iowisota

A while back, my daughter observed that her work is an endless series of side quests. Any given day may start with a specific project or objective—call it a quest—but then complications and new facets lead to other activities. Some of the side quests just keep growing to become major adventures. She works at a camp, so it is no surprise that she encounters this often, but I think we all experience this to some degree. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to squeeze in a hike on a lovely fall...

Fall is the time to clean up those loose ends of summer, so they aren’t blowing around in the winds of winter. I’ve been busy with my task list, preparing for the cold, snowy Iowa winter that people keep saying we are due for. One of our tasks is to renew our firewood supply. The woods are full of opportunity; we just need to cut, haul, split and stack it! Thankfully our son Nathan came home for a while and wielded the chainsaw for his dear old parents. A winter day doesn’t get much better...

Shortening days signal the impending arrival of winter, and it seems everyone is heading South. Not me; I have a cozy space by the fire reserved for the coldest of days. But birds and people are on the move. We’ve been watching various stages of migration for several weeks now. In early September, the barn swallows left us. They spent the summer nesting under our balcony, cavorting above the yard, and singing (scolding?!) from the rail. But suddenly they were gone: off to South America for...