From our Deck

July

August

August

September

October

October

October

November...note ice on Willow Creek

November 11 - first snow

Master Gardener

This fall I signed up for Master Gardener through ISU extension.  This is a comprehensive class consisting of 40 class hours and 40 volunteer hours to complete the first year.  To say I’ve learned the content is a stretch….I’ve been taught more than I ever knew about gardening.  ISU Horticulture professors present a 3 hour segment and start by saying “I’ll be presenting tonight everything I teach in a 3 hour semester course!” 

I’ve started some of my volunteer hours at the garden surrounding an old schoolhouse located on the North Iowa Fairgrounds.  On various days I’ve worked there for 7+ hours cutting dead material, raking, discovering labels and wooden cutout whimsy.  and of course there is always litter.



Mike cutting out a volunteer (tree)

hosta clean-up

I’ve also done some exploring on the internet for some of the plants like Tabby grass which looks like it is something cats like to eat.

THE SUMMER OF MY DISCONTENT*

Our summer has been interesting to say the least.  I’ve always admired the way my Sioux City friend accepted change and dealt with all that has come her way.  In our move to Storm Lake I lived with her for nine months.  I think of her when I can’t sleep and get up to play computer games!  I think of her and her moves that she did with grace and dignity even when circumstances precipitated change. 

July and August haven’t been grace and dignity for me ---they have been awkwardness, inelegance, resentment, and also ineptness.  This has been a hard move….for a whole assortment of reasons.  I’ve also felt isolated and lonely.

Mostly our house is unpacked…although there remain several “categories” that now need to be sorted and made accessible…like sewing, office files, photographs, and travel mementos.   We’ve made numerous trips to Goodwill. And the double garage housed just one car until about a month ago. 

*With apologies to Steinbeck and Shakespeare

Bell Choir

After twelve years with no bell choir and before that playing for just 4 years - I attended bell choir practice.  When I arrived someone was playing Amazing Grace solo!  The intimidation factor soared.  Other bell choir members began arriving and I was assigned G and A above the treble staff and the necessary flats and sharps…and it was apparent that the soloist was the conductor.  Next was terminology.  Did I ever know all these terms and symbols? Thumb damp, LV, diamond-shape noteheads for chimes, shake, martellato lift and on and on.  Everyone was introduced….more to learn, performance dates announced and we read through 3 pieces.  I wonder if I even rang 50% of the time. 

Camp with the Grands

Last March or April it seemed like a good idea to invite the three perfect grandchildren to go to family camp at Lutheran Lakeside with us- Babu and Bibi/Halmoni.

Having just moved two weeks before camp I must admit that the Sunday we were to go I was questioning my sanity…and then by Monday one of the perfect grands asked “could we do this next year?”  I’m glad we went!

Our tree house cabin (no water no electricity) by choice was Abednego (as in Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego) with four sets of bunks.  The two youngest picked the top bunks and the others of us bottom bunks.  I’d gotten each grand a flashlight and headlight .  The shower house was a good hike away although we did have a port-a- potty nearby!

We were “short-termers” and stayed until Tuesday evening.  We sang, hiked, studied the Bible, enjoyed campfire, swam every day, went tubing, used the challenge course, made new friends and were reacquainted with others.  45 years ago Mike and I honeymooned there!...We worked the whole summer of 1968.  Mike for his third season and I for my second.  Lutheran Lakeside is a memory keeper!

Children's Worship Under the Tree

Igumbilo Lutheran Girls' Secondary School

After our return from Tanzania (January, 2013), I completed a history of the Igumbilo Lutheran Girls’ Secondary School (ILGSS) in Tanzania.  The title of the photo journal is From Camp to Campus 2004 – 2013.  It was a work from the heart –a joy-to follow the history from an email in January, 2001 to Bp Miller from Bp Mgeyekwa describing a plan from the Southern Diocese to start a Girls Secondary School in the area around Chimala District to increase opportunities for women in rural areas and to reduce gender imbalance of educated people along with other aims.

In May of 2004, Mike and I traveled to the Southern Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania to meet our counterparts.  The Western Iowa Synod and the Southern Diocese are companion synods.  While there we traveled around the Diocese learning about their institutions, their history and their dreams.  At that time a rice plantation was being offered for sale and the Southern Diocese very much wanted to buy it and start the Igumbilo Lutheran Girls’ Secondary School.

2004

 

  Western Iowa Synod Women’s Organization heard about the need and set about to raise the money for purchase.  In the Southern Diocese they worked hard to get the school started, rehabbing the buildings and planning for the future of the school.  And since then we (WIS and the Southern Diocese) have walked Hatua Kwa Hatua (step by step) at ILGSS and in other areas of lives together.

2006

The first term Igumbilo Lutheran Girls’ Secondary School opened in 2006 with 83 students and this January (2013) has 374 enrolled.  In the four years of graduation they have graduated 285 students with an overall completion rate of 70%.

Starting Year	Form 1	Form 11	Form 111	Form IV	Completion Rate
2006	83	76	84	58	58/83 70%
2007	90	73	74	64	64/90 71%
2008	117	100	90	88	88/117 75%
2009	117	80	95	75	75/117 64%

 In the same time Igumbilo Lutheran Girls’ Secondary School has

~moved from one dorm to four dorms and from one classroom to 8 classrooms and a lab.

~endured a fire, and irregular water and electricity.

~expanded from 60 acres to 460 acres

~dreamed of a future with a library, assembly hall/chapel, dining hall and

~received and used textbooks and microscopes from WIS that improved their state examination       scores

 

 For all of its accomplishments for me it is the people I’ve met, known, and loved…the students, the staff, the teachers and their generosity and kindness.  Each time I arrived at the drive to ILGSS the sign causes tightness in my throat and my heart swells. 

 

 After staying a day or two it feels so comfortable to join the rhythm of the day: the bell, porridge, devotions, class, lunch, class, activities (choir, sports, and debate), daily cleaning, supper, study, and the girls singing at closing worship.  I’ve enjoyed the mountains standing at one end of the campus and the trail to the well at the other end of the campus.  I’ve enjoyed hiking around the nearly 460  acres of the school and also going into the town of Chimala to experience the colorful market.  Ah Igumbilo.

Two days in a row of beautiful days at Loon…mowing grass that was (my) calf-high and had probably gone to seed twice!  The mosquitoes are apparently famished!

I picked up stones in the upper prairie and created a stone stacking probably not artistic but satisfying for me. I also finished broadcasting native seed on the lower prairie – where I burned two weeks ago!

Ask friend Floriana about hardiness of Canadian anemone!

Mike covering jet ski lift.
 

 

Scouring rush, horsetails or tinker toys!

 

 

Life’s Adventures

Life’s Little Adventures

We spent about two weeks at Loon in May – with several trips to Storm Lake to mow.  It was mostly cold and rainy with some glorious days sandwiched between.  Many tiny spring flowers were blooming on the prairie. 

 

 

 In another area where the fire department burned last fall, we worked to get it ready to sow some native grasses.  Our faithful neighbor had sprayed it with Round-Up and then we mowed and even did some raking so the seed wouldn’t be on top of the thatch.  On Saturday we burned some of the thatch…there was a breeze but the thatch was damp so with raking and tending we did get some to burn.  It took many times of trying to light the fire.  On Sunday I went back to try again and was raking and on the first try it started to burn.  I stayed with it and then it took off.  The area is bounded by water on two sides and a road on the third.  But I panicked and ran for Mike and the neighbors and when we returned it had doubled in size but burned out at the water!  Whew.  The neighbors said it was an excellent burn!    I was relieved.

How Many Moves Do I have Left?

As we house-hunted in Mason City for our 14^th move in married life, I wanted the right floor plan.  In previous moves I haven’t felt all that picky thinking that there is always a next house.   This time I was looking for a master bedroom and bath and laundry on the first floor.  Regrettably it didn’t happen.  We ended up with a home much like the home we will move out of in Storm Lake….with bedrooms on the second floor and laundry in the lower level!  On the upside….I need to stay fit and up and down stairs daily will help!

With this move comes territory I haven’t negotiated.  We move without jobs and hence that way to meet people.  We move without children and hence that way to meet people.  We move without a welcoming parish and hence that way to meet people.  As we move to Mason City there are 6 ELCA churches in Mason City and Clear Lake and I’ve never chosen a church to join.  I know I’m not alone many others have negotiated the same things.

And so I wonder how many moves do I have left?

Nature v Nurture

 

When we began the parenting process I had heard of or learned in school of nature vs. nurture.  And in my finite wisdom at that age I believed that yes the child inherits parental genes but surely nurture would take over and the love and care, material and spiritual needs, actions and reactions in the parenting dance would supersede nature.  Even when we adopted I would probably put nurture at way over the halfway mark maybe in three-quarter range.

And then of course came teen years when their job was too push boundaries and ours was to expand the boundary but still instill values and keep them safe….and I asked “where did this come from?”  Suddenly nature surely was way ahead!

And into their adulthood and the need to still protect  but the boundaries were theirs not ours and our pride in these children now adults is often overwhelming.  Where did it come from?

Recently I read the book Not Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon.  He writes,

“When I was born, the common view was that nurture decided almost everything.  In the decades that followed, the emphasis shifted about the intricate ways that nature and nurture propel each other.  I was intellectually persuaded by this nuanced integration, but the experience of having my own children has made me wonder if a third element is involved, some unknowable inflection of spirit or divinity.”

His words resonated with me….perhaps in addition to nature and nurture there is this third component.  That works ….nature + nurture +  divinity.

Change

In preparation for Mike completing his term as bishop we readied our home for sale fully expecting it to take 6 months to sell in the Storm Lake real estate market.  It was listed April 2 and by April 6^th it was sold!  (assuming inspection and appraisal and loan approval all happen!)   We had made the decision to relocate to Mason City…outside Western Iowa Synod, within a couple of hours of 3 of our 4 adult children and a couple of hours from Storm Lake where Mom and Dad live.  Mike’s brother and family live in Mason City.

The Western Iowa Synod met in Assembly the last weekend in April to elect the next bishop and to honor Mike.  Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson and his wife Ione attended along with the first bishop of the ELCA Herbert Chilstrom, and Bishop Emeritus of WIS, Curt Miller and his wife Sharyl.  Bp Hanson paid tribute to Mike and his twelve years at bishop of Western Iowa Synod. The spouses of rostered leaders also presented a gift to me…a certificate at a gift shop! 

As a part of the Assembly congregations had been challenged to raise $30,000 for clean water in the Southern Diocese in Tanzania.  After Friday’s offering there were behind the scene hints that it would be a surprise.  On Sunday morning after worship Mike announced that the offerings were $82,000!  Dakota Road played, the assembly rose to their feet ululating, and a serpentine dance line formed! 

On Saturday night Mike was honored at a banquet as part of the assembly celebrating companionship.  Dakota Road played and one of the interns paid tribute to Mike on behalf of clergy narrating how he started in the Lay School of Ministry, then seminary and now is interning.  The companion synod committee then honored Mike for his work with the synod and the Southern Diocese of Tanzania.  Our children presented a PowerPoint celebrating their dad.  It was a very special night. 

As a part of raising money for wells I donated a quilt with the blocks made from fabric I’d gotten in Tanzania.  Thanks to a generous donor the quilt raised $1000.

And another exclamation point - that Monday we were up and over to Mason City for our second house hunting trip and bought a home!

….and so another chapter in my life…