All Roads Lead Through Ripon?

Family history has long been an interest of mine. I've posted many blogs about family connections and how we are related on both sides of my immediate family as well as grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great etc. etc. I find it totally fascinating, but then, if we go back far enough.....

My great-great-grandparents, Catherine McDonnaugh and William Lynam, were born in Ireland. Separately they both arrived and lived in Ripon, WI. Catherine in 1832 and William much earlier if family lore is correct. They met and were married in Ripon, Wisconsin on April 19, 1856. (Soon to be 170 years ago.) They moved to Ohio and lived there until coming to Adams County Iowa in 1878 settling north of Brooks.

Great-great-grandfather George W. Gravett was born in Clark County in 1842. His wife, Malinda Jane Cecil, was born in Indiana. I do not have their family trees back to any European countries. George and Malinda were married January 1, 1863 also in Ripon, WI. Their daughter Nancy Gravett married Barney Lynam and had four children including my grandpa George Lynam.

So how did it happen that these Lynam ancestors met and married in Ripon, WI? Was it the Las Vegas of the day in the 1800's? As an aside, or footnote if you will, I also learned that the Republican party got its start in Ripon in 1854 when the Whig and Free Soil parties dissolved and formed the new 'Republican' party electing as their first president, Abraham Lincoln.

Back to the family history and moving one state to the west and almost parallel to Ripon is Austin, MN where on February 25, 1870, my great-great-grandmother, Agnes Hull married John Richardson. Their only child, Flora Viola Richardson, became my great-grandmother, married to Lemuel Duncan (May 25, 1889) and parents of my grandmother Bessie married to George Lynam (November 15, 1914).

It boggled my mind when my son-in-law Ken became interested in family history and learned that he was a ninth cousin of ..... Flora Viola Richardson! As I said, if we go back far enough..... 

(Ken was born and grew up in Minnesota though he and Kari now live in Oregon.)

March '26 Books Read

 Eight books read in March for a first quarter total of 23 books.

I have to admit, going back and reading Nora Roberts books again has been a pleasure. The above five are: The Collector, Legacy, Tribute, Shelter In Place and The Villa. Her story plots and place settings are so interesting and varied.

the Forgotten Garden and the Distant Hours are Kate Morton books that I read ten or more years ago. I decided to go back and read them again realizing that I most likely would not remember everything about them and could/would enjoy them all over again. I was right.

Sanctuary was another Nora Roberts book read this month. I'm sure some more NR books will show up on next month's list. 

In the meantime, Spring has arrived. The goose nest was put back on the pond today. The resident pair have been looking for it. Now they can begin preparing for this year's goslings.  

February '26 Books Read

Only five books read this month. Many years ago I was a dedicated Nora Roberts reader. A quick check shows me that I have read only two books of hers since I began keeping track in 2009. I'm discovering there is a good reason to go back to reading her - she is a good writer and she writes about so many different scenarios. After reading my way through Sandra Brown books, Roberts is a good follow up.

I read four of her books this month: Hideaway, The Liar, Identity and The Obsession.

Moving Target by Elizabeth Lowell is the first in a series of four books. I've only read one other book by this author - in 2015. At that time I was rating my books and only gave it a 3. I would probably do the same with this one - it's okay, just not quite my cup of tea.

Five books aren't as many as usual for me. Is my age slowing down my reading too? Or is it because February is a short month? 

Celebrating Valentine's Day

 

When we began dating, Bud brought me a single red rose every Friday.

Eventually the giving of a weekly rose tapered off but I still received them now and then over the years.

For Valentine's Day this year the red rose came in the form of a pot of miniature red roses.

These will be planted outside later this spring. I know from experience they will do well.

Bud gave me a miniature yellow rose five years ago. It continues to grow and produce scads of blooms every summer.

Along with the roses, he also gave me a box of chocolates.

I gave him a Valentine's lunch of ham, pineapple and cheese quiche, raspberry jello and coconut cake. 

The chief ingredient in yummy food is love.

Happy Valentine's Day my love.  💖

Lakes, Waterfowl and Sunsets

I've mentioned the work being done at Lake McKinley but I haven't shown photos for quite awhile. These are ones I took last week. I read that dredging would be done sometime in March. All the dirt removed is being spread in an area south of the lake. That should make for some very fertile farm ground. I'm always up between five and six a.m. and can already hear the machinery at the lake and see the lights at the hilltop of the ones doing the spreading of dirt. 

Very little water is left but the geese find what's available.

I think they were mostly standing on the ice in this picture.

Tracks at the bottom of this photo are from the trucks carrying loads of dirt out.

Another view looking north toward the bridge on Adams Street.

Note the pickup driving in the lake bed.

These rolls, of what almost look like big bales of hay, are going to be used to stabilize the banks.

I don't know what the white things are; weights to keep things in place?

 

Bud talked to one of the workers and was told that these are the latest thing in preventing erosion. 

This view is toward the north end of the lake where Hurley Creek flows into McKinley Lake. 

I wonder how long it will take to fill the lake? I remember when Lake Icaria was built they said it might take a year or two, then there were heavy rains that "almost filled it overnight'".

Yesterday was such a nice day - mid to upper 60's here - that we decided to drive out to Green Valley Lake. 

I didn't expect to see much more than these Canada geese, but I did see three eagles circling when we first got there.

We had been hearing about and seeing some pictures of swans at Lake Icaria and Lake of Three Fires, but nothing about swans at Green Valley. 

They were so far away all I could see was white spots, but the telephoto camera lens brought them close enough. Swans!! and some Mallard ducks.

They were beyond where the geese were on the ice - clear across the lake.

But I saw them - and got pictures!

 

On to the sunsets - this one over the weekend - a lovely, soft sunset. I love it when I catch a bird flying through. This was a different bird - a whirly-bird. Sometimes I see life flight circle and come in to land at the hospital but this helicopter kept on going southwest.

And this was the sunset last evening - spectacular after a lovely day.

For the first time in ages I did send it to WHO-13. I watched the weather this morning from 5-7a.m., but my photo wasn't used. And with NBC covering the Olympics, there's no noon news. Maybe on the evening broadcast?

As the days lengthen and the temperatures moderate, it is beginning to feel more like spring. I'm sure there will be more cold and snow, but it is nice to see winter receding.

And it is really nice to see swans - even from a distance! 💛

January '26 Books Read

 Cold weather = reading time ..... ten books read to begin the new year. 

When The Cranes Fly South by Swedish author Lisa Ridzén is about a widower nearing the end of his life and his relationships with his beloved dog and his estranged son. A story about love, aging, regret and family told through first person narration.

Nash Falls is David Baldacci's latest offering. I have been such a big fan of this author - until now. I really did not like the ending because it keeps the reader hanging. Did he or didn't he? I prefer my books to be more succinct.

The Burning Library by Gilly Macmillan is set in the Scottish town of St. Andrews. It posits a world of two opposing factions of women both of which have been trying for more than a century to find and secure a medieval manuscript.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans is an epistolary novel - one of my favorite genres, told through a series of letters. Sybil is a woman who has used letter writing throughout her life to make sense of the world and her place in it.

The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlick is about an experimental and controversial treatment center in a remote setting of a California desert. 

To The Moon And Back by Eliana Ramage tells the story of a Cherokee woman who wants to become an astronaut.

The Incredible Kindness of Paper by Evelyn Skye is about childhood pen pals who connect years later in NYC after Chole begins writing uplifting messages on yellow origami paper folded into roses and leaving them all over the city. When Oliver finds one it leads him back to the childhood friend he never forgot.

I thought I had read all the Sandra Brown books in my library until I discovered three large print versions and quickly read my way through play dirty, smash cut and Lethal.

With the exception of these three books plus David Baldacci's, the others are all new authors to me, none of which excited me. I'm hoping to find a new author with lots of books on the shelf that I can read my way through. Any suggestions? Until then, I'm currently, and slowly, reading a hefty 916 page tome. February might see an extremely rare one book read month. 

Prairie Wildlife

 

Ahh, a quick red fox ran through the back yard this morning - the first I've seen in this new year of 2026 even though I've been watching for them. Facebook memories have shown me several fox photos this month from years past.

It doesn't seem as though there is as much wildlife around as there used to be, or maybe I'm just not looking at the right times. 

I'm feeling vexed this morning. My computer won't do what I want it to. It took forever to get my fox picture posted to FB. I keep getting an "out of memory" message. I'm hoping I will be able to post this much. Time for a new computer again?

I'll keep trying to find/fix the problem. In the meantime if you don't hear from me for awhile, try the phone or send me a letter by snail mail. 

Now, let's see if this will post.    😅