bill Shakspere. There is something going on here all year long. Unusual architecture, hard to capture in a single picture.

This used to be a Court House I think and now is used for all sorts of public and private functions. Very near to the Ordway Performing Arts Center and The Saint Paul Hotel. See above.

Who Knows What This Is For?

I saw this little metal thing on the back of a pew in the Cathedral of Saint Paul. I figured it out by playing with it and searching my failing memory banks. A prize for the first one to guess it.

Report from the Field II: Modest Proposal Examined

After Mass on Saturday evening we dropped in on Matt's place in South Minneapolis, an unannounced inspection of a hamburger joint that was supposed to be pretty good according to a recently published book.

And then after the matinee at the Park Square Theatre on Sunday afternoon, one of Steve Dietz's more linear plays, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, (see the surprisingly realistic struggle between Holmes and Moriarity at the Falls below) we did a similar check on Club 5-8, a little further down on Cedar Ave South. Both of these places had the specialties of two thin patties of beef with cheese in the middle served on a fairly good bun, and curiously enough both called "Juicy Lucys" though Matt's spelled juicy as "Jucy."


There wasn't much to choose between the two. Club 5-8 had some really good onions on the side and Matt's had a better bun, but as far as the hamburger itself they were very similar and very good, though not to die for. I would recommend them if you are in the neighborhood, maybe equivalent to a 1 star * place in a Michelin Guide. Both were friendly neighborhood corner bars with families there on a weekend early evening with pleasant waitresses (especially the one who recognized that we were strangers to Matt's and warned us that we needed to let the cheese cool down a lot before we bit into it and to be careful because it sometimes squirted out at odd angles.)

Report from the field I

These are pictures of the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Saint Paul MN. The top one is a close-up of the main entrance and the bottom one is from the other side of the cathedral. The stone cutters and masons of Saint Paul have much to be proud of.

On the way to a Mueller family reunion in Wisconsin, the first Mueller Melee in this part of the country, we stopped in Saint Paul MN. From June 29 on for the next year the Church will be celebrating the life of St Paul, and especially so in particular parishes and dioceses such as the Cathedral of Saint Paul in, naturally enough, Saint Paul MN.

The main entrance is something else but I doubt that many see it because the parking lot naturally feeds you into one of the side doors and there is a heck of a lot of steps to get to the main entrance. Check out their website for info on the cathedral in St Paul MN and this one for National Geographic info on the recent archaeology of the saint's remains, and this one on Pope Benedict's proclamation from the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, Italy on 28 June 2008. What would we do without the info available on the World Wide Web? By the way, Carol and I visited this basilica (and the others too as proper pilgrims would) last December. It was being repaired for the coming year I suppose.