My husband was stationed in what was called Camp Carson in Colorado Springs in our early married life and we wound up in a house and the picture window where I opened up the shade each morning looked right out at Pike’s Peak. It was an excellent, beautiful view of Pike’s Peak. And I just made a point of every morning just going and opening that curtain and looking at Pike’s Peak. I had heard about it all my life…
Well, I would agree about the beauties of rural places. I grew up in New York City, and my dad decided when we were about six or seven years old that we’d better spend a vacation on a farm because otherwise I might not know what a cow looked like. So off we went to have a vacation on a farm.
In Davenport we owned a basement apartment; our playground was an alley out back, and we really didn’t have a yard. But my mother had three sisters that had farms in Jackson County, in rural Iowa. As kids we’d spend two or three weeks on the various farms, and it was just so incredible to get away. But there was just a sense of freedom and exploration. That reminded me of what someone said about water; I remember we found a…
I have lots of good memories traveling in beautiful scenery, but what makes a place special sometimes is the people who are in it. I danced three days a week with a wonderful group of people at Body Moves in Coralville. And it’s a place that brings me peace. They have yoga Qigong. And the people are just wonderful there. And so that’s a healing place for me.
Mountains were part of a memorable place for me, too. I was in the army in Germany and had a couple days’ leave and was taking the train, I’m not exactly sure where, but I think south of Munich to see the Alps. It was the first time that I, as a 19 year old, had ever seen mountains. Then, what made it more special is after I got out of the army and I got married, and my wife…
I don’t know that I have a life philosophy but when I read this current prompt, it “prompted” a philosophy of sorts—show up for everything. We have a mulberry tree in our backyard—it’s actually planted in our adjoining neighbors yard but most of the goods hang in our yard and driveway. A few years ago, my husband looked out the window and saw two people laying sheets on the ground and were skillfully collecting the berries. He thought he’d go…
So we went to Glacier this summer, and I like anything with good rippling water. And there’s this special place we came to in Glacier where a little trail off the main trail led to a little rocky beach full of pebbles, really smooth pebbles. And you can sit there and watch all the rippling water. And there are minerals that wash into the water that make it a very turquoise water. It’s not the natural color of water. And…
My grandma and grandpa’s house is a special place to me. We go there once or twice a week. We were supposed to go today, but grandma’s on a trip. [What do you like that’s downstairs? What do you like to do there that’s different from our house?] Legos! Daddy’s old Legos. And then I like playing with the nerf guns. [They have epic nerf guns don’t they?] Yes.
Sort of going along with sort of the changed relationship, I think one that’s changed is the one with my sister. Because she’s an older sister and so, when I was growing up I felt like I had two and a half parents. And she’s good at music, and she did piano, violin. She was in the Iowa Highland Pipes–it was her and a bunch of people our dad’s age. When I was older I started being more competitive, and…
I have a great aunt who’s about 85 and she’s always been single, never married, and has always put her family first. And she used to take my dad out on vacations and watch him and his siblings, and then she helped take care of me and my siblings. And now it’s fun to be able to share her with my kids. We’ve been trying to make trips over to the Quad Cities to see her, and we get to…