Let's Do Barn Charm Again!

I'm back with another "Barn Charm" entry!!

This was taken while we were on the road, heading to my parents' place for the Independence Day holiday. We were on I-80 westbound in Iowa, somewhere just after the exit for the Amana Colonies, and just west of the "Little Amana" stores. It was around mid-morning on June 20, 2012.

I love this stereotypical Iowa (and Midwest?) barn and farm. And I love the country road (heading up a hill) that you can just barely see on the photo's right. 

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Happy 4th of July (2012)

Just wanted to say "Happy 4th of July" to everyone!

In honor of Independence Day, I'm posting this flyer (I guess it's similar to old-time broadsides) that Livie helped make at Living History Farms over Memorial Day 2012. She and the lady portraying a late-19th Century printer made this on an old-fashioned printing press. (It got a little smudged before we got home, simply because it took a bit of time for the ink to dry on that hot, super humid day.)

I, too, would like to add a "Thanks!" to you fellow veterans out there for your service!

Oh, and just one more thing. I'm pretty sure I posted this video a while ago (maybe a couple years ago when I first started blogging), but I just wanted to post it again. There's just something about watching an airshow or aircraft in formation on the 4th of July. (At least *I* think so).

It's a 35-second video of the F117 (Stealth) 25-Ship Flyover at Holloman Air Force Base, NM, on the aircraft's 25th anniversary:

This was in October 2006, when Andrew and I were still active duty in the Air Force. Livie was just about 8 months old when this happened, and she got to see it in person! A lot of people from the base and the community had gathered to watch this special formation. And it was an awesome sight in person! I can only imagine the degree of difficulty in maintaining this formation with TWENTY FIVE aircraft!

Again, Happy Fourth of July!

A Few Fourth Photos

Here are a few photos from the 4th of July in West Des Moines, IA.

Daddy and Livie are posing for a photo while waiting for fireworks.

Big steppin'!

Andrew's making a face!

Evening in West Des Moines!

Liv and Daddy are posing again!

Thumbs up!

Sunset

Finally fireworks!

Farmers' Market fun easily leads to fresh baked yumminess!

Over the 4th of July long weekend, we were at Abuelita & Nonno's house, visiting Abuelita and Oma.

Since we were there Friday - Tuesday, we were able to go to the Downtown Des Moines Farmers' Market in downtown Des Moines, held every Saturday from May through October.

Here is the Polk County Courthouse. 

 It's at the intersecting point of a T intersection - Court Avenue begins here and runs perpendicular to the courthouse. Court Avenue is the "main drag" that the Farmers' Market occupies each Saturday. On the smaller side streets, there are also plenty of vendors set up. You could easily walk a couple miles simply ensuring you try not to miss any vendor.

Going to the Downtown Des Moines Farmers' Market is always an experience we look forward to - the fresh produce (especially since it's now blueberry season), artisanal cheeses, pupusas made from scratch and hot off the grill, breakfast burritos, fresh cut flowers in brilliant colors, flavored popcorns, fresh lemonade, artisanal breads, the bands and their various types of music, the people-watching, the dog-watching, handmade gifts, homemade pies, BBQ . . . it's like this every Saturday 7:00 AM - Noon. It's a blast!

 Here's the opposite end of Court Avenue, facing the Polk County Courthouse.

 You can see how packed with vendors and market-goers it is on this particular Saturday, July 3rd.

So we had an exciting moment while we were there . . . we actually ran into one of  Iowa's US Senators - Senator Chuck Grassley. It was a great moment meeting him in person. He was happy to talk to us, and it was nice to see him mingling at a fabulous recurring event like the ever popular Farmers' Market.

At 4-years-old and too young for politics, Livie was much less impressed by what it means to meet a senator. However, since she's always happy to talk to a friendly person, she was polite and eager to have a quick conversation with Sen. Grassley.

Anyway, after our brief visit with the senator, we continued on with our browsing around at the market. We had to get pupusas, lemonade, popcorn for Liv.

We also stopped at a flower booth to get a flower for Liv.

 I got her a rose.

This is the same kind of rose I had when I graduated from Culver. Check Memory Lane Friday - A Ceremony for that story, and a picture of me with my bouquet of roses.

All festive, for the July 4th holiday:

And since it's blueberry season, we just had to get blueberries.

First, Liv LOVES blueberries in her cereal in the mornings. Second, she and I both love snacking on the little nutrient-rich berries.

Well, as soon as I saw the booth with the blueberries, I knew we had to get some right then and there. So Andrew bought a pint.

It was like we'd bought gold. Liv was so excited. I was excited, too. Mmmmm . . . I was thinking blueberry pancakes.

But when we got home, I was suddenly worried that I wouldn't be able to use all the blueberries before they went bad. But . . .one of my good friends, Sara, whom I've known since our Culver days, mentioned on Facebook that she'd recently made blueberry buckle. And she'd made it with fresh blueberries she'd gotten from an Indiana farm down the road from her house.

That gave me an idea. I wanted to make blueberry buckle, too. Plus, since Livie is taking cooking classes and thoroughly enjoys helping me in the kitchen, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to bake something together.

So I asked Sara to send me her blueberry buckle recipe. I made sure I had all the ingredients. Livie and I washed our hands. And then we got to work.

And this is what we made:

Here's the famous, tasty blueberry buckle that quickly disappeared. It's especially good served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

It was seriously good! Wow! And because a few of us posted comments about it on Facebook, a bunch of Culver friends are now passing along the recipe and raving about it, as well. So thanks to Sara, CGA Class of 1988, for starting the hype!

And thanks to my little cook's helper, Olivia! It was fun baking with her and I look forward to doing it again. Definitely blueberry buckle, but probably other things as well.

Of course, now I have to make sure Santa gets Livie that cute little kids'-sized pink apron with her name embroidered on it for Christmas.

America the Beautiful

In honor of Independence Day, here's a little tribute.



It's "My Beautiful America," performed by the Charlie Daniels Band.

Memory Lane Friday - July 4th

Okay, this week's Memory Lane Friday topic is July 4th. I have a few great memories of the 4th of July holiday. Not only because it's one of my very favorite holidays, but also because of some of the fun, crazy stuff that happened.

Now, back in March on a different Memory Lane Friday topic (a crazy weather story), I wrote about an adventure my family and I had on July 4th. You can read the original post here. But for main fireworks story . . .

As I've mentioned before, my parents have a lake house in Lake Ozark, MO. They usually go out a few long weekends every summer. And over the 4th, there is a big fireworks display over the lake. All these boats head out to one point on the lake, near a particular resort. Then, from the resort, a fireworks show is lit for all to enjoy from their boats in the middle of the lake.

Well, last year we were out there for the 4th. So we all piled into the boat and headed to that central location to watch the fireworks. Off in the distance, we saw storm clouds moving in. But we didn't really worry about it.

As we waited for the show to start, the clouds continued to creep closer.

Finally the show began. And not long afterward, we noticed that our hair began to stand on end (all of us, except for Andrew, who has a military haircut, so it's too short). And the clouds were closer. Sometimes we heard rumbling and wondered if it was the fireworks . . . or was it thunder?

Soon enough, we had our answer. It was thunder. And there was lightning. So before the show was over, my dad turned the boat around and we headed back to the house.

Before we got back it started raining . . . and HARD. He couldn't see where he was going. So he had to rely solely on his GPS to steer and get us back safely. After a few minutes, we were back, and that's when booming claps of thunder and cracks of lightning began going crazy. It was nuts!

But looking back on it, it was kind of exciting. Not that I'd want to repeat the experience . . . it's just fun to remember, considering we got back safely.

Another memory I have of July 4th is being in El Paso, TX with my grandparents when I was younger. This was back in the early- to mid-'70s.

I distinctly remember visiting friends or relatives and heading up to the rooftop to watch the fireworks display over the El Paso skyline. At first, I couldn't remember whose house it was, but it looked familiar when I closed my eyes and thought hard about it. It wasn't my grandparents' house on Blue Ridge Circle. It wasn't Naná’s house.

Well, whose house was it?! Uncle Chino's? No. I asked my Oma at one point recently, and she was horrified, saying she'd never, ever let me on the roof, not even with my Sir Rafa right there next to me. Going on the roof was never something they'd ever consider doing, so why would I mention that? (Sadly, it's the Alzheimer's that has ruined some of her precious memories.)

Then it dawned on me. The more I thought about it, the clearer the mental picture became. It was Uncle Joe and Aunt Lily's house!! To verify this memory, I asked my cousin Rik, who's two months older than I am. I said, "Hey, Rik . . . do you remember July 4th celebrations back when we were kids? Didn't we hang out on a rooftop watching the fireworks? That was at your house, right?"

And he said, "It was on our roof from what I remember! You're not crazy! We used to climb up on the roof and watch the skyline as the fireworks went off. :)"

It sure was a lot of fun. I remember somebody (probably my grandfather or Uncle Joe) spotting me as I climbed up the ladder. Now, keep in mind that these were single-story ranch style houses, with flatter, hardly-peaked roofs.

I remember warm, dry southwestern nights with very little humidity, and a warm desert breeze blowing as we sat on the roof under twinkling stars. I remember the twinkling of the city lights as they mimicked the twinkling stars above . . . and then the fireworks started. Very cool.

I also remember having sparklers, and having been satisfied after a meal before heading up to the roof. Maybe we also had some sort of ice cream treats, too. I remember that my grandmother always seemed to have orange creamsicles in her freezer, and Aunt Lily probably had some frozen goodies at her house, too.

So I can't recall any specifics, but I do remember the fun and adventure surrounding the chance to watch fireworks from the roof!! How much fun could that be for a kid!

Of course, these days I don't know how likely it would be for us to climb on a roof to watch fireworks, right? But it sure was fun back then!

Here are my Uncle Joe, Aunt Lily, Oma, and Sir Rafa, circa mid-1990s (possibly '94?). 

This was at Uncle Joe and Aunt Lily's old house on Paraguay Street.

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Next week's Memory Lane Friday topic, by the way, is "A Game."

Memory Lane Friday - A Crazy Weather Story

My parents have had a lake house in Lake Ozark, Missouri for a number of years now. Actually, it's been well over a decade now - ever since I was in college.

It basically just gets used during the summer months as a vacation home. My dad will head out there at the first hint of spring to "open" the house. He'll do a walk-through to ensure that all looks good with the house and do any kind of maintenance that's needed, get the boat and wave runners ready for use, that kind of thing.

Back in the day while I was still in college and my brothers in high school, summer trips to the lake house were AWESOME. These were the days when there could easily be multiple week-long trips to the lake house, anytime between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

My brothers and dad were the ones who really looked forward to these trips. They were the ones that were there at every single opportunity. They'd be out all day on the lake, with my dad manning the boat, and my brothers having fun being pulled along on tubes. Or, they'd be out on the wave runners. Those two would be out on the water practically all day. If it were raining, they'd have a bunch of videos they'd watch inside the house.

I'd try to head out there at least once a summer to spend time with them. I wasn't so much into tubing (I'd tried it a few times, but I wasn't all that thrilled with it). What I liked was riding the wave runners. And sitting in a quiet house, reading. Or heading to the outlet mall. I also liked watching movies with them (a perennial fave was "The Cutting Edge").

And on the 4th of July, everyone would go out on the lake on their boats at dusk to watch the show; a local resort would host a fireworks display over the lake, and it was SO COOL. Everyone would be there in their respective boats, having a good time, watching the fireworks while floating in the middle of the lake.

But this story is supposed to be about a crazy weather experience. And this whole lake house story was simply to set the scene.

One summer in the early '90s, I was on summer break, home from college for a couple months. My mom, brothers and I were going to head to the lake house together for the week surrounding Independence Day. My dad would be driving himself later that day due to work commitments; he wasn't able to leave with the rest of us.

So my mom, brothers, and I climbed into the van (they had one of those huge vans at the time) and off we headed. Well, at some point on our way from central Iowa to central Missouri, we passed through a thunderstorm. My mom, the driver, just plowed along in the van.

Until it happened . . . suddenly, we felt like something had jolted the van. The radio went out, the van shook, and there was a bright flash, all at the same time! The van had been hit by lightning!! Now of course, lightning isn't a laughing matter, and we were all momentarily stunned. But once we realized everyone was okay, we did start laughing, maybe because we'd been scared for a moment before realizing all was well - we were all okay . . . or maybe it was because of our mom's reaction. With one hand on the steering wheel, she took the other hand and started patting herself all over, like she'd been shot, not exactly sure what the heck happened.

My brothers and I still get a chuckle out of that memory. Laughing at the shock of it all (no pun intended) and realizing there was no damage.

However, that's not the end of the lightning!

Last summer, Andrew, Olivia, and I headed out to the lake house for the 4th of July holiday. During our visit, my dad took me, Andrew, and another family out on the boat for the annual 4th of July fireworks display. Olivia stayed at the house with my mom, reading kids' books, watching fireworks on TV, and getting a bath.

As the rest of us headed out to the designated area in the middle of the lake, we'd noticed that there were some suspiciously stormy-looking clouds over the horizon. We kept an eye on them as they crept closer, seeing lightning flickering way off in the distance. 

Then the fireworks started. But the clouds (and lightning) kept coming closer. At some point, we started wondering: was that noise from the fireworks or was it thunder? And to top it off, we realized that everyone's hair was on end, really full of static. A very good sign that we were all lightning rods. We started discussing whether we should leave right away, or wait until the fireworks were over.

And then, maybe because someone was reading our minds, or maybe due to the impending storm, the fireworks finale began. But by this time, it had started sprinkling. My dad decided to head back before the finale wrapped up, as it would take a good 10-15 minutes to get back to the house.

On the way home, it started raining harder. The next thing we knew, we were in a downpour and were getting pelted by hard rain. My dad couldn't even see past the bow of the boat, so he was heavily relying on his GPS to get us home.

Somehow we made it home safely, without an actual lightning strike. Thank goodness. What a ride!