Friday, September 30, 2016

Celebrating Fall's Abundance

This week we've had a reprieve from the rain and heat.  It's been sunny, cool and windy.  The flood waters are receding and life is returning to normal.

As a community, we have work to do, cleaning up from the muddy mucky mess. Thankfully here we are high and dry, but many others are hosing down, assessing the damage, repairing and starting over.  My dear friend, Kamyar Enshayan is rightfully calling for a rethinking of our use of our resources and our relationship to our land and waters.

The last several years the monarchs floating in and around our gardens have been scarce.  The bees are dying in record numbers.  And no one really knows the answer to why though some scientists are pointing to the use of neonicotinoids, an insecticide.

This is the process of being human.  We change our environment, we learn the consequences of those changes and then modify our behaviours.



Last week a bald eagle kept us company as we played tennis.  When I was a kid growing up in the 1970's bald eagles were an endangered species.  I only saw them on TV.  Now living here so close to the river, I see them all the time.  There is hope, we can change how we live. We can live in harmony with our natural environment. This phenomenal recovery of the eagles points to the difference we can make with thoughtful conservation of our natural resources.

As the sun broke through the clouds this week, David Goering from Stella's Gardens called to see if I'd like to tour his production gardens. 

Pumpkin sticks, a relative of eggplant

 Would I? Oh yes, can I bring friends?!

So early Thursday morning, Marijo and I headed over to David's gardens.

David with the largest elephant ears I've ever seen.
The dew was still heavy on the garden.

Lupines, a spring flower
When we arrived David and his crew were busy making door swags to take to the Des Moines' Farmer's Market on Saturday.

Amaranth, bitter sweet,  hairy balls, sea oats, sweet Annie
I spotted this butterfly on the annual salvia.  



That's a big monarch, the kind that fly to Mexico, David said.   I knew that the monarchs that fly to Mexico and California lived longer, but I had no idea they were also larger.  These monarchs will live six to eight months, compared to their summer grandparents who live only two to six weeks.  David plants lots of native milkweed, Asclepias L. to feed the monarchs. This year David estimates he's seen 10 times the number of monarchs he saw last year.  A hopeful sign indeed.

I was surprised to learn that what I call hairy balls


is also in the milkweed family.

David and Marijo

David has almost three acres in flower production in this one garden.  He has two more gardens where he grows sunflowers and broom corn.
Ruby Mood Bean vine pods

The Ruby Mood Bean Vine
David showed Marijo and I how to prepare gladiolus (glads) for winter. 


 First he dug up the plants, tossing the bulbs aside and letting them start the drying process right in the garden.


After the bulbs have dried for a few days, he comes back and breaks off the smaller bottom part of the bulb.


By twisting it.


David throws away the smaller bottom bulb.  This was last year's bulb.  He peels the new larger bulb.


He leaves that outside to dry in the sun.  When it's good and dry, he boxes all of his glad bulbs up and puts them in a basement.  These days most of our basements aren't very cool, but David says that's OK, just get the bulb good and dry!

More of David's annuals:
Black Millet
Sea Oats
Red Celosia in foreground, yellow celosia in background


I believe we can live in the garden of eden right here, right now, if we chose to learn from our mistakes, take care of our own plot of earth and care for and about each other.  

Friday, September 23, 2016

Two Great Fall Cleaning Hacks

Yesterday was the "official" first day of fall. In celebration of it's arrival I've been cleaning up a storm. I get a thrill out of cleaning and sorting. Changing the house and gardens from spring to fall.


But there are two big jobs that I hate doing.



The first is washing windows. 


 Our two story house has a lot of windows, with small panes and aluminum storms.  I'm not crazy about heights and no matter what product I try, the windows are still streaky when I'm done.  So this year we hired Streak Free Window Cleaning run by my friend Greg Schmitz.

True this may not constitute a true fall cleaning hack, but he and his crew did a FANTASTIC job. The windows are clean and truly streak free.  They were so careful, even oiling some hard-to-reach crank-out window mechanisms for us.  Now those crank-out windows, crank out without complaint.  If you're on the fence about whether it's worth it or not to hire this job out, just do it.

My second hack,  is more of a hack.  Every year at this time the daylillies start looking really sorry, beat-up and tired.  


I get out my trusty small clippers and start scissoring away.  It takes me 15 to 20 hours over four days to clip all of these.  My carpel-tunnel flares up.  I can't hold a spoon or fork for almost a week, This development excites Prince Charming as he thinks this lack of utensil holding will lead to smaller knee dimples. On me, not him.  I've found when I'm in as sorry a state as the daylillies, beat-up and tired looking I can still suck milkshakes through a straw.  Don't fret about me, Wonder Ones, those knee dimples aren't getting any smaller.

I'm losing sight of my point, earlier this spring we purchased an electric hedge trimmer. 


I had the brilliant idea of using said trimmer, Rambo-style, to cut the daylillies down.  

Photo courtesy of Internet.  Sorry couldn't find a picture of Rambo's knees.

Two hours later the daylillies were whipped into shape and I could 


still hold a spoon.


I was especially proud that I didn't cut  the electrical cord that tethers the trimmer to power, and while I came close to nicking my chubby little knees, they emerged unscathed! 

After the trimming!

 I now had 13 to 18 hours back in my life to go to the spa, read my favorite novel, eat bon-bons or do more fall cleaning.....

It's been raining here and we're under a flood watch.  The rivers in the area should crest Saturday night.  We had almost four inches of rain in the past 24 hours, and it's still raining so the flooding could last awhile.  This is usually our "dry" season.  Flooding now is unusual. The gardens are mostly quiet this time of year, without much blooming until the trees start changing color.

But I did find a couple of fun things blooming in the garden this week.


The fall anemones are looking lovely.

And the pots still have some life left in them.

Have you stepped outside at night this week?  Did you see the harvest moon, and hear the crickets?  The waters rise, the earth spins and it's up to us whether we'll pause long enough in the middle of our frenetic lives to soak in the moonlight, hear the small voice of the cricket serenade, smell the leafy, earthy smell of summer slipping quietly out the door as fall tricks in.

Friday, September 16, 2016

Blue Dream of Sky

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes. --e. e. cummings

Our trip to Utah's mountains with their searing sunshine and bright, sunny days was a lovely change of pace.  But unlike most trips, I felt a little homesick.  The unrelenting blue sky, the full sun seemed to be tanning my skin into a leathery mahogany hide.

The sun in Utah is like a major character in a daily drama. The sun makes its presence and absence felt.  The Utah sun burns during he day with an intensity I've never felt.


If I'd stayed much longer, I think I'd start to look like the vegetation--a brown or yellow shell of myself.

When the sun sets, the atmosphere cools down immediately.  Temperatures, even in the mountains were hitting 90 degrees during the days.  At home, heat like that lingers into the evening.  In Utah, heat evaporates, the atmosphere too thin and dry to hold any heat once the sun goes down.

Prince Charming and I kept forgetting our jackets on our evening strolls. We'd shiver as we walked.



During the day, we sheltered under our broad brimmed hats and scuttled like beetles from one shade pool to the next, trying avoid direct contact with the sun.


At home, it's the air that suffocates with its clinging humid kiss. Here its the sun's rays that penetrate skin, feather, bone.


The long vistas here end everywhere with a


mountain, forcing one to look up, contemplating the veil of sky.

“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” – Anonymous

Living in the Midwest, sky has dimension.


The lowest sky level brushes against the maples, hickories.  The old burl oak scratches and heaves in conversation through the medium of wind with the sky.


In the Midwest sky reaches from grass to heaven. Fog forms and descends to ground, lifts its skirts to form ruched, low-hanging flounces.



In the high middle, fleecy puffs of whimsy float.


In the upper sky, giant mountains of thunder heads build, majestic, glorious, fierce.

The Iowa sky is no veil, no thin coat of ultra-marine blue holding back the enormity of space and infinity.  The Iowa sky is solid.  Built in layers of dust, humidity, rian, lightening, thunder.  Birds swim in the Iowa sky, flashing white and silver like a school of fish in the great oceans.

In the mountains of Utah, there's only a thin coat of ultra marine between me and the cosmos. The air so thin and dry--brittle--it hurts.


My chest heaves, my heart leaps. I suck in what little air there is and hold it, waiting for the scrubby pine, the pinion oak, the quaking, clacking aspen to release another breath before I trade this used breath in.

“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson

Wishing you a wonderful weekend, Wonder Ones.




Friday, September 9, 2016

Taking the Waters

Photo courtesy of Visit Glenwood
We're just back from a trip out west to see our son and "take the waters".

Out last stop was in beautiful Glenwood Springs, Colorado where we stayed in the historic Hotel Colorado.

Photo courtesy of Hotel Colorado

We love old hotels, you just can't find the kind of grandeur of these grand old dames



in today's modern hotels.  Though of course you find larger bathrooms and bigger rooms in more modern hotels.  Still we like the funky personality of these old, grand behemoths.

Right across the street from the Hotel Colorado is the magnificent  Glenwood Spring Hot Springs Pool.

Photo courtesy of Visit Glenwood

These hot springs were part of the Ute Native American Culture and were called Yampah which translates as Big Medicine.  The hot springs lie in the valley formed by the Colorado River flowing down from the mountains.  We were just in Glenwood for a day and so only had time to explore this one hot spring.  There are two others, that look interesting: Yampah Spa and Salon and Iron Mountain Hot Spring.

The Hot Springs Pool has a "cool" pool heated to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, also called the "large" pool.  "Large" doesn't quite cover it.  This pool is gigantic at 405 feet long and 100 feet wide. The "hot" pool, at 104 degrees Fahrenheit is called the "small" pool, still bigger than most pools at 100 feet long.  The large pool includes swimming lanes and a diving area. There's also a kiddie pool and a water slide.

The Hot Springs Pool is an all day experience.  We started with a delicious breakfast in the cafeteria before finding a shaded spot on a large promenade covered by a pergola.  If you want to have the complete luxury experience, you can rent a cabana.

Don't miss the original sandstone bath house built in 1890.  



It has a spa and fitness facility, though Prince Charming and I were so taken with our perch under the shady pergola, dipping in and out of the pools that we didn't spend much time inside the bath house.

If you're passing by on I-70, it's worth a long stop and soak.  Though plan ahead. The pool is closed five days a year for maintenance.  Since we were there after "prime season" which runs from Memorial to Labor Day, cost was about $20 per swimmer for an all-day pass.  You can come and go from the pool, if you'd like.

This was our second taking of the waters on this trip.  Our first was at the Homestead Resort in Midway, Utah at The Crater.

Photo courtesy Homestead Resort

The Crater is a hot spring surrounded by a rock dome.  The rock dome is formed by the heated rising minerals released by the hot spring.  Scientist call this kind of formation a "caldera".  Before 1996 the only way into the crater was through the hole in the roof.  Thankfully the owners of the Homestead Resort tunneled their way into the side of the crater which allows visitor's much easier access.  The pool is naturally 90 to 96 degrees Fahrenheit.  It's deep, 65 feet deep and scuba divers use the pool to practise.  The site has also become an archaeological dig, as scientist filter through the eight to 14-feet of silt at the bottom for objects lost or thrown into the water.  I lost a pair of goggles in the water, which the hosts assured me would be retrieved over night.  Reservations are required and your swim time is limited to about 40 minutes, cost is around $16 per swimmer.

These baths are such old-fashioned pleasures.  No fast moving parts, no screaming noise, no speed at all.  Just your body, floating in mineral-soaked water, moving at the pace of your stroke or simply sitting on the steps of the pools watching old and young soak up the water and the sun, the fresh air and blue sky.

Our trip west had a purpose.  We went to Utah to visit our son.


Do some hiking in beautiful territory



And celebrate our son's promotion to Captain in the United States Air Force.


Like all parents, we're proud of all of our children and so I appreciate your indulgence while I brag a little about my son.  We enjoyed meeting our son's colleagues who serve our country so faithfully.  It's easy to wonder about our place in the world and the right role for our military.  It's so refreshing to go spend time with wonderful people who feel called to a life of serving their country, whose highest priority is serving all of the rest of us.

Have a wonderful week, Wonder Ones!