Portals to the Past / Ephemera Etcetera is a website built on my interests, in nature, in history, my Christian Orthodox faith and my grandson's love of airplanes and railroads.
The website is being slowly updated and I will be adding to the Narrative of Garit Storm, shortly.
I have a link to: My eBay Store.
If anyone is in the Middletown, New York area, please feel free to stop by Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church for an in person visit!
The first weekend in June, the church holds it's annual Holy Cross Greek Festival, featuring great food and Hellenic Dancers so mark your calendars for next year!
I have included photos and video of St. Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery and their museum, on the following pages. St. Tikhon's is an OCA, Orthodox Church in America, monastery. It has roots in the Russian Orthodox Church, the "Saints" traveling and establishing churches in Alaska and finally the lower states. The museum at St. Tikhon's features many fascinating
Orthodox Christian relics and icons. The Icon Museum attracts the faithful, as well as those interested in the art, theology and history, from all ovworld. er the
This site is linked to my eBay auction page and store (see link above). I have an eclectic assortment: antiques, collectibles, books, antique watches, etc. Many items have come from the Hoffman estate, whose genealogy and relation to Garrit Storm can be found on the "Narrative" page.
I have posted a slide show of our 2008 trip to Poland on the "Travel Olsztyn Poland" page. It was a wonderful experience and I hope that you enjoy the photos.
For the history or genealogy buff, I am in the process of posting some pages of Garrit Storm's Memoirs. He was one of the Hoffman family ancestors, having settled in New Amsterdam in the late 1600-early 1700s, he started the real estate business that the Hoffman's eventually made their fortune by. The family originally owned much of the land that is now Manhattan, New York. Many of the items that I have offered on eBay come from this family's estate. My grandmother married into the family in the 1960s. Mr. C.G. Hoffman, her husband, was a most fascinating man. He attended Oxford where he made the aquaintence of many famous individuals: Josiah Royce, George Santayana, John Masefield, the Prince of Wales. He knew the "blue bloods" of New York society. " Govey" was a flight instructor during WWI. He flew for the RAF. He drove in the Harjes Ambulance Corp in France.
Mr. Charles Gouverneeur Hoffman's portrait by artitst Linzee Prescott, appears below. The plane represents the plane that he flew in WWI, the volcano is Mt. Etna in Sicily, where my grandmother and Mr. C. had a villa and the pipe was something that he enjoyed. The portrait is a click through link to the Garit Storm Narrative page.
Thank you for stopping by and sign my guest book if you are so inclined!
If you are planning a vacation or looking for a gift, I would appreciate a visit to my ebay store (link above) or a click on any of my advertisers. As many of you, we struggle with finances and these links (hopefully) will help supplement our income. Thank you, in advance.
The nature and wildlife photos, birds, salamanders, interesting plants, etc. were taken on our Sparrow Bush property.
