Beta Sigma Phi

Sharon Ethell invited me to go to a Beginning Day Tea for Beta Sigma Phi when I was living in Knoxville, Iowa in 1969. I was an active member of the group for 29 years in Iowa, Texas and North Carolina before Terry and I retired to fulltime RV. I went to the October meeting and to their social, which was a dinner and community play. The musical story of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was somewhat like the Joseph story in the Bible but I never heard it told just this way. The singers were outstanding! It was fun being with Beta Sigma Phi friends again.

Wedding of Ann Klein to Jimmy Stephens

The beautiful bride is my granddaughter Ann Klein who married Jimmy Stephens on October 18, 2008. My daughter, Karol, and granddaughters Kari and Amanda and I had a wonderful trip to Texas for the wedding. The lucky groom is Jimmy Stephens. The ceremony was lovely in the pink and brown decorated church. Even little Baylee walked down the aisle but wasn’t as cooperative when it was time for pictures. The bride and groom had fun with the cake and signing the marriage certificate on the groom’s back.

Touch of Lincoln Extends to Pella

Pat Klein is pictured with her grandsons at her home in Pella. She and I went to the Scholte house for a Lincoln exhibit. H.P. Scholte, the leader of the immigration to Pella from the Netherlands in 1847, went to the nomination for Lincoln in Illinois in 1860. His journal showed entries for “ Visit to A. Lincoln with delegation from Iowa.” When Scholte went to Springfield, another entry was “Visit to Lincoln and Lady.” Abraham Lincoln and Scholte corresponded. Scholte was offered an ambassador position to Belgium but that was rescinded when congress passed a bill that said that all ambassadors had to be born in the US. The cane was said to be given to Scholte by President Lincoln. The playbill was for the play that Lincoln was watching when he was assassinated.

Grandchildren Visit Overnight

I found out that my six- year-old grandson has much more energy than I do. When I asked, "What did you do today?" Nathan said," I played in school yard, played 'Go Fish', played an animal game, played with two toys from home, played with the doggie grandma got me, did a puzzle with Uncle Richard and played Barbie's with Emily and played outside with Emily and picked up apples for Grandma and that's it." . . . " I ate Tacos, apples, celery, cookies, cereal, drink coco milk, and white milk and pop." He drank and ate all this in four hours.

The dog is a toy that goes with the book, "Where's the Boss" about an Iditerod dog whose owner was missing. Nathan talks all the time. I'm glad that he plays well with his sister, Emily.

Happy 89th Birthday Mom

We went to my brother Jim's church this Sunday and then to lunch at Lora and Jim’s house. In order to visit longer, Lora and I drove one car while Jim and Terry drove to mom and dad's house in Oskaloosa, Iowa. My mother, Agnes Hoven, had an 89th birthday celebration. Left to right in the back row is myself and brothers Clare and Jim. In the front row are my sisters Joy and Angie. Everyone but my sister Clara was there. Terry and I aren’t the only family members to travel. Clara and Ralph were still in Tenn.

Flowers, Windmills and other Dutch Treats in Pella, Iowa

It was perfect fall weather when Terry and I wandered down Franklin Street to attend the Fall Festival at the Historical Village in Pella, Iowa on Saturday, September 27, 2008. The juried flower show arrangements were found in many of the buildings in such unusual places as the storage area of the general store. My favorite was the arrangement on a table in the Wyatt Earp house. (Yes, the Wyatt Earp, of western fame, lived in this house as a child in the 1860’s.) The picture with the quilt in the foreground is my favorite historical building. It is the Klein Crum house, which was moved from the west edge of town. My children are direct descendents of Tunas Klein who was one of the original settlers in 1847.

The Vermeer windmill is the “tallest working windmill in the United States “ according to the sign beside it. This replica of an 1850’s windmill is 124 feet from blade tip to the ground. We watched the volunteer connect the sail to the blade and begin the process of catching the gentle breeze as it turned to grind the wheat. The waterwheel was spinning as the water splashed down the wheel allowing the miller inside the building to grind corn.

The 1889 organ played a lively tune as the holes in the paper rolled over the mechanism. Bells chimed as figures of Dominie Scholte, his wife and six other figures took turns appearing in the windows of the Klockenspiel high above us.

The strange looking delft object is a tulip vase. The docent explained that when tulips were introduced to the Netherlands from Turkey, the bulbs cost a fortune. Some single bulbs were worth as much as the farm during tulip mania times.

The three berry homemade pie was delicious! (With 50-cent coffee, the treat was only $2.50). Dutch letters and cookies make wonderful treats too!

Iowa

Iowa is a place where they had major storms and flooding this year. The little town of Attica is rebuilding and repairing their houses and buildings except for Audrey and her family who are looking for a new home. (See the blog of June 4, 2008.) Some of the corn and soybean crops look good but the corn is six inches tall around the Des Moines River. I wondered why anyone would want to plant a crop this late in the season without a hope that it would grow enough to produce ears of corn but was told that it was planted before the floods and only germinated and grew a few weeks ago.

The wind from this storm blew shingles off my daughter Karol’s roof. On Saturday, her brothers, Mark and Richard, (see picture of three people) came to help her take the old roofing off and put the new roof on. Since Karol’s friend Roger and her son, Ryan, and five other teenaged nephews and friends came to help, Terry decided that he did not need to climb on the roof. He did tune in the satellite dish for her. Everyone was hot and tired when they finished, especially Richard and Mark who worked the night shift on Friday and had not had any sleep.

I got to play with grandchildren Emily and Nathan. Emily had her eleventh birthday last week. Nathan is a six-year-old. I noticed that Nathan stuck out his tongue when he was concentrating on the puzzle.

Yes, Iowa is a place where my grandson and his girlfriend, who are juniors in high school, say that their favorite subject is AG (Agriculture). It is where the teenagers go to their prom in a tractor, four-wheeler or old truck while wearing formal clothes. They also help on the farm and help replace a roof for friends and relatives.

Megan's Bridal Shower

At my niece Megan’s bridal shower, the ladies were discussing the jams, jellies and applesauce they “put up” last week. Clara’s carrot cake and angel food cakes were not made from a box but “ from scratch.” I had a small slice of each and both were superb!

The bride received a beautiful quilt that was sewn by the friend of the family who gave it to Megan. The top picture is of my 4 sisters and 2 sisters-in-law. Back row l to r is Joy, the bride’s mother, Clara Klein who gave the shower, myself, and Angie who is recovering from knee replacement surgery. In the front row are my sister-in-laws, Lora and Marla Hoven. The other pictures are of my sister Joy and her three daughters, McKinzie, Megan, Joy, and Mindy and of the 3 Block sisters. The bride is wearing a red shirt.

I’m glad that we arrived in time to go to the shower and have fun with my women relatives.

1880 TOWN

Remember when I said that I felt like I was on a western movie set when I saw the bison on the plains in Yellowstone? Dances with Wolves movie props are in the round red barn in the 1880 Town in South Dakota. You have a similar atmosphere here as in Barkerville except the only reenactor was the bartender who served bottles of sarsaparilla. (The cold, strong root beer tasted good in the warm weather.) Mary and Jason rented period clothing and asked me to take their picture. I told them that I’d love to put them on my blog. Thanks again Mary and Jason.