Sunday, November 2, 2008
Mirko's History of the Gorisek family
Mirko’s family history lesson.
Mirko Mihelic – Winemaker, owns a 16th century castle (1679) in Vinica on the Slovenian border with Croatia. The only room that remains in the castle is the chapel which is where he makes the wine. Two of the saints depicted in the wine cellar chapel are St. Martin (very big saint in Slovenia) and St. Katherine. His nephew, Ignac Strmec is the small boy on the 1961 pictures (along with Mirko). Ignac’s mother was a Mehlic, Mirko’s sister.
The relationships described here are those of our mother, Isabelle, and us.
Barbara is mom’s grandmother, our great grandmother (stella mama) and Franc is our great grandfather. Franc was a travelling salesman in Slovenia, Germany, Austria and Czech. He did well enough at selling to open a shop and inn and sold wood, arranging for shipping of it to Vinica, which at the time was a big business. He was the mayor of Vinica multiple times. He also loaned money although he wasn’t a banker. An economic crisis affected him and not everyone repaid the loans so his business suffered. He and Barbara had 8 daughters and 2 sons, one of which died as a child. Rudolf, the other son, died in 1939 and Mirko knew him personally. Ana (Oton’s mom), Katka and Barbara are the only ones who stayed in Slovenia, all the other sisters went to America, including our stella mama, Johanna, so he lost track of them. (Side note: the reason Mirko gave for going to America was “go with your stomach after the bread”) All the daughters married well so Franc needed large dowry’s which almost broke him. When he died he was poor and only had a housekeeper taking care of him. Rudolf was a large man and could have been the man Judy remembers seeing in a photograph.
Katka, Johanna’s sister, married a shady character, Victor. He took one of his children and left Vinica, never to be seen again.
Grandpa Gorisek was doing well as a business official in finance before he left Slovenia.
Oton’s sister (mom’s first cousin) was living up in Ljubljana and came down to Vinica for the holidays one year and died at 16. Only her mother, Ana, was able to come to the funeral because of money woes. She’s buried in Vinica.
Johanna’s sister, Barbara, married a teacher here in Vinica, Borstnik, whose brother was a great actor and every year an award for high achievement is presented to a person in the arts, called the Borstnik award.
Note: The above is all about Johanna’s father’s side of the family. The next part is about her mother Barbara’s side of the family which is where Mirko comes into play.
Barbara was one of 10 children, 9 of which were daughters (side note: large daughter population on both sides you’ll notice!). Barbara’s loan brother, Ive, is Mirko’s great grandfather. One of Johanna’s first cousins married a Vlasic, our cousins from Pittsburgh (who Mirko knows) are from this side. Vlasic’s first wife died and he married his niece from Marijo’s daughter. Mary Ann Vlasic is Mirko’s szynomic (niece) and his message to Mary Ann, and her siblings Isabelle and Eugene…come see Uncle Mirko!
Mirko’s grandfather, France (wife was Marijo) worked in America for 20 years and would come back to Slovenia every couple of years. Oton would argue with France about the English language – Oton learned it with his eye and France with his ear. France bought the castle and the surrounding fields in 1925 for $1,800. In Slovenia the oldest son inherits the farm, so that’s why Mirko has it (in Croatia all sons split the farm).
Then the wine came out and the history lesson was over, but the wine was good!!
Mirko Mihelic – Winemaker, owns a 16th century castle (1679) in Vinica on the Slovenian border with Croatia. The only room that remains in the castle is the chapel which is where he makes the wine. Two of the saints depicted in the wine cellar chapel are St. Martin (very big saint in Slovenia) and St. Katherine. His nephew, Ignac Strmec is the small boy on the 1961 pictures (along with Mirko). Ignac’s mother was a Mehlic, Mirko’s sister.
The relationships described here are those of our mother, Isabelle, and us.
Barbara is mom’s grandmother, our great grandmother (stella mama) and Franc is our great grandfather. Franc was a travelling salesman in Slovenia, Germany, Austria and Czech. He did well enough at selling to open a shop and inn and sold wood, arranging for shipping of it to Vinica, which at the time was a big business. He was the mayor of Vinica multiple times. He also loaned money although he wasn’t a banker. An economic crisis affected him and not everyone repaid the loans so his business suffered. He and Barbara had 8 daughters and 2 sons, one of which died as a child. Rudolf, the other son, died in 1939 and Mirko knew him personally. Ana (Oton’s mom), Katka and Barbara are the only ones who stayed in Slovenia, all the other sisters went to America, including our stella mama, Johanna, so he lost track of them. (Side note: the reason Mirko gave for going to America was “go with your stomach after the bread”) All the daughters married well so Franc needed large dowry’s which almost broke him. When he died he was poor and only had a housekeeper taking care of him. Rudolf was a large man and could have been the man Judy remembers seeing in a photograph.
Katka, Johanna’s sister, married a shady character, Victor. He took one of his children and left Vinica, never to be seen again.
Grandpa Gorisek was doing well as a business official in finance before he left Slovenia.
Oton’s sister (mom’s first cousin) was living up in Ljubljana and came down to Vinica for the holidays one year and died at 16. Only her mother, Ana, was able to come to the funeral because of money woes. She’s buried in Vinica.
Johanna’s sister, Barbara, married a teacher here in Vinica, Borstnik, whose brother was a great actor and every year an award for high achievement is presented to a person in the arts, called the Borstnik award.
Note: The above is all about Johanna’s father’s side of the family. The next part is about her mother Barbara’s side of the family which is where Mirko comes into play.
Barbara was one of 10 children, 9 of which were daughters (side note: large daughter population on both sides you’ll notice!). Barbara’s loan brother, Ive, is Mirko’s great grandfather. One of Johanna’s first cousins married a Vlasic, our cousins from Pittsburgh (who Mirko knows) are from this side. Vlasic’s first wife died and he married his niece from Marijo’s daughter. Mary Ann Vlasic is Mirko’s szynomic (niece) and his message to Mary Ann, and her siblings Isabelle and Eugene…come see Uncle Mirko!
Mirko’s grandfather, France (wife was Marijo) worked in America for 20 years and would come back to Slovenia every couple of years. Oton would argue with France about the English language – Oton learned it with his eye and France with his ear. France bought the castle and the surrounding fields in 1925 for $1,800. In Slovenia the oldest son inherits the farm, so that’s why Mirko has it (in Croatia all sons split the farm).
Then the wine came out and the history lesson was over, but the wine was good!!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
AC's Journal Entry 10, Thursday, 10/1/08
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Our leave taking day.
After enjoying our second breakfast at the pension and the last meal we shared, the 4 co-travelers headed back to LBJ to finish their shopping and to eat the long sought after gelato! Buzz and I took off for Skofja Loka and strolled through their old town, then headed to the airport for our trip to Zurich for a couple of days, then home. Sad to be leaving SLO and vow to come back to spend more leisure time there.
Biggest disappointments:
Dot – no gelato at the end of the walk
Judy – missed opportunity at Leskove
Clare – the gas fiasco and the last farm’s location and condition
Best: Mirko and the Srpcic’s and the time spent with them.
Favorite place stayed: Dregatus
Judy’s best: Mirko pointing to himself in one of the pictures from 1961 and saying: “That’s me!”
Best Quotes:
“You’ve been in America too long if you don’t drink wine.”
“Slovene’s are nice people…. hard working… smart…. love to sing.”
We added years to our lives with all our laughter
Mountains, mountains and more mountains!
We travelled well together, Our ROOTS were found, and the trip was a success!
Approximately 1600 KM or 800 miles on two tanks of gas….oops I mean diesel.
Our leave taking day.
After enjoying our second breakfast at the pension and the last meal we shared, the 4 co-travelers headed back to LBJ to finish their shopping and to eat the long sought after gelato! Buzz and I took off for Skofja Loka and strolled through their old town, then headed to the airport for our trip to Zurich for a couple of days, then home. Sad to be leaving SLO and vow to come back to spend more leisure time there.
Biggest disappointments:
Dot – no gelato at the end of the walk
Judy – missed opportunity at Leskove
Clare – the gas fiasco and the last farm’s location and condition
Best: Mirko and the Srpcic’s and the time spent with them.
Favorite place stayed: Dregatus
Judy’s best: Mirko pointing to himself in one of the pictures from 1961 and saying: “That’s me!”
Best Quotes:
“You’ve been in America too long if you don’t drink wine.”
“Slovene’s are nice people…. hard working… smart…. love to sing.”
We added years to our lives with all our laughter
Mountains, mountains and more mountains!
We travelled well together, Our ROOTS were found, and the trip was a success!
Approximately 1600 KM or 800 miles on two tanks of gas….oops I mean diesel.
AC's Journal Entry 9, Wednesday, 10/1/08
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
“And the days dwindle down…..to a precious few”
Tatiana, the inn keeper, served the best breakfast yet – fruit, cereal, eggs, croissants, rolls, meats and cheeses – all excellent. We drove into LBJ, parked and walked over to old town where we took a trolley car up the mountain to the castle sitting over the city. It was cold and rainy up there and the tower was already closed for the season, so once again we walked around a bit, took some pics and headed back to the trolley for the ride back down. Too bad the weather wasn’t great, the views were of the entire city were spread out before us. From there we went to the farmer’s market where everyone had lunch from market stands, we shopped for a bit and called Jure to see if he could meet up with us. I should point out that the original plan was for Jure to meet us early in the day and spend the entire day with us, but he got sick the day before so he chose to rest all day so he could join us for dinner at his parent’s house. He met up with us and, since Dot and Carol were now having apoplexy without their fix of gelato, he took us on a “10 minute” walk to get the “best homemade gelato in LBJ”. Well we walked, and we walked and we walked…. closer to 30 minutes. With the prize waiting at the end of the walk, Dot kept up with us!! But…..we get to the shop, Jure takes us inside and we see no gelato!!! He asked them about it and they said “we stop making it on October 1st, its too cold!” Oh no!! The ladies were not happy!! Too, too funny. Despite the lack of gelato, we had some very good pastries and then Jure, Judy, Bill and I took another “10 minute” walk (really about 20) over to get our cars. During that walk, Jure pointed out the Roman wall to us which was built around the city by the Romans and still has some standing sections. Picked up the others and, with Jure leading the way, headed to Stane and Jelena’s for our traditional Slovenian dishes. A potpourri of them were served. First we had an old fashioned Slovenian welcoming assortment, served on the porch, including bread, salt and nuts along with pear brandy, a Czech drink, wine brandy, and wine. Then into the dining room to share the meal consisting of dishes of: Pear with two types of cheese, Klobase with hardboiled egg, ham with hardboiled egg, prosciutto and melon and olives, grated horseradish (great with ham, but by itself very hot) with apple, tomatoes with peppers basil and dressing, cottage cheese pate with pumpkin seeds and pumpkin oil, delicious breads and wine (of course). We were surprised by the Italian influences with the prosciutto and melon and the way the tomatoes were served – both very Italian. For dessert, Stane made his 6 layer specialty consisting of poppy seeds, cottage cheese with sugar and egg (like mom used to make in her strudel sometimes), apple, and pastry dough. Can’t remember the name of it, but it was VERY good. After dinner we gave them all the goodies we had bought for them.
Jelena showed us pictures of their family through the years, some of which had Stane’s father on them (Dad’s 3rd cousin). What a great evening spent with long lost relatives. They were such gracious hosts and they were truly thrilled to spend time with us…as we were to spend time with them.
With hugs and kisses and promises to keep in touch, we headed home. This was our latest night of all, got back at 10:30, but so much fun, no one minded the late hour.
“And the days dwindle down…..to a precious few”
Tatiana, the inn keeper, served the best breakfast yet – fruit, cereal, eggs, croissants, rolls, meats and cheeses – all excellent. We drove into LBJ, parked and walked over to old town where we took a trolley car up the mountain to the castle sitting over the city. It was cold and rainy up there and the tower was already closed for the season, so once again we walked around a bit, took some pics and headed back to the trolley for the ride back down. Too bad the weather wasn’t great, the views were of the entire city were spread out before us. From there we went to the farmer’s market where everyone had lunch from market stands, we shopped for a bit and called Jure to see if he could meet up with us. I should point out that the original plan was for Jure to meet us early in the day and spend the entire day with us, but he got sick the day before so he chose to rest all day so he could join us for dinner at his parent’s house. He met up with us and, since Dot and Carol were now having apoplexy without their fix of gelato, he took us on a “10 minute” walk to get the “best homemade gelato in LBJ”. Well we walked, and we walked and we walked…. closer to 30 minutes. With the prize waiting at the end of the walk, Dot kept up with us!! But…..we get to the shop, Jure takes us inside and we see no gelato!!! He asked them about it and they said “we stop making it on October 1st, its too cold!” Oh no!! The ladies were not happy!! Too, too funny. Despite the lack of gelato, we had some very good pastries and then Jure, Judy, Bill and I took another “10 minute” walk (really about 20) over to get our cars. During that walk, Jure pointed out the Roman wall to us which was built around the city by the Romans and still has some standing sections. Picked up the others and, with Jure leading the way, headed to Stane and Jelena’s for our traditional Slovenian dishes. A potpourri of them were served. First we had an old fashioned Slovenian welcoming assortment, served on the porch, including bread, salt and nuts along with pear brandy, a Czech drink, wine brandy, and wine. Then into the dining room to share the meal consisting of dishes of: Pear with two types of cheese, Klobase with hardboiled egg, ham with hardboiled egg, prosciutto and melon and olives, grated horseradish (great with ham, but by itself very hot) with apple, tomatoes with peppers basil and dressing, cottage cheese pate with pumpkin seeds and pumpkin oil, delicious breads and wine (of course). We were surprised by the Italian influences with the prosciutto and melon and the way the tomatoes were served – both very Italian. For dessert, Stane made his 6 layer specialty consisting of poppy seeds, cottage cheese with sugar and egg (like mom used to make in her strudel sometimes), apple, and pastry dough. Can’t remember the name of it, but it was VERY good. After dinner we gave them all the goodies we had bought for them.
Jelena showed us pictures of their family through the years, some of which had Stane’s father on them (Dad’s 3rd cousin). What a great evening spent with long lost relatives. They were such gracious hosts and they were truly thrilled to spend time with us…as we were to spend time with them.
With hugs and kisses and promises to keep in touch, we headed home. This was our latest night of all, got back at 10:30, but so much fun, no one minded the late hour.
AC's Journal Entry 8, Tuesday, 9/30/08
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Time seems to be flying by all of a sudden, now that we only have a few days left.
Olga served a huge breakfast, one thing of note was her honey (I regret not buying some). After we ate we strolled around the property and took some pictures of the fantastic view. I had looked at the map the night before to see determine what location to put in Bella and since our location was the farm, she took us the most direct route which coincided with the map I had. Little did we know it was up and over several mountains with narrow roads but truly expansive vistas – the unfortunate part of it was it added hours to our commute so that didn’t go over very big in either car. We made it to Bohinj Lake, strolled around it a bit, took some pictures, had a cup of coffee (Dot and Carol were hoping for gelato, but they weren’t serving food yet) and hit the road again toward Bled.
Everyone had told us of the two lakes, Bohinj was the most beautiful and least touristy. It was beautiful but since we WERE tourists, we found it somewhat lacking in everything except the beauty, that’s why we didn’t spend much time there. Bled on the other hand is very built up and it too is beautiful. We both found parking places and had our only fast food in Slovenia which no one was very happy with. Guess all that home cooking we were used to spoiled us! Before lunch Buzz and I had stopped into a shop to buy Carly a gift. While he was paying I went outside and then went back in and when I re-entered, the young man there shook my hand, looked me right in the eye, and said “I’m honored to meet you”. HUH? Well, guess what? Buzz had told him about Oton and this man was extremely impressed. He was so sincere in his words, it took me by surprise. After that pleasant encounter and after lunch we headed down to the lake and found that to get to the island there are large gondolas with one rower per boat. All the rowers were lounging in their boats and they have the next one out system, so it wasn’t like they were all hounding us to use them. On the island we walked up the hill to the top (Dot is such a trooper!) and went in the museum where there was an exhibit of nativity scenes (read that Slovenia is the only country that has a dedication to Nativity scene art etc. and the Nativity scene is center stage in their homes). Nothing else to do on the island so we went back down to the boat and we were rowed over to shore, hit the head, and drove to find bee country (an article John had sent from the WSJ on the Slovenia bee country peaked my interest in visiting one particular bee keeper because he sold Nativity sets made of beeswax and since I collect them, I thought I’d buy one)
Found the small town called Begunje na Gorenjsekm at the foot of the Julian alps and proceeded to try to find the bee keeper based on the sparse directions in the article. The streets in this town are extremely narrow and as we were driving through a neighborhood (which was also the main road through town) we saw 2 men working in their yard, so I stopped to ask them for directions. The older man didn’t speak English, but his son did and while he was talking to me they motioned Judy to pull in their driveway. Dorothy showed them the article and asked him for directions to the town, and he said “here, you’re here” then we showed him the name of the beekeeper and he gave us directions. Meanwhile, the woman of the house looked out the window, saw Judy’s car in the driveway and came out with a plate of apple strudel to offer to them. Both men declined, but Judy took one then yelled over to me “I got a piece of strudel!” (sort of like a “nananana, I got a piece and you didn’t). By this time I had turned the car around so I stopped abruptly and yelled back “strudel!!!!” and the kind lady brought the plate over to us. You can bet your life all three of us in my car took a piece. We were absolutely stunned by the gesture. (Buzz tells this story somewhat differently…he thinks she was bringing it out for the men working and Judy said “is that strudel” to her, so what could she do…she offered it. That’s why he didn’t take a piece. But I like Judy’s interpretation better and that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!!)
Made it to the beekeepers, with one more stop for directions (no strudel at this one), and the son came over from the hives since he spoke English. They led us down to their basement shop and we all bought goodies made of beeswax. The nativity sets were way too large (too many pieces, I was looking for the three main figures only), plus the price was much higher than the journal quoted. BTW, the owners knew nothing of the article and were stunned by it, we were the first Americans to show up, so we gave them our copy of the article. We all bought what we wanted including honey and honey brandy. Some of the beeswax articles we bought we saw in LBJ the next day for 2.5 times the price!!!
Jelena meanwhile had been in contact with us regarding a place to stay so we turned Bella back on and headed to Zbila lake and the pension she had booked for us. A pension is a step up from the farms, full service, and of course a huge breakfast, but slightly higher in price (still cheap though). We checked in and everyone was happy with it, especially Dot since her room was on the first floor this time and she didn’t have to climb steps. The owner was a young lady with a baby on her hip who was extremely friendly (both her and the baby). She directed us to a restaurant on the lake for dinner so we walked down, but since it was late the lake wasn’t visible. We enjoyed the dinner and shared many laughs. Judy had ordered veal stew and they told her she had to have buckwheat mush with it so she ordered that too. It came with what she thought was apples and cinammon on it but with one bite she knew exactly what it was - minced lard. That ended that! Back to pension to bed.
Time seems to be flying by all of a sudden, now that we only have a few days left.
Olga served a huge breakfast, one thing of note was her honey (I regret not buying some). After we ate we strolled around the property and took some pictures of the fantastic view. I had looked at the map the night before to see determine what location to put in Bella and since our location was the farm, she took us the most direct route which coincided with the map I had. Little did we know it was up and over several mountains with narrow roads but truly expansive vistas – the unfortunate part of it was it added hours to our commute so that didn’t go over very big in either car. We made it to Bohinj Lake, strolled around it a bit, took some pictures, had a cup of coffee (Dot and Carol were hoping for gelato, but they weren’t serving food yet) and hit the road again toward Bled.
Everyone had told us of the two lakes, Bohinj was the most beautiful and least touristy. It was beautiful but since we WERE tourists, we found it somewhat lacking in everything except the beauty, that’s why we didn’t spend much time there. Bled on the other hand is very built up and it too is beautiful. We both found parking places and had our only fast food in Slovenia which no one was very happy with. Guess all that home cooking we were used to spoiled us! Before lunch Buzz and I had stopped into a shop to buy Carly a gift. While he was paying I went outside and then went back in and when I re-entered, the young man there shook my hand, looked me right in the eye, and said “I’m honored to meet you”. HUH? Well, guess what? Buzz had told him about Oton and this man was extremely impressed. He was so sincere in his words, it took me by surprise. After that pleasant encounter and after lunch we headed down to the lake and found that to get to the island there are large gondolas with one rower per boat. All the rowers were lounging in their boats and they have the next one out system, so it wasn’t like they were all hounding us to use them. On the island we walked up the hill to the top (Dot is such a trooper!) and went in the museum where there was an exhibit of nativity scenes (read that Slovenia is the only country that has a dedication to Nativity scene art etc. and the Nativity scene is center stage in their homes). Nothing else to do on the island so we went back down to the boat and we were rowed over to shore, hit the head, and drove to find bee country (an article John had sent from the WSJ on the Slovenia bee country peaked my interest in visiting one particular bee keeper because he sold Nativity sets made of beeswax and since I collect them, I thought I’d buy one)
Found the small town called Begunje na Gorenjsekm at the foot of the Julian alps and proceeded to try to find the bee keeper based on the sparse directions in the article. The streets in this town are extremely narrow and as we were driving through a neighborhood (which was also the main road through town) we saw 2 men working in their yard, so I stopped to ask them for directions. The older man didn’t speak English, but his son did and while he was talking to me they motioned Judy to pull in their driveway. Dorothy showed them the article and asked him for directions to the town, and he said “here, you’re here” then we showed him the name of the beekeeper and he gave us directions. Meanwhile, the woman of the house looked out the window, saw Judy’s car in the driveway and came out with a plate of apple strudel to offer to them. Both men declined, but Judy took one then yelled over to me “I got a piece of strudel!” (sort of like a “nananana, I got a piece and you didn’t). By this time I had turned the car around so I stopped abruptly and yelled back “strudel!!!!” and the kind lady brought the plate over to us. You can bet your life all three of us in my car took a piece. We were absolutely stunned by the gesture. (Buzz tells this story somewhat differently…he thinks she was bringing it out for the men working and Judy said “is that strudel” to her, so what could she do…she offered it. That’s why he didn’t take a piece. But I like Judy’s interpretation better and that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!!)
Made it to the beekeepers, with one more stop for directions (no strudel at this one), and the son came over from the hives since he spoke English. They led us down to their basement shop and we all bought goodies made of beeswax. The nativity sets were way too large (too many pieces, I was looking for the three main figures only), plus the price was much higher than the journal quoted. BTW, the owners knew nothing of the article and were stunned by it, we were the first Americans to show up, so we gave them our copy of the article. We all bought what we wanted including honey and honey brandy. Some of the beeswax articles we bought we saw in LBJ the next day for 2.5 times the price!!!
Jelena meanwhile had been in contact with us regarding a place to stay so we turned Bella back on and headed to Zbila lake and the pension she had booked for us. A pension is a step up from the farms, full service, and of course a huge breakfast, but slightly higher in price (still cheap though). We checked in and everyone was happy with it, especially Dot since her room was on the first floor this time and she didn’t have to climb steps. The owner was a young lady with a baby on her hip who was extremely friendly (both her and the baby). She directed us to a restaurant on the lake for dinner so we walked down, but since it was late the lake wasn’t visible. We enjoyed the dinner and shared many laughs. Judy had ordered veal stew and they told her she had to have buckwheat mush with it so she ordered that too. It came with what she thought was apples and cinammon on it but with one bite she knew exactly what it was - minced lard. That ended that! Back to pension to bed.
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