An Affinity For Trees

"When I am among the trees, 
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness,
I would almost say they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world,
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out: "Stay awhile."
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again: "It's simple," they say,
"and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine."

When I Am Among The Trees
       By Mary Oliver

October Country and Bradbury

I doubt I've ever read a Ray Bradbury book, yet this cover from 1955 looks familiar. The book was a collection of nineteen of Bradbury's eerie short stories.

Three years ago, while looking for a quote about October, I found this image. I was surprised by the author's name.
I loved the quote so much I used it with one of my photos October first two years ago.







This is the full quote of Bradbury's October Country:

"......that country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger and midnights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal bins, closets, attics and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain."

Hmm, that omitted line about coal bins, cellars and attics, if included, would have made me see the author more like the way I perceive him. But I would not have liked the romanticism of the quote as much as I did/do.

October is not all "bright blue weather" it is the month pumpkins, hayrides, bonfires and of ghosties and goblins, too. I aim to enjoy the month in all its glories. 😈💀👻💓

Read In September 2019

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty was an accidental read, but one I enjoyed.

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty is a book recommended by a Facebook friend. It is also the reason I read The Chaperone. When I took Liane's book off the shelf I noticed another Moriarty book next to it and thought, "Oh, she has two books, I'll get them both." Not noticing the other was Laura, not Liane. But both turned out to be good reads.

The Pact is one of Jodi Picoult's older books. All the way through it I had the feeling I had read it before - but before I started keeping track of my reads, so I'm not sure.

Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb is about a bride running away from an abusive fiance on the day of the wedding.

The Crossing Places and The Janus Stone are books one and two in Elly Griffiths Ruth Galloway mystery series. She is a forensic archaeologist brought in to help police investigators when human remains are found.
I really like British mysteries and will read my way right through this series. My favorite reads this month.
  

Another Saturday Morning At Green Valley

Today was the third Saturday in a row for HD and me to walk together at Green Valley. It is beginning to feel like a regularly scheduled date. There was only one section of the paved trails we hadn't yet walked, so I stopped at the boat ramp parking lot....

....the only car among all those pickups. Bud noticed that the trucks were all Chevy's (including one GMC) except for that lone white Dodge Ram. I noticed the license plates - they were all from Lee County which is in the very Southeast corner of Iowa. Why would they all come to SW Iowa to fish? A fishing contest of some sort? But there weren't any other vehicles from any other parts of Iowa. A mystery.

It was a cloudy, rainy looking morning. It didn't look like we were going to see too much of interest at which to point the cameras.

Spoke to soon - there around the first corner, standing out in the lake several feet from shore, was a Big Blue Heron.

There were still a couple Monarch butterflies about, but most of the flowers are done for the year.

I didn't count how many of these we saw on the path, but there were quite a few. Do you call them daddy longlegs or granddaddy longlegs? I think we always called them granddaddy longlegs and wrongly thought they were spiders. They are opiliones, commonly called harvestmen because harvest season is the time of year they're most oftenly seen. Well, now I know why I saw so many today.

There was another heron where we were about to turn around and start back to the car. It flew across the lake and landed among the rocks. I had to zoom in to see it. I think this photo looks like a watercolor painting.

And this one, too. It's another shot of that first heron we saw.

I was so excited when I saw these tiny, bright orange berries. I haven't seen Bittersweet growing since I saw it on the fence at Rose Hill Church/Cemetery North of Clarinda several years ago. Before that, I used to find it along the Old Quincy Road and on the fence at Oakland (Quincy) Cemetery.

Autumn arrives in a couple days. Our Saturday morning walks at Green Valley may be limited to only a few more. I look forward to them.

A Quiet Place To Walk

A few days ago I thought of another place for my morning walk. I gave it a try this morning and found it perfect.
Some of the alleys are graveled, but the wider avenues are smoothly paved.
There are hills, but none too steep. And it is so quiet and peaceful here.

There is a small pond to the North.....

....and a larger one on the South.

Many beautiful old pines and other trees are scattered throughout.

Graceland is the large cemetery south of Creston.
A stylized bird is the gnomon on a large sundial.

From a distance I saw only a big round stone something and wondered if it was a well; a wishing well maybe? Closer I saw it was the base for a sundial. The words under the pointer are Companion Garden and around the bottom Through Cloud And Sunshine Together.

Many gravesites are decorated for Autumn. This was the first one I noticed, and one of the prettiest.

I took photos of a couple intriguing markers. This one because of its shape and that it is a natural stone not the usual polished markers.

And this one because there is a note or letter inside a plastic sleeve attached to the flowers and stone.

So curious was I to know what words and thoughts it contained - but left it undisturbed.

There are many benches around the cemetery. Some like this one are the grave markers. In this case, the husband is deceased, but the wife is alive. The wording on the seat is "Take A Seat In The Shade There Lady". I wonder if that is something he used to say to her.

This very large marker is not a grave stone, but a gift from a woman in memory of her family.
"All to myself I think of you, think of the things we used to do. Think of the things we used to say, think of each happy bygone day. Sometimes I smile, and sometimes I sigh, but I keep each olden golden while all to myself." (Wilbur D. Nesbit) 

I doubt you could walk here without getting a peaceful easy feeling. I couldn't.

Using A Letter Opener

I've used a lot of different letter openers in my life, starting with my first office job when I was 17. There were 19 or 20 different offices in my working span of 47 years. I'm sure most of the letter openers I used were those standard 9" stainless steel ones, though somewhere in my memory banks there was one with a green marble handle. It seems like it was part of a desk set, so maybe one of my bosses had it and I used it on occasion.

In this day and age, there are many fewer letters to open, especially when you are retired. Generally I just rip the envelopes open, but I do have a letter opener by my chair in the living room and one on my desk in the office. I remember my Mom using a paring knife to carefully open her envelopes.

This is the letter opener next to my chair. There is enough print left on the handle to read 'Stitzel Electric'. A search returns Stitzel Electric as a company in Des Moines, so I assume this opener was one I used at one of my jobs in the Capitol City.

I suppose I was so attracted to that knife blade in the handle that I 'accidentally' included this letter opener when I packed up my stuff at the end of whichever job it was I was leaving. And just what is that knife for anyway? Maybe to open boxes? Or for self defence? I don't know where it came from, but I have had this letter opener for many years.

Though not as long as I've had this one, my favorite. I bought this letter opener at an antiques show in Des Moines in 1969. I can't remember the exact location, but I do remember the large open area of a building along Merle Hay Road or Harding Road and 'Armory' sticks in my mind. But it could also have been in the gymnasium of a school. I know I was pregnant with Kari and it was her Dad and my son Doug with me looking through all the different booths.

I was first drawn to this letter opener because it was/is 'my color'. But it was the woman's head at the end that made me buy it for sure. It may have been my grandmother Lynam's collection of lady head vases that got me interested in collecting anything with women's heads, or maybe it was my passion for the Women's Liberation Movement, but collect them I did.

Yesterday I had some mail to open here at my desk. I used this letter opener, thought about how long I've had it, and for the first time wondered about the words in the inset on the handle - INLAND MFG. DIV. GMC.

An online search turned up information that really surprised me. Inland Mfg. Div. GMC was the only division of General Motors Company created within the company and not acquired by purchase. It used the buildings and technology of the defunct Dayton Wright Airplane Company and was organized in 1922 for the manufacture of wood wrapped steering wheels.

During World War II, the Inland Division was tooled up to produce M-1 Carbines and a pistol called the Little Monster designed to be air-dropped to reisistance fighters in Europe. They also manufactured many other items for the war effort including tank tracks for both American and Great Britain tank manufacturers, helmet liners, gun sights, shoulder rests, fire extinguisher horns and many other small parts needed for the war effort.

An image search shows the letter opener also in colors of red, blue-green and pink. One site describes the handle as Femme Art Deco. In others it is referenced as based on the hood ornaments found on Pontiac automobiles which were named after the Ottawa Indian Chief Pontiac.

I prefer to think of the face on my letter opener as being feminine. It has been interesting to me to learn more about the Inland Mfg. Div. GMC.

Finding A Way To Survive

You may think from the first photo that this blog post is going to be about Creston surviving for 150 years. It is not, though they did celebrate their sesquicentennial this summer.

The sign is in the parking lot of the Historical Village at McKinley Park. It is where I parked this morning to begin my morning walk. I was using it when I got back to my car to try taking a picture of the nice feather I found down by the lake.

It wasn't until I was almost done with my walk before I found anything I felt like taking photos of.

I was walking the semi-circular driveway at one of the shelter houses when I noticed the lovely moss growing in one of the posts placed to keep cars out of the grass.

Of course then I had to check the others - grass in this one.

Some weeds and a tree, mulberry, I think, growing in this one.

And in the last one, among the pieces of gravel some little kid put in there (I'm guessing), the sprout of another little mulberry tree. Wonder how trees get started in places like these? Birds eat mulberries. Birds perch on the sides of the posts and ...... think about it. 😉

I was thinking about the moss, grass, weeds and trees and how they had found a place, a way, to survive when some bright yellow caught my eye. Now how did these flowers survive in this roadside ditch when it is mowed regularly? I dunno.

Back at the car and one final picture with thoughts of survival. Near the pioneer cabin - which brings up its own thoughts about survival - there is a figure of a pioneer woman holding a baby. It was carved from the trunk of one of the many park trees that did not survive, but still lives on......