19 April 23

Susanna Auge (1809-1887) was born on 19 April in Philadelphia, PA. She lived her whole life in Windsor Township, Berks County. She married Reuben Shiffert in 1830, and their child Elisabeth Henriette eventually became my grandmother's grandmother! So Susanna is my third-great-grandmother. Today's tie design shows the interweaving (or thatching) of blue, brown, black, white, silver and gold stripes, representing the wild mixture of DNA in my family heritage -- Auge, Shiffert, Schappell, Dreibelbis, Kleppinger (just on my father's side!). Each of us humans has 16 third-great-grandmothers; each of your third-great-grandparents has contributed about 3% of your DNA.

4 July 21

For the last six years, the birthday on 28 April of my nephew David John Huizenga has been "upstaged" by the same-day occasion for my grandson Nathanael David Howland Kleppinger. When I recognized this lacuna a little while ago, I ask David to choose a date when I could celebrate something for him -- and he chose the 4th of July, to honor "refugees . . . because celebrating our country’s founding should immediately imply care and welcome for the same sorts of weary travelers who established, emigrated to, and contributed to the welfare of the USA. I hope we can return more and more to true welcome of the desperate and the needy (MACA = Make America Compassionate Again)." We've agreed that the "thatch" pattern on this tie points to the interweaving of all sorts of colors and cultures that our nation aims to foster.

10 August 20

 Do you have memories of "thatch"-woven materials? Maybe you call this pattern "rattan"? This tie is one of FOUR gifted to me by my grandchildren for my recent birthday. Its mesmerizing pattern of crossing stripes in sky blue, navy blue, burnt umber, silver, beige and black reminds me of the weaving on lawn chairs, other chair seats, potholders and placemats.