Do You Want to Know How Smart We Are Today?

Every morning my husband and I have a simple ritual passed to us by Maxine, my mother.  Since we are both retired we don't have to start each day sprinting through the kitchen, grabbing breakfast on our way out the door.  Now we enjoy the morning.   Of course, Nimbus must be fed her food of choice before either of us think of preparing our own breakfast.  And...I must feed and water the birds, squirrels and little Monk our feral kitty. 

Ray fixes his breakfast of oatmeal and toast.  Sometimes I fix an egg but often I wait to have breakfast at mid morning.

 We sit across from each other, newspaper waiting to be read, and I say, "Do you want to know how smart we are today?" or..."Do you feel smart today?"

Ray will open the Peach Section of the Toledo Blade...the section with comics, advice columns and movie reviews....the fun section.  On the lower right corner there is the Trivia Challenge...seven questions to start our day.


  It always brings memories of my mother.  She had lived in Toledo for 35 years before moving to Columbus to live with me.  Twelve years later Ray and I got married, and mother and I moved back to Toledo. Maxine was thrilled to get back and have the Toledo Blade to read each day.  (She did not like the way the Columbus Dispatch wrote their head lines...said they tried to be to clever and would miss the point.)

 She read the newspaper from front to back everyday and when she was too ill to read, I read it to her...in fact she died after I finished reading Trivia Challenge.

Maxine working at her draft table.

Each morning Maxine and I would plan the day...she eating her breakfast of chocolate chip cookie sandwiches with butter in the middle and strong coffee.  But before any plans were made...she would say, "Do you want to know how smart we are today?"  I would open the Peach Section and on the lower right corner...there it was...the Trivia Challenge.



I am thankful that Ray carries on this ritual...even if we rarely get all seven questions right....those sport questions get us every time.  Ray seems to do best at the history questions...and for some reason...I do well with the  political ones. :-)  Maxine always got the fashion questions right.  It's a fun way to begin our day.

Rätsel Gelöst or Mystery Solved

My post for March 1st mentioned my high school German teacher, Herr Werba.  I said that he left unexpectedly and our next teacher was Miss Marnett.  What I did not mention was that after that, I did not learn much German compared to my first year.  Of course, it could have been my interest in playing guitar, singing folk songs and joining in a number of protests....yes, I was a child of the 60s.  But I also did not have Herr Werba to scare me into studying my German lessons. 

This is my high school, DeVilbiss  Herr Werba's room was the third floor to the left of the pillars.

The other thing not mentioned was that his leaving was not only unexpected...but also mysterious.  All sorts of stories roamed the school halls. Did he run off with a former student?  Did the U.S. government kick him out of the country?  We never knew for what...but lots of stories about that too.  Was he a spy and got caught?  Did he get arrested or escape?   Some thought his wife turned him in to the authorities for tax evasion.  As you can tell...lots of rumors...and from these branched even more interesting if not sordid stories.

After time there were fewer stories and soon Herr Werba was forgotten.  But after writing the post a couple of days ago I became curious.  What really did happen?  I Googled his name and found some information from Findagrave.com.  There was a man, Henry Werba, who died in 2002 in Connecticut.  As I read about him I could not stop smiling.  This man was amazing!  He received his PhD from University of Connecticut and became a professor.  He authored a number of German college text books.  He was fluent in six languages!  He was a sculptor, concert violinist, award winning photographer...and he even built his own house.  He reconditioned pianos and also rode a motorcycle.

There was a lot more about him, and for those who want to read more, here is the link. Henry C. Werba. I was dumfounded and yet not surprised (if that makes sense).  But was this the real Herr Werba?  There was no mention of him being in Toledo, OH.  I searched more (I love the internet) feeling like a detective on a cold case.  And then I found it...an article in the Toledo Blade, November 22, 1961: Linguist Studies 7th Tongue Via Disks. Henry Werba Studies 7th Tongue.   The missing link was found.

What did I learn from this?  It is amazing that the Truth about Herr Werbe dwarfs all of the rumors and stories that were told.  Did anyone know the truth?  I am sure the administration had to have known...but back then there was so much unrest with sit-ins and protests...maybe they felt no need to tell Herr Werbe's students why he left.....and then again....maybe he really was a spy and was sent to Connecticut on a secret mission.  No...the rumors stop here...Herr Werba was multi-talented man who made life a little better for a lot of people.  I feel bad there were so many rumors but glad that Herr Werba's real life was so enriched and interesting.  I wish I would have known him better, but I am so glad I know a little more now.

For those Facebook friends of mine who participated in the contest to solve this mystery....it looks like Jamie Keeker won this time.  Your prize will be in the mail shortly. :-)