New Beginnings

Today is Independence Day, the day we celebrate the 240th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. An important event in our early history.

I have been fortunate to see many things tied to important events from the start of the US.  Among others, I've seen a real copy of the Declaration of Independence and tallies of the votes done before its acceptance. I've visited Philadelphia and seen Constitution Hall where the Declaration was adopted. I've been to Boston and seen the harbor where they had the Boston Tea party. In Baltimore, I saw the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner. And I've visited the homes of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington, all key players in our early days.

source   Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home.

But among all of these amazing visits, there is one that stood out more than the others. Ward and I were visiting Mt. Vernon, home of George Washington. We went with Ward's parents, Leo and Syl, who lived nearby but hadn't visited in years. The weather was nice and we were enjoying the various buildings and gardens when we decided to tour the house. We went through the first part of the tour and were waiting on the wide front porch that faces the Potomac to get into the next part.

We were chatting about this and that when Syl said, "This is where I got my citizenship." (His mother was from Guatemala and came to college here where she met Ward's dad.) What? Right here? I had never heard this story and neither had Ward. She had actually stood on the porch right where we were and got sworn in as a US citizen. Leo said that Ward was little and he had him out on the lawn trying to keep him quiet and out of trouble while his mother said her oath. So as we were learning about an early part of our country's history, we also learned about early part of Ward's history. Soon after that, Ward's mother became sick and died several months later. We felt lucky that we got to share the memories of this important event with her.

So today, as I remember our forefathers and the start of our country, I think about Syl and others like her who also got a new beginning here. I am fortunate to live in a country where this is possible.

Thankful Sunday--July 3, 2016

I am thankful for family and food.

Theo has been staying with us for the last couple of weeks. Since he is self employed, he brought his work here and has been helping out as Ward is recovering from surgery. He was available for care giving in the early days while I was at work, and for heavy lifting these days when my skinny arms can't quite manage a big chore. We are very happy that he is here.

And an added bonus to all of this is that Theo has been cooking. We do a bit of planning together, but he initiates and does most of the meal prep. I act as his sous chef. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate someone else taking the lead in the kitchen. As most of you know, cooking is not an area that I'm much interested in. One day I came home from work and there was a hot lunch waiting. I was almost giddy. And the Irish hash we had last night was one of the best things I've had in a while. 

So for this time with my son and the meals he is preparing for us, I am very thankful.

More about West Virginia

The recent flooding in West Virginia has had me doing several posts about the flooding and the state. After some of the comment discussions, I thought that I would rerun a post I did last year. It was hard, but I tried to summarize the state in just a few paragraphs. Below is that post.

Happy West Virginia Day!

Today we celebrate the day West Virginia became a state on June 20, 1863. As most of you know, I grew up in West Virginia--a fact that I'm very proud of. West Virginia is not large in either size or population, so not many people know much about it. Or they only "know" what they've seen on TV or in the movies. Let me see if I can give a brief summary of what West Virginia is like.

Like most other places, West Virginia has a many different kinds of people and ways of life-- especially since our two panhandles reach far into other areas. Go to the northern part of the state,and it is like the Northeast. Go to the far eastern part of the state and you'll identify with Washington, D. C. Take a trip to the southern reaches, and you are definitely in the South. And when you're in the far west, you are in the Midwest. If you grew up in the middle part of the state, like I did, you can chose whatever you want to identify with because there are bits of everything.

Also, like most other places, there are rich people and there are poor people. There are well educated people and there are poorly educated people. There are people who like grits and ramps, and others who don't like them at all (that would be me). But I'd say that almost everyone likes biscuits.

Besides biscuits, there are other things that bind the state together. People here have a connection to the land. This is where they hunt and fish and where they grow their vegetables and graze their cows or goats. They also appreciate the beauty around them. Everywhere you turn there is a feast for your eyes. Whether it is hilly terrain of hills and hollows (hollers), or long mountain ridges with long stream valleys, it's all very scenic. They are also a very resilient group of people. Life has not always been easy for many people here, but they find a way to keep going.

But the thing that strikes me the most about West Virginia is the friendliness of the people. I have found friendly people everywhere I lived, but not always the comfortable friendliness that I have experienced with the people of West Virginia. I hadn't realized this until a young Theo asked me a question one day as we were traveling back to visit his grandparents. He said, "What makes everyone so friendly where Granddad and Grandma live? It's different from where we live." I started to notice, that he was correct.

So there you have it. I have just summarized 24,230 square miles of land, 1.85 million people, and over 150 years of history of West Virginia. Maybe another time, I'll tell you more.

A Second Look--June 28, 2016

Well, today I am not going to talk about flooding. In fact, while we've had a few storms and some humid days, the weather here has been pretty nice. The day lilies have started to bloom. I guess I should say that the older day lilies have started to bloom. Some how, I don't count the Stella Dora day lilies that have been blooming for a couple of weeks. They are a newer variety used by landscapers because they have a longer blooming season. Supposedly. We haven't found that to be true yet. So what I mean is the older day lily that have been blooming in the same spot for 40 years have started to bloom this week. They are bigger and showier than the Stella Dora and I like them better. (So how's that for a stream of consciousness ramble? I think I should move on before I do it again.)

Here are a few things I saw this week 

during a Second Look.

I planted zinnias this year to attract more butterflies and hummingbirds.

And while I have seen both butterflies and hummingbirds on the zinnias, they still prefer the feeders.

And speaking of feeders, the chipmunks are not longer content to eat the seeds that fall under the feeder. 

Balloon flower (Platycodon) 

Day lily

Hydrangea

Hottuynia

Milkweed beetles

Day lily

Coneflower. This is one of Ward's favorites because the crisscrossing spirals in the middle represent Fibonacci numbers.

Coreopsis

The Mountain State

Since this is the third day in a row that I'm writing about the floods in West Virginia, you can tell that they have been on my mind a lot. Today, I'm going to explain a little bit about the topography of West Virginia and how it affects the flooding. This may help with some of the confusion about what is going on.

WV Hills, A stop on the way to visit my mother last Thanksgiving

One of West Virginia's nicknames is The Mountain State. It was also called Little Switzerland by the early settlers. This was because almost the entire state is filled with hills and mountains. In the eastern part of the state are the long ridges and valleys of the Appalachian Mountains and in the western part of the state are hills and valleys (hollows/hollers) from erosional relief on the Appalachian Plateau. What that means is that you are usually on top of a hill or in a narrow valley. There is not much in between.

An example of this was when they were going to build a new high school in my county, there was only one site that had enough flat land to build the school. Like I said, it's called the Mountain State for a reason.

So when there is rain, there is no where for it to go except to be channeled between the hills. And when there is a lot of rain in a short amount of time, it is more than the little streams and valleys can handle so there is a flash flood.

The football field of my high school. Notice the goal posts.

I had an experience with a flash flood once that made a big impression on me. One afternoon we were having a picnic at my grandmother's house.  Her house was built on the flood plain (flat spot) along a little creek surrounded by hills. The creek was not more than a few feet across in some places and was dry in some places. Well a summer afternoon thunderstorm sprung up and we scrambled to get everything put away and out of the rain. In the 10 to 15 minutes we were cleaning up, the little creek overflowed with fast, roaring water onto the road and we almost didn't make it out. It was scary and amazing at the same time. I truly understood what a flash flood was after that.

Flash flooding is what has been happening recently over much of West Virginia as most little streams and rivers have been overwhelmed by the large amount of rain there was over a short amount of time. While some areas were hit worse than others, most of the state and its ubiquitous small streams flooded. That's why 44/55 counties were declared disaster areas.

There is my very simplistic view of what's been going on, but I hope it makes sense and clears up a little of the confusion that is not being helped by the media.

It's raining in my hometown right now. I hope there is not more flooding to come.