Books I Read In May

Eight books read in May. The first three shown were obtained through the interlibrary loan system.

Once Upon A River by Bonnie Jo Campbell was from the Little Rock, IA Public Library. First I don't remember why I wanted to read this book, though it may have been recommended by the same person who gave such positive reviews to the next two books. 

Second, I didn't even know there was a Little Rock, Iowa and I pride myself on recognizing most Iowa towns. And third, Little Rock is a small town near the Minnesota border in the far NW county of Lyon. It has a population of less than five hundred and it has a public library. I think that is awesome. 

Oh, and the book was very good, about a teenage girl raised along the Stark River and is determined to stay on the river even after her mother has left and her father is killed. I really liked this book. Campbell has two others that I may just have to order, too, especially Mothers Tell Your Daughters - a book of short stories featuring "ferocious mothers and scrappy daughters".

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters was from the McGregor, IA Public Library; a Man Booker Prize Finalist I learned about in a review by an Oregon FB friend. It is a troubling ghost story set in the English countryside during post WWII. And just like the next book, when you finish reading it, you will find yourself wondering, musing, questioning, long after.

Affinity by Sarah Waters was from the Public Library in Mitchellville, IA, home to the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women, which has to be one huge coincidence because this book centers around the women's ward of Millbank Prison, "Victorian London's grimmest jail". No matter how carefully you read, you'll still have lingering questions.

(As a non sequitur - I attended meetings inside the Mitchellville facility several times in the late 80's. I always felt relieved and thankful when I left. I can't imagine being incarcerated. Well, I can imagine it, I just wouldn't want to learn first hand that it is even worse than my imaginings.)

The Hammer Of Eden by Ken Follett is one of his older books (1998). I am reading my way through all the Follett books at my local library and am struck by the diversity in his story telling. This one is set in California, centered around a post-hippy era commune whose leaders are threatening a man-made earthquake to stop a dam project that will flood their self-sufficient community. 

City of Schemes by Victoria Thompson is the fourth book in her Counterfeit Lady series. These are always fun little reads featuring some pretty elaborate cons.

Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig is based on a true story about a group of Smith College women who volunteered to go to France during WWI to work with and help out families in small villages in Northern France. Their way of life had been destroyed when the German army went through. Those who fought back had been killed; those able to work had been shipped back to Germany as enforced labor. Only old women and small children were left behind to subsist in bombed out cellars, barns and primitive huts. The town where the Smith women are based is very near the front lines. Will they be forced to evacuate? I found this book a very good blending of facts based on letters, reports and biographies of the real Smith women coupled with the author's skillful storytelling and writing.

The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman is the first of her books I've read since 2014. At that time I planned to read more of her books but for some reason did not. 

What happens when a little girl's mother dies and she grows up believing it is because she 'wished' for it to happen? What happens when that grown up girl is struck by lightning, but lives? Hoffman is a masterful writer. I'm glad I still have a few more of her novels yet to read.

We Begin At The End is by Chris Whitaker - a new author for me. I admit I decided to read this book because a favorite author of mine, Louise Penny, was quoted on the cover as saying: "This is a book to be read and rerread and an author to be celebrated."

This from the inside cover blurb: "Chris Whitaker has written an extraordinary novel about people who deserve so much more than life serves them. At times devastating, with flashes of humor and hope throughout, it is ultimately an inspiring tale of how the human spirit prevails and how, in the end, love -- in all its different guises -- wins."

This book and Willig's were my two favorite May reads.

A little bonus - I took photos of the new look of the two flights of stairs at Gibson Memorial Library.

Aren't they fun? I've read all but the top two on the first flight and only one on this second flight, although I've already added one of these to my list of books to get when I go to the library tomorrow.

Tomorrow ushers in the first month of summer and another month of good reading, maybe even a beach book or two?

Memorial Weekend Cemetery Rounds

This year's annual Memorial Weekend trip to decorate family graves was made yesterday. It was sunny, slightly windy and very cool. We didn't linger at any of the cemeteries long and I didn't take many photos.

First stop is always at Lenox at the graves of  my husband's parents and some of his uncles and aunts. 

From there we went past the acreage of the man I wrote about in 'How The Butcher Became My Friend'. I wanted Bud to see Jim's mailbox.

It has to be the only one of its kind - an old car engine. No one should have any trouble finding his new place.

Prairie Rose was next, where my parents, sister and nephew are buried. I only took one photo here - to illustrate how saddened I am to see the decrease in the level of maintenance at the cemetery now that it is no longer in the hands of neighbors. I realize that the company caring for it now has many cemeteries to groom and that finding good workers may be difficult, but it still saddens me. Next year I will take my grass clippers along. 

Maple Grove Cemetery near Guss was next. I was pleased to see that the peonies on Grandma and Grandpa Ridnour's graves have grown and are blooming beautifully - and that the grounds in this cemetery are still very neat.

The graves of my Aunt and Uncle and cousins are nearby and while visiting those....

....I was intrigued by this man's first name, Jird. 

Whereas Bud was interested in the fact that he had been buried at sea. We speculated he might have been at Pearl Harbor, then realized he would have been too young for WWII. I decided I would try to find out more about him when I got home.

First I found his obituary which detailed a 20yr. career in the Navy and an interesting life after leaving the service. Then I went to Find A Grave (from which I borrowed the two above pictures) and was able to go back on his family tree. I knew we had a distant cousin who married a Fidler. It was his mother, Permelia Mauderly. Her's was a name I remembered because it was so different. Her parents were another of those instances of the Mauderly/Ridnour marriages resulting in double cousins.

I tried to trace the name Jird and found nothing concrete. There was a Joseph Bird Fidler and for a moment I thought Jird could be a nickname for him - the J of Joseph replacing the B in bird - but there was not a direct linear progression from the two immediately evident and I did not spend the time going back further.

The other significant find about Jird is that his wife was a Guss - the family for which the little burg was named.

Last year I planned to visit my niece's grave in the Red Oak cemetery and take a photo because I never had taken one when I was there many years ago. But Covid-19 put a halt to that.

So this year we went. Evergreen Cemetery is huge and I only had my memory of the site from about forty years ago. We wandered the area where I thought the baby section was, but couldn't locate it. (I was remembering a large area at the crest of a hill. Bud finally asked some people and an older woman knew where it was. Turned out we were actually very close. I remembered which drive correctly and the hill part. From this cemetery we went on to stop at Arlington where Jennifer's mother is buried.

On the way out of Evergreen Cemetery,  I noticed this carving. I won't forget how to get to Jennifer's grave again - just look for the owl. 

Back to Corning for lunch at Three C's Diner and on the way a big surprise just west of town -

a huge solar farm! Bud offered to go back so I could take a photo, but I said "No. That's okay." We were more interested in eating. Another borrowed photo - this one from U.S. Representative Cindy Axne's Facebook page.

The final stop was at Oakland Cemetery south of the 'once upon a time county seat town' of Quincy. Even the old schoolhouse is gone now, but we still call Oakland the Quincy Cemetery. The white peonies are from my Dad's infant sister's grave. I love them. I would like to have a bush of them.

The actual Quincy Cemetery is north of Quincy with nothing to mark it but this sign. (Also from Find A Grave.)

I would have said there were still grave stones there, but I haven't been that way for a long time. Time to go back and look?

This is a close up of those white peonies. A search tells me there is a similar one named Shirley Temple and one named Van Zyverden. Another one close in looks is the Parfum de Bloom. None of these tell how long they've been around. But I think it is certainly possible, considering how popular little Shirlety Temple was, that Grandma Lynam might have chosen one of those to put on her baby's grave. 

One last note about this year's Memorial Weekend cemetery rounds - last year on the way home we saw an eagle NE of Prescott. It was on the ground and I got a picture of it. This year, east of Lake Icaria, and NW of Prescott  we saw an eagle soaring around. What are the odds? But then the school name for their sports teams was the Prescott Eagles. Hmmm..

Or Shades of Gray?

When I'm not crazy about the Puzzle of the Day given me for my daily jigsaw, I change it to fifty piece size just so I can work it quickly and have it show 'solved'. Then I choose a more appealing optional puzzle. That's what I did this morning when the daily puzzle was a brightly colored one.

I chose this much more engaging, to me, option. I think many would find it dull, perhaps depressing, but it pulls me right in. Its title was Gammel Strand in Copenhagen which is how I searched to find the artist. There were lots of search returns, just not the one I was looking for. I did learn though that gammel strand is modern Danish for old beach and originally meant the old shoreline prior to land reclamations.*

I finally found the artist for this painting - Paul Gustav Fischer (1860-1934) - and the title of this oil on canvas is Fishermen and Fishermen's Wives At Gammel Strand in Copenhagen. It was painted in 1918. 

As I was working this puzzle -this puzzle in many shades of gray - it reminded me of a poem I wrote in 1974:

Or Shades of Gray?

Fog shrouds all.

Out of the swirling mist

Glides a dark figure.

Enigmatic Leo.

Destined for heights greater than

One lifetime can attain.

Superior being.

And watching quietly

From smoky shadows,

A waft of light.

Desiring desparately

To come forth.

To meet, to melt, to become

Some small part of

His existence.

Black soul, you have

So much to give!

So much to become!

The fear of touching 

You is too great.

The elan is smothered

--- by the fog.

I watch you go --

Hungry for the taste of

What

Might have been.

Wondering if ever it

Will be.

I had just discovered free verse and that it didn't matter if I couldn't write a poem that rhymed or had a regular meter. And, obviously, I was trying to be enigmatic and romantic. 

Poetry and paintings and their creators have always been of interest to me. I can't paint pictures and I'm not good at writing poems, but I can appreciate them.

* I found the Wikipedia article about Gammel Strand interesting, as I did also looking at more of Fischer's artwork.

Wednesday's Wondrous Trek

 

Last winter I started making a list of places I wanted to go once it was warm enough and safe enough to be out and about again. Hanging Rock Park on the SW side of Redfield in Dallas County was my choice for yesterday's outing. It isn't too far away, just right for a morning's ramble. I wrote down the 'directions' which weren't exactly clear, but we found this entrance to the trail on a side street.

I knew we were close to the river and the dam and followed this deer trail that direction.

Finally, I listened to HD and got out of the woods and back on the path, which is when we found the road leading to the Hanging Rock feature, went back to the car and drove the rest of the way.

I was totally captivated by that hole. What made it? What's in it? Etc, etc. 

Do you see anything in there?

Bud made his way down to the river. I wish I could have followed him, but the way down was too steep and rough for me. 

So I had to be content taking photos from above....

....and in the woods.

There was a lot of bird song,  mainly Orioles.

It was hard to find exactly where in the foliage this one was. The new yellow-green leaves helped camouflage it, but eventually I got a good snap.

Obviously there was once a man-made structure here. A bridge most likely.

I'm always flummoxed when I see birds I can't identify. Any ideas?

Maybe Warbling Vireos or Field Sparrows? They didn't call nor sing, so no clues there.

When Bud climbed back up the bank from the Middle Raccoon River, he brought me my own Hanging Rock rock - this banded, sparkly, pebble for a keepsake.

Hanging Rock Park is an interesting area to visit. If you are going to see just it, and not walk on the trails, from the Casey's on the SW corner of Redfield, go straight North a block or so to Redfield Street. Turn left and go up the hill to 3rd Street. The entrance will be on your left. There is a large red tile barn as you enter. 

Follow the road to the end and you will be at Hanging Rock.

After leaving Redfield, on the way to our second stop, I wanted to see what one of the houses my son Douglas built looks like now.

From the south....

 

....and from the west. Looks like they built on a garage and sided it with yellow vinyl.

I could have found a better picture of when Doug and Shelly lived there, but this one was handy.

Doug poured a lot of work, love and his own design into this place.

Things change.

This Guthrie County Park was my second planned stop for the morning. I wanted to hike some trails here, but by the time we got to Nation's Bridge Park along the South Raccoon River, I had had enough hiking for the day.

So we drove through the camping area, stopping to take a few pictures.

These Canada Geese had their own little island in the middle of the river.

Water sparkling in the sun and burbling across the rocks is always so pretty and peaceful.

It was nearly noon so we drove on into the town of.....

 .....and stopped at......

where I had something I'd never heard of before - a chicken cheesesteak.

Bud had a tradional one with beef, commonly known as a Philly Cheesesteak. Both were very good.

Neither of us could remember the last time we ate in a restaurant. As nearly as I can figure, it was while on our way home from our grandson's in Eastern Missouri - July, 2019.

We feel safe being outside, though we go places during the week when they are less crowded. We wore masks into Ruby's, as did others, and tried to keep an empty table between us and other diners. But I don't worry about it too much since being vaccinated against Covid-19.

This little jaunt was exactly as I hoped it would be. From leaving home to returning home, it was four hours total. 

Oh, Bud wanted one more picture, but his camera was in the trunk so he stopped along the road so I could take this one for him:

I'm going to call it Bud's G.O.A.T. goat.   😁😍😎

Continuing the Tradition

 

After a slight deviation from last year's no contact flower delivery due to the pandemic, my son and I were able to enjoy what has become our Mother's Day tradition. And I had a realization about this tradition. I have told Douglas more than once he does not have to keep bringing the flowers, that it is enough for me just to be together. What I tumbled to was: this is Doug's tradition, not mine, even though I am a part of it. It is his tradition to bring his mommy a hanging planter every year. I'm just the fortunate recipient.

He brings the flowers and daughter-in-law Shelly brings me strawberry-rhubarb pie. That's her tradition and I love it!

Mother's Day began on Saturday with a card and more than two hours of facetime with daugher Kari and continued yesterday with many Facebook and phone greetings from other family members. I was one happy, and tired, mommy last night. 

The weekend also brought first sightings of the beautiful Indigo Bunting and.....

.....a Ruby-throated Hummingbird - though I've yet to get a good picture of it. 

Mother Nature and Family - Mother's Day weekend couldn't have been any better.  💖

More Pottering, Planting & Enjoying Spring

 

After posting the first gosling picture of three, we discovered another nesting pair had six babies. This is a recent photo showing how they have grown already.

For the longest time I thought two of the resident 'permanent' chickens had gotten broken. Turns out they were just upset. A visitor set them back upright.

Now the quiet, kindly, deer of the tree watches over them in the early morning light.

I have been wanting some eucalyptus - you know, the bunches like we had back in the 70's & 80's. I looked on line for some near me and found that Kelly's Flowers had eucalyptus. I looked around their gift shop but didn't see any so I asked. "Oh, it's over in the greenhouse, down the center aisle on the right."

It's real live eucalyptus; an annual here in Iowa. She said I could cut it as it grew out and dry it myself. So, I'ma gonna' try my hand at it, leaving it outside until fall and then bringing it in for the winter. 

 My Guy Wolff pot seemed the perfect place for it.

Wednesday HD brought me this miniture yellow rose in an oversize pitcher featuring hummingbirds.

It was in a plastic planter set in the pitcher, ready to plant outside.

I've never tried planting a miniture rose - or any roses for a long time - so I read about them and found they are more hardy than hybrid tea roses, so I'm trying my luck with it.

My Grandma Delphia, whose birthdate is May 10, had an old fashioned yellow rose bush I just loved. So I planted my yellow rose in front of one of her geodes. It is near Lily's lilies and the fern leaf peony. I hope it does well there.

The other flowers I planted today were these little 'Pacifica Apricot' Vincas.

I put them in the old iron pot that was my Great-grandma Means' (Grandma Delphia's mother). The bottom is rusted out so what's left of it is partially buried in the soil. Another of Grandma's geodes is behind it to the left.

A close up of the pot and geode with hen and chicks and lavendar in background.

That's it for the flora, now for some fauna:

At dusk last evening this young deer was nibbling on the new willows down at the pond. It has looked up at something - probably that other deer on the dam whose reflection is shown in the water.

And lastly, who knew Brown Thrashers liked suet? I didn't. This is a first for me. Robins have even been pecking at the suet feeder.

I love this time of year.