September '23 Book List

Only seven books read this month - or maybe just six and a half considering the size of one of them:

The Golden Doves by Martha Hall Kelly is the second book of hers I've read. This one is set during WWII - one of my favorite time periods to read about.

The Librarian Of Burned Books by Brianna Labuskes is also a WWII era novel, inspired by a true story. It tells the stories of three women who believe in the power of books to counteract the darkness of war.

Somebody's Fool by Richard Russo is set in upstate New York. Our library doesn't get many of his books, but I always read them when they do. He is such a fine writer and can turn any subject/idea into a compelling story.

The Heist by Daniel Silva is his next book of the Gabriel Allon series that I've been reading. I love the history of art that he combines with his espionage themes.

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse by Charlie Mackesy is the half book that I referred to. I put it on my list to read when I first heard of it and expected to find it in the children's section. However it was in the adult non-fiction stacks of the library.

Charlie Mackesy is not only the author, he is also the illustrator of the line drawings. He describes the book as being for everyone, whether you are eight or eighty. Its main message is kindness, though other themes are touched upon. I found this to be an enchanting little book.

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave is the story of a woman who totally believes she knows her husband until he disappears of his own accord and she discovers he wasn't who she thought. His final message is to protect his daughter. 

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly is another of her novels set during WWII. It was inspired by the life of a real WWII heroine. Reading these books can be hard as they tell real stories about the atrocities committed by the Nazis. But I feel it is important to understand what happened during those years. I'm learning alot I had not known before. It makes me very grateful to live where and when I have. It also makes me fearful for future generations.

You can learn alot by looking, but reading gives understanding. Books have always been one of my greatest pleasures. 💖

Back In The Saddle Again

Today is the anniversary of Gene Autry's birth. (1907-1998). I know I heard his music long before we had a TV, but I remember watching The Gene Autry Show (1950-1956) from the time we got our first TV in 1954 through 1956. 

The other singing cowboy, Roy Rogers, also had a TV show (1951-1957) and I much preferred watching him. Back In The Saddle Again was Autry's theme song, while Roger's was Happy Trails. 

Autry was born in a small town in Texas. He bought his first guitar from the Sears Roebuck Catalog for $8.00 when he was twelve years old. 

Before his TV show, he became popular as a singer and the movies he made in the 1930's.

And just as I became a fan of Bill Haley and the Comets, Elvis Presley and other rock and roll singers in the 1950's, I imagine Bud's mother felt the same about Gene Autry in the 1930's.

Which may be why she had her own Gene Autry 'Roundup' Guitar sold through the same catalog from which Autry purchased his first guitar though at a slightly higher price. 

This Gene Autry guitar sold for $9.75 from the Fall of 1932 through the Fall of 1938.

It was Lottie's wish that her guitar would go to her grandson Mark.

And that's just what happened when he visited us in December 2012.

I have no idea what this Gene Autry guitar might sell for today - nor whether or not Mark plays it - but it has stayed in the family. That's what matters. 

Lost Time

Dorothy Parker may have been noted for her wit, but she also wrote poetry. I find this one of her's particularly poignant.

Temps Perdu

by Dorothy Parker

I never may turn the loop of a road
Where sudden, ahead, the sea is lying,
But my heart drags down with an ancient load–
My heart, that a second before was flying.

I never behold the quivering rain–
And sweeter the rain than a lover to me–
But my heart is wild in my breast with pain;
My heart, that was tapping contentedly.

There’s never a rose spreads new at my door
Nor a strange bird crosses the moon at night
But I know I have known its beauty before,
And a terrible sorrow along with the sight.

The look of a laurel tree birthed for May
Or a sycamore bared for a new November
Is as old and as sad as my furtherest day–
What is it, what is it, I almost remember?

(Translated from the French, Temps Perdu means lost or wasted time.)

Remember

 A FB friend posted these words a few days ago. I added some of my photos to go with them.

Remember that you are water - Cry. Cleanse. Flow. Let go.

Remember that you are Fire - Burn. Tame. Adapt. Ignite.

Remember that you are Air - Observe. Breathe. Focus. Decide.

Remember that you are Earth - Ground. Give. Build. Heal.

Remember that you are Spirit - Connect. Listen. Know. Be still.

"We can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them." George Eliot, 'The Mill on the Floss'.

Dad's New Tractor

 In the 'everything old is new again category' ....

A few weeks ago brother Ron advised me that I might want to go to Corning's Homecoming Parade this year. The reason: his step-son-in-law, Jeff, and Jeff's father had restored our father's tractor and it was going to be in the parade.

I didn't make it to the parade but I did see the pictures from it and grabbed this one of Dad's 1944 John Deere B tractor. Looks just like new, doesn't it?

I called my brother to tell him I had seen the picture of it on Facebook. He filled me in on some facts I had not known. Dad bought the tractor new. It was during WWII when everything was rationed. Somehow Dad was on a list of farmers eligible to buy a tractor and his name came up. Until then he had farmed with horses. Ron didn't know how much it cost, only that prices were frozen during the war. A Google search shows that the price was probably just under a thousand dollars.

Here is a photo, circa 1946, of me, little sister, Betty, and brother Ronald on the tractor and Dad leaning against it. 

And here is Ron with the restored tractor before the parade. He is trying to strike the same pose as Dad.

Ron is 'just slightly' older than Dad was when the two pics were taken.

I don't know when Dad upgraded to a John Deere A, probably in the early 50's. And I'm guessing it was used, not new. 

I remembered that our cousin Larry's grandson, Joe, had restored a John Deere tractor a couple years ago and got to wondering if it had been his grandpa's. A quick query provided the answer: "Yes it was." It is nice to have these family treasures still in the family. 

Learning To Swim

I woke up a couple of days ago thinking about learning to swim. It is something I have already blogged about (June 20, 2010) so I won't repeat that, only add some to it. It was in 1957, the same year the Corning pool opened and the summer before I began high school. I was thirteen, Betty, eleven. Up until then we hadn't needed swim suits but obviously we would have to have them to take lessons so Mom ordered us some inexpensive cotton ones from a catalog. Mine was pink and Betty's was blue. They had ruffles around the bottom - much more like little girl's suits than one for someone who was going to be 14 in exactly five months. Our first lesson was on Tuesday, June 18. The next day Mom took us to the pool so we could practice what we had learned the first day which was how to float. I mastered that and was ready for the second lesson on Thursday which was learning the crawl. By July 2, the 7th lesson, the instructor had us in the deep end of the pool. July 20th was our last lesson. I would have lived at the pool that summer if I could have. On August 11 I passed my swimming test (swimming back and forth across the width of the pool twice) and was granted permission to be in the deep end. My favorite thing was diving off the low board, swimming over to the ropes, climbing out and going back to dive again, and again and again. 

A picture of Corning's pool the summer of '57. Was I in this photo somewhere?  The other thing I remember was that Dad worked, helping finish the pool house, so the pool could open. But why? It was almost done and he only worked a few days - the only time I remember him working off the farm.

I could remember where Betty and I learned to swim, but what about my children? My brothers? Where/when did they learn? I couldn't remember except for my big brother. Ron took lessons out at Lake Binder. At one time there was a high wooden tower with a diving board there. (Both photos are from the 1957 Corning Centurama booklet.)

Younger brother, Les, also learned at the Corning pool. He started lessons the summer between first and second grades and continued with lessons until after 6th or 7th grade when he achieved Junior Lifesaver status. Good for you Les, you're most likely the best swimmer of any of us. 😎

We were living near Johnston by the time my children were old enough to take lessons. The Camp Dodge pool was completed in 1922 - one of the largest pools ever built. It measured 150' x 350' and held almost three million gallons of water and between one and two thousand swimmers. It closed in the fall of 2001 and never reopened. It has since been filled in. 

It was a great place to go swimming except it was a bit hard to keep track of your children. Doug started lessons there and then continued lessons at the YMCA camp near Boone. Kari and Preston both started lessons there and finished with lessons at the Corning pool after we moved back to SW Iowa in 1978.

The important thing is that we all learned to swim. 

(I had to ask Les, Doug, Kari and Preston where/when they learned to swim since I could not remember.) 

Standing In (Not On) The Corner, In A Dunce Cap

Rearranging the spare bedroom before company came resulted in the treadmill now facing into a corner. I was walking this morning when Bud asked if that was worse than how it had been. I replied that it was actually better and then added, "Though it does remind me of having to wear a dunce cap and stand in the corner once when I was in grade school."

As soon as I said that, I did remember being punished for something and having to stand in the northeast corner of the school room. I remember being ashamed but I can't remember what I had done wrong - possibly talked back to the teacher. 

If so it would have probably been third grade which was the first year we had Mrs. Kimball as our teacher. My 1st and 2nd grade teachers probably wouldn't have punished me that way. Mrs. Kimball was more strict.

However, I probably did not have to wear a dunce cap. I doubt she would have taken the time to make one.

And being a dunce meant being slow at learning. I was not that, well, except for math, maybe.

Ten minutes with your face in the corner and your back turned to everyone else seemed like an eternity. I could imagine the others pointing and grinning behind me. Though the teacher would have put a stop to that if they had been. 

And I would have been in even bigger trouble with my parents after my brother and sister went home and told them about it.

The worst punishment anyone received during my entire eight years in country school was when one of the 8th grade boys was suspended for three days. I don't remember if it was for cussing the teacher or raising his hand to her. But it was dramatic.

Funny the memories a chance remark will call to mind.

(Images are stock; not really me.) 😍

Our Grandparents Were Double Cousins, What Are We?

A family picture from around 1925 of Grandma Delphia, Ruth, Evelyn, Lois (seated) and Grandpa Joe Ridnour.

A family picture from around 1923 of Murl, Chester, Cleo, Thelbert (seated) and Martha Kendrick.

Grandpa Joe Ridnour and Martha Mauderly Kendrick were double cousins. Joe's parents were Kathryn Mauderly and Rufus Ridnour. Martha's parents were Joseph Mauderly and Ida Ridnour. Sister Kathryn and her brother Joseph Mauderly married brother Rufus and sister Ida Ridnour; making Joe and Martha double cousins.

January 25, 2013, ten and a half years ago, Cleo Kendrick Lessner's daughter Judy sent me an email introducing herself and saying who she was. Her interest in family history and a search for Mauderly's and Ridnour's had led her to one of my blog posts. (Memorial Day Part II, May, 2012). We emailed back and forth a few times and then became Facebook friends in February 2013. Since then we have exchanged family history past and present, family photos, etc. We became friends and I hoped to one day meet her in person.

Ten and a half years after that first email, June of this year, Judy messaged me that she was working on a Kendrick/Mauderly cousins reunion in New Market, Iowa and extended an invitation to me. And would I notify my brothers and cousins? I hadn't realized how few of us were left that would remember the Kendrick's other than Aunt Evelyn's children (only two still living) and Aunt Lois' children as well as my brothers. Even if none of my first cousins attended I still wanted to go just to meet Judy in person.

Yesterday it happened. Judy and I met in person. I don't think we could have been any happier.

And while I can't recall ever meeting Judy before, I do have a vague memory of  meeting her sister Martha when we were quite young. Their mother Cleo came to Iowa from Michigan to visit her parents often. Martha and her husband live in Wyoming. Judy and her husband live in Michigan.

Neither of my brothers was able to attend but my first cousins Glen and Lila, Aunt Evelyn's two surviving children did come along with Glen's wife Mary Lou and Lila's daughter Valerie. (Left to right, Val, Lila, Mary Lou, Glen and me.

Judy's cousin Marilyn, who lives in Clarinda, helped her schedule things in Iowa. Marilyn (left) is the daughter of Chester Kendrick. I can't recall ever meeting her, but I did know her sister Beverly who died in May, 2022.

These two are the sons of Thelbert and Melba Kendrick. I have a childhood memory of playing with their older brother Jackie when I attended a neighborhood club meeting with my grandma. (Jackie died in 2018.) And I had met Randy (seated) several times at the Ridnour family reunions. But I had no memory of Denny (standing) even though he was the middle one of the three boys. I remembered that Thelbert and Melba had three sons, but I couldn't even remember the third one's name. Randy has an extensive amount of family history on his computer and in his photo albums. I'm hoping to receive copies of some of the photos digitally.

While my focus was on connecting with the older generation, Bud took a number of other pictures for me including this one of the younger generations playing on some pretty fun looking equipment. Most of these people were introduced to me, but I couldn't remember all the names or family connections. I think most of them were Marilyn's children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Other random photos: Martha and Denny on the left, Marilyn at the end and Glen and I looking over Randy's shoulder at family history on the computer.

Lila, Glen and me. I hadn't seen Lila and Glen in ages probably at the funeral of our cousin Gary Mitchell's wife, Marilyn. Glen and Lila's younger sisters, Glenna, Janet and Mary all died in the last three years. Their older brother Larry died in 2004.

It was such a nice day. The weather was perfect. The connections we made were great. The memories of those gone before us, respectful. The memories we made today, wonderful.

Wouldn't our grandparents be happy to know their descendants still got together and talked about them with such affection?

(Judy, Martha, Marilyn, Denny, Randy would all be my third cousins.) [I think.]

Seeing a Theme in the Guest Bedroom

 O Pioneers!

While Mark and Juliet were here visiting, my stepson asked about this picture, remarking that it had hung in every place his Dad and I had ever lived. I told him it was cut from the Des Moines Register in the mid 1960's and given to me by a friend who had enlarged the orignal newsprint drawing for me because I had spoken about identifying with pioneer women. I recall that I had read a story about a woman living on the treeless expanse of the prairie who thought she would lose her mind if she couldn't see a tree. So one day she set out to walk until she found one, ending up many miles from her home.

The story left an impression on me which I have never forgotten and have always associated with this framed pioneer woman even though she is obviously in search of water, not a tree. Though trees almost always grow where there is water. 

This morning I took another look at the pictures in that room and realized how monochromatic they all are. This photo of me and my little sister with our buggy and horse Queenie which was taken during threshing at our neighbor's farm and appeared in The Villisca Review newspaper.

And this 'mystery' picture which we found in Mom's closet after she died. I had never seen it before; don't know where it came from nor why she had it.

But I love it so much.

And then there is this small black and white "Part of the Team!" clipping from a paper or magazine that I have taped to a mirror above the chest of drawers.

It makes me think of my Grandma Lynam and photos I've seen of her as a young wife on the farm.

This is an actual photo of Grandma with my father, Louis, as a child with a team of horses near the barn.

Obvious why the above picture makes me think of her, isn't it?

While some may find the spare room decor boring, I find it very soothing.

Another 'pioneer' picture which hangs in the hallway. This one was also given to me by friends who recognized my propensity for pioneer life.

Much as I used to imagine being a pioneer woman headed west along the Oregon Trail, it was on a visit to Ash Hollow State Park in Nebraska and seeing this replica sod house there and the terribly sharp descent the wagons had to make down Windlass Hill, that I realized I could never have really been a pioneer. 

Or could I?

A Month's Worth of Company in Six Days

It is unusual for us to have company. Usually if there is a family gathering we go to it rather than host it. But this past week saw us hosting several family members.

First, on Monday, grandson Brock was in town with the roofing company he works for. They have been replacing roofs damaged in a June hail storm. He stopped by and had lunch with us and spent a couple of hours.

Late Wednesday afternoon youngest son Mark and his partner Juliet arrived from New York to spend a few days. This was especially nice as we hadn't seen them in person since 2018.

Thursday we had lunch at our favorite sports bar followed by a relaxing evening of pizza and good conversation until time for August's Super Blue Moon to rise. 

Which is when the young'uns drove out to Green Valley Lake to watch it come up over the water.

Juliet took my camera along and got this picture of it for me.

 

Friday I made chicken tetrazzini for lunch - the first time I had ever made it. That afternoon the kids drove to our old hometown so Mark could show Juliet some of his childhood haunts. They also went looking for cows because Jules loves cows and wanted to see some up close. 

And she did get close - right into the pasture with them.

She was so happy.

And it was all thanks to a stranger. This woman had noticed the car with out of state license plates and asked if they were lost. "No, we're just looking for some cows."

"Well, follow me" she said. And took them to her place and introduced them to her pet cows. 

In our state that is known as "Iowa nice".

 

That evening they attended Corning's high school football game which they told us all about when they got home - including that two of the Corning players had gotten hurt and had to leave the game.

That became ironic the next morning when Bud's cousin messaged him and asked if Mark was visiting because she thought she had seen him at the game the night before. Bud confirmed that she had indeed seen Mark and Juliet there. At which point she shared that one of those injured players was her grandson. 

All too soon Saturday morning arrived and it was time for them to head to Des Moines to catch their plane back to New York. The time went way to fast just as we had known it would, but it was so great to have them here again.

Not long after they departed my daughter-in-law called to see if we were going to be home because she was coming to Creston and wanted to stop by. She surprised us by bringing along her daughter who was visiting them for the weekend.

So Shalea, Dominique and I sat on the deck enjoying some girl time. A nice way to end five days of company - only missing having someone here on Tuesday. Now it will be just the two of us until our daughter comes from Portland next month. As far as I know, anyway.