Nesmith Family Blog

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Jane: a great Southern Weekend

Every fall needs a road trip, and mine was a trip to Atlanta to see my sister and her family.

Actually it wasn't a road trip, but an air trip! I flew down on Thursday and spent Friday with my niece at her school--it was "Grandparents and Special Friends" day, and I got to be the "special aunt"! Gabi showed me her school, her classrooms, her locker, and I got to meet her writing teacher, too. (Gabi has gotten awards for English the past two years, a niece after my own heart!)

Gabi had a youth group trip that weekend, so my sister and I saw her off at the church on Friday afternoon. The rest of the weekend was grown ups only--we had dinner out Friday, and then on Saturday went on a real road trip through rural Georgia.

First stop was Warm Springs where FDR had a cottage called the "little white house." There was also a very nice museum there, but the house intrigued us--it was so small and ordinary!

After that we went to Callaway Gardens, yes, the home of Victory Garden South, back in the day. What they used to show on Victory Garden is only a very tiny part of Callaway Gardens. It's actually a huge park--acres and acres--with lakes, woods, a golf course, and some houses at the edge. Apparently Mr. Callaway bought the land, which had been ruined by too much agriculture, and planted native trees and plants. It's beautiful now.

My brother-in-law took lots of pictures. You can see some of them here.

I got back on Sunday to a houseful of sick guys. Bruce just had a minor cold, but Eli's sinus infection was back, and Robbie had influenza! Yikes. Robbie's back at school today, but Eli's still home (but on some antibiotics). We are hoping for a return to health very soon.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Jane: Beautiful Iowa Fall

Iowa isn't a beautiful fall color state. Mostly our trees turn tans and yellows.

But in town, there are some pretty colors. Here are some fall colors from our yard.

The last picture is of my little plumbago plant that I got from a friend. It had bright blue flowers on it all summer long, and now in fall, its red stamens and colorful leaves make it just as pretty.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Jane: Lots of reading

Lest anyone think all I do is crochet, cook, and garden, here are some books I've been reading recently. I'm on 2 book committees--the First Year Book committee at Coe, and the Linn Area Reads committee with the Cedar Rapids Public Library. It's very fun. So I've gotten to read all kinds of things! The last three on this list were read for those committees.

Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of the Mona Lisa by R. A. Scotti. Story of the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa,which was, of course, recovered but many questions remain. Told like a detective novel--fun to read.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. Precocious chemistry-loving girl from an eccentric English family tries to find the perpetrator of a mysterious murder for which her father is being considered a suspect.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Why do some people succeed and others do not? Gladwell examines the cultural forces behind success in a breezy book.

The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein. Memoir that chronicles lives on a street in early 1900s Lancashire where Jews were on one side, Christians on another, and a cross-side love affair brings tension.

Population 485 by Michael Perry. Reflections of a writer and volunteer firefighter on life in small-town Wisconsin, especially on the lives of those disrupted by traumatic events. Humorous and thoughtful.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Jane: Crop Circles?

We wondered if an alien spaceship had landed in our front yard this morning.

The lawn was all torn up right near the front porch.

When we looked closely, we noticed that the turf had been peeled back, as if something was looking under it. . .