A Second Look--June 8, 2018

It's that wonderful time of the year when everything just wants to grow. The extreme hot and cold temperatures aren't present and the rain is plentiful. In fact, maybe a little too plentiful. I've been working a lot outside, but have to plan everything carefully between the rain storms. The grass is lush and we have to mow twice a week now.

Having gone through one season at our new house, I'm starting to understand the yard a little better. There are invasive plants in every bed, but I think we're making progress against them. We still have poison ivy, but we have eliminated it from several areas. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed, but for now, here are somethings I saw recently during a Second Look.

The pansies I planted last fall are actually gone now. I recently replaced them with begonias.

The iris are almost gone. I've started to divide and move them because they have grown into the fence enough that we can't shut the gate.

The rain brought out mushrooms of various kinds.

I hope the coral bells continue to bloom most of the summer like they did last year.

As I do for the purple sage.

A few poppies emerged above the ground covers to bloom. There are several other flowers in there that have been overtaken. Someday I hope to move them.

I have pulled several beginning oak trees from the beds. I always get excited when I see the acorn still attached. This acorn was gone the next day. Maybe a squirrel come back to claim it.

I showed you this pileated woodpecker the other day. I forgot to mention that it was a female. You can tell by the stripe by the beak. In females, it is black. In males, it is red.

While I recently saw the "rare" pileated woodpecker, the most common bird at our feeder is the house finch. 

Thankful Sunday

I'm thankful for a rotting fence.

We have a split rail fence around the entire perimeter of our backyard, and it seems as if one rail or another is always rotting. This requires continual maintenance and I find that annoying. But not yesterday. Yesterday, a pileated woodpecker decided that the decaying fence rails were the perfect place to look for bugs. He stayed long enough going up and down the fence that I had time to go inside and get my camera. This sighting made my whole morning. So for my rotting fence and the visitor it brought, I am thankful.

Memorial Day

Source

The first Memorial Day we lived here, my boys were almost 7 and 10 years old and I thought it was time for them to understand what Memorial Day was about and to connect with a piece of their family history. As I've written about before (see below), Ward's grandfather, Leo, went down on a ship that was sunk by a German submarine during WWII.

Our first destination was Arlington Cemetery where we thought his marker was. Arlington is a big place so we stopped in the records office and asked for help to locate it. They directed us to a spot with his last name (a very rare one). When we got there, we found the grave site of Ward's uncle who died as a young boy just a few months after his father. But there was nothing mentioning Leo. That was hard for me to believe, but later I understood a little better. I don't know all of the details, but this was a decision made by his widow. Part of the reason was that his body was never recovered so he was actually buried at the bottom of the ocean not at Arlington. Also for security reasons, it took the army five years to officially declare him dead. Consequently, she got no survivor benefits until then and she was doing whatever she could to survive and provide for her remaining son, Ward's dad. When the news became official, that was the past and she had to look to the future. 

But I still had to believe that there was a marker for him somewhere acknowledging his service and life. We finally found one. In the county seat of the county he lived in was a monument commemorating all of the soldiers who lost their lives during WWII. The kids got to see their great-grandfather's name on a list with others who lost their life serving for this country.

I recently asked Theo what he remembers of that day. I wasn't sure if he remembered anything since he wasn't quite 7. He remembers going to Arlington Cemetery and that it was a very solemn place. He doesn't remember much more, but that's okay. I think I planted a seed. When he was older he spent time talking with his grandfather (Leo's son) about his (Leo's) service. Theo wrote stories about it for school. And I know today, he fully understands what Memorial Day is about and is thankful for all who have lost their life while serving our country. As do I.

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 Memorial Day--Leo's Story

Today is Memorial Day in the US--the day we remember the men and women who died while serving their country in the armed services. There are many different stories about these people and I'm going to tell one of them here about Ward's grandfather, Leo.

Leo, 1941

Leo was the son of Polish immigrants and as a young man joined the army in 1929. He became part of the Army Engineer division. Later at a dance, he met a smart and pretty young girl, LeeAnn, and married her in 1932. They soon added a baby boy to the family and two years later they had another. After renting a small home, Leo built a house for his growing family. Being an enterprising young man, he used discarded lumber from a railroad yard for much of the house. (By the way, the house that he built still stands firm today.)

Leo's and LeeAnn's happy life was not affected much when World War II broke out in Europe in 1939. However, the Army started to send units to Iceland to build defensive fortifications to be ready just in case. At the end of 1941, his unit was assigned to go to Iceland to help in these preparations. While they were in New York waiting for their boat, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The US immediately declared war against Japan and her allies, including Germany. The US was officially in World War II.

Leo and his unit continued with their orders to go to Iceland, but they didn't make it. Their boat was attacked in the Atlantic by a German submarine and had to be repaired before it could go any further. During the month that the repairs took, the soldiers got to go back and spend time with their families. No one knew that this would be the last time they would see each other.

Their boat was repaired, and they were finally on their way. They made it to Iceland and completed their work. However, on the way back to the states, the boat was attacked by another German submarine and this time it sank. The seas were rough which made it difficult for many to survive. Most went down with the ship. First Leo was declared missing at sea and later he was declared killed in action. It wasn't until several years later that his family knew the details of what happened because much of the information was classified.

LeeAnn was suddenly left with two young boys to raise on her own. A few months later, the unthinkable happened and her younger son was killed in an accident. Despite the terrible losses, she kept going. With various jobs, hard work, and the help of family she carved out a good life for her and her son (Ward's father).

When I met LeeAnn, these events had happened over 40 years ago, but it was like they had happened yesterday for her. She talked about the surprise that Leo was going to bring her when he got home from Iceland and still wondered what it was going to be. She showed me some of the subflooring that Leo built where you could read writing from the railroad cars. She talked about how long it took for them to declare Leo dead and how that affected her benefits. But mostly she talked about the surprise her husband was going to bring her. She thought that it was going to be something to do with their tenth wedding anniversary that they were going to celebrate when he came home.

On this day and everyday, we remember Leo and the sacrifice he made for his country. We also want to remember all of the other men and women who have died in service and hope that their stories have been told. But most importantly, we want to thank each and everyone of them and their families. Because of their sacrifices, we can live a good life today.

Thankful Sunday--May 27, 2018

I am thankful for 
a visit from my son.

I couldn't even imagine my children as adults
at this point in time.

From the moment they are born, our job as parents is to nurture our kids to become successful adults. And when they become adults with their own lives, we miss them. Or at least I do. So I was especially happy today when Wally visited. Theo cooked ribs and grilled vegetables for a nice family meal. For this special family time, I am thankful.

Thankful Sunday--May 20,2018

I am thankful for small towns and friendly people.

I talked to this man about tying fishing ties. 

Recently, I spent a few days with my mother celebrating Mother's Day. As you may know, my mother still lives in the small West Virginia town I grew up in. Often during my visits, I run into several people that I know, or knew my sisters, or worked with my mother, or used to trade with my father (he was a big barterer), etc. This time I didn't see many people that I knew, but I found plenty of people to talk to all the same.

On Saturday the weather was warm, so Ward and I decided to take a walk to visit two flea markets that were going on that day. The first one was indoors and filled with craftsmen as well as others selling used wares. Everyone was friendly and chatted like we were old friends.  I had conversations with several people where I learned about their crafts, their cookie recipes, and the ages of their grandchildren. Ward struck up a conversation with another man selling tools and learned about his woodworking and his plans to move.  All of our conversations were relaxed, casual conversions like we had been friends for a long time.

When we finished there, we proceeded to the other flea market on the other end of town  (3 1/2 blocks away). On the way, we ran into the Boy Scout car wash where Ward spent time talking with one of the leaders about the value of the program, controlling boys, and a scout master that they both knew. He happened to be my mother's doctor and had saved the life of this man's son. Ward, who is most comfortable in the background during these visits, was surprised and pleased that he was making connections, too.

The poultry seller had some baby ducks
that were very cute.

The other flea market was a more casual style with a bit of anything and everything there. Among other things, we saw plants, chickens, produce, car parts, glassware, and toys. The conversations flowed easily here, also. One man told me how to stop deer from eating my plants and another told me about how he maintains the family cemetery. We were impressed with the girl selling hot dogs with her brother to earn money to study a semester in Italy. That's where we had lunch before we went home to escape the heat.

Once we got in the cool house, the good feelings continued. There were several neighborhood kids out playing and listening to them took me back to when I was a kid playing on the same street. Nothing electronic in sight. Kids of various ages were racing their bikes, playing hide and seek, and passing balls. The older ones looked out for the younger ones and even though there was lots of noise, it was happy noise with only an occasional dispute. I haven't seen or heard kids play like that in a long time.

A lot has changed in my hometown since I lived there and it has its fair share of problems, but during my recent visit, I enjoyed the friendliness of the people and the slower way of life. And for that I am thankful.