How Did You find Joy in 2020?

by | Jan 14, 2021 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Reflections/Profiles

Adria and Tom Fuller, Guest bloggers

In spite of the difficulties associated with 2020, including state mandates limiting travel and gatherings, it’s brought us both joy and wonder. Who would have guessed:

  • that our family-centric wedding planned for May on the Maine coast would become an even simpler ceremony in Adria’s living room a month later, the State of Illinois allowing our minister in New Jersey to officiate over the phone.  Thank you, Alexis, for a ceremony that spoke deeply to us.

Walking

  • that this Mississippi River bluffs neighborhood (where both our houses are but not within sight of the River) could become as interesting and friendly as we found it to be this summer and fall.
  • that watching the corn grow in a farmer’s field just down our street really was entertaining.

Nature and Community

  • that for a couple of weeks, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo accompanied us for miles on neighborhood walks, out of sight, but not earshot.
  • that we’d be delighted with nighttime sounds of owls, coyotes, and frogs, and daytime glimpses of a fox, spotted fawns, wild turkeys, and groundhogs right in our yards.
  • that we would see the International Space Station traversing the night sky and five planets within 24 hours: Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter.
  • that although our church buildings are not currently open, ZOOM services have become part of the fabric of our lives.

Games

  • that we could play Pickleball on a circular driveway.
  • that Chinese checkers could be so entertaining, especially when a sleepy opponent starts moving pieces backward.

Food

  • that although he may deny it, he likes chocolate and ice cream just as much as she does.
  • that she CAN SHARE chocolate and ice cream. (Note anything chocolate and/or ice cream/frozen yogurt is almost sacred to her!  So sharing is quite the accomplishment!)
  • that she learned from him that Skippy peanut butter is its own daily food group.

Joy

  • And that after six months of marriage, he still makes her laugh every day.

We hope you too discover treasures of hidden delights in these challenging days—enough to abundantly water the new year with promise, advancement, and fruition.

Who Attended Country Schools?

by | Jan 13, 2021 | Gazette Features, Reflections/Profiles

Authors’ Note: Below are replies from folks who attended country schools.  Some stories originally appeared in the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

“Many older people have fond memories of attending the typical one-room school. The image is quintessential often with a painting of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln up front, a row of wooden desks, a potbelly stove in the back, and a privy or two outside. Although the facilities were humble, memories linger in the minds of older people who launched their learning careers in a tiny school.

Veteran Day’s Blizzard 1040

“I remember the Veteran’s Day Blizzard of 1940. It was a beautiful morning but clouds moved in and soon the wind howled outside Flanagan School. We had a car by then, but Flanagan School was on a dirt road. Dad thought the car would founder, but that the horses might get through,” said John Regan who attended the one-room school between Holy Cross and Rickardsville in Dubuque County.

““My teacher was Miss Regan, Dad’s cousin. She was wonderful and in that small building I learned education basics,” continued Regan.   He went on to serve a successful hitch in the Army, repaired typewriters in New York City, and emerged as a dealer of John Deere equipment in Newton, NJ, and ended up as an executive VP. He now lives in a New Jersey senior residence but often reminisces about his Iowa childhood.

Quality of Teachers and Cooperation of Parents

“Idahoan, Bob Pratt, Rich Patterson’s former college roommate, drawled, “I didn’t go to a one-room school. Mine was a two-roomer.” He added, “Grades one through four were in one room and five through eight in the other.” His school was in remote Idaho and had only three employees: two teachers and a person who was both cook and custodian. After eighth grade, Pratt attended a tiny high school. After earning his teacher’s certificate, he devoted a career to teaching practical farming and mechanic skills in equally tiny schools in rural Idaho.

“Both Iowa native Regan and Idahoan Pratt enthusiastically agreed, “The education I received in tiny schools was superb. Maybe better than I’d have had in a big school.  My classmates and I were well prepared for college and successful careers in many areas.”  Pratt continued, “I taught in high schools with just a few students in each graduating class, but they went on to great success.  One is a cardiac surgeon.  Another is a skilled cabinet maker. It’s the quality of the teachers and the cooperation of parents that make students excel, not the size of the school,” he emphasized.

Antics and Airplanes

“Friends we know in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, area share similar stories, emphasizing that one-room school education worked for them. The side stories add richness to their experiences. One friend recalled her mother getting a piggyback ride to school after losing her boots in the mud. Pam Tegler Geraghty, a retired special education teacher in Cedar Rapids admits to being a “holy terror!” as a kid at the Lamont, IA, school in the mid-1950s. Slopping in the creek on the way home and locking a classmate in the outhouse among her antics.

“Pat Maas a retired teacher and health secretary at Grantwood Elementary in Cedar Rapids, remembers the students running outside to see an airplane overhead in the 1930s, back when planes were new.”

Other Stories?

If other readers have other stories of one-room school experiences, we invite you to share them so we can appropriately add to them. Learn more about country schools in Iowa and across the nation.

Weep Not For Your Memories (Sarah McLachlan)

by | Nov 19, 2020 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Reflections/Profiles

Guest Bloggers Share Their Memories of Past Autumns

We invited readers to share their fall traditions and memories with Winding Pathways to help us through the 2020 Autumn and Holiday/Holy Days season.

Flowers For Fall

Pink Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemums bring joy.

JH- “Every year I tend lovingly to a patch of chrysanthemums that I planted many moons ago in my vegetable garden. It has a place of importance along with my four lilies in this particular raised bed. This plant sprouts in spring and gradually makes
its way skyward until the September coolness brings teeny tiny buds which become a single petaled soft orange sherbert color. I always leave the seed stalks during the winter because I know that birds love the seeds. A sense of peace and joy washes over me as this patch sallies forth in the fall. The bees and butterflies love it as well.

Soon the cold of winter will send it into its deep sleep to wait for another year of gorgeous blossoms.”

Family Gatherings

Family gathering

Extended family

SF- “Many T-givings we spent at Grammy’s.  Everyone sat around the table, Gram at one end, Grandpa at the other. Gram served up the potatoes and veggies, she then passed the plates along down the line to Grampa who put the meat on then it was passed down the other side.  Each of us, uncles and aunts, got our meals. Gram always loaded our plates which was always too much for us kids. One year Gram said something to us that she was tired of us not eating all our food and she was tired of throwing away good food.  Mum stood up and told her we served ourselves at home and we’re expected to eat what we were given. At subsequent T-givings Gram would ask us how much we wanted and then ate what she gave us.  After Grammy passed away usually Aunt Bunny and Uncle Joe came for T-giving at our house on Tibbetts Hill.  Uncle Joe was always fun.” Editor’s note: The family later hosted extended family Thanksgivings at their New Hampshire homestead.

***

Loving the Amanas
Pumpkins and People

Special time with Pops.

KT – “I miss going to the Amana’s with my father. He has passed and while he hated the changing of the seasons to cold weather, he loved eating and visiting the Amanas with his grandchildren. We always started with breakfast at the Colony Inn. For the best thin pancakes and sorghum, along with fresh fried potatoes, eggs, and English muffin toast with homemade strawberry jam. Then we had to head to the General Store for candy purchases usually Swedish fish, Rock Candy, and Red Licorice. If we had visitors with us we would tour the Woolen Mills and the Furniture Store and of course the Christmas Store with the most beautiful decorations.

 

“The Amanas is the closest thing we have to a fun Oktoberfest setting and environment. Such a great little historic village with many family memories for me!” Editor’s note: The girls are grown now. One lives in Nashville and the other attends Luther College.

Day Trips

Mississippi River and a barge

The Mississippi River stretches from Minnesota to the Gulf Coast.

S&MN – “Each fall, we would invite a couple of language teaching assistants, recently arrived in Minnesota from France to a ride down the Mississippi River to view the changing colors of the leaves. Conversation on the ride to Wisconsin gave us a chance to learn more about each of them and their first impressions of their stay in the US. We would follow the Mississippi River down the Wisconsin side to Stockholm, Wisconsin, where we would lunch at a small cafe, visit the Amish quilt shop, gift shops, and antique stores.  This included touring a small museum of the original post office.

Conversation Openers

We would stop at the scenic Maiden Rock overlook and Lake Pepin. Did you know that Water Skis were invented there?  We’d take in the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Pepin, Wisconsin, and visit the replica of the Little House in the Big Woods.  We shared stories and explained about the Little House book and movie series as we could.  We loved making connections to life in France during the same time period of the 1870s and learning which facts were most interesting to the young interns who had read the book series in France. Thirty years ago, the language assistants would have been fans of the TV series by the same name La Petite Maison Sur La Prairie. It was a popular series on television in France. In recent years, the students would have been given details learned on the show by their mothers who had loved the show as children.

Conversations on the way back to the Twin Cities would be filled with questions that were often spurred by what we saw and that most usually unanswered.  These conversations provided us with opportunities for conversation topics in the months that followed as many were inspired to read the series in English during their stay after the visit.”

Saint Paul Intercultural Institute
***
New Adventures for a New Englander
SH – “The first autumn after we moved to Wisconsin from New Hampshire I had a wonderful introduction to the fall bird and waterfowl migration. I had never experienced anything like it. Horicon Marsh is huge!  Part of it is federal lands and part is state lands. I was not sure what to expect when it was suggested that we join my husband’s parents for a Sunday outing. I was totally amazed and awed at the sheer numbers of birds that were flying, landing, and swimming in the water. A busy main state highway that runs across the top area of the marsh. Lots and lots of cars were parked on the edges of the road with families, watching out for traffic. People were wandering about taking in the sights.
When our daughters were young, we made sure that they also had the opportunity to see this mighty spectacle. I still enjoy going across that state highway and exploring the area. A recent addition is a park-like area with a paved one-way auto road with pull-outs and informational signage. Trails to hike and a boardwalk that has a gazebo with scopes get visitors out into the marsh for better viewing. There are also various dykes and dirt roads to boat landings to explore. After the autumn rush of migration, it is still a fun place to visit, and so far no matter when we visit, I have never been disappointed. It seems like we are always able to find some wildlife and sometimes get great photos of birds we don’t see on a regular basis.”

Paranormal

SBF – “When I bought a house in FL her son told me that the lady who had lived there before had loved her house and property very much. After I moved in with my friend, Jinx, on several nights I awoke to the TV sounds in the family room so I would go turn it off. This went on for 3-4 nights.  Finally, on the fifth night I turned it off once more, but I stood by it and spoke to the previous owner. I told her I loved the house and lovely plants around it, a ginger bush, a beautiful poinsettia bush, and a pretty plant on the backyard fence. Then I promised I would try to care for them as best as I could. “But please,” I asked, “could you not turn on the TV after we go to bed at night as I had to get up to go to work 5 days a week.”
The TV never went on at night after that!”
Thanks for sharing autumn stories!

How Do You Describe The “Joye” of Walking?

by | Nov 12, 2020 | Reflections/Profiles

Walking Meditation
Joye Winey, Guest Blogger

I was working in my yard one day when a car pulled into my driveway. The driver rolled down her window and said “You’re that lady who walks !!”

I am.

And, I have always been. Walking has been my go-to exercise and meditation since I can remember. Today as an Octogenarian with asthma, an iffy knee, and bone issues, I walk daily, for one hour. It is a very rare day that I miss. I plan my day around my walk. I walk any time of the day that works for me, early morning or early evening when I have other obligations. I need light and fresh air so I walk outside — in the rain, the snow, below zero and 90 degrees. I walk inside when there is ice.

I dress for the weather. My full-length raspberry down coat stands out against the snow. I love having my nose and cheeks cold and on hot days, I take the best shower after. I hang on to my straw hat in the wind.

I am fortunate to live where traffic is light, near a small manmade lake. I walk in the same area but take different routes.

I note the trees flowering in the spring, different ones turning autumn orange; the farmers planting or harvesting; turtles sunning on the rocks, and eagles flying over.  I delight in the blue heron on the bank; a mink or muskrat swimming by; geese honking or ducklings trying to keep up with Mom.  Rushing water over the spillway after heavy rain and sunrises and sunsets elicit a” Wow!” each time I experience them. Clouds or brilliant blue skies and lately, roofers doing their acrobatic dance in silhouette on someone’s new roof at dusk capture my attention.

These are some of the things that catch my eyes and ears as I walk. I have found coins sometimes. Once a tiny dinosaur for my grandson. And lately, a collection of roofing nails that  I pick up so my neighbors’ tires won’t. Each day brings new surprises. I always return home refreshed and energized for the next task. I sleep well and have managed to keep mostly positive during this unsettling year. When deep ice comes, I no longer walk outside. In past years I have done that walking at a local medical facility. I don’t know if they will allow me to do that this year. If not, I will find somewhere else.

But walk I will. And lastly, I walk because, blessedly, I can.

Connect with past Gazette stories

by | Oct 29, 2020 | Mammals, Nature, Reflections/Profiles

We settle into fall and sometimes like to just browse past stories.  Here are some links to more recent Gazette features and natures notes.

Explore Iowa’s National Parks. August 2020

Take Advantage of Iowa’s County Gems July 2020

Why RV Life Isn’t for These Senior Tent Campers.  July 2020

Bear Sightings in Iowa Getting More Common. June 2020

Take a Walk on the Wilder Side   April 2020

Derecho Stories:  Get Outside and Walk But Stay Safe  September 2020, Rebirth Amid the Rubble  September 2020

 

How We Have Spent Our Time in The Great Pause

by | Jul 30, 2020 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Reflections/Profiles, Solitude

Guest Bloggers Reply

Readers offered their activities in The Great Pause. Most were home-centered with some careful forays into society. And, of course, connecting with self and nature.

SA: My mother was in a nursing home in Bettendorf. Visitors were prohibited but I was able to wave to her and blow kisses through a glass door. After 3 weeks of isolation from family, she passed away on March 31. We could not have a proper funeral due to the virus. It was not how I imagined her life would end. My husband still had to go to work every day so my days were spent in solitary isolation.

Gardening Offers Solace

Young Wren

Looking out at the world.

Once the weather warmed up, I spent hours in the garden and puttering in the flower beds. I cleaned out my garden shed and found an old birdhouse one of the boys had built-in Cub Scouts 20 years ago, I painted it and hung it in our ash tree. A wren immediately investigated.

ZOOMing

I had twice-weekly Zoom meetings for an organization I belong to. I acquired the Audible version of Stephen King’s unabridged book “The Stand”–which I read back in the late 70s–but at 1,000 pages, I chose to listen to it instead. (That took 45 hours.) Listening to it while I cooked, cleaned house, and drove around was entertaining and frightening, considering the subject matter.

Connecting with Nature

Goats Lounging

Leisure in the pasture.

Steve and I walked outside every day, hiked the Amana Nature Trail, Pleasant Creek Park, FW Kent Park, and others. On one cold, overcast day, we climbed into the car and drove backcountry gravel roads in the area east of Solon, with no idea where they led or where we would end up. We were rewarded with beautiful pastoral landscapes, green pastures dotted with peeks of sunshine between dark clouds, and a delightful trio of baby goats scampering in a pen next to the road. We were able to get out of the car and interact with them for a while. Such a joy in these dark times to watch new life scamper about, trying out their legs.

“Music Speaks Louder Than Words….”

JH: Well, I’ve spent almost every day since the middle of March on return from Florida playing every single piece of music that’s been stacked in the closet for many moons. I’ve kept certain pieces aside so that I can call a friend, a relative, an acquaintance, a business person, and play and sing a song to them over the phone. Some of the music is from 1897 and much of it is from the early 1900s to the mid-1970s. It’s been a total blessing to me and everyone has been most appreciative and one friend shed a few tears because her mom and dad’s favorite song was “Cruising Down the River” which I didn’t know when I selected it.

I’ve also written numerous Corner Shot articles and sent them to the Roanoke Times. Several of my articles have been posted in the master gardener’s newsletter. I’ll keep on keeping until we can mingle and hug one another again.

Self Care & Connecting

KK: Submitted to cataract surgery and nursed eyes back to health. Put in many eye drops. Learned a new healing skill. Spend too many hours on Zoom. Wore and washed the same few clothes over and over. I practiced gratitude.

a finger labyrinth

Calming through writing.

Joined a new church in another city via Zoom. Ventured out to a couple of restaurants open at 50% and ate outside. Found a Tai Chi class on the labyrinth at the park. Made finger labyrinths. Washed clothes. Did much personal growth work. Wrote someone a letter and mailed it via snail mail. Received a letter in return. Planned a retreat that may not happen this year. Cleaned out desk and found someone else’s treasure, mailed it to them. Washed clothes. Did online Yoga. Washed more clothes….