Home again!!

Fling off the shoes!! Pack away the jacket!  Slip into flip flops and tees and make sun tea by the gallon!  I’m home again in SW Florida. 

Traveling is always fun for me.  If the destination is wonderful, that’s even better!! 

We crossed the Ohio on the Cave in Rock Ferry at the tip of southern Illinois.  

My young dog, Sophie, didn't know just what to think.  After this shot, I took her out to the edge of the ferry to see the water.  No, no!  She put all four feet down, nails out against the steel deck.  She isn't a water dog!! 

Taking the side roads and back roads always means interesting things to see.  The opposite side of the ferry is still farm country, but the little towns all had their own individuality.   One tiny burg had a huge Victorian Queen of a house - probably a dozen rooms at least.  It was painted in the gay colors of that era and even had decorative shingle work in it's mansard style roof.  All the other houses in town were little white clapboard boxes with rooms added on as needed.  The Queen looked so regal among her more common neighbors.  

In another town, maybe in Kentucky, I saw a Pamida store.  Hadn't seen one in years.  Tied to one of the light poles was a horse fully saddled - just another 'parked car' on the parking lot.   

Raw soil in the Midwest tends to be yellow clay or deep, dark loam.  As I moved into Georgia, I began to see the well-known red clay.  Now, it's the white sandy soil of Florida.  My houseplants that travel with me will have a shock of bright sun again.  

Go traveling if you can.  It's a fantastic land we live in  ~pam

Travels with my doggies

Time for my annual flight from the winter cold in the MidWest to my home in sunny SW Florida.  I’ve been planning this for a month.  Anxious to leave, but first one thing then another seemed to delay me.  Family activities --- a BBQ, high school football games, and band competitions for me to attend.  Then, the car wanted attention. 

At last!!! Flight to warmer climes in just a few days!!!  Here’s the opportunity to just be rolling along. It gets my blood flowing – almost a euphoria of excitement.  I just love to travel.  Destination isn’t as important travel itself. 

 Rolling south out of MO, I made a sight seeing detour into St.Francois county, MO.   I'm fascinated with the conundrums in life.  this farmstead is probably at least 150 years old.  No one lives there at present it seems, but it was inhabited not long ago - note the TV satellite dish on the porch roof.  ha, ha.  Maybe they were still using the outhouse, but then can watch ESPN.

Have you ever read “Travels With Charlie” by John Steinbeck?  What I’d read of Steinbeck in college was so gloomy.  Not so this book!  I could really relate to his experiences as he drove his self contained rig through 40 states with his dog Charlie on the passenger seat.  There is the way he describes what he sees and the way he uses words, that alone is a pleasure to read.  Here’s a section I really liked ---

If one has driven a car over many years…nearly all reactions have become automatic…This being so, a large area of the conscious mind is left free for thinking…I myself have planned houses I will never build, have made gardens I will never plant, written long detailed letters never to be put to paper, much less sent….And how about the areas of regrets?  If only I had done so and so, or had not said such and such – my God, the damn thing might not have happened.  Finding this potential in my own mind, I can suspect it in others…

I once read some research by grad students indicating some people have born-in wanderlust.  They thought people with Plains Indian backgrounds seemed to have this factor more than others.  Well – in the alphabet soup of my ancestry I do have some American Indian – Choctaw and Cherokee.  Cherokee were an Eastern tribe.  I doubt they traveled beyond their mountain home except at the demand of President Andrew Jackson.  But Choctaw are Oklahoma plains Indians.  So perhaps that explains why I don’t stay in one place long.  A couple of years max and I’m ready for different scenery.  Having my own RV is a bit more sophisticated than a tee-pee, but just as easy to move around.   ~pam

change of place & seasons

Mornings have been dipping into the upper 30’s.  My Florida thin blood has me bundled up with hat, mittens and coat.  My doxie/chichihua mix needs her sweater and stays under the quilt when inside to stay warm.  We’ll be headed south in just a few more days. 

Beauty knows no climate.  Ragweed makes me sneeze, but it’s beautiful on foggy mornings covered with dew.  The horse in the next pasture looks surreal as he watches us walk by.  

 One thing about staying so late in this climate is the remembrance of autumn.  It’s not so evident in a zone 11 climate.  Here, it’s a #5 Agricultural Zone.  The big hay rolls from summer have faded to grey/brown.  Sumac and sassafras are already coloring.  Squirrels have been very busy with the acorns.  I have to be extra careful for invading spiders and mice that would rather spend the winter in my RV safe from the elements.   

Don’t I wish I was sitting on a Gulf Coast beach in Florida right now!  Instead, I’m still in the Midwest waiting for a few more family events before I can return to my adopted home of SW Florida.

It would be hot there.  But - it’s hotter here in the midwest.  But as anyone knows there are different kinds of hot.  Both locations would be sunny and humid.  But the still, windless days of August in the Midwest feel hotter than the same temperature and humidity with a nice salty breeze off the Gulf. 

The change of seasons are more subtle in the deep south.  Here, early signs of fall are seen in the woods and fields.  One of the first to turn into fall color are sassafras trees.  The green of the other trees are a tired, worn out looking green.  Summer itself seems to be tired.  The fencerows sport scarlet patches of sumac and brown dried grasses.  I’m seeing Monarch butterflies and birds are beginning to gather into flocks, practicing for their return to their winter home.  I make my morning coffee while it's still dark. 

In just a few weeks, this snowbird will happily return to SW Florida - to my home of winter sunshine.  I always like to make note of the first palm tree I see on the drive.  One year, I saw them in Montgomery AL.  Of course they were intentionally planted as part of the landscaping in front of a expensive hotel.  No matter!  It meant I was getting close to home!  ~pam

Memories of Lois

This morning I attended the funeral of Lois Brooks.  A recent widow, for 20 plus years she was almost my sister-in-law.  In the first pews sat her immediate family - children and grandchildren.  Beyond those seats were neighbors and friends like me who had come to say good-by.  Those people and their own memories of her are the legacy she left us. 

I remembered episodes of our relationship:  She loved to sing and would sing bits and pieces of songs at unexpected times.  I loved that about her.  Because of her and Wilbur’s winters in Florida, I became a resident there too.  I am grateful to her for that as well.

Sitting in church listening and observing I pondered the end of life questions the Pastor was attempting to answer.  Why are we here?  What happens after we stop breathing?  I like to believe that the essence of who we are, our soul or psyche lives on in a new and different way in a spiritual realm I can only speculate on.

Where do we go, how much of the life we had on earth goes with us? .  Who really knows the answers to those questions?  I guess Lois knows them now.  ~pam

Kansas revisited

 Now why would anyone visit Kansas?  You know all the “Dorothy” jokes about Kansas – hear tales of boring drives across it’s flat expanse – jokes about it’s corny-ness in August.  My two small dogs, Willy (in front) and Sophie (behind him) decided it was best to just sleep through Kansas.  

Well, that’s just what I did.  I visited Kansas in August.  And – I loved it!!  

My excuse is I was born there, so I always have a sense of being home again when I’m there.  To me, its flat prairies and constant wind are an inspiration.  I want to sing out loud, want to swing my arms as wide as the sky and if my 70+ knees would stand it, run against the perpetual wind.  I notice myself breathing deeply as though I could suck in the simple beauty of the rolling Flint Hills dotted with scrubby stands of cottonwood and willow in the draws.  It would be even more beautiful in spring.  But then --- most places are prettier in spring.

 In the above photo I liked the contrast between the abandoned limestone farm house and it's old fashioned windmill with the modern wind turbine you can see faintly in the center rear.  As I continued west along Interstate 70, the windfarms followed the crest of the hills for miles and miles.  If there is one thing Kansas in abundance it's wind and limestone.  

Standing in line at a fast food place, I heard people who talk just like I do – a flat kind of drawl.  I didn’t have to interpret their language and nuances – everyone spoke just like they should speak!  Plainly!  Hee, hee.  It’s all in the ear of the beholder.  

 Visiting Lingsborg, KS on a 100 degree day wasn't as much fun as I wished .  As you can see my doggies have their tongues hanging out.  I quickly closed my panting mouth long enough for a kind stranger to take this photo.  

My recommendation is to visit Kansas if you must, but only in May or September.  ~pam

Well now – have you ever felt like this?  There are days when my old bones do indeed feel just this way. 

I came upon this pair in a prairie dog town between Boulder and Longmont, Colorado on a recent visit there.  It made me laugh to just see them.  I had to stop and get some photos. 

Looking around, I tried to figure out why these two were here.  There was no indication that there was ever a home there.  No crumbled foundation anywhere.  Then again, no home would need a ‘his’ and ‘hers’ would it?  Next, I thought of a church or even a school.  Still, no indication of any building nearby. 

After looking more, I noticed several fallen down, fenced off areas, like paddocks and at the end of the field the type of open ended shelter used for livestock.  Perhaps this had been a stock auction or small rodeo grounds. 

Wouldn’t it be interesting to talk to some of the locals who have been here 50 years?  They’d have the answers.  As it is, speculating on the former life of these old outhouses is as much fun as actually knowing the facts.  ~pam