by jphilo | May 14, 2008 | Out and About
May is the month for visiting a goat farm, especially a goat farm on a monastery. Soon after we arrived last Saturday our monk farmer son, Allen, introduced us to twin kids born two days earlier. He showed Anne and Hiram how to bottle feed them, and I’m not sure who had more fun in the process: the kids, the Iowans or the monk.
When the newborns’ tummies were full, Allen led us into the goat pasture where we watched another pair of twin kids, a couple weeks old, frolic in the sunshine. One minute, the kids are busy grazing. The next minute, their hind quarters twitched and the twitch turns into a spasm that mades them leap into the air, their legs flopping like rag dolls, before they landed and continued snacking as if nothing at all happened.
Their antics had us laughing so hard we couldn’t talk. We’ve spent the last few days trying to perfect our goat frolic imitations without great success. Today I remembered the digital camcorder we brought with us. Anne gave me a crash cinematography course and the battery is charging. If the weather holds and I manage to push the right buttons in the pasture later today, a genuine goat gambol podcast may grace this website in the near future.
A new kid was born while we were in Ohio for two days. Hopefully we’ll meet her today. And this afternoon, Allen wants Hiram to join him at a neighboring farm. He wants his dad to tackle a four hundred pound billy goat and hold him down while Allen trims its hooves. Hiram’s not nearly as excited about the prospect of male bonding time as Allen is. I think the outing has YouTube potential and can’t wait to film the action. Never a dull moment on goat farm in May.
No kidding!
by jphilo | Apr 21, 2008 | Out and About
You know how hard it is to keep track of what day it is when on vacation? Well, I know yesterday was Sunday because we went to Sunday brunch and then to an African-American United Methodist Church for worship. The congregation was small, very welcoming and warm. The music and the preaching were a breath of fresh air for midwesterners raised to keep emotions under wraps.
The rest of the day was quiet. We napped during the warm part of the day, then visited a colonial cemetery. Union soldiers, including our ancestor, Fred Hess, camped there at the end of the Civil War. After supper we did some people watching in Forsythe Park, another spot mentioned by our soldier ancestor in his letters home.
Later my sister and I walked around the historic district and passed the synagogue, shown above. In 1865 Soldier Fred called this building’s predecessor “a fine building.” The congregation is the third oldest in the country.
A security guard stood in front of the present synagogue. We nodded to him and walked along the building’s northern side. About halfway down, there were glass doors and the lights were on. I walked closer to window peek. “Jolene,” my sister said. “The security guard is coming.” I moved away real quick. As we walked past more windows, I saw people standing inside. “It’s Passover weekend,” I remembered.
Then I was a little sad. Earlier in the day, we were welcomed into a culturally different congregation with open arms. But this Jewish congregation needed a security guard during the celebration of their holiest day. The disparity haunts me.
What’s the difference? Why?
by jphilo | Apr 19, 2008 | Out and About
We had another great day in the Deep South yesterday. We road tripped to South Carolina to visit the Drayton Plantation. Very historic, but everything around here is historic, including the Savannah cottage where we are staying.
Our cottage is part of a row of cottages built in 1906 for working black people. Ours is the one with the hanging plant and the rocking chair. The interior is nicely decorated, very trendy and just right for three vacationing AARP ladies. It’s also tiny and whenever I think back to 1906 and the probability of parents raising a family in it, with no yard and a privy in place of the charming deck outside the back door, I shudder.
I shudder a little when I think about my whirlpool bath experience in the cottage’s trendy bathroom. After a couple days of travel, I was looking forward to a good soak. But, when I pushed the whirlpool button and the engine revved up, water began spraying everywhere. I pushed the button to turn the thing off. The motor kept running. The water kept spraying.
Finally, desperate and soaking wet, I drained the tub. The water quit spraying. The motor kept running. I hollered to my sister. She called the landlord while I toweled myself and the trendy bathroom, both of which looked like we’d endured a power wash of cataclysmic proportions. And we were really, really clean.
By the time everything was dry, my sister still on the phone with the landlord, located the breaker switch to the whirlpool and turned it off. Later in the day, he called to tell us this is apparently a common defect with American Standard brand whirlpools and not at all my fault. Whew.
Everything else in the trendy bathroom is in perfect working order and the trendy kitchen and the trendy living room and the trendy bedrooms. But I’m not touching any more buttons or operating any electronic devices, except for the trendy flat screen TV/DVD in the trendy living room. We found the first season of the Mary Tyler Moore show in the trendy landlord’s DVD collection. In the evenings, I escape to Mary Richards’ 1970 version of trendiness: electric typewriters, push button phones with cords, mini-skirts, nylon stockings, and pocket books. After a few episodes, I’m ready to return to 2008.
Modern technology spooks me out sometimes, but for the most part I like it. If I steer clear of whirlpool baths from now on, I should be just fine. On the other hand, the bathroom and I were clean in record time. Maybe I’m onto a new trend.
by jphilo | Apr 18, 2008 | Out and About
In Atlanta, the azaleas are in full bloom. So are the daffodils. And the trees are a new leaf, light green, a feast for three spring hungry midwesterners. Our drive from Atlanta to Savannah, through green and flowering countryside, was worth every penny of $3.00+ gas in our rental car.
At lunchtime, we stopped at a state park to eat the lunch we’d packed. I moseyed over to a flowering hedge to take a few pictures – four or five bushes with pink, white or orange blooms. I think they’re azaleas, but what does a midwestern woman know about spring in the south?
In Savannah, spring is even further along. The azaleas are past, but the crepe myrtle and the hibiscus are showing off big time. Temperatures top out at 80 degrees with sunny skies and light winds. Yesterday, we went on a tour of the city in an open air bus. My sister and I take walks each morning and evening, savoring every moment of the good weather. Mom goes with us to see the sites in the day, and we all sit together in the sunshine as much as possible.
Beautiful as it all is, I look forward to going home in a few days. Because spring is starting in Iowa. I’ll get to enjoy the flowers and the warmth and the green all over again, minus the azaleas and the southern mansions.
But there will be magnolias and rhubarb and asparagus for warped minds. Who could ask for more?
by jphilo | Feb 29, 2008 | Out and About
About a week ago, I interviewed Cindy Haynes, an ISU horticulture professor concerning an article for the April issue of Facets. Dr. Haynes took me on a tour of the horticulture department’s greenhouses and conservatory so I could get some pictures to accompany the story. I thought some plant pictures would add a nice touch to a gardening article. Where do I come up with these crazy ideas?
For a few minutes in the warm greenhouse, the air heavy with humidity and the scent of flowers and dirt, life was good. The temperature outside was a wintery eleven degrees, but inside the glass walls April had arrived. It was hard to leave, and the cold was cruel as I walked back to my car. The tantalizing hint of spring left me feeling bummed until I downloaded pictures of tulips and daffodils and looked at them until the hope of spring gave me strength to face the remaining weeks of winter.
On this last day of February, Leap Day no less, maybe you need hope, too. With gas prices soaring the stock market falling, the housing market a mess and the glacier on our driveway rock solid, a little hope goes a long way. So I’m sharing these pictures, too pretty to hoard and vital for mental health, with you.
Feast your eyes on the future. Spring is almost here.
by jphilo | Feb 15, 2008 | Out and About
Our church has its annual Valentine’s Banquet tomorrow evening, so I don’t have to cook supper. The thought of a night away from the kitchen put me in such an expansive mood, I volunteered to decorate a table for the big event.
I spent part of Monday digging through boxes in the attic, looking for decorations. Tuesday I dug out my red tablecloth and napkins and put them in the wash. Wednesday I went to the store to buy a couple bags of chocolates that went with the table’s red and silver color scheme. Thursday I drove to Mom’s so I could borrow her pretty water glasses and good silverware.
This morning’s inspection of the silverware revealed some significant tarnish so I hauled out the toothpaste and shined the silver plate and my teeth after breakfast. Then I washed the water glasses and eight place setting of my good china. I wrapped and boxed everything good and tight for the trip to the banquet hall tomorrow.
Tomorrow, Hiram will haul the boxes to the banquet site, and I’ll spend a long time decorating the table. Tomorrow afternoon I’ll spend an even longer time decorating me. By the time we get to the banquet at six-thirty, me shivering to death in strappy sandals and a too thin dress and Hiram in his Good Will suit he insists fits real good, I will be exhausted.
It’s been quite a week. Good thing I don’t have to cook supper tomorrow night.
