Friday, April 26, 2013

Spring is springing......


They hyacinth is about to send forth some color.  The spring weather we are having is great.  We were in western Iowa yesterday to a funeral.  It was a beautiful day out there on a sad day.  We have not driven west for a long time on I-80 and it was great to see the new things going on out there.  Adair, Iowa has hundreds of large windmills all along the interstate.  The sit up on the crest of all of the rolling hills there and the south wind was making them all turn.  It almost seems like a science fiction movie that one is in when you see all these stark white windmills scattered as far as the eye can see.


The peony plants are not poking through.  They will be larger than the tulips soon.  The tulips along them are up and will bloom and by the time those blooms are spent, the peonies lean their foliage over them.

As we traveled to Woodbine, Iowa for the funeral we were required to drive through and on top of the loess hills.  It is a beautiful area of Iowa with rolling hills of a claylike loose soil.  They farm the soil as well as build houses up inside the crevices of the hills.  The hills were becoming green and the day was clear and warm.

Going into the little towns that are north of Council Bluffs and Omaha is an unusual experience.  A lot of the towns like Woodbine and Logan are built along the hills and their history still shows in their structures, businesses and the streets..  I live in a small town but while visiting these other  towns they have a different identity  The people their seem to be held in cities of days gone by.  The Lincoln Highway goes by the two towns as it meanders into Omaha.  The train also follows through the areas as I am sure heads south to Omaha. They are there because of the highway and the train and were early first suburbs of the big cities south of them.  Originally I am sure that agriculture was the main industry but now I am sure everyone commutes to work.

The differences probably are not that great and yet they have the Missouri River near by and the nationalities are much different as the state of Iowa was settled by many different groups.  In my early years of teaching I lived in Sidney, Iowa south of there.  The people really thought they were Nebraskans.  They listened to the Omaha tv stations and radio as well as centered their lives around the big cities.  I do remember feeling like I was not living in Iowa during the four years I live there.


The chive plant is coming up in one of my flower gardens.  I really don't remember putting it there but I do tend to scatter plants in different places to see where it will grow best.  I will eventually rake out the leaves by hand but as of yet that has not happen.  I need to deal with some yardwork this weekend.  It is going to be warm and I need to straighten sod from the city crew's wandering snow blade that hits the side of my yard.

It is Friday and I am glad for that to be happening.  I hope everyone has a good day.   Thanks for stopping by today.

2 comments:

Far Side of Fifty said...

I have Chives all over..up here they re seed themselves:)
Woodbine and Logan..that is where my husbands Grandparents were born and raised..before they moved up her after they got married. I have always though it was a real pretty area of Iowa:)

Anonymous said...

So sorry about the passing of a loved one. I would love to see Iowa some time. I believe Larry and John drove through a few years ago.
Every time I see chives I remember a trip John and I took with my late parents. We were in south GA near where Pres. Carter was from and we kept seeing large fields of something green. Daddy and John asked, "what is that growing?" I responded "chives" like I knew for sure. I finally had to confess that I had NO idea what was growing! We had a good laugh though.