Books Read In July 2022

 Nine books in the month of July:

Hour Game by David Baldacci is the second book in his King and Maxwell series. These two protagonists are just as enteraining as Amos Decker was. 

Now That You Mention It is an older Kristan Higgins book that I had missed reading. Set on an island off the coast of Maine, I enjoyed this romance novel.

One Step Too Far is the second book in Lisa Gardner's Frankie Elkin series. Frankie is still searching for missing persons - this time in the wilds of Wyoming.

Unsub is Meg Gardiner's first title in her series by the same name. I read the second in the series in April. These two are the only ones my library had.

The Strange Files of Fremont Jones by Dianne Day was my bedtime paperback for July. It was an okay mystery chosen at the last minute when I remembered I needed a small book.

Alone by Lisa Gardner is the first book of her D.D. Warren series featuring a Boston Police detective. My library does have a number of the books in the series which I will most likely keep reading.

Anne Perry is an author I've been reading for many years. Three Debts Paid is the fifth book of her Daniel Pitt series. I am liking all the characters in this series and await a new book each time.

Simple Genius and First Family are the next two titles in David Baldacci's King and Maxwell series. I am so glad my library has so many of this author's titles. I love his writing.

Until next month - happy reading. 

A Short Trip To Adams County

 

It was a beautiful summer day to be out and about.

Younger brother Les and his wife Susan were coming to Corning for Les' 50th class reunion. We met for lunch at the home of our brother Ron and wife Marge.

And while I did not take any photos of the lunch bunch, I did take some snaps on the way down.

I love old dirt roads. This one is east of Corning, north of the old Icarian Colony.

Back in the day this road was a good place for couples to park after seeing a movie - looks like it still would be.  

I saw these lotus blossoms from the road as I passed Lake Binder.

Obviously they deserved a closer look and a few photos.

When I saw this female Redwing Blackbird with her head down into a blossom I thought she might be sipping nectar. Then she came up with a bug in her beak. 

Her mate was perched nearby, singing.

Those lotus flowers and pads are humongous!

And very beautiful.

With Swamp Milkweed in the foreground, the yellow lotus plants and the blue lake receding in the background, it was a very pleasing sight. A lovely surprise and worthy of stopping for a closer look.

It was a short trip "back home", but so worth it to be with family.  💖

Once Again An Attempt To Write Poetry

 

the stillness of the pond

the brilliance of the sun

the bark of the birch

all combine to

early morning light on the river birch

the still waters of the pond

the shredded bark of the tree

come together like a poem

There must be a poem in there somewhere.

And then I realize.... 

....it was written by the sun hours ago. 🌞

Summertime = Ice Cream Time

 

The daily puzzle I chose this morning was this one featuring ice cream. I would choose the one on the right in a cone, please. As soon as I saw it my mind said: "Butter Brickle, butter brickle, butter brickle." It was my favorite flavor back in the day.

That strawberry would be a close second for me.

Also back in the day, Saturdays meant getting the chores done early in order to 'get-around' and get to town early to get a good parking spot on Main Street. (Actually Davis Avenue, but always known as Main Street.) Saturday night in small town Iowa was a big deal. Everyone was in town to do their weekly shopping of course, but it was also a social event, catching up with people and getting the latest news.

For my little sister and me it meant going with Mom to Silsby's grocery store. The carts didn't have child seats back then so each of us hung on to a side and trailed along with mom through the store. I loved it when she stopped before the ice cream freezer. What flavors would we get this week? I always opted for Butter Brickle or Strawberry, but it was usually Vanilla and one other flavor. 

And the brand I remember was Sealtest. I think a half gallon carton was around 99¢. Meadowgold and Lady Borden's were two other brands I remember but Sealtest was the one we mostly bought.  It is said that Butter Brickle ice cream originated in Omaha at the Blackstone Hotel. It is/was a buttery sweet vanilla with tiny pieces of golden brown toffee. Mmm. 

Butter Brickle ice cream in its original form is no longer available around here. There are flavors which include toffee in some or another.

My current favorite brand of ice cream is Churn. It is creamy and easy to scoop. 

My favorite flavor is Coffee Toffee Crunch. I never had much of a 'sweet tooth' when I was younger, but it seems like I have one now. And ice cream is still my favorite sweet treat.

My mind obviously was already on ice cream when this photo popped up on Facebook a little while ago.

This little cutie with his bowlful of ice cream and cookies is Oakley. He becomes another great-grandson for me three months from today when my grandson marries his mother.

I've already gotten him to call me grandma. And we have at least one thing in common ---- ice cream!!

From A Dam To A Monk....

 .... or .... another trip down the ole' rabbit hole....   Let's see if I can remember how I went from reading about a dam to the death of an Iowan monk.

KMA news is once of the first websites I check each morning. This headline, "Pierce Creek dam faces extensive repairs, tree removal", piqued my interest because I wondered where in Page County it was located. I'd never heard of it. So I Googled it, found a map showing Pierce Creek Recreation Area west of Essex, and explored that site. 

One of the photos was of an old brick structure without any identification. I tried to find out what/where it was in Essex. No luck. So then I tried the next small town, Imogene, northwest of Pierce Creek County Park. Again, no luck. But I did remember reading about Imogene in the past. It is noted for having one of the most beautiful churches in Iowa - St. Patrick's Catholic Church - which is on the National Register of Historic Places - and has a history of a large congregation with a proud Irish heritage.

I love history so reading about the church and its past kept me occupied for awhile. It celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2015 and it was the headline of one of those articles that was especially informative: "Tiny Imogene (pop.69), expects up to 800 for huge church's 100th". That article was written by Chuck Offenburger - a name I recognized and a person whose writings I followed and enjoyed when he was a columnist for The Des Moines Register.  https://offenburger.com/index.php/tiny-imogene-pop-69-expects-up-to-800-for-huge-churchs-100th/

At the right hand top of that article is a photo of Chuck with Deidre DeJear tagged "Let me tell you all about Deidre DeJear, the Democratic Party's candidate for governor in Iowa...." Well I had to read that story because I do want to know more about the woman I will be voting for this fall. It was very informative and gives me hope for a change in Iowa's leadership.

I decided to check out a few more of Offenbuger's posts, another July one about DeJear and then a May one about Admiral Michael Franken the Democrat nominee challenging Senator Chuck Grassley's seat in congress. I admit I voted for Abby Finkenauer in the primaries, but after reading this column about Franken I feel very positive toward him. Hopefully he will be able to replace that 88-year-old man running for his 8th term in the Senate.

Now I'm on a morning long expedition into Offenburger's News and Opinion site. Back to the archives for an April 2022 story: "A requiem for one of the most humble yet most powerful persons in my life, monk Jim O'Connor. Yes, I was aware of the New Melleray Abbey, a Trappist monastery near Dubuque and have read some about it in the past, specifically the simple pine caskets they make. But reading Father Jim's story was especially interesting - from flying a B-17 bomber in WWII, to becoming a monk in Iowa was quite the journey.

The internet has made it so easy to follow my innate curiousity down many rabbit holes. For sure I will be checking out more of Offenburger's archives. He has always been a fine writer with the ability find the most interesting stories. 

Circumnavigating The Pond

 

I'd been thinking about a walk around the pond for several days.

It was such a lovely morning Friday, I decided it was the right time for that walk.

Starting point - the Clematis. Its blooms are smaller this year, but so much more numerous.

 

I thought there would be some Elderberries but it looks like the birds are keeping them picked clean.

 

Viewed from the bank this looked like some kind of fungus growing on a cattail.

It wasn't until I had the picture on the computer that I could see it was cattail fluff.

I had seen the Purple Ironweed at the pond before, but not that white flowering plant.

What is it?

As nearly as I can figure out, this is Meadowsweet.

I did remember to smell the flower as well as take some photos and it did have a sweet aroma. 

Two favorites - Queen Anne's Lace and Bull Thistles flowers.

How did this lone Sunflower get planted here?

The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind.

I knew this purple leafed plant was a member of the Shamrock family, but had to look it up.

Creeping Woodsorrel is the common name for this Oxalis corniculata. Its petite yellow flowers are so tiny.

There's another creeping plant in this photo - Creeping Charlie.

There is more to that far corner than I can see from the house. It is the area that I see the fox run back in to and there are two well worn paths heading into the trees and brush.

There is also this old corner post, fittingly constructed from a railroad tie as it stands just below the BNSF rail line.

It wasn't just the sights I was seeing it was also one of my favorite summertime smells accompanying me on my trip around the pond.

There is nothing like the scent of new mown hay to evoke all those old summer memories.

There are many varieties of tree saplings growing at the pond's edges. 

The red leaves of these maples really stood out.

So did that white flower floating on the pond. (It is actually the underside of a poplar leaf on another sapling.)

The pond looks so very different when seen from this southwest corner. It is so nice to have the fountain going again. And you would never know that downtown Creston was just a mile or so away on the other side of that tree line.

As I rounded that last corner and started back toward the house, I heard a bird start up its call to warn all other creatures nearby that there was an interloper in the neighborhood. 

Of course I knew before I saw it in the top of the corkscrew willow that it was a Redwing Blackbird.

My only concern was whether or not it was going to dive bomb me as the ones along the lane did when I was a child bringing up the milk cows.

Fortunately, it was content to sound the alarm and watch me leave the area.

I was only gone a half hour or so, but I traveled many realms - including the one of memory.

A July Sonnet

 

A Calendar Of Sonnets: July 

(By Helen Hunt Jackson) [Author of Ramona]

Some flowers are withered and some joys have died;
The garden reeks with an East Indian scent
From beds where gillyflowers stand weak and spent;
The white heat pales the skies from side to side;
But in still lakes and rivers, cool, content,
Like starry blooms on a new firmament,
White lilies float and regally abide.
In vain the cruel skies their hot rays shed;
The lily does not feel their brazen glare.
In vain the pallid clouds refuse to share
Their dews, the lily feels no thirst, no dread.
Unharmed she lifts her queenly face and head;
She drinks of living waters and keeps fair.

Celebrating the 4th of July in 1952

 

The world, my world, was a very different place the summer I was eight years old and growing up on the family farm. (Seventy years ago!)

If we had any fireworks it was because someone had driven to Hopkins, MO and brought them back. Sparklers for the kids, firecrackers for the adults and colorful roman candles for all to enjoy.

But mostly it was business as usual, which meant the seasonal farm work went on.

From the diary my mother kept in 1952: Friday, July 4: "Cut our oats today. Cut oats at Dean's this P.M. Went up to Dean's & had a picnic supper & Weiner Roast."

No mention of any kind of fireworks. Dean, Crystal and their son Norman were our nearest neighbors to the North. 

They were good friends and part of the neighborhood threshing ring which was formed every July.

Mom didn't have time to write much each day, but for the first twelve days of the month, they went like this: "July 1, Tuesday: Baled hay. Finished baling this eve. Louis and Warren started cutting oats this P.M. Rained a sprinkle."

Wednesday, July 2: "Cut oats today on Shearburn's. Mother & Leona & Kids came out. I curled Leona's hair."

July 3, Thursday: "I washed today. Cut oats at Warren's. Pulled to Reichardts at noon. Went to Mrs. Humbert's funeral this P.M."

Saturday, July 5: "Louis and Warren cut grain at Henry Mitchell's today. Went to town this evening." -- Of course we did. That is what we always did on Saturday nights.

July 6, Sunday: "Went down to Lois and Alvin's. The men went fishing. Rained hard in the night. The pheasants got wet." That was when Dad was raising pheasants for the gun club members. The brooder house for them was up at the other place.

Monday, July 7: "Louis got a load of feed ground. Rainy all day & turned much cooler. Went to school house to the school meeting. Had ice cream and cake."

July 8, Tuesday: "I washed today. Louis and Russell Vogel went into Miss Friman's and straightened up their books. (Miss Friman was the county Supt. of Schools. Dad was Secretary for our one room school. Russell must have held one of the other positions - maybe treasurer?) Louis went to Gun Club meeting."

Wednesday, July 9: "Louis finished cutting oats this P.M. Alvin and Lois brought up a bottle of gas."

July 10, Thursday: "Put a Prom 'Regular' in Ramona's hair. We went to town this P.M. Stopped to see Mother L. Lois and Alvin came up. We called Evelyn & Howard and the folks. The men went fishing. Went to bed at 1:00 Oclock." (Prom home perm kits were only sold through the 1950's.) The picture of me at the top was my 3rd grade school photo.

And this is my little sister's first grade school photo. Wasn't she a cutie?

Friday, July 11: "Put a Prom in Betty's hair. Dressed 4 chickens. Louis is mowing hay. Ronald went up to Norman's. Dean, Crystal & Norm were here this evening."

July 12, Saturday: Twelve days later and Dad is back in the hay fields. "Louis is raking hay this morning. I ironed and cleaned upstairs. Dressed four more chickens. Ramona and Betty went down to Grandma's. Went to town this evening and to the show 'Pa & Ma Kettle Go To The Fair'. Raining." 

 A week later, threshing commenced at Reichardt's. This photo is of Shorty Reichardt amidst all the shocks of oats in one of their fields. 

Two days later they began threshing at our place on Monday.

And finished by noon on Tuesday. In this picture two of the younger guys are pitching the shocks up onto a wagon while the older man is distributing them neatly.

A threshing ring was made up of all the farms in a neighborhood. The owner of the thresher moved from farm to farm in an orderly manner to finish that area quickly and move on to another area.

Mom "got ready for threshers" by dressing seven chickens and digging a bucket of potatoes. 

The next day, after the oats were safely stored in the oats bins in the corn crib, Dad and Shorty "went looking for a baler". Even though most of the straw was left in a big stack in the field, some of it was baled and put in the hay mow to use as livestock bedding during the winter months.

Once the threshing was done in July, there was a let up in the field work, except for more haying, until fall. But for the women folk, the end of August ushered in canning season. What was that old saying? "A man may work from sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done."

It was a simpler time. I enjoy reading Mom's diaries and recalling the memories from those years.

If Your Mind Isn't Clouded

 

"Ten thousand flowers in Spring ...

The moon in Autumn ...

A cool breeze in Summer ...

Snow in Winter.

If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life."

The Best Season by Wuman Huikai