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The Glampers Ride Again

2/27/2022

It was time for our annual season planning session and we were once again at Camp Quaker Heights near Eldora, Iowa. The camp boasts a lovely but simple and practical lodge with dining room, kitchen, and ten bedrooms with baths and they rent it out even to strange groups like ours. There is a TV lounge in the basement with about fifteen recliners but we haven't taken advantage of that because we can't stop talking long enough to move.

The purpose of this world shaking event is to plan our camp outs for the season. We aim for at least one a month and in each quadrant of Iowa. We also try to hit as many state parks as we can that we haven't visited before. This year we have Marble Beach in northwest Iowa, Pammel Park in southwest Iowa, Lake Wapello and Red Haw in the southeast quadrant, and Pulpit Rock (not a state park) in the northeast. We will also be venturing to Clinton Lake in Illinois.

This is a unique group that has no dues, officers, or rules. Events occur when someone (or several someones) just takes it upon themselves to organize one. Of course we enjoyed great food and conversation, beautiful sunsets, walks, and visits from the local deer. Activities at events may be planned or spontaneous. This time, Jackie, one of our crafting experts, brought pictures to bead for anyone who wanted to fork over five bucks and participate. I haven't started mine yet because it looked pretty addictive. And I may need a magnifying glass.

We thought perhaps we had a mystery on our hands: The Open Door on Cabin Four. We could see from the lodge that one of the cabin doors was standing open on Friday evening and still open on Saturday. So when we went for our walk Saturday afternoon, first Sandy and Shelly warned intruders we were coming by ringing the large bell, and then we investigated. Fortunately, there were no dead bodies or live raccoons or bears in the cabin so we shut the door firmly and it was still closed on Sunday.

So I am back home and doing laundry, trying to decide what wardrobe switches I will need for my upcoming trip on Tuesday to California. Hopefully, I won't need my parka.

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Family Photos

2/22/2022

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All of us have seen numerous photos from the 19th century of stern faces of families gathered around a Victorian gingerbread mansion or a sod house on the prairie. For some of those people, I have no doubt, that may have been the only picture taken of them in their entire lifetimes. Even when cameras became more ubiquitous in the 20th century, film and film development was expensive enough that we were careful not to "waste" shots. Of course digital photography changed all that and poor results can simply be deleted. Which means we take a lot more pictures and can waste some shots on silliness.

In my two steps forward, one step back effort to pare down my belongings, I have been through a lot of old slides and photos. I have been struck by the trend from the somber faces of the 1800s to smiling. but still posed, portraits of the mid 1900s to the whimsical groupings of today. In 1980, we celebrated my mother's sixtieth birthday. She came down for the weekend and we had a lovely dinner in Iowa City, took her to a performance of The King and I at Hancher, and then surprised her with arrangements to have a photographer, who was also a friend of my brothers, to take a formal family picture at the Iowa Memorial Union. When the photographer finished, he said "I've always wanted to do this, but I know you people well enough to ask. Everyone turn around and face the wall." Hence the picture above, which is the one I have framed.

A few years later in 1988, we decided to commemorate our silver wedding anniversary and the 100th birthday of our house by having professional pictures taken. Again, we had the traditional grouping of the whole family plus shots of just the kids and also of Butch and me. But through the whole afternoon, our granddaughter Brooke, then 3, refused to smile. This child had always seemed to have been programmed at birth to break into a beaming smile any time a camera was pointed at her, but not that day. We called to our neighbor Karel to come over and make Brooke laugh. She appeared in a gorilla costume (doesn't everyone have one laying around?) but as you can see, Brooke did not find it humorous. We then included the gorilla in the photo, told everyone to make a face, and ended up with this gem.

Whenever the Nortman family gathered, my mother-in-law always wanted a photo of just her seven children--no spouses. (Perhaps she was afraid that we were better looking.) So began a long tradition of always taking an "outlaw" picture. This one is probably out of focus because the outlaws are also the better photographers.

What's in your albums?

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The Writing Life

2/1/2022

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February looks like it is holding a lot of literary moments for me. I have a new Frannie Shoemaker book coming out February 10 and preorders are rolling in, more than for any of my previous books.

It has been a challenge to write. Frannie and Larry take a camphosting job in an Iowa Park in May 2020. The parks at that time were experimenting with reopening the campgrounds in a safe manner with a number of COVID protocols in place. My Beta readers were extremely helpful. Two have camphosting experience, one is a diehard camper, one also writes mysteries but also spent five months as a contact tracer at the beginning of the pandemic, and one is a retired librarian. I know how to pick 'em. So I am in the process of formatting the ebook for upload next weekend and then will tackle the paperback.

Friday, our young local author, Chuy Renteria, will be doing a book signing for his new, highly acclaimed memoir, We Heard It When We Were Young. The event will be at our new gallery in town, The Brick Street Gallery, along with an exhibit of Chris McMahon's imaginative art works. If you're in the area, join us from 5-7.

Next week, I plan to attend a luncheon to hear Iowa author, Thomas Nye, talk about his books on the Amish. One night I have a Zoom book club meeting with an RV village group.

And the following Saturday, a group of Eastern Iowa writers, the 'Book Bums,' will hold a Zoom workshop and gathering with a variety of topics. This group got started with our Book Bums workshop at our local library in 2014 and continued the early November workshops for five years. The last two years, of course, we have not met in person. Hopefully this year.

Finally, the last weekend of the month I will join a gathering of some of my favorite readers, the Midwest Glampers, at Pine Lake near Eldora, so we can plan our escapades for the upcoming camping season. More research for one of my next books!

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The Glampers Ride Again

Family Photos

The Writing Life

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