Sunday Morning in Ft. Myers

Sunday morning, Nov. 29--Doug and Matt took us along with them as they visited the Lamb of God Church, where some of Doug's university colleagues worship regularly. It is a new church, in the "emerging" church format. The Welcome Center out front shelters coffee and cookies before, between, and after worship. Picnic tables with umbrellas welcome people to visit and enjoy refreshments.

The church is a combined Lutheran (ELCA) and Episcopal congre- gation, one of only two in the United States. Tradi- tional services are held in The Arbor, the smaller of the auditorium spaces. This building also houses the children's program and offices. The grounds are being landscaped with native Florida plants, including some wild cotton that was ripening!


We attended the contem- porary service at 9 a.m. that meets in this building, The Vineyard. Like many contemporary settings, the hymn words were projected on screens, although there was a choir up front. Communion was open. The service had a very informal feel, but it was fairly slow paced. The greeters were friendly, and everyone wore name tags. We were approached only by Doug's colleagues, though. We met Brad and Kathleen, their three little girls, and Maggie and her son after church and headed to a nearby California Pizza Kitchen for brunch. Brad's office is next to Doug's at the university.


After lunch we came home, read the paper, and some of us took naps. I had just drifted off when Doug and Matt got back from walking Sam and burst in talking excitedly about an eagle in a tree on the condo property. So we all trekked outside to look at it. Here is the tree, with a small black spot in the upper left, with Doug and Norm in the foreground to give an idea of scale and distance.

And here is Mr. or Mrs. National Symbol, sunning in the pine near a lake. Matt says he frequently sees an eagle in this tree, and I read in a guide that Florida has more eagles than any other state in the union. They nest here and live here year round. (On Monday when Norm and I took a walk, the eagle was in the tree, on a different branch, as well.)

By now it was time to head out for the beach, to watch an evening sunset. Norm and Matt compared notes in front of the condo where Doug and Matt live. The upper room above the garage is the guest room where Norm and I are staying on this visit.

Sunday Evening at The Beach

After church, lunch, eagle watching and naps, we set forth to visit a beach preserve near Bonita Springs, about 30 minutes away. We arrived a little less than and hour before sunset and waded along the shore. The Gulf was definitely too cool for (us to go) swimming although the air temperature was in the low 70s.

Because the sun was low and the breeze light, we didn't need chairs or an umbrella. We set up on one of Doug's old quilts on the sugar-fine sand. Near the water, the beach comprises small shells. The backdrop is sea grape, planted to stop beach erosion.


Incoming tide means dinner for the shore birds. Several varieties of sandpipers and plovers would run into the surf to pick up a delicacy. Then they would run back on the beach, ahead of the under tow. Another post of the various birds and plants we saw on this vacation will appear sometime next week, after we get home.

The expanse of beach shows birds and people waiting for the sunset. The buildings in the background are high rise condos. We also drove through an exclusive residential area on the way to this beach. Few homes seemed occupied. We don't know if they are unsold, in foreclosure, or if the rich northern folks who own these "winter homes" just haven't arrived for The Season yet.

A new camera with a zoom lens and a sunset are an addictive combi- nation. But I kept trying to capture the light in the water as the waves broke on the beach, showing the progress of the sunset.

Sunsets on the Gulf move fairly quickly. This one began to light up the clouds nearby not long after we arrived. For a while, a sun dog was visible and the air took on a golden hue.










As it got closer to the time the fiery cauldron of sky and sea were about to peak, it was closer to the time we needed to pack up, since the preserve is closed at sunset, or 5:30 p.m. local time. It was getting close to time, so Norm went down to the water to wash the sand out of his shoes.


All in all, another perfect ending to a lovely day in Southwest Florida. Hard to believe we have to head North again in less than a day.

Sanibel: The Portable Feast

Friday, Nov. 27--the day dawned dazzlingly clear. We played with Sam, went with Doug to his campus office and a tour of FGCU (another blog post to come) while Matt worked. In the afternoon we headed for Sanibel Island and the home of Anne-Marie, our holiday meal cook, for "leftovers" and more conversation with yesterday's guests. Night found us around the table, or around the living room, exchanging stories and histories and ideas. It was a good coda for a wonderful Thanksgiving experience.


Anne-Marie's condo is in a community on the bay, looking back toward the mainland. It doesn't have a beach, but it has great views and there is a nice boardwalk along the sea wall. Since night falls quickly after sunset, we all set out for a walk around the grounds soon after arriving.

Inside, the condo is light and inviting. This table expanded for our meal later. We admired many of Anne- Marie's family antiques, including wood work done by her father.



This intricately carved harp is one of those wood pieces that he created.









The walk around the bay took us by a number of boats and some people who were fishing. The cloudless day looked warm, but the breeze was actually little bit cool. It wasn't a day for wading.


In some parts of SW Florida, it almost looks like the great recession never happened. Some of the neighbors have some really large boats. These would be able to travel the intercoastal waterway.

On the bay side of the condo we saw a lot of pelicans, and Doug walked out on this fishing pier with the cars on the toll bridge from Ft. Myers zipping along in the background. The water was choppy but pelicans fished in it anyway. (Photos of pelicans and other birds coming in a later post, as well.)


We returned to find some of our dinner companions deep in conver- sation. People who had never met before found many experiences, traditions and even places they had lived in common.

NIcole is Anne-Marie's sister. She came not only to visit, but to consult on how to make the stuffing for the turkey! She is head of a special collections library at a large university. We loved hearing many of her stories about living in Europe. Anne-Marie, whose photo didn't turn out, is an art historian at FGCU.

Hamdesa is a conflict resolution specialist. He has traveled widely to study causes and remedies for conflicts, and teaches at another university in South Florida. His home country is Ethiopia.



Kathy teaches at FGCU and also studies the role of communi- cation in conflicts. She enjoyed holding the smallest guest, a 6-week-old baby girl, while her parents got to mingle with everyone else.

Anothoer FGCU faculty couple are the baby's parents, Sachiko and Farshad, who met as grad students in Carbon- dale, Ill. Japan and Iran are their home countries. With all of this international and national experience, topics ranged far and wide. One thing we all agreed on: the leftovers were even better the second day!

Not long after sunset it was dark, and then we were all feeling sleepy, so it was time to bid farewell and head for the mainland again. Some out of town guests would leave on Saturday, others on Sunday. For all of these faculty types, there is still one week of school, followed by final exams and a lot of papers to grade!

Thanksgiving in Zone 10

Happy Post-Thanksgiving (I hate the term black Friday) from Ft. Myers, Fla., in plant hardiness zone 10, which is to say, the sub-tropics. Although it did get down in the 40s here last night. We arrived about 5 p.m. EST on Wednesday after an uneventful (except for a few bumps at 29,000 feet over the Florida panhandle) non-stop Southwest Airlines flight. It has been 2-1/2 years since we visited Doug and Matt, and the vegetation around their lake in the center of their community has really grown. Although it was cloudy on Thanksgiving morning, the sun came out in the afternoon and the sky cleared. This is the view, facing east, from their lanai (we midwesterners would call it a screened porch.)


This table was set in anticipation of 13 guests. Matt ironed the tablecloths. Doug printed personalized place cards. Their space is very adaptable, even if there is no dining room. An open great room makes for varied entertaining possibilities. In addition to us, the guests were all colleagues of Doug's at FGCU, from a variety of departments. On Tuesday, Doug and Anne-Marie shopped for groceries and picked up the fresh organic turkey. On Wednesday, Anne-Marie and Maggie did a lot of pre-prep for the big day. They were ready to leave as we arrived.

Thursday afternoon, the kitchen was a veritable beehive. Matt kept washing up pots as Anne-Marie (left) carved the turkey and Kathy and Nicole dealt with something on top of the stove. Doug and Anne-Marie's son Simon supervised, a lot.

The final result: a toast to friends and things to be thankful for, before heading for the sideboards to fill our plates. With turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, asparagus casserole, green beans, brussels sprouts, whole cranberry sauce, rolls, and four kinds of pie (pecan bourbon chocolate, apple, banana caramel and chocolate) everyone had plenty to eat. And the leftovers will go to Anne-Marie's house on Sanibel Island this afternoon for an after-feast from the same crew!

This is the second year that Doug's kitchen has been comman- deered ably by Anne-Marie, who loves to cook and has a kitchen too small to cook for a crowd. Although Doug is also a fabulous cook, he seemed really pleased to let four of his best friends do the Thanksgiving dinner. The meal was amazing, fresh, wholesome and above all, delicious!

Norm and I were going to have dueling cameras, but he put his down so I could take my picture of him first. He is enjoying leisurely morning walks around the condo complex with Sam as a companion. Yesterday afternoon I took a walk with him, too.

Sam and I stayed out of the kitchen, mostly, although Sam did make periodic trips through to check for crumbs and other goodies. On Wednesday night when we arrived, Sam gave a brief bark and then broke into wiggles and grins and he spent most of Wednesday evening on my lap, as though he had missed me the whole four or five months since we last saw him, in May in St. Louis. His thanksgiving scarf came from his groomer, who also wrote his name in day glo puff paint on it.

The guest room faces west and is very cozy. Norm and I have no trouble feeling at home and we sleep really well. This room is also the music room, since Matt moved the piano in here on carpet after the downstairs neighbor complained about the "noise" not long after they moved the piano in. The guest room is over the garage, so the neighbor doesn't get the vibrations while he's trying to sleep in the daytime. On Thursday afternoon Simon played Chopin for endless hours it seemed, while we were waiting for dinner. Then Matt took over and played some of his original compositions that are in his head, although he says he will write them down, someday.

We are so thankful to have some time to savor the Gulf air, relax, and have meaningful conversations. Soon enough we will be back home and busy with Advent and Christmas events, hustle and bustle. For now, we are looking forward to a field trip to Sanibel where we can walk on the beach. We brought sunscreen, hats, and beach shoes. We are ready!

Quilt for a Cause

My sofa-throw-sized quilt, "Let Freedom Shine," is going to be featured at the Compton Heights Christian Church first ever bazaar on Dec. 5. There will be a drawing at 4 p.m. that day, and if you are interested in tickets (only $1 each,) please e-mail me (the link is in my profile near the bottom right of the blog page.) The blocks were made by members of my quilt guild in July 2007, and I managed to get them sewn together this past winter, and it was my first large-scale machine quilting effort this summer. I did finish it in the nick of time to put it in the Guild quilt show in September. The bazaar will feature hand-made gifts and ornaments, imported fair trade gift items and fair trade coffee, tea and chocolate, some other trinkets and treasures, and baked goods. It will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Dec. 5 at Compton Heights, 2149 S. Grand Blvd. in south St. Louis. Y'all come!

Popular Searches & Friends Update

As I recently wrote, I'm now trying out Facebook, the social networking site. So far I have 32 friends, who really ARE friends from different walks of life: my high school, my church, former students, and family and neighbors. It strikes me that Facebook is a modern party line--some of us are old enough to remember the distinctive rings that denoted which neighbor was getting a call. All you had to do to learn the news was pick up the phone and listen in, discreetly. With Facebook, you just log in and see who has done what since you last looked. Amazing.

As for this blog, Home Stories, it is not going away. But I am always amazed at the search terms that bring newcomers, probably for only one time. The two most popular search terms for 2009 so far are "Indian Camp" or its variant, "Indian Camp Creek" , and anything having to do with Ft. Sill. Little did I know when we visited in June that I was writing about a place that seems to draw interest all over the country. So now you know, faithful regular readers, what the outsiders are looking for. At least it's not orgies--a term I once used loosely in connection with flowers, I think, and that brought a lot of lookers for a while!

Autumn Rains Are Back

There's no way to take a picture of rain at night...but right now I'm hearing it fall. We might have 2-4 inches by Wednesday. The two weeks of sunshine and upper 60s that started November were very welcome, but it sounds like October is back!

Norm spent the week off and on vacuuming and blowing leaves around; on Saturday Raymond and a friend of his came to finish them off. Now there are about 40 soggy bags around our two houses, waiting for Wednesday pickup. And a big soggy pile out back by the compost pile, destined to become mulch! I noticed this week that daffodils are already peeking through along the driveway, so they will need that mulch pretty soon.

Our tuneful winter visitors, the white-crowned sparrows, are here. I heard one calling the other evening, and then came face to face with it in the vines along the garden fence on Saturday, as I was picking the rest of the tomatoes ahead of the rain. We have about a dozen that had turned color and will ripen enough to be frozen for soup or chili. I gave most of the green ones to Raymond's friend, since he likes to fry them. We kept a few greenies to try the recipes Carol and Jan suggested.

Ava stayed with us Tuesday morning through Friday night while Barb was out of town on business. She is really calming down now that she is an "adult," as she was 2 back in October.

Norm got his crown on his ailing incisor that finishes the root canal saga. So far, all is well. Thank goodness for dental insurance! (It paid about 50%).

Elaine, wife of the Linville sibs' cousin Joe, is in our prayers as her treatment will enter a new stage after Thanksgiving, or so she writes in her CarePages updates. We pray especially for her doctors, and for her peace of mind.

We also are thinking good thoughts for, and praying for our friend Nancy S from Colby. She is in a hospital in the KC area and will start rehab on Monday for a stroke she had a week ago. Nancy is the person most responsible for Norm and me getting together over 41 years ago. Get better soon, Nancy. If the weather holds out and we can clear a schedule or two, we hope to drive over to KC this week to visit her and John.

Last, but not least, I finally broke down and joined Facebook. All of my friends keep up with their grandkids this way; there is a group for our church; many of my former students are there; family members are there; much of my high school class is there; my next-door neighbor is there; so now I have another way to procrastinate from doing any real work. If you are on Facebook, look me up and if you want to be my friend, you can send me a request. Tonight I discovered some of my friends are becoming friends with each other! Will it ever end? First a blog. Then three blogs (one of which I neglect terribly.) Then twitter, which occasionally alarms me. Then a new cell phone that can send text and photo messages for a pittance compared to my old service. Now it's Facebook. What is next? Hmmmm.

Hope everyone has a good week. Stay dry (and if you are in Western Kansas, stay warm with all that snow.)

Faded Glory, Warmer Days

For about a week, the maple basked in the sunshine and to stand beneath it was to be surrounded by gold.

By Thursday, Nov. 5, the leafy branches were thinning, but the color was still good. I took this photo that day from two back yards away, and got barked at by my neighbor's three dogs for my trouble. As the weekend warmed, the leaves began to fall anyway.


A view from our front walk, up the neighbor's driveway, shows how huge the tree is. Since it's not on the street, it is kind of a hidden treasure. We have been working on planting bulbs in the front wall beds, and tidying up the perennials for winter.






Our mighty oak in front has lost almost all of its leaves, and Norm has composted a lot of them. Every year, a sweet gum ball sprouts in the crevasses of the oak's massive roots, and grows a little tree. This one turned a lovely shade of red, and contrasted nicely with the gray bark.


I was so amazed at how many leaves covered the driveway and yard in back, despite all the leaves still on the maple, so I took this picture on Nov. 5, too. Well, less than a week later, today almost all of the leaves are off the tree, and there are ankle- and knee-deep drifts of golden leaves all over, including our northern neighbor's yard. He likes his yard neat so he has been doing a lot of sweeping and raking. Norm is working on our pile with a new leaf blower/ vacuum we bought Saturday at Home Depot, after the old one flickered, gasped and died. By the end of the week, our friend Raymond will probably come and finish them off.

Tomorrow we will get a visit from Ava, who will stay until Friday. Barb is going to KC and Wichita. Doug and Matt went to Baltimore this weekend to see friends and celebrate Doug's birthday. One of these days, we just might go somewhere!

Fall in the Garden: Still in Bloom

While our brief Indian Summer continues (it was 72F today) I thought I'd reprise some of the fall flowers that have enjoyed the extended growing season this year. Yesterday I tramped out in the sunshine to take more photos of The Maple (coming soon in a post this weekend) and I found a couple of buds on the yellow rose. This bush doesn't know when to quit.

Very little is left of our mums after the last two weeks of October offered rain almost non-stop. But on a sunny day in mid-October I took several pictures of them. These red ones were overwintered from last year and when the wall was finished, we planted them there. They spread out as though they liked the spot!



Orange seemed to be missing from our mum collection so one day Norm surprised me with two pots ot them. These flourished along the south end of the wall, and we hope they will come back up next year.


Of course, I forgot that some kind of peach-colored mums had volunteered near the front steps. They set buds kind of late, but then bloomed for a couple of weeks, before the rains beat them down.








Meanwhile, in the back garden, as I wrote a few weeks ago, the tomato plants are also still producing. This clump of 5 green tomatoes were photographed just yesterday. There are 4 plants, and each has a couple of clutches like this. The Fried Green Tomato suggestions from Carol, Maxine and Janice will come in handy. Some of them are still turning so we are ripening them on the windowsills. The larger ones will get wrapped in newspaper in the basement and as they ripen, we will enjoy them. They aren't as firm or tasty as summer tomatoes, but they still beat the offerings in our supermarkets. And the smaller ones, well, we will try frying them.

About the time the zinnias succumbed to mildew, around a month ago, we purchased some pansies at the Farmers' Market and then planted them along the wall. These blooms were from a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday I see the pansies are starting to wind down for winter; they have set a lot of seed pods and look like they would like to crawl under the mulch and sleep a while. We hope, of course, to see them early in the spring. I knew Pansies were hardy in Tulsa, and was surprised to find they are usually hardy here as well. Many businesses plant beds of them in the fall and I've even seen them blooming in the snow.


As long as the sun shines, the geraniums are happy I took this photo yesterday, too. Still on the porch. Soon I'll have to make decisions on which plants to try to slip and root, and which ones will come inside whole, and which ones I don't really have room for. Today I washed window sills and started rounding up trays and pots. We still don't have a freeze in the forecast through another 7 days. That is unusual, since the "average" date of the first freeze in Central Missouri was two weeks ago. But we will enjoy it while it lasts.

A year or so ago, when we were combing through photo albums for anniversary album photos, we realized that we tend to take the same pictures every year: first crocus, daffodils, roses, house plants in bloom, trees in bloom, flowers and fruits of summer, MO botanical garden, forays to the rivers to watch birds, and holiday decorations. And dogs, of course. Perhaps we are in kind of a rut, but I also think that putting them in albums, even in an online journal like this one, helps us remember our stories for this year. I hope you aren't bored.

Today we enjoyed the sunshine and took a 30-mile drive to visit a church member who is in a rehab center, recovering from an amputation. We went to cheer him up but found him upbeat and determined, doing his therapy exercises on his own, and curious about how WE were. We left glad we had seen him and in a good mood, which sustained us despite the humongous traffic jam we encountered on I-270 going home!

Glorious October, Just a Little Late

At last, the October rains (10 inches ABOVE normal just for the MONTH) have stopped, and the sun has come out. For 5 whole days now. On Sunday afternoon I took this photo of the backyard sugar maple, pretty close to its peak for this year. It was the first chance I had to take a picture in decent light since it started turning color. All week it has been "raining" leaves in the back yard, but many remain on the tree even today. I took more photos around the yard and will post those in coming days as we are having sort of an Indian Summer, although not officially since we technically have not had a Hard Freeze yet. But this will do.

Our week has been busy. A lot of jobs we do for our church converged on this week and between meetings and mailings and figurings and editings, not that much time to just sit in the sunshine and drink coffee, visit with the neighbors or play with Ava the wonder dog. The front flower bed is drying out so we hope we can plant daffodil bulbs by the weekend. Norm turned up some of the soil and it is still pretty gummy. Norm also has been waking up at 5:30 a.m. ever since the time change, so he has been going out to rake leaves, or mow them, or stuff them in cans to be hauled away, often before breakfast. Tuesday he realized that his elbow was hurting--there must be a Raker's Elbow version of Tennis Elbow, since I can swear our tennis racquets have not been used in four decades. At least not for the purpose of playing tennis! Ice, heat and an Ace Bandage are all being deployed in succession and he says it is some better.

I'm looking forward to a meeting of the Shawl Ministry knitters tonight. One reader asked me in an e-mail about this: the idea is to give a shawl (sometimes a lap blanket--guys are shawl shy, usually) to someone who is going through a rough time physically, mentally or spiritually, as a tangible reminder that they are in your prayers. When one of us finishes a shawl it is dedicated in church and passed around for everyone to touch before we give it away. Those of us who knit (some people crochet, or quilt--there are shawl quilters, too) shawls sometimes use a special "trinity stitch" and may meditate or offer prayers for the recipient while we work. We work alone at home on our creations but once a month we get together to share our thoughts, pray for people we know who are hurting or going through a transition, dedicate finished shawls, and also to share good news. Some shawls are in celebration--a wedding, a graduation, an ordination, a baptism, a new baby, etc. Prayer shawls are always a gift--they cannot be bought and sold, only given away. I had heard about such groups for years but it took a 20-something woman who joined our church in the past year, who wanted to learn to knit, to get a group started for us. As a result, I've revived my love of knitting, first learned when I was in college and my Aunt Eadie taught me how to hold the needles right. Now I just need more hours in the day to get in all of my passions: tai chi, walking, photography, sewing, quilting, knitting and writing.

After the camera battery finishes charging, I'll take a photo of my first shawl, finally finished a week ago after several months, and post it with the quilt gallery. No promises, but I'll try to remember to do it.

Vote Scheduled Tonight on Columbia Bottoms

The St. Louis County Council will vote tonight on the Riverview Casino project proposed by North County Development L.L.C. to rezone 377 acres of Mississippi River bottomland (part of it flood plain) that is directly adjacent to the Columbia Bottoms Conservation Area, a natural gem at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, and a refuge for migratory birds. A very comprehensive op/ed piece that details all of the reasons why this project is a bad idea appeared in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and can be read, here.

The St. Louis chapter of the Audubon Society has a lot of background information about the impact of this project on is web site, starting here.

As a Missouri taxpayer, I have gladly voted every 10 years to continue the 1/10 cent sales tax for conservation, and that money has gone to develop various Conservation department tracts in the state. One of the most significant has been Columbia Bottoms, since it is within 30 minutes' drive of about half a million St. Louis area urban residents, making it convenient to visit the river, observe the unique Confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, look for rare birds and other wildlife, enjoy the biking and hiking trails and learn through programs at the visitors' center. Building a giant entertainment complex (there is a theater planned, as well as a hotel and a wind farm in addition to the casino, and its 8,000-car parking lot) less than 500 feet from the southern boundary of this natural area is bound to have some impact. Yet our county council is ready to approve this project, proposed by out-of-state investors, even though all of Missouri's gaming licenses are in use at the moment, without even asking for an environmental impact study. No matter how the vote goes tonight, this won't be the end of it, either opposition to this project or another try by the promoters. As I told my councilwoman in a letter this week, I don't gamble, but I do go to Columbia Bottoms. And in 35 years of living in this county, I have never missed voting in an election.