May Reading List

You might think that with our self-isolating I would be reading more, not less. Only four books read this month. The first two for which I dipped back into my own stash.

Smilla's Sense Of Snow by Peter Hoeg - If I read this award winning book back in the 90's when it was new and very popular, I don't remember anything about it. Smilla is a half inuit Greenlander living in Denmark. When her six-year-old neighbor is killed in what is ruled an accidental fall from a building, she does not believe it was an accident and begins her own investigation.
There are so many beautiful passages in this book. That, along with the mystery and development of characters, kept me reading even through the technical stuff. But the last line describes the book succinctly: "There will be no resolution." Having books end without a tying up of loose ends is okay sometimes and not okay others, probably because part of the time I can imagine an ending myself while other times I want the author to do it for me.

eat cake by Jeanne Ray was a book recommended by my daughter years ago. It is impossible to read without wanting to try out at least some of the included cake recipes. Or, if you are like me, wishing you still had your mom around to make the cake for you. (Not surprising since the heroine's name is Ruth, same as my mom's.)
Ruth's answer for everything is to bake a cake: crisis: bake a cake; celebration: bake a cake. When she isn't baking, she is thinking about possible variations for her cake recipes. So, when her husband loses his job and her parents move in with them and her teenage daughter is acting up, what does she do? Bakes cakes. Eventually the whole family gets involved and their cake baking business saves the day.
This is an easy, fun read and even though I am a 'pie' person, not a cake lover, I still thought how good a piece of coconut cake or strawberry cream cake would taste.

In my previous post I wrote about learning to download books through the library's 'Bridges' program. Loving Eleanor by Susan Wittig Albert was the first book I downloaded. I have been a fan of this author since reading all the books in her China Bayles Herbal Mystery series.
Loving Eleanor is a fictional interpretation about the intimate friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt and AP writer Lorena Hickok. I was/am a big fan of Eleanor's. She was an amazing woman.
This is a passage from the book: "But wasn't that the way of love? Never going the way you would think, or hope, setting its own pace, its own direction, taking you and your heart with it as far as you could go. And then farther, and then farther still, past all hope, all fear, all comprehension."
I really liked this book.

lethal white is Robert Galbraith's fourth book in the Cormoran Strike series. I remember when the first book, The Cuckoo's Calling, came out and Robert Galbraith was soon unmasked as a nom de plume of J.K. Rowling's. Knowing that didn't make me want to read the book any more or less. I never read all the Harry Potter books, but, being a mystery lover, I did read the first book by Galbraith and the second and the third. This fourth one cements my intention to read all that he writes. I am hooked on Cormoran* and his partner, Robin Ellacott.

(*Cormoran is such an unusual name I finally looked it up and found its Cornish origin very interesting. #JackandtheBeanstalk)

Needs Must

Needs must was another one of those old sayings my mother used from time to time. I understood it to mean that even if there was something I did not want to do, I must do it because it needed to be done. I don't remember if she ever used the entire saying: needs must when the devil drives. If she did, it wasn't often enough for me to remember it all, just the needs must part. The phrase, now considered a proverb, was first found in the writings of medieval author John Lydgate.

Needs must popped into my mind earlier as I was reading the latest book I downloaded to my i-Pad. Before my library closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I had only downloaded and read one book on the i-Pad. As long as I could get all the books I wanted through the library, that was my preferred method of reading. Still is, and probably always will be.

Yes, I could still get books from the library via curbside pickup, but instead I opted to re-read some of my own books I kept but hadn't read since before we moved here almost twelve years ago. Then one day I decided to look at some of the titles available through the library's Bridges service. "Oh my goodness, there's a book I've been wanting to read! And there's another one!" Soon I was following instructions and had successfully (much to my surprise and delight as I am not tech savvy) downloaded a book. Three days later, another one.

So, between downloading books and finally agreeing to facetime with my daughter, I have become slightly more adept at using the i-Pad. At least I am no longer afraid of touching icons and swiping screens. (Still a long way to go, though.)

This is the old i-Pad my daughter gave me last year. Its cover could not be any more perfect for me. And dare I admit, I am kind of enjoying facetiming and definitely liking the eBooks I can read because needs must sort of made it necessary.

The Echo Of A Piper's Song

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Sandpipers - relatives of the Killdeer which are among my favorite signs and sounds of spring.


The Shadow of Your Smile

One day we walked along the sand
One day in early spring
You held a piper in your hand
To mend its broken wing
Now I'll remember many a day
And many a lonely mile
The echo of a piper's song
And the shadow of a smile

The shadow of your smile
When you are gone
Will color all my dreams
And light the dawn
Look into my eyes
My love and see
All the lovely things
You are to me

Our wistful little star
Was far to high
A teardrop kissed your lips
And so did I
Now when I remember spring
All the joy that love can bring
I will be remembering
The shadow of your smile  
  

The Shadow of Your Smile, by songwriters Johnny Mandel and Paul Francis Webster, was introduced in the 1965 film The Sandpiper, which is why it is also known as Love Theme From Sandpiper. It won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Original Song. Tony Bennett's version won the 1966 Grammy Award for Song of the Year.

The movie, filmed in Big Sur, CA, starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Eva Marie Saint and Charles Bronson. And while I have some memories of the movie, I have more memories of the song.

The Ugliest of Trees?

If that tree in my last post was the lovliest I see out my window, could this one be its opposite?

It may be an Ash tree as they are one of the last to leaf out, but as I gazed at it this morning, Boxelder popped into my mind.

Which made me think of my years at Jasper #2 school and all the Boxelder trees growing there, especially along the little creek that flowed around the south and west sides of the school grounds.

There was a Boxelder growing next to the driveway. It had begun to rot (a common fault with those trees, along with their disposition toward limb breakage) and the exposed cavity was teeming with boxelder bugs.

It fascinated me that there were so many of them crawling over one another, busy moving this way and that without any purpose that I could see. What I remember most though was their horrible stink. And how they not only were in and on the tree, but also how they got into the school house. As the weather cooled, they would almost coat the south and east sides where the sun shone.

I also remember being surprised that the Boxelder was related to the Maple, though if I had paid attention to their seeds (the samaras that look little helicopters), I could have figured it out. 

No tree is really ugly in my opinion, but this one, yet to fully leaf out, took me back down memory lane this morning. 😉

The Loveliest of Trees

                            Loveliest of Trees

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

English poet A. E. Houseman (1859-1936) was most likely referring to Prunus avium (wild sweet cherry) which blooms in April....

....while the tree pictured is the one down by the pond Prunus virginiana (chokecherry) which I look forward to see blossoming each May.

I also understand Houseman's sentiment about how few years are left in which to go riding about the woodlands to see the cherry trees hung with snow. 

Following A Thread

I'm reading a book. A poet I have never heard of is mentioned. I look up some of her poems. One refers to a statue in a cemetery. I look for a picture of that statue.

The statue in Washinton, D.C.'s Rock Creek Cemetery is so similar to the one in Budapest's City Park....

....they must be by the same sculptor. Hungarian Miklós Ligeti (May 19, 1871 - Dec. 10, 1944) sculpted Anonymous in 1903.

The Adams Memorial in Rock Creek Cemetery, sculpted by American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens (March 1, 1848 - August 3, 1907) and erected in 1891, is generally referred to as Grief.

So, the two statues are not by the same sculptor after all. But I have to read about Saint-Gaudens and I have to read about the Adams Memorial (commissioned by Henry Adams [grandson of John Quincy Adams] as a memorial to his wife Clover, who committed suicide) and all the history surrounding it until I've completely forgotten how I got here in the first place. What was it I was looking up?

The Saint-Gaudens Statue in Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington
         (By Leonora Speyer)

Are there no tears for others to shed?
Those heavy eyes have drained the world of  grief,
And yet no solace found, no drear relief,
Such as my heart would seek, and find, I know,
Had I been given the weight of that vast woe,
And wept through pain to peace! But you, instead,
Have drowned all healing in a shoreless sea
Of unforgiven wrong, whose every breath
Lifts windy clamor through the soul's hushed space,
Fanning to greater grief, to swifter glow,
The flame that smolders still in that bronze face,
Sadder than life, and sadder far than death,
Because of love renounced and joy to be,
And faith and hope and immortality.

I could have been reading my book. I had to follow that thread....
.....and look where it took me.

A Mother's Love

I was fortunate to have my Mom to celebrate Mother's Day with for 59 years. Today is the 16th Mother's Day without her. Mom had been a mother for only five days on her first 'official' Mother's Day in 1940; Ronald was born on May 7th and Mother's Day was the 12th that year.

Not that I remember it, but my first Mother's Day with my Mommie was May 14, 1944. I was almost 6 months old, Mom was 25.

By the time I had ten years of Mother's Day with her, the family was complete after baby brother Leslie came along. Mother's Day was May 9th in 1954. Ronald had just turned 14 two days earlier. Betty was 8 and I was 10 - old enough to do something nice for Mom. Did I? I wonder what it was?

The years rolled along, I had children of my own. Mom's family grew and changed. She was alone after Dad died four years before this picture was taken. Mother's Day in 1982 was on the 9th again.

When I took this picture of Mom posing with the Heavenly Blue Morning Glories, I had been living back on the farm with her for almost eight years. Mother's Day was May 11 in 2003 - the last I would be privileged to celebrate with her.

A Mother's love is a blessing, no matter where you roam.
Keep her while she's living, you'll miss her when she's gone.
Love her as in childhood, when feeble old and gray,
for you'll never miss a Mother's love,
'til she's buried beneath the clay. 

Key Benefit of Wednesday's Outing

Come.

Sit.

Reflect.










Hubby Dearest and I both agreed that the best part, the most beneficial aspect, of our journey to Red Haw State Park Wednesday morning was the sheer joy of going someplace again after months of staying home.
We were only gone about three hours, but it seemed longer. It was like that first day you leave on vacation except we came back to the safety of our own home without worry of contracting the virus.

This is such a lovely, peaceful little lake.

Were the fish biting? Several anglers were finding out.

It may look like a frog, but it's just a 'bump on a log'.

Vestige of a long life.

Red Haws don't appear until Autumn, but I did see these (red) rose hips on a rose bush.

On the way home we drove through a portion of Stephens State Forest southwest of Lucas. I could see coming back here and hiking the trails someday. Bet I would find some new birds to add to my life list. But it was a drive through day, stopping only for a few photos.

Blue woodland Phlox.

Chokecherry blossoms. Also known as bitter-berry and bird cherry. My favorite for jelly, but the birds always get them before I do.

Neat old wooden bridge over the railroad tracks.

And the approach to it coming from the North, off Hwy 34 West of Lucas.

White Breast Creek in the same area.

Blue phlox on the bank, blue sky reflected in river.

When I go out
into the natural world,
I find peace.
I return to myself.

Almost home, this bucolic scene another reminder of what it means to be in southern Iowa in Springtime.

One more treat for a perfect day - this post of two of my great-grands, Maverick and Lily. Also nature lovers enjoying being outdoors.

Redbud, Red Haw or Red Hawk?

A week later than planned, but what a beautiful morning to visit Red Haw State Park and view all the redbuds. And yes, it is Red Haw not Redbud nor Red Hawk as some believe. The park was named for the red berries, called haws, of the hawthorn trees which used to be plentiful in the park.

Just a sample of some of the fifty photos I took......

I heard so many birds, but only got pictures of a couple, including this one of an Eastern Kingbird. We had so many of these on the farm, this is the first one I've seen in a while.








I've heard that the park can get quite crowded during peak redbud time, but we got there around 9:30 and saw only a few other cars.

I can now cross 'Red Haw State Park during redbuds flowering' off my bucket list, but that doesn't mean I might not go back again. It's only an hour's drive away and so very lovely to view.

The First Two Days of May

May began with a beautiful sunrise in the East.....

.....which created gorgeous pinks in the West.

The first Iris of the year bloomed.

The Creeping Phlox is sharing its space by the mailbox with some Lily-of-the-Valley which, for some reason, has really spread on the north side of the house this spring.

The bird feeding station is supplied, including my new feeder on the right.

I dug the clematis and moved it from the north side of the house to the south. I think it will do better here.

I also moved the Grape Hyacinths for the same reason.

May 2nd began with the early morning sun highlighting two yellow Iris blooms.

And a picture of Papa, Mama and Baby paddling across the pond.

It was such a lovely morning I decided it was time for my first outdoor walk of the year. (I'm a wimp when it is cold.) Lake McKinley is such a pretty place to walk and the trails are great.

Blue skies and lots of pink blossoms on the Crabapple trees.

And after learning that I haven't missed the Redbud's blossoming after all, I was curious to check out the ones in the park. I did spot just a few blooms on this tree.

Are these apple blossoms? Maybe another variety of crabapple? Love the soft pink and white blooms.

This flowering bush was a new speciman for me. I had to look it up to learn it is Fothergilla gardenii named to honor English physician and botonist, Dr. John Fothergill. I couldn't help but think about an old mentor of mine, Claude Fothergill. I wonder if they were related?

My walk must have energized me - with Bud's help moving the pavers, I got new weed blocker put down. Now all I need is new mulch.
After this, I was done for the day. According to Grandma Delphia, Sunday is a day of rest - exactly what I planned to do.