What is Mother Nature Thinking?

We've been having "typical" Iowa weather lately. It's March 6th, and we've already had sunny, warm weather (in the 50s), gusty winds, heavy rain, chilly weather . . . you name it.

Last year on this day, we had a tornado watch, which turned into a warning, complete with sirens going off, and us heading to our "tornado corner" downstairs.

This year? Well, yesterday as I was on the road from Des Moines to Cedar Rapids, I drove through torrential rains on I-80, and drove into freezing rain as I entered the Cedar Rapids area. Then it turned into snow. And today, we've been having gentle "snow globe" snow.

The trees, however, are still coated in ice from yesterday's freezing rain.

I had my daughter take a pic of some of the trees we see on our drive to school.

They look cool and they seem to have a "Sleepy Hollow" vibe, in my opinion, with the dark, wet trunks. (By the way, I enjoy the Johnny Depp "Sleepy Hollow" version from 1999).

Currently, I think it's about 30°F right now, with the wind chill in the 20s.

A couple more Instagram pics: one from yesterday during the freezing rain, and the other from this morning during the snow. . .

Bejeweled

I like Mother Nature's winter fashions (so long as the roads are clear). The sunshine and blue skies help.

This is a tree outside my bedroom window (on the eastern side of my house). It had a lot of snow blown onto its limbs during the blizzard we had last weekend - a bit of snow continued to stick to the branches, even a couple days later.

However, add a sunny, seemingly "warm" winter day, and some of the snow starts melting.

But then, when the temps dip to around zero, all that melting snow turns icy.

Then we get a lovely "glittery" tree.

My Year in Books, 2013

A couple years ago, Lisa over at Two Bears Farm got me hooked on this meme from The happily ever after blog. I've come to really enjoy wrapping up the year with this post, so here goes.

These are all based on the list books I read in 2013. (I didn't read nearly as much as usual, in part, because I wasn't in school either semester, nor did I have the urge to read as much as usual. I can't wait to do this list again in 2014, because I should be back into my reading groove by then, as well as getting back into grad school classes.)

Here's how you play along: answer the questions by using only the books you read in 2013. Fun, huh?! I think so!

1.  Describe yourself:  The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
2.  How do you feel?  Out of Range by C.J. Box
3.  Describe where you currently live.  Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
4.  If you could go anywhere, where would you go?  In Plain Sight by C.J. Box
5.  Your favorite form of transportation?  Night Passage by Robert B. Parker
6.  Your best friend is: Spider Woman's Daughter by Anne Hillerman
7.  You and your friends are: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
8.  What's the weather like?  Below Zero by C.J. Box
9.  What is life to you?  Trouble in Paradise by Robert B. Parker
10.  Favorite time of day?  Zero Hour by Clive Cussler
11.  Your Fear?  The Fifth Assassin by Brad Meltzer
12.  What is the best advice you have to give? Chocolat by Joanne Harris
13.  Thought for the day?  Merry Christmas, Alex Cross, by James Patterson
14.  How I would like to die: Ghost Sickness by Luis Alberto Urrea
15.  My soul's present condition:  Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
16. My family is: Force of Nature by C.J. Box

A view from the University of Iowa Main Library (a row of foreign language books). I took this pic in the spring of 2012 using the Instagram app on my iPhone.

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope 2014 brings you many blessings.

(And I'm planning on writing and blogging much more than I have in 2013.)

Can't Get Enough White Sands!

I thought I'd share a few more of my favorite pics that I took when we were at White Sands National Monument on November 10th. (To quote Paul Harvey, if you want "the rest of the story," please click here.)

Most of these were taken with either my smart phone camera or my little point 'n' shoot digital camera.The two square pics were taken using the Instagram app on my iPhone.

You can click on each picture to get a somewhat larger view.

I loved the dark (almost a blue-grey) shadow in this picture against the whiteness of the sand. By the way, the yucca plant (all varieties) is part of the agave family. Agave azul is used in the production of tequila.

I love the way yuccas look. Since we were here in the fall, we had missed the prime "blooming" time of the yucca plant, hence the now dead flowers on the tall, spindly "stalks." 

It really looks snowy, doesn't it?

The low-lying area at the foot of this dune is called the "interdune" area. There are many of these areas in between the wind-swept sandy dunes. 

She likes yuccas, too. 

Made it to the top!

See the jagged peaks of those mountains mid-photo? Those are the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces, NM. (Click on the pic to get a bigger view.) They were named such because the jaggedness made the peaks look like the pipes of a musical organ. Oh, and this is another good example of what an interdune area looks like (where the now-brown foliage of the desert floor is).

The mountains in the background of this Instagram pic are the Sacramento Mountains, which provided a beautiful view from my back yard in Alamogordo, when we lived there. 

More yuccas (one of these days, I'll get back there to get pics of some yucca flowers in bloom!)

Another cool view!

Barn Charm - An Illinois Farm in June

Back in June, my family and I drove to Chicago with my mom so we could visit my brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew. Livie, by the way, had a BLAST with her cousins!

As Andrew really likes driving when we go on road trips, I let him drive; during that time, I was able to snap some photos using the Instagram app on my iPhone as we drove along I-80 and I-88.

Here's an Instagram photo I was able to take of a farm in western Illinois (it may have been while we were still on I-80 heading east, or it may have been just after we got on I-88 heading east).

I love the two (partially) red barns side by side, the fluffy clouds, the farmhouse, green crops early in the season, and the two birds of prey circling overhead.

"Barn Charm" is hosted weekly by Bluff Area Daily. Please click on the "Barn Charm" button below to view the rest of this week's fantastic "Barn Charm" entries. (The link-up will be available later this evening).

Barn Charm - Another Living History Farm Barn

Wow! It's been a while since I last posted, hasn't it? I guess the summer has really gotten away from me. I've been trying to keep Livie busy, and in doing so, I've been completely unmotivated to write or do anything creative (aside from using my Instagram app on my iPhone). I've hardly even felt like reading, and that is SO unlike me.

Or maybe it's just that I've gotten to used to having a break from academic reading and writing (or any reading and writing) after an unexpected semester off from grad school. Ah, well. I'll get back into it.

I do, however, have quite a few barn photos saved up, having taken a number of barn photos throughout the spring and summer - whether traveling within Iowa, or in Illinois - for the sole purpose of sharing them with "Barn Charm," even though I've not felt like getting on the computer to post anything lately.

Anyway, here are a couple photos I took with my Instagram app. These were from Memorial Day weekend when we were in Urbandale, IA. This was our second family trip to Living History Farms, and again, it was over Memorial Day weekend; seems like this may become a new family tradition - going to Living History Farms on Memorial Day.

It had been a rainy, obviously overcast, and somewhat chilly day when we visited. But I got a couple cool barn shots, anyway. (You can see my other barn photos from this same trip if you click here and here.)

This wonderful, huge red barn was in the 1900s section of Living History Farms. I just LOVE red barns, and this one is certainly a handsome one, don't you think?

Livie loved going in this barn only to find that there was a horse eating hay in his stall.

By the way, I love that Livie is in her bright yellow rain gear (rain jacket, rain pants, rain boots) and her bright yellow is such a great contrast against the red paint on the barn.

"Barn Charm" is hosted by Bluff Area Daily. Please click on the button below to view the rest of this week's great "Barn Charm" entries:

Barn Charm - Williamsburg, IA

This photo was taken over Memorial Day Weekend, 2013. It was another one of my "drive by" shots, using the Instagram app on my phone.

This barn and farmland are just outside of Williamsburg, IA, on the north side of I-80. (You can click on the photo to see a larger version.)

"Barn Charm" is hosted by Bluff Area Daily. Please click on the "Barn Charm" button below to view the rest of this week's fantastic "Barn Charm" entries:

A Rainy Morning in Downtown Des Moines

A couple weekends ago, we were in the Des Moines area visiting my parents.

This was the first weekend we had the opportunity to visit them since the Downtown Des Moines Farmers' Market opened for the 2013 season at the beginning of May, so, of course, we had to go to the Farmers' Market!

However, when we woke up that Saturday, we were greeted with lightning and thunder. But we went anyway, thankful that the lightning had stopped and the heavy rain had eased up a bit, and thankful that we had rain gear, as the rain hadn't stopped for long.

While there, during a brief break from the rain (heavy, light and misty, or otherwise), I took a photo of the Polk County Courthouse with the Instagram app on my phone.

Barn Charm, Historic Ushers Ferry Part II

Last week, I shared a photo I took at Ushers Ferry Historic Village. This week, I'm sharing the remaining two Instagram photos I'd taken of that same red barn.

"Barn Charm" is hosted by Bluff Area Daily. Please check out the rest of this week's fantastic "Barn Charm" entries by clicking the "Barn Charm" button below:

"Living History" Farming Photo

Yesterday, I'd posted a "Barn Charm" entry from historic Ushers Ferry Historic Village in Cedar Rapids, IA, which we'd visited for a Girl Scout activity last Friday evening. Today, I thought I'd share another Instagram shot from that same visit.

I thought this was a cool color for a tractor. (I love blue.) It looks well-used. It was hooked up to a hay-rack which was used to give a group of  Girl Scouts and their adult companions a hay-rack ride.

Barn Charm - Historic Ushers Ferry

Last Friday, Livie got to participate in a Girl Scout activity at a local historic "museum" called Ushers Ferry. It's a representation of an early 20th Century town - what a small Iowa would've been like at the turn of the century.

While Livie and the other Girl Scouts were busy with their activities, I was able to walk around a little bit. Having never been to Ushers Ferry (only Living History Farms in Urbandale, IA), it was nice to see another example of "living history" in our area. And of course, while I was wandering around, I noticed the barn - a red barn, no less! - bathed in the golden light sunset casts. I was excited to have another subject for "Barn Charm"!

So, of course, I just had to snap a photo. Again, I'd used the Instagram app.

"Barn Charm" is hosted by Bluff Area Daily. Please check out the rest of this week's fantastic "Barn Charm" entries by clicking the "Barn Charm" button below:

Barn Charm - Mother's Day Adventure

Hi everyone. I know my posts have been few and far between lately. I always come back, though.I'll get back into a more regular writing "groove" this fall, when I'm not taking a semester off.

Like today, as I've got a "Barn Charm" post to share.

Yesterday (Mother's Day), Andrew, Livie and I went out on a special Mother's Day adventure. After going to church and to Mother's Day brunch, we headed to the Wapsipinicon State Park, near Anamosa, IA; it was about a 20-25 minute drive from our house. (Be on the lookout within the next couple days for a post about this adventure.)

Today's "Barn Charm" entry is (yet another) drive-by shot, (again) using the Instagram app on my iPhone, taken around 2 PM on our way to Wapsipinicon State Park.

(You can click on the photo to see a somewhat enlarged version.)

As you can see, I didn't quite time it just right (at 50-55 MPH) to get the whole barn in the shot. Ah, well. There'll be other barns to shoot on other days, so I'll get another chance to get a whole barn in the shot one of these days.

(I was in the front passenger seat (Andrew was driving), by the way, so we were completely safe.)


"Barn Charm" is hosted by Bluff Area Daily. Please click on the "Barn Charm" button below to see the rest of this week's fantastic barn shots:

2013 Pow Wow

This past weekend, we headed to the University of Iowa's 20th Annual Pow Wow. We've been attending the University's pow wow since I started classes there in 2011, having learned in my Native American Literature class that the University holds one annually.

Here's a great explanation of what a pow wow is, as explained in this year's program (you can click on the photo to get a bigger view of the wording):

This year, Livie was really excited about attending the pow wow. Having been to the two previous years' events, she remembered all the colorful regalia, the drumming, the singing, and the food.

Plus, there's just a . . . a "vibe" about it, where you can even feel the drumming, in addition to just hearing it with your ears. It's a visceral effect, the vibrations literally resonating within your body (if you're standing in just the right spot).

I'm posting two brief clips of the Grand Entrance, in hopes that they will work (they're each just under 30 seconds).  You'll be able to see the Color Guard from the Meskwaki American Legion (from Tama, IA) with the flags in this first video clip:

 Towards the end of this second video clip, you'll be able to hear the "jingle" from the ladies who are wearing "jingle dresses":

Anyway, I'm not going to talk too much about it; instead, I'll just let the still photos do the talking.

By the way, just as a note: the lighting in the University of Iowa's Recreation Building isn't the best for either iPhones or my Canon PowerShot (something very much like this camera), and since I got the camera as a hand-me-down (my dad had gotten a new camera and handed off this little camera to me, sans instruction booklet). So instead of fiddling with my camera and trying to get the adjustments just right with the lighting and action (it would've been hit-or-miss), I just did my best with my point-and-shoot phone camera.

 Young pow wow dancers are waiting for their turn in the arena. (Instagram photo.)

Lunch! A fry bread (or "Indian"/"NDN") taco - ground beef with taco seasonings, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese on fry bread. Filling, but extremely tasty. (Instagram photo.)

Liv chose regular fry bread with a little bit of drizzled honey - very much like a Latin American sopaipilla. She couldn't wait to eat hers. They were freshly made and very hot, so she had to wait (very, VERY impatiently) for a couple minutes before digging in. (Regular iPhone photo.)

After eating our lunches, we decided to walk around the arena (inside the green "tennis/volleyball/basketball" area within the indoor track) to get closer, better views of the dancing and drumming. Also, there were vendors along the perimeter of the track, so we wanted to take a look at their wares. Obviously, there was a face painting booth. She chose a pink and black "half butterfly" pattern, which she LOVED wearing. (Regular iPhone photo.)

 This is an Instagram photo detailing some fantastic beading on a young woman's regalia. The beadwork is so detailed and intricate. I'll bet it took someone HOURS to make this - there were two (or three - I can't remember now) of these rectangular pieces as detailed in the photo above - the piece with the turquoise, cream/off-white, red, yellow, and uh, "sand"(?) colored beads.

 This is another Instagram photo of a woman's "jingle" dress. Those metallic objects are hollow cones. When the dress' wearer walks or dances, the cones clink against each other, making a jingling sound. It sounds fantastic listening to a group of women in jingle dresses dancing, especially with the drums and singing. 

This is a close-up Instagram shot of that same dress. I love the purple shiny material. This one was one of my favorite dresses. Another favorite (which I unfortunately didn't get a photo of) was a turquoise-colored jingle dress. 

 On the second day, Livie just HAD to get her face painted again. This time, as you can see, she chose a full-faced purple butterfly. (Regular iPhone photo.)

While we were still at the pow wow, I just so happened to notice I was receiving an in-coming phone call from my dad. The only reason I knew was because I was holding up my phone, ready to take a photo. This was during a dance, so the drummers were drumming and singing - with the poor acoustics causing echoing in the building, it was hard to hear, and nearly impossible to realize one's phone was ringing. 

I answered it, hoping we'd be able to hear each other. He said he was in the area and wanted to stop by to take us out to dinner. I'd mentioned we were at the pow wow and would be leaving in about 90 minutes (with a 45 minute drive home once we left). He said he was still a couple hours away, and what time did we think we'd get home? Well, it would be a while, even if he were still on the road a couple hours away - that would make planning a "what time should we meet?" tricky.

I told him we could meet in Coralville, IA, at a BBQ restaurant just off of I-80, knowing he'd be taking I-80 westbound to get home after his "Sunday drive." We were just minutes away from Coralville, and much farther away from home. 

That worked out, as he was east of us in Muscatine, IA, heading west. And he'd be in our area (Iowa City/Coralville) around the time we were planning to leave, anyway. Plus, all he'd have to do after dinner is to keep heading west and he'd be home within a couple hours. When the weather's nice, he'll occasionally take a "Sunday drive" and end up in eastern Iowa, southwestern Wisconsin, southern Minnesota, or the like - he LOVES driving the open road.

We ended up meeting him at a place called Bandana's BBQ in Coralville, IA around 5 PM. Livie chose the kids' rib basket (2 ribs, some garlic bread, corn, and BBQ beans). I chose the pulled pork sandwich and BBQ beans. My dad and Andrew both chose the BBQ sausage, beans, corn, okra and garlic bread. It hit the spot. We wrapped up with freshly made donut holes, which tasted exactly like funnel cake from the State Fair! 

As soon as we were finished, we said goodbye to my dad. Nonno (meaning "grandpa" in Italian) then headed to his car and we headed to ours. Livie immediately said, "I miss Nonno already." 

Fortunately, we'll be seeing them next month, probably. They live about 140 miles from us (about a 2.5 hour drive), and we usually make it out to their house about once a month. 

All in all it was a fantastic weekend.

If you're interested, here's our "Trip Report" from our first UI Pow Wow in 2011, as well as our "Trip Report" for the 2012 Pow Wow.

Drive-By Barn Charm

This is another "on the go" photo from our trip to the National River Museum and Aquarium a few weeks ago. We were somewhere near Anamosa, IA.

It's obviously a bit of a red barn, and a shed (or another barn?) that's seen better days. I took this photo with my iPhone, and used the Instagram app to edit it.

I'd actually wanted to get a photo of the red barn itself, but being in the car (heading down the road around 55 MPH) and trying to snap the photo at just the right time . . . well, this is what I got.

"Barn Charm" is hosted weekly by Bluff Area Daily. Please click on the "Barn Charm" button below to view the rest of this week's fantastic "Barn Charm" entries:

Red Barns, Blue Sky, Barn Charm

Here's a farm with lovely red barns. It's somewhere east of Anamosa, IA. I think it was roughly 20-25 miles east on Highway 151.

I used the Instagram app on my phone and captured this "on the go" shot as Andrew and I were driving back from a field trip with Livie's first grade class; we'd gone to the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, IA. If you're ever in the Dubuque area, I would highly recommend visiting this museum/aquarium. This place is a big hit; children especially love this place.

(Click on the photo for a larger view.)

Please visit the rest of this week's "Barn Charm" entries (hosted by Bluff Area Daily) by clicking the "Barn Charm" button below:

White Barn

Here's another barn located somewhere between Des Moines and Coralville, IA. This photo was taken about a week before the first day of spring. I used the Instagram app on my phone. (I don't remember which filter I used.) It's another one of my "on the go" photos I took out the car window as we were speeding down going the speed limit on I-80.

(You can get a bigger view of this photo if you click on it.)

Please visit the rest of this week's "Barn Charm" entries by clicking the "Barn Charm" button below:

Do These Remind You of Samuel Clemens?

Last week, Livie's 1st Grade class went on a field trip. They visited the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, IA, just off the Mississippi River.

Andrew and I went along as parent helpers.

Anyway, I took a few Instagram photos on my iPhone. Here are a couple shots of a riverboat's paddle.

(You can see a better view of each photo if you click on them.)

Brown Barn Charm

I haven't been blogging much lately, so it's nice to jump back into it by participating in "Barn Charm" with my version of being creative. 

Here's a farm somewhere on the south side of I-80, somewhere in between Des Moines and Coralville, IA (we were heading east). It was about a week before the first day of "Spring" (though it seems winter's still holding on tight in Iowa).

This is one of those "on the go" photos I took out the (grimy) car window using the Instagram app on my phone. (I don't remember which filter I used.)

(You can get a better view of the photo if you click on it.)

Please visit the rest of this week's "Barn Charm" entries by clicking the "Barn Charm" button below: