Frank's Place

I did not get to write a post for my blog last.  I really thought I could do it, but ran out of time.

Ray and I were in Warsaw, Illinois.  We came to check on our family cottage "Frank's Place" and visit my cousin Ruth who lives in Keokuk, Iowa.  Ruth has written a few posts for this blog...telling about how my great grandparents immigrated here from Sweden.  Her mother, my Aunt Amanda, was with the family on their journey to start new lives in America.


Our cottage sits on the Illinois side overlooking the Mississippi River.  Warsaw is a really small town...1,600 population.  Hollywood could use Main Street as a time period location for a Prohibition Era movie.


Sidewalk in Warsaw, Illinois

Main Street, Warsaw, Illinois

  Ray says he could imagine John Dillinger or Bonnie and Clyde shooting their way out of the bank, jumping into black Fords and roaring off with their ill gotten gains.


Hill-Dodge Banking Company

So...any film producers or directors...if you are looking for a quiet town for a movie site...check out Warsaw, Illinois.



Farmer's Bank in Warsaw, Illinois










 
When we arrived on Monday we found some of the tiles in the kitchen hanging from the ceiling....water stained...oh no...a leak in the roof.  No one had stayed here for over a year, so we were prepared for some minor stuff...but not the roof!!!   (We did find a person who will be able to put on a new roof...just happens to live down the street and knew my Uncle Frank.)  There were also dead bugs in piles below the windows. Yuk!  Most of these were Japanese Beetles, box elder, flies, and wasps or mud daubers.  I was glad that I brought my Dyson vacuum as I was able to suck up all of the bugs Monday evening.

View of Mississippi River from Warsaw, Illinois

Most of Tuesday was spent cleaning the bathrooms, kitchen, cleaning out the refrigerator, and pulling vines that had crawled up the sides of the house, and a quick clean for the rest of the place.  The animals had a feast last night with so many stale crackers, old cheese and other food that I threw out.

So...that is my excuse for not posting anything in the blog last week.  I will put a few pictures of the area on here.  A red headed woodpecker was sitting on the clothes line post...but my picture was taken from inside through the screen...so it is not very good.

Woodpecker ready to fly.

There are lots of birds and other wild life that wander through the yard...and the feral cats have even made paths as they go from house to house....so its a great place for photography...and also star gazing.



Baltimore Oriole

 

I like "Frank's Place."  It belonged to my Uncle Frank and we have furnished it with a lot of family pictures, funiture built by my grandfather, and paintings done by my grandfather and Uncle Frank. 

Dining Room (Uncle Frank's picture on wall)

 


My Grandparents and Uncle Frank



Looking into Living Room from Dining Room (My Grandfather's old fishing pole on wall)



Part of Living Room

I wish it would get used more often, a house needs people in it to be alive or it becomes old and worn down...just like our bodies...if we don't keep in motion we get stiff.  

Feral Cat...and Its Path

For a few years a group of archaeologists would stay at the cottage while they were digging at a secret location...later announced to be Fort Johnson from the War of 1812...that was just a block from here.  But that is another story...so will stop and post some pictures of Warsaw and the cottage.

Another Maxine Story



Maxine's Graduation

Since Sunday was Mother's Day I thought I would write another Maxine story.  I think I will tell a little about her first job.  Maxine graduated from high school in 1936...right in the middle of the Great Depression.   Somehow she got a job at the Keokuk Box Factory.  She told me that they made things like regular boxes, ice cream containers and paper plates (I didn't even realize there were paper plates back then...but learned that they have been around since 1904). 

The factory was located at the bottom of a big hill close to the Mississippi River.  Mother lived at the top of the hill across from Bluff Park overlooking the river.  It was a beautiful scene...but during the winter was quite treacherous to walk down the hill.  In fact the street was often closed in the winter for kids to sled ride.  This did not deter Maxine. At the end of the work day she would pick up a discarded box and carry it home.  The next morning she would ride the box down the hill.  I can still hear her describe that ride:

"We had some bad winters that year and after falling a number of times trying to get to work I thought how much easier it would be to take a sled down the hills...but then I would have to store it someplace and drag it back home.  That is when I thought about using a box as a sled.  Everyone laughed at the idea...so of course, I had to try it.  The first time was a learning experience...I realized I needed to lean right to turn the corner...but it had to be at just the right time...and I couldn't take the turn too quickly.  I'd sit on my knees inside the box and guide it by holding the flaps and leaning far right when I got to the bottom of the hill.  That is where I had to turn the corner and ride down another hill...and then make a left down the last part of the hill to the factory.  I did this so often the guys at the factory would wait to see me come flying past. 'Here comes Mackie!' they would shout and help me stop."


No picture of her on a sled...so here she is on a bike.

One of Mother's jobs at the factory was to make ice cream carton lids.  She and her friend, Rhoda, had a system where they could work really fast...the more lids they made...the more pay.  But sometimes there was a break in the assembly line and they would have to wait.  At one of these times, Maxine drew a picture of a fashionable lady on one of the lids and put a short note: "Write back and let me know where this lid traveled."  Then she put her address!  This is not the picture she drew...but it is similar to it.

A picture Maxine drew.

I can't believe she did that....but that was the innocence of that day...and in her upbringing.  She was surprised when a few months later she received a note from some man wanting to come visit.  He liked her drawing and thought it would be nice to meet.  Panic!  She told her parents what she did and the family kept watch to see if anyone would appear...but nothing happened.   Needless to say...she did not put her address on any more box lids.

Mother said she learned a lot from working in a factory...but knew that was not what she wanted to do the rest of her life...she was only 17 so had years ahead...but sure liked having money to buy pretty outfits to wear.

Maxine (on right) dressed in costume she made for a play.

Her next job.....well, I will write about that another time.  But it was where she learned to make great hot fudge sundaes!

The Ohio State University Commencement with President Obama Speaking

I started to write about my day on Sunday...when Ray and I drove to Columbus to go to The Ohio State University Commencement.  We were fortunate to know a graduate and had tickets to attend.  But the post got way too long and so I will try again.  In short...we were glad to be invited, not only to see over 9,000 students graduate and be among 60,000-70,000 guests...but to hear President Obama. 

In spite of many minor annoyances (I think the Minor Annoyance Fairy was spending the day with us...such as dropping my underwear in a sink full of water...dropping a spoon in a crack by the stairs while feeding the kitties, dropping the hose getting sprayed while putting fresh water in the bird bath, McDonald's forgetting my straw as we stopped for road food, one small detour....)  we made it to the stadium by 10:00 AM and met our friends who saved us great seats.  We had a perfect view of the podium, and I took many pictures.  Here are a few.

President Obama before delivering his address to the graduates and guests

No matter what politics you may follow...I think that having the President of the US speak at your commencement is an honor.  While sitting in the stadium I did a lot of people watching.  I heard that some people had brought a big sign saying something negative...I think it was about Obamacare...but I did not see that sign.  It could have been behind me in C deck.  That is the only thing I have heard negative about our President.  Most people I observed were excited and talking about how great it was to have the President there.

I liked his speech.  He talked about how the students need to follow these two things:  Participate and Persevere.  He spoke about citizenship and its responsibilities.  It was a fine speech for a commencement with enough humor scattered through to balance the serious message.  The crowd was enthusiastic and responded with loud applause many times. 

President Obama was given an honorary doctorate of law from the Ohio State University.  After that, he donned an OSU baseball cap bringing loud cheers from the crowd.

I feel fortunate to have been able to be there.  I am glad that our country has a great leader in President Obama.  There are times he has disappointed me...but on the whole...I feel he has overcome many obstacles...not only to become the President...but to lead us.  Thank you, Sharon, Dan and Jon Harris for inviting me.

I could say more...but have decided to add some of the pictures I took.

President Obama saying good-bye.

 

 

 

Squirrelly Deer Costing Us Dough

I have an apology to make.  For the last few weeks, the bird seed in our bird feeders has disappeared during the night.  I am not really upset about it.  Anyone who knows our household knows that the inside animals...our two elderly cats (22 years old)...and the 'wild' animals outside are well fed and safe on our property.   I keep the bird feeders full, leave peanuts and corn for the squirrels, keep fresh water in containers and put left over foods (that I know some creature will like) out each evening.  And, as some of you know, from a former post...even the ants are safe Something for Your Rusty Bucket List .

 In fact, today while bringing laundry from the basement to the bedroom upstairs...a pale tan spider came crawling from the side of the laundry basket.  I searched for our 'spider jar' that we keep at such times to capture her and put her outside.  It was not anywhere, so I took the basket to the end of the hall and nudged the spider onto our bedraggled spider plant.  (Oh my, I just realized that I put the spider on a SPIDER plant!  I do hope she stays there.

But, back to my apology.  I have been blaming our squirrel...well...our many squirrels as the culprits eating from the bird feeder.  And I have proof!

 

 

 We knew the squirrels ate from this feeder, but they never ate all of the food.  They seemed to know that they needed to share with the birds....that was until a few nights ago.  This feeder and the ones in the back yard were empty when I checked them in the morning.  Those little rascals...how could they have eaten so much during the night?  I had a vision of them lined up, taking turns, swinging and balancing as they grabbed the seeds and corn.

Maybe it was a raccoon....even though I have not seen a raccoon since a mother gave birth to two in our chimney....after a wind storm when the chimney lid (cover, cap) blew off.  The wind storm also blew down the big antenna at the side of the house which the raccoon climbed at night,  peeking through our bedroom window on her way to the chimney.  I did not realize at that time that there soon be a family as I thought the cap was still on the chimney.  We have not seen a raccoon around here since the raccoon family found a new home somewhere in the woods.  But, the missing bird feed sounds like the work of a nocturnal animal...and so the raccoons were blamed.

Last evening, while rinsing some dishes I noticed a movement out by the bird feeders...looked up and saw....

 

 

They were gently nibbling the seed from the bird feeder...probably thinking how kind it was that we put it at lip level for them.

Ray was able to get this picture.  They turned, summoned the other three that were behind the garage, and ran across the yard, jumping our fence into the neighbor's yard, jumping their fence...and off to a wooded area nearby.  Their beauty and grace made me forget about them eating the bird seed....but I am now taking in the feeders at dusk and returning them for the birds in the morning.

And one more thing....these deer have made a meal of my tulips too!  They did not eat the crocus, and the hyacinth are still blooming...but the tulips have been chewed to the ground.  So....looks like no tulips this year...and this fall I will plant more crocus and hyacinth.

What is left of the tulips!

 

So...to all the squirrels out there...I am sorry that I automatically blamed you for the missing bird seed.  Please, accept my apology. ( And to the deer...please let my tulips grow next year.)

 

That blog post was written in the spring.  Here are two winter pictures of some deer feasting on the bird seed. The deer continue to dine in our yard. 





Uncle Frank...First Story...of Many

Aunt Dorothy, Uncle Frank and my mother, Maxine

My Uncle Frank was mother's older brother.  He was the oldest of four siblings.  There are lots of stories I can tell about Uncle Frank.  When he was in high school...for summer break...he hopped a train headed for Colorado where he intended to visit his Aunt Rett and her family.  This was back in the 1930s, and it must have not been too alarming for my grandmother to see him off...but her message was strong...'Be back before the school year begins.'

He had many adventures on this ride, but I will only mention one.  While riding freight trains he met a lot of interesting people.  On one train he encountered a man with a guitar...called himself Woody...Woody Guthrie.  Frank said they talked and I think Woody might have influenced my uncle's political thoughts.  Frank grew up to be a staunch democrat and a union man...being a union steward at one time. 

One of Frank's great talents was his cartoons...comic...characters he would draw.  Each letter or package he would send us was decorated with pictures...maybe a Santa or Easter Bunny.  But Mother had to be careful with some of these...because he would often insert something in the pictures...that may not be...hmmmm....well...like one of his Christmas cards was a beautiful winter scene with a bridge.  If you looked closely....Santa was on the bridge...and if you looked closer...you could see that Santa was relieving himself in the stream...of course, only his back was showing....but it was obvious after a second look...what he was doing.

Here are a couple of Uncle Frank's comics that I recently found.  I will write more stories about him later....I have some great World War II photos he took.  (He was the ship's photographer.)  Here is a picture of a boxing match between FDR and Hitler. I found this in a letter that Uncle Frank had sent to the family.

 The next picture could probably apply to what many think about the work getting done in Washington, D.C. at any time.  Whatever....this is one of the pictures Maxine would have kept from the eyes of children and friends.

Boston: Mourn the Lost. Hope the Worst Is Over. But, Please Have Perspective, and Don't Live in Fear.

I don't think I can write a post for my blog today.  I tend to like to write light hearted posts and I just don't feel that today.  While walking with my friend, Ann, yesterday (taking advantage of one of the few warm days we in Toledo have had this spring and reinforcing, Jozy, her young golden retriever's lesson of heeling) she received a text.  Ann glanced at the text but could not read it because of the sun's glare, but she did see the word Boston.

"My friend, Linda, must have sent me a recipe for Boston Cream Pie," she said...and we continued our walk.

Oh how I wish that had been the message...but as you all know...it was informing us about the bombs exploding at the Boston Marathon.  We found out while driving home.

I found myself watching the coverage...seeing the same footage...over and over...watching that same runner fall with what appeared to be something white hitting him...seeing someone dressed up in an M&M costume...watching so many run to help...and hearing the panic of the people...

I had to turn off the television...but then was drawn to Facebook.   I know people in Boston...I have relatives who live there.  Facebook answered my questions...all were okay...but there were other posts that made me sad...people already politicizing it.  I read on...most posts were sending their thoughts and prayers...healing energy...and I saw many words of wisdom.  These far outnumbered those politicizing it...so my faith in the human race has returned. 

The comedian Patton Oswalt wrote an inspiring post on Facebook called  The Good Outnumber You and We Always Will that is worth reading.  It is short but powerful...and of course has gone viral.

 I will end this with wise words that my nephew, Nathan Foster, wrote on Facebook yesterday.
"Mourn the lost. Hope the worst is over. But, please have perspective, and don't live in fear."

Saddled with a Bear...Riding Becomes a Cinch

One of the excursions we took while on a cruise in February (the cruise where we won the treasured trophy! Across the Universe on a Cruise Ship ) was horseback  riding at Cozumel, Mexico.  This was our second time horseback riding together.  The first time was at Kualoa, Hawaii where we rode where Jurassic Park was filmed.  I am thankful that Ray agrees to these rides because he had really never had much experience riding...having only been on a horse twice before.  Even though I had ridden a lot and even had a couple of horses of my own...it still had been a number of years since I had ridden. 

I was disappointed in the horse given to Ray on the Kualoa ride.   It was a beautiful Appaloosa that I had had my eye on.  We informed the guide that Ray was inexperienced and that I was quite familiar with riding....so I would have thought she would have given Ray a well behaved horse.  The horse's name was Bear...and quite an appropriate name.  Bear was the typical trail horse in that he tried to eat grass (until Ray stopped that)...then tried eating tree leaves (until Ray stopped that)...then did the 'old trick...my leg itches and I need to scratch it with my nose' in order to jerk his head to get closer to the grass.  That all was typical...but I also noticed that each time the guide would ride close to Bear...Bear's ears would flatten and the other horse would dodge away.

 I trotted my horse closer to Ray and Bear's ears flattened again as he swung his head hitting my sweet horse and causing her to rear up a bit.  (I was glad I was on the rearing horse and not Ray)  The guide then informed us that Bear did not like other horses.  Hmmmm...why put an inexperienced rider on that type of horse?  Oh well...at least it did not cause Ray to refuse to try another ride.

Bear...note ears and swinging head.

This is the closest I would take my horse to Bear.  Note...Bear's ears.

Hi

 

 

 

The Cozumel ride was perfect.  The representative from the ranch met us after we got off the ship.  We were a group of about a dozen.  He told us the ranch was about half hour away and we would be riding a Mexican air conditioned taxi there.  We walked off at a brisk pace until we came to an open air vehicle with bench seats....and a "Fasten Seat Belts" sign hanging at the front.  It reminded me of a hay ride trailer with a canopy and the seats facing the front...bench seats with the type of seat belts we had in the 60s...similar to those on airlines.
Air conditioned taxi
I could describe the ride we took...but this picture of Ray and video say it better.  Ray said he was just glad that he could not see the road ahead as we heard the driver honking as he swerved through traffic, getting us to a country road where he left all in a blur.

Ray enjoying leisurely ride to ranch. 

Once we got to the ranch and combed the tangles from my hair...we were introduced to our horses and our guide, Clinton.  Clinton gave a quick lesson on riding...and demonstrated each step for the beginners.  We were divided into three groups depending on experience.  The horses were healthy and the saddles and reins were in great condition.  My horse was spirited but followed all directions I gave her and Ray's horse was steady but also reacted to Ray's directions.  So Ray was able to experiment with trotting, stopping, turning and maybe even a short canter. 

The ride took us through the countryside...where we saw iguanas and a few Mayan structures.  Clinton was a great guide...but soon the ride ended.   We each had a drink (Ray a Corona and I had Pepsi) before we boarded our air conditioned taxi for another wild ride back to the ship.