Delving Into The Old Photos Again

I had reason to pull out the boxes of photos yesterday, going through them looking for some specific pictures. In the process I saved out a bunch to scan, most of them from Grandma Delphia's that I ended up with. 

Like this one from her parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration. Her Mom and Dad aren't in the photo even though the day was to honor them.  This group is made up mostly of Means cousins. Grandma Delphia Means Ridnour is the second from the left sitting in the front row. Her sister, Drothel Means Perryman is sitting on the right with her husband Lloyd Perryman standing behind her.

My Grandpa Joe Ridnour is the second from the left in the back row. Grandma's cousin Shelburn Means is the young man on the far left in back. Shel's son Harrison J. and I were in the same class in highschool. I scanned several more pictures of Means family members to share another day.

This photo is of my great grandparents Katherine and Rufus Ridnour with my grandfather Joe when he was a baby. I'm using it again because when I look at it now I'm struck by how many in my family share resemblances to this cute baby, including some of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

This picture of my little sister Betty, my big brother Ronald and me was taken in May, 1951 which explains why Ron is so proudly holding that rod and reel - he must have gotten it for his 11th birthday.

We are sitting on our version of a teeter-totter that we made with a board balanced across some left over piece of machinery.

A slightly younger Betty and Ramona proudly (?) showing off our Moorman's Feed balloons. The Moorman's salesman must have called on Dad that day.

It looks as though Trixie just got booted out the door as Laddie looks on worriedly. 

And speaking of Dad (Louis), here he is all dressed up. My guess is he was going to a funeral. That was about the only time he ever wore a suit. There's no date on the photo, if there was I could probably figure out whose funeral it was.

He's definitely posing. I wonder who he was imagining being; what was going through his mind?

I was just telling someone about the dolls Betty and I got for Christmas, how I snuck downstairs before anyone else and saw Betty's name on the blonde doll in the pink dress and mine on the brunette in the yellow dress. I switched names because I wanted the blonde doll. I also see toy telephones which were a favorite. I could use mine to play 'office'. I also remember playing many games of Chinese Checkers on that board.

Our Christmases now are very low key since we started having our family Christmas in July. Doug and Shelly did come down for lunch on Christmas Eve and brought us this beautiful Poinsettia. Shelly said as soon as she saw it, it was the right one for me - and she was right. I love the colors. 

It looked and felt more like Christmas today with the snow and cold weather than it did on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. I liked it better when it was in the 30's.

Ending 2021 On A High Note

The freezing fog overnight Thursday made for some beautifully frosted trees and bushes yesterday morning. I really wanted to go outside and take some pictures and was considering going up to McKinley Park. Then Bud decided, because of the forecast for snow and bitter cold for today, to make an end of the month walk instead of a first of the month walk. When he said he was going to go around Lake McKinley I asked if he would like me to come up there to take the picture for his Facebook post which is how I ended up just where I wanted to be - taking photos up at the park/lake. 

Usually I would be freezing in the 30ish temps, but I was so into what I was doing I didn't even get cold until I was done and started back to the car, headed into the wind. These are a few of my favorite shots.

The seed pods on the Tulip Poplar fascinate me.

A close up of a limb on a Longleaf Pine tree.

One of these days a flock of Cedar Waxwings will be feeding on these ornamental crabapples. I just hope I'm lucky enough to see them when they are.

This old Willow tree is just where it likes it - near the waters of Lake McKinley.

The park has many great paved paths which hook up with others and can be followed all the way to Green Valley State Park. I do like walking on the paved paths but my favorite is this little gravel path from the campgrounds to the spillway. I like that it is in and of nature, i.e., not manicured.

Which is also why I love the stream flowing out of Lake McKinley. This little beginning is the much larger Platte River by the time it leaves Iowa and crosses into Missouri.

Part of the water is still open while other areas are beginning to freeze over.

I could hear a number of birds, but could never see them which might have helped me identify them. I could not tell what they were from just hearing them.

Here the water flows over some rocks, but that shelf of ice along the edge is encroaching. 

I thought the frost on the weed in the middle of the photo made it look like a trident. Can you see it?

I have no idea what plant these small red berries form on. And I'm surprised the birds haven't eaten them. Are they something poisonous? Or do they just taste bad?

I also cannot identify what vining plant these yellow leaves grow from.

But I thought they went together nicely with the red berries.

One final picture of the creek before heading back to the car. I didn't even notice the red stems of the plant in the upper left corner until I had the photo on the computer.  Again, I have no idea....?

I really wasn't very far from my car, but when I headed that way, I was walking right into a cold wind. Now that my attention was no longer upon my intent, I really did notice the cold. But I am so happy I went out yesterday because it is really cold today.

I do plan to continue the New Year as I ended - being out and about in, of and with nature as much as I can.

I hope 2022 is good to all of us. 😊💗🌻🌞⛅🌎

Books I Read In December

 Ten books read in December for a total of 97 for the year. 

My One and Only by Kristan Higgins is one I chose in order to have a paper back by the bed and because I have been enjoying some of her other romances. This one was a definite disappointment.

False Witness is Karin Slaughter's latest stand alone novel. It is as well written and finely crafted as all her other crime thrillers I have read.

Wish You Were Here is Jodi Picoult's newest novel. It is set in NYC during the early days of the Covid crisis. On the eve of departure on their dream vacation to the Galapagos, the boyfriend breaks the news that he has to stay because it is 'all hands on deck' at the hospital where he works. He encourages his girlfriend to go ahead because the trip is non-refundable. She goes alone and then finds herself stranded because of the pandemic.

I don't know how Picoult can write so beautifully about any and all subjects. I loved learning more about the Galapogos, their beauty and magic. This book had a twist that only added to its enjoyment. I won't spoil it for you.

A Darker Reality is the third in Anne Perry's Elena Standish series. I am really enjoying this series set in the 1930's between the two World Wars.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig was the Adult Book Club's choice for December. I wasn't planning on attending Tuesday's meeting (which was cancelled anyway), but I did want to read the book. It was about a woman who wanted to die, but ended up in the Midnight Library where she could choose any book which would give her variations of what her life could have been. I wasn't surprised by the life she finally chose, but it was an interesting read.

Leave The World Behind  by Rumaan Alam is a book I read after a conversation with a friend in Wisconsin. Kristina told me about her favorite bookstore located in a nearby small town. I visited their website and it does look like a delightful store, one I'd certainly love to visit. The website listed a number of books recommended by their staff. This was the only one of those that my local library had. It is not a book I would normally read - a dystopian novel about the end of the world. I found it disturbing because it is too close to my fears for our world. But the book was well written with just a tad bit of hope in the ending.

The Crossing and The Wrong Side Of Goodbye were the next two books in the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly. These books are like eating candy, once I start, I cannot stop. 

The Book Of Magic by Alice Hoffman is the fourth and concluding book of her Practical Magic series. As with some other last books in a series I have read, this one felt rushed, as in, "Let's just get it over with." I did not like it as much as the preceding novels.

And finally, Oh, William! by Elizabeth Strout which I just finished yesterday. I've been a fan of her writing since reading her Pulitzer Prize winner Olive Kitteridge. The narrator of this book offers her reflection on the nature of existence: "This is the way of life, the many things we do not know until it is too late."

I look forward to another year of good reading in 2022. I hope you do too. Happy New Year! 🎉

January to December - 2021 in Photos

 Nature, nature, nature, nurturance! 💚

January - Adams Street bridge at Lake McKinley.

February - A lovely Mourning Dove on a frosty morn.

March - They look like smoke signals but in reality are flint colored clouds over a pond partially covered in ice.

April - Always good to see the toad survived the winter. After all he/she is a symbol of fortune, prosperity and abundance. I've never given him/her a name. How about Teddy/Teddie the Toad?

May - Why are some geranium leaves multi-colored and the rest are just green? This one was eye-catching especially with the raindrops.

June - Grasses silhouetted in the sunrise at Green Valley Lake/State Park.

July - We called them thunderheads when I was a child. They meant rain, possibly a storm.

Cumulonimbus clouds are always dramatic. (From Latin cumulus, "heaped" and nimbus "rainstorm".)

August - And I was chasing butterflies, hoping for that perfect picture. I was pretty happy with this one.

September - Another little trip close to home took me to a park/lake I had never been to before - Nodaway Lake southwest of Greenfield. 

So much to see and photograph and choose from. This little yellow Jewelweed with the dew still upon it won out.

October - Morning sunlight on the Virginia Creeper climbing an old lakeside maple tree at Lake McKinley.

November - Sunset and dancing clouds of purple and pink over the pond.

December - The Full Long Night Moon setting in early morning clouds.

Bonus photo #1

In January we made a trip to the Schildberg Recreation Area near Atlantic to see the swans on Quarry Lake #4.

It was late afternoon before they came back from feeding in harvested fields.

What a joy to watch them flying in, highlighted by the setting sun. 

Bonus photo #2

On a lovely June morning I set off on a photo-taking tour in my home county. It was an enjoyable time and I only took a hundred pictures.

I don't think I ever walked home from our one room country school without stopping on the bridge and looking down on both sides to the little creek - a tributary to the 102 River.

It looks different now, smaller and with Eastern Redcedar trees crowding the banks.  I don't remember the Arrowhead plants there years ago but the mud looks the same. And the memories remain - throwing rocks into the water, scaring the pigeons out from underneath the bridge - even going there and catching bullheads with my mother and sister. 

I thought for certain after we had our Covid-19 innoculations that our lives would be more normal and for awhile they were - once again being with family members and going shopping without wearing a mask. But the pandemic isn't over yet and I doubt it ever will be completely. I'm back to wearing a mask whenever I go out and shopping very early in the morning when there are few others out and about. Even with the booster shot I don't think I'm really totally protected. So 2022 will be another year of finding peace and contentment in, of and with nature. 

Perfect Balance

 I must have a hundred or more poems saved in my 'Poems and Quotes' folder. But they're not in any order, so when I go looking for a poem to use, which I have been because I haven't shared a poem for awhile, I have to look through them all. Yesterday I was looking for a poem about winter but gave up.

This morning FB gave me a post of the poets lost in 2021 with a snippet of a poem by each. I liked the stanza next to the last poet listed, Adam Zagajewski, and went looking for the poem it was from.  I found it was the last lines of his poem 'Balance'. 

Balance (Adam Zagajewski)

I watched the arctic landscape from above
and thought of nothing, lovely nothing.
I observed white canopies of clouds, vast
expanses where no wolf tracks could be found.

I thought about you and about the emptiness
that can promise one thing only: plenitude—
and that a certain sort of snowy wasteland
bursts from a surfeit of happiness.

As we drew closer to our landing,
the vulnerable earth emerged among the clouds,
comic gardens forgotten by their owners,
pale grass plagued by winter and the wind.

I put my book down and for an instant felt
a perfect balance between waking and dreams.
But when the plane touched concrete, then
assiduously circled the airport's labryinth,

I once again knew nothing. The darkness
of daily wanderings resumed, the day's sweet darkness,
the darkness of the voice that counts and measures,
remembers and forgets.

Books I Read In November

 Ten books read in November....

Life And Other Inconveniences by Kristan Higgins was a paperback I just grabbed to have a lightweight (both literally and figuratively) book bedside for nighttime reading. It turned out I enjoyed it so much I've been reading all her other books the library has.

the perfect match and waiting on you are #'s two and three in her Blue Heron series which I really like. They are set in the Finger Lakes region of New York and mention the nearby 'big' town of Corning, NY which was named for the same founder as our 'little' hometown of Corning, IA.

The Drop and The Black Box are the next two books in Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series. 

The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles is my favorite kind of book - a novel based on a true story and about books! Based on the true World War II story of the librarians at the American Library in Paris, it is a story of romance, friendship, family and the power of books to bring us together. 

Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh is a book I found while sorting and clearing out my many boxes of books. I don't remember when/where I got it, nor whether I picked it up because of the name - the same as my grade school teacher, though spelled differently - but I had never read it. It was a winner of the Pen/Hemingway Award, so that probably influenced my purchase. The story was about a man and the three women he married, discarded, and moved on from to the next - three very different 'Mrs. Kimbles'. It was an interesting read

State of Terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny went on my 'want to read' list when I first heard of it on CBS Sunday Morning a few weeks ago. I am a huge fan of Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, the most recent of which I just read last month, so this was like a bonus, although it mentions Gamache only briefly in passing. Just reading about the world crises a diplomat or secretary of state has to deal with, even in a novel, is eye opening. But I felt like they were very plausible due to Secretary Clinton's inside knowledge. I really liked this book and hope there are more collaborations by these two remarkable women in the future.

The Burning Room by Michael Connelly is the next in the Harry Bosch series. Old Harry is nearing the end of his career with the Los Angeles Police Department which got me wondering what he is going to be doing in the next seven books of this series. 

anything for you is #5 in Kristan Higgins' Blue Heron series. If I had to say why I'm enjoying these romances so much, it would be because the writing is good, the characters have a lot going on in their lives and the dialogue is believable. Or maybe I was just ready for some light reading. 

Family Ties

Between trips to the ER, the OR and PT, November and the last half of October have passed without much else to distinguish their days. (With the exception of all the November birthdays and anniversaries which were acknowledged by phone and mail.) But Thanksgiving at Preston and Shalea's on Thursday and a visit from Katrina, Rodney and Brynley Saturday afternoon helped make up for those lost days.

Ahh, family ties, family time, can anything be any better? 

I hadn't seen our youngest great-grandson since April when he was two months old.

And now, Louis is nine months old. I was especially happy to see him again. 

And get this great photo of him and his grandpa Preston. 

Ayden and Greyson keep getting bigger and older but they are still just as loving toward their great-grandparents as always. 

And they seem to like playing with their little cousin.

The younger ones got their plates first.

The little one on the left is Oakley, the son of Devin's fiancé, Jessica. 

Louis had already had sweet potatoes at the table, but he was ready for nap time after lunch. 

Travis' eyes were on his son, but Louis' were on the camera. 

Louis isn't walking on his own - yet - but it won't be long.

Aunt Dominique was taking him for a spin.

Another favorite picture - Louis with Grandpa Preston and Grandma Shalea.

I hope it's not another seven months before I see him again, but that is a possibility. 

Saturday afternoon our youngest great-granddaughter, Brynley, her brother Rodney and mom Katrina came to see us.

Again, there's nothing like being around the little ones.

Brynley painted a picture for me and then colored this one Great-grandpa Bud drew. 

I didn't get a very good picture of Rodney. He was preparing to lift Brynley by her ankles. She had been teasing him about his girlfriend.

She may only be four, but she already knows how to get to her big brother. 

Family ties. 😍