Happy New Year!

 

The Big Door Prize

 M.O. Walsh wrote The Big Door Prize, a comic novel set in a small town in Louisiana. The main characters are a happily married couple named Doug and Cherilyn. The local grocery store gets a new machine delivered called Dynamix. For only two dollars and a DNA sample the machine will give each customer a print out explaining their potential. Customers are told they have the potential to be a magician, a cowboy, or royalty. The people in the town take this machine very seriously. I thought the plot of this story was odd but the characters in it are charming and believable.

The Sympathizer

 I read The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen because it won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The story is narrated by a half Vietnamese, half French boy who grows up to be a spy for the North Vietnamese army while serving in the South Vietnamese army. He is a communist sympathizer. He is never really at home with one group. His father was a priest and his mother a poor servant girl. When Saigon fell he moved with the south Vietnamese army general to Los Angeles. The story is about the Vietnam war and is, at times, very difficult and painful to read.

After Francesco

After Francesco is a novel by a Minnesota author named Brian Malloy. I actually got an autographed copy. The story is about a gay man, Kevin, who moves to Minneapolis in 1988 after loosing his significant other to AIDS. He comes to Minneapolis to live with his aunt Nora who allows him in her house if he stays sober and goes to a support group. Kevin grew up in Minneapolis and he still has friends there. This historical fiction story is about the AIDS epidemic and is told with humor and grief. I am again reminded why I did not like Ronald Reagan.

 

Are We There Yet?

I read Are We There Yet? by Kathleen West and I couldn't put it down. Each chapter is the point of view of various seventh graders or their mothers or one grandmother. Teddy and Sadie were best friends in kindergarten. Their mothers bonded at school events. Now that Teddy and Sadie are in middle school and starting to get into trouble, their mother's friendship starts to fall apart. Alice is the mother of Teddy and she is probably the main character in the story. Each chapter was quick and left me wanting more information. 

The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

After driving through Elmira, New York and staying at the Mark Twain Inn and later visiting Hannibal, Missouri and going to the various Mark Twain museums, I felt I should reread his classic book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I enjoyed. Right away young Tom, who hates work more than anything else, uses reverse psychology to convince white washing a fence is so much fun the young boys walking by should hand over their marbles for a chance to paint. Aunt Polly, Tom's guardian, loves the boy but doesn't want to show it because he gets into trouble so frequently and in such imaginative ways. After that Tom and his friends, Huck Finn and Joe skip school to build a raft and live on an island. They fish for food and play Robin Hood and pirates. After  a few nights on the island Tom sneaks back into town to learn that the town thinks the three boys have drowned in the river and are planning a funeral for Sunday. Tom goes back to the island where his friends are getting tired of the isolation and want to go home. He convinces them to stay hidden, go to the church loft before the service, and listen to their own funeral. In the book the town is called Saint Petersburg but the novel is based on the author's early years in Hannibal, Missouri. Twain really captures what it is like to be a barefoot boy in the years before the Civil War, telephones, electric lights and flashlights. I really enjoyed reading this story which was written for children but also for adults who can remember what it was like to be a child.

 

The Souvenir Museum

 Elizabeth McCracken published a book of short stores titled The Souvenir Museum. In the first of twelve short stories she describes a couple, Sadie and Jack, who travel to Ireland for a family wedding. Sadie meets Jack's family for the first time in a series of funny events for which Sadie is unprepared. In total there are 5 stories about Jack and Sadie. The other stores are odd and quirky and unexpected little gems. In one story a man who doesn't like birds takes his father on a birding expedition on an island to see puffins. The walk on the island is treacherous and the man is afraid his father is going to fall off a cliff. The father gets excited to see the puffins while the son wonders why looking at birds is more important than looking at his son. Later as the bird group are walking on a narrow ledge in a cave, the son panics and sits down blocking the entire group. The father helps his son to his feet. I enjoyed her witty short stories.

Passportless

 Today I turned in my passport along with a $110 check and a passport renewal form and a new picture of me. I mailed everything to Irving, Texas via priority mail so I can track it. In eight or so weeks I should get another passport. I got my first passport in 2002. I got my second passport in 2012. So this next one will be third passport. I feel odd not having a passport. Now I am not allowed to travel to another country. I can't even go to Canada. Staying home during this pandemic might be a good idea anyway. Every time I use my passport it's a new beginning because I have to turn the page. 

Zorrie

 I chose to read Zorrie by Laird Hunt because I saw it was a finalist for the national book award for fiction. The story is about a woman named Zorrie who is trying to find a sense of belonging. She is orphaned as a young child during the great depression and raised by an unfamiliar aunt who seems to be cold and heartless. When her aunt dies, Zorrie is homeless and a teenager. She travels on foot and eventually finds a job painting numbers on a clock face with radium paint. She makes friends with some of the other girls at the plant. The workers at the plant are told to use their mouths to make the tip of the paint brush come to a sharp point. Eventually they notice that their mouths are glowing in the dark. The factory owners tell the employees that radium is not only healthy to ingest but adds to your beauty. Later her friends come down with bone cancer and Zorrie worries that eating radium wasn't a good choice. Zorrie eventually finds a community. She settles down in Indiana on a farm where she raises animals and vegetables and oats and corn. Rural life suits her. As she cooks a ham dinner with peach pie for a neighbor who needs emotional support, Zorrie comes to realize that this is where she belongs. This book proves once again that ordinary people can be extraordinary.

Paddle Board

Today I went for a walk along the shore towards Canal Park when I saw this group of four hardy paddle boarders. I had snow pants and boots and a coat and a hat and two pair of mittens and I was cold because the breeze was in my face. This is Lake Superior they are floating on. When I think of all the things I could do on this cold December day, paddle boarding on Lake Superior never crossed my mind.

 

Hard Landings

 Cammie McGovern wrote Hard Landings: Looking Into The Future For A Child With Autism. She has a child with autism so she wanted to share what she learned the hard way with her son growing up in Massachusetts. She reviews what services were available for her son from the age of 3 to 25. She found that services fall off at age 22. She also found that school did not prepare him properly for adulthood. She worries what will happen to her son once she and her husband are not available to provide support. She gives us a history of disability services and many stories about her family and her son. In her research she finds a few programs that offer quality services but they are few and far between. She writes about the "Employment First" movement which means well but has not been successful for most people with disabilities or autism. Services vary from state to state. Many people with autism end up falling through the cracks. I think the author is honest in that there are no easy answers for a parent who has a child with autism. 

6025

 

My road trip is over and my odometer reads 6025 miles. I averaged 100.4 miles per day. My car ran great. Aside from getting lost my most distressing issue was a flat tire on the George Washington bridge in New York City. I stayed in Rhode Island for the longest time even though we had some side trips to Massachusetts and New Hampshire and Maine. Some days I traveled in two states or three states or four states. The day we left Boston we traveled through five states including Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Delaware, Maryland and Delaware. All wanderlust has dissipated. I can stay home for awhile now. I really enjoyed the ride across Lake Michigan on the ferry, Kalamazoo, the Cuyahoga valley, the Catskills, the east coast, the Atlantic Ocean, the Appalachian mountains, the Blue Ridge mountains and the great plains. I would definitely recommend seeing the Crane center in Baraboo, Wisconsin, the Kellogg museum in Battle Creek, Michigan, the Cuyahoga Valley national park in Ohio, the T. Roosevelt Inaugural museum in Buffalo, NY, the glass museum in Corning, NY, the Culinary Institute of America near Hyde Park, NY, the Eleanor Roosevelt national park also in Hyde Park, a Boston Pops concert in Boston, Massachusetts, Fort Adams state park in Newport, RI, Winterthur Gardens in Delaware, Abe Lincoln's birthplace and Mammoth cave in Kentucky, Gateway Arch national park in Saint Louis, and the Mark Twain town of Hannibal, Missouri. I was lucky to unwittingly avoid bad weather. I was careful to wear my mask when in public and to sanitize my hands and hotel rooms often. This road trip has been the longest trip I have ever taken. This is the first time I didn't really plan the trip ahead of time but chose to take suggestions from other people if interested. I enjoyed my adventure but now I am content to stay home and bake cookies.

Ida B. The Queen

 Michelle Duster is the great grand daughter of Ida B. Wells, a civil rights leader who was  born a slave in Mississippi in 1862. I was happy to read Ida B. The Queen because it was written by a relative of hers. Ida had parents who were educated and they encouraged her to speak out against injustice. When they died at a tragically young age, teenager Ida took over raising her siblings before going on her own crusade against injustice and lynching. She became a journalist who dared write the facts about local lynchings. Ida was brave and a princess of the press.

Hoover

 

Herbert Hoover and his wife, Lee Henry Hoover, are buried here in West Bend, Iowa.

Here is the cottage where Herbert (Bertie) was born. He lived here until age 10. He, his brother and sister, were orphaned when their parents died. At age 10, Herbert was sent alone to live with an Uncle in Oregon. He seldom visited Iowa but choose to have his presidential library and grave site in West Bend.

Herbert was born into the Quaker religion. Here is a Quaker meeting house. Quakers in West Bend, Iowa, still meet in this town.

Hannibal

Today we started in Hannibal, Missouri where Mark Twain grew up. Here is a statue of Huckleberry Finn and his good friend, Tom Sawyer.

Tugboats and barges were working the river this morning.

Here is the view of Hannibal from the top of the hill.

We went to the Mark Twain house, the Becky Thatcher house, and a few other Twain museums. Some of them were a bit cheesy and touristy and repetitive.

The last museum had Norman Rockwell prints of the Twain stories.

 

Arch

We visited Gateway Arch national park in Saint Louis, Missouri today. The entrance is between the arch legs in that round building. We paid for the movie and the tram ride. If you are at all claustrophobic or afraid of heights, I suggest you do not see the movie before you take the tram ride. The movie was good but watching the construction process from 1962 to 1965 was nerve wracking. This arch was construction before OSHA. No one wore safety harnesses or hard hats. We had a beautiful sunny day to see the arch. A museum talks about the Saint Louis area from the 1700's to present time. Saint Louis has been in the hands of the native Americans, the Spanish,  and the French. Each ruler meant adjusting to new rules for the people in the town and the slaves in the town.

Here is the view to the west from the top of the arch. We rode up in a little room with seats for five people. The ride up took 4 minutes. The ride down takes 3 minutes. The tram rooms are self adjusting. As you ride down the curve of the arch, your tram adjusts to a flat angle before going down to the next level. 

That is Busch stadium for you Cardinal fans.

This is the view to the east. Illinois is across the river. I am really glad we decided to stop and visit this arch on our trip.

 

Tornado Damage

Today we drove north and west from Waynesboro, Tennessee, through Kentucky, to Missouri. We bypassed Paducah and drove on smaller roads through rural Tennessee. We were running low on gas by the time we came to Mayfield, Kentucky. Mayfield is a disaster zone. Power lines tipped dangerously toward the road. Barns were destroyed. Roofs were missing. None of the stop lights worked. Some roads were closed. Stores and gas stations are without electricity. FEMA trailers were pulling into town also looking for gas to buy. We saw relief workers handing out water and supplies. All through the country side sheet metal littered the road sides. We saw trailers on their sides. We saw cars and pick ups out in the middle of a field with no tire tracks leading to them. The tornado must have lifted vehicles and put them down again. The entire town was a mess. The devastation was heart breaking to witness. We left Mayfield without gasoline and headed north where electricity and gasoline were available.

Natchez Trace Parkway

Last night about 1 a.m. a strong wind woke me up followed by loud claps of thunder and pouring rain. When we left Mammoth National Park and got to the highway, we began to see tornado damage around Bowling Green. The temperature at 9 a.m. was 66 degrees. The temperature at 3 p.m. was 46 degrees. Highway signs were blown across the road. Most of the airborne pieces of metal or roofing landed near the fence on the median of the highway. Roofs were missing off of factories. Trees were toppled with the crowns pointed at the highway. The wind must have come from the north. Nashville had less damage. We drove through Nashville and headed south on Natchez Trace Parkway.

This parkway has scenic vistas. Few roads intersect with the parkway. Speed limits vary between 45 and 50 mph. Bikes are encouraged. Towns are located off of the parkway. Here is Jackson Falls. The parkway travels 444 miles from Nashville to Natchez, Louisiana.

This is an historic travel route for Native Americans. The route has camping spots and picnic spots and restrooms. The rivers ran high after the storm last night.

This monument honors the deaths of soldiers during the war of 1812.

We walked part of the old Natchez trail off of the parkway to get a feel for what it was like 200 years ago.

We came upon an old phosphate mine.

Meriweather Lewis (Lewis and Clark) died here.

Some say he was murdered. Others say he died by suicide. We completed 75 miles of the Natchez Trace trail today.

 

Mammoth

 

Yesterday we went to Mammoth cave which is named after it's large size; not any wooly beasts. We went into an entrance that was developed in 1971. We walked with a ranger for several hours. Unlike other cave tours I have been to, this one required we all stay close together. We stopped 4 times for a ranger talk but we were not allowed to explore at our leisure. This cave had very few stalagmites nor stalactites. The walls were mostly smooth. The limestone roof of the cave is covered in slate and then some top soil. This is the longest cave in the world with tunnels that total 400 miles.  Last night we stayed at the Mammoth Cave lodge which was very quiet. 

Abe's Birthplace

Yesterday we went to Hodgenville, Kentucky. This is where Abraham Lincoln was born. Here is the spring at his parent's farm where he lived with his sister, Sarah. This spring is called sinking spring. This area is karst country. Limestone under the soil allows water to flow through causing sink holes.

Abe wasn't born in this cabin because the wood is carbon dated to be later than Feb. 12, 1809 but it is similar to the one he was born in.

The 56 steps leading up to his memorial represent each year of his life. 

 

Maryland

 

I realize that Minnesota has a weird shape with a curvy east border and a chimney on top but what about Maryland? What is up with Maryland? Maryland looks like a caulk gun with caulk dripping. Today we left the eastern border of West Virginia and drove into Kentucky. To get to Kentucky we had to go through Maryland again. To get anywhere out here we need to go to Maryland. There is a stretch of Maryland that is only a mile wide. Why? There is a part of western Maryland that is so far west the water drains into the Mississippi instead of the Chesapeake bay. Maryland has to be the oddest shaped state in our union.

Berekly Springs

Today we hiked around Cacapon State Park. Cacapon is the native American name for healing waters. We saw red bellied woodpeckers, chickadees, a hawk, and tufted tit mice. Cacapon State Park has a nice lodge where we are staying. The park is 6 miles long but about 4 miles of the road is closed from Dec. 1st to April which is too bad because at the end of the road you get to the peak of the Cacapon mountain.  Hot springs run in this area. We traveled north to Berkeley Springs. George Washington took a hot bath in Berkeley Springs for the first time at age 16.

In Berkely Springs a Roman bath cost us about $35/half hour.  The bath house was built in 1815. Water from the springs is 74 degrees. The water runs in concrete ditches from one bath house to another. Inside the bath house the water is heated to 102 degrees Fahrenheit. Towels are provided. I put on my swimsuit and went down the stairs. If I sat on the floor of the bath my head would have been underwater so I didn't do that. You can see we were so warm we had to open the window some.  I thought the mineral rich water made me more buoyant but that might have been my imagination. The water was so hot I didn't quite last the full half hour in there. I was thirsty and exhausted when I finished. I had to go outside to cool off. I filled my water  bottle with water from the spring. After a long drink of water I felt much better. A museum is housed above the bath house but it was closed for the season. 

 

Lancaster

Today we left Odessa, Delaware and headed north to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We took an Amish tour  which included a bus tour to various farms and Amish stores, a tour of an Amish house, and a tour of an Amish farm. Here are three pigs resting on the farm.

Along the way the driver explained Amish customs. He said Amish people do not like to be photographed because of the second commandment. Having a photograph would be like a false god. Then he said, "Get your cameras ready. Here is a wedding." We saw 50 buggies parked in a field. Weddings take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays between the middle of October until the middle of December. I didn't take a picture of the wedding even though it is a rare sight to see. If people don't like having their picture taken, I will respect that choice. He told us how to spot an Amish home. Amish homes might have green window shades. Amish homes have no electricity line going to the house although they might have solar power panels on the roof to charge batteries. Amish homes sometimes have small buildings outside to store a telephone. Amish homes might have two wheeled scooters parked in front of the house. The scooters look like a two wheeled bicycle but they don't have a seat. Instead they have a flat surface for one foot while the other foot does the pushing. Amish homes will have a shed for the horse and buggy. Amish homes have a clothesline because the Amish believe clothes dryers are a waste of energy. On our look at farms we saw many goats and silkie chickens. Amish farmers have become rare but they are successful because they can re use their own seed, they use manure for fertilizer, and they use mules or horses to plant and to harvest. Amish farmer don't spend money on hybrid seed, fertilizer nor tractors. 

 

Winterthur

Today we toured Winterthur estate previously owned by the duPont family. Here is a 300 year old sycamore tree on the grounds leading to the duPont mansions.

Henry DuPont helped Jackie Kennedy redesign the White House. She helped him design this holiday tree at his mansion.

The duPont family made a fortune making gunpowder and chemicals such as Teflon and lycra.

Henry duPont added onto the mansion five times the original size. 

He was a horticulturist and a dairy farmer. He planted acres of azaleas.

The house is packed with treasures.

The museums feature American furniture such as dressers, desks and chairs.

The Santa in the back is carrying switches. He is Belsnickel, a crochety Santa who whips naughty children and puts coal in their stockings. Yikes!

Here is where they had dinner. They had separate rooms for breakfast and lunch.

DuPont company has a mixed history as far as environmental concerns go.

Spring would be a good time to come but you would miss the holiday trees.

This is not a museum to take small children!

This is the top of the bird holiday tree.

This is the bottom of the bird holiday tree.

This is the dessert pantry. Henry DuPont loved the color green.

The gardens were nice too. I don't think frost has hit this area yet.

A horse mermaid spits water into the reflecting pool.