Joy Neal Kidney's Blog, page 52
May 6, 2022
Spring in Northern Minnesota, early 1900s
The Goff family lived in northern Minnesota from 1903-1905. Rural schools in Polk County closed during the winter because the weather was too brutal. So the children started classes during the spring. Leora was in her early teens then.
1902 plat map of Key West, MN, Northwest Publishing, 1902. Northern Pacific Railroad goes east and west. The tracks running north are called Sherack Spur. Goff’s lived half a mile north of town, and their school was a mile north of that.From Leora Goff Wilson’s memoirs: “A branch of the railroad went north and was on the east side of our place. It went to a grain elevator and went by the schoolhouse. At noon on nice days it was so much fun to push a flatcar, which would be along close to the school sometimes. We would all push ’til we got it rolling good and then we’d all jump on and ride.
“One day the bell rang for school and we were quite a way down the track, so we left the flatcar and ran back to school. A section man came to the schoolhouse and told the teacher to not permit her pupils to play on the flatcars. He was afraid some little one would get hurt. Of course, we never thought of that–it was so much fun. So it was a good thing he stopped us, as there could very well have been an accident.
“Another enjoyable pastime in spring, when the snow melted and filled ditches along the railroad track, was to fix rail ties together to make a raft and float along. We could do that at school and we had a raft at home, too.”
Rural schools didn’t have playground equipment over 100 years ago. They made up their own games and activities, which would certainly be frowned on today!
Leora’s Early Years: Guthrie County Roots
May 4, 2022
Battle of the Coral Sea: Memories of Donald Wilson, Aboard the USS Yorktown (CV-5)
Battle of the Coral Sea
May 1942
Uncle Don Wilson was the the ship’s company flight deck electrician on the USS Yorktown (CV-5). Just like everyone else stationed on the flight deck, Don later wrote, he had his spot to jump into during emergencies–over the edge onto a catwalk.
But while the carrier patrolled the Coral Sea, another electrician panicked during General Quarters (battle stations) below decks in the steering motor room. Donald traded places with him, glad to transfer from the risky fight deck to an area with extra armor plating for the vital steering, even though during combat with the ship closed up, the room was stifling and the noise deafening.
The Yorktown’s Engineering Department had three divisions–Boiler, Main Engine, and Electrical. Donald was in Electrical (E. Div.), made up of four ‘gangs’–Generator, Power, Lighting, and Interior Communications (I.C.). Donald wrote, “The crew was a closely knit, well-trained group, as evidenced by its late accomplishments.
“My battle station was the steering motor room. During the Battle of Coral Sea, the sound was like a freight train underneath you, in a tin barn in a hailstorm, and a dust storm coming in an open window. I wondered where dust and dirt came from on our clean ship many miles at sea? The only air intake supply was from the trunk from the 5” gun platform topside.
“During all our practice firing (over 5 years) no dirt was ever jarred loose. During the Coral Sea action, our lights were only visible as a glow due to the dust.
“After standing several thousand hours on watch in steering gear, my ears were tuned to the screws’ RPMs (they still are). Our best-ever RPMs were done during Coral Sea battle.”
During the Battle of the Coral Sea, from May 4-8, 1942, a bomb dropped from a Japanese plane hit the Yorktown and exploded deep inside. “The ship vibrated violently, sounding like a freight train,” he later recalled, “or like being in a tin barn in a hailstorm.”
From Leora’s Letters:
The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II:
“That night, the Yorktown held a burial service. The shrouded bodies of forty men were given up to the sea. Of course, Donald could reveal none of this when he wrote home.
“The Wilsons in Iowa heard news reports about a big battle in the Coral Sea. The Japanese reported their victory and the sinking of two carriers. U.S. reports said that a dozen Japanese ships were sunk, but that no American battleships had been lost. The Wilsons did not know that the Yorktown had been damaged and the carrier Lexington lost. But when they didn’t hear from Donald, they worried that he had been in the battle.
“Meadowlarks had been back for weeks, Iowa’s plum thickets bloomed white against spring’s green, potatoes and onions and lettuce had been planted. While the youngest brother, Claiborne Junior Wilson, graduated from Washington Township High, Donald’s carrier, trailing oil from leaking fuel tanks, limped toward Hawaii for repairs. Arriving at Pearl Harbor, the Yorktown–its crew mustered on deck in their dress whites–was greeted by sirens, whistles, and cheering sailors.”
May 2, 2022
“Dream Beyond Tomorrow” Series by Starr Ayers (Emma Stories)
Starr Ayers is a multiple award-winning author and writer, a third-generation artist, Jesus follower, incurable night owl, java junkie, rainbow chaser, and avid iPhone photographer who’s always on the lookout for the presence of wonder. She resides with her husband, Michael, in North Carolina, and they have two daughters and a son-in-love. She is active in her church and has led a women’s Bible study in her community since 2003.
For the Love of Emma
A rose-covered grave, seventy-nine letters, and a scribbled note unearth buried emotions and the timeless beauty of first love.
When Caroline Myers discovers a box of letters in her deceased mother’s trunk, she’s captivated by the romance that unfolds between her mother, Emma Rose Walsh, a nineteen-year-old waitress, and Noah Anderson, a handsome young soldier.
Determined to read between the lines, Caroline and her sister, Kate, set out on a search that leads them to the North Carolina foothills and the padlocked gate of the Anderson family cemetery. Will the one who holds the key keep them from unearthing long-buried secrets and fulfilling a request their mother tucked inside the box sixty-four years earlier? Will they find closure—or encounter a surprising revelation that plunges them deeper into the past?
For the Love of Emma is based on a true story from the author’s family.
My thoughts: If you found love letters, from a young soldier who did not become your father, among your mother’s keepsakes after her death, what would you do? Read and ponder them, of course. That’s what really happened to the author and her sister. The contemporary story about the sisters trying to find the young soldier is woven with imaginings of what things were like between Emma and her soldier in1938. A fascinating story, especially at the end where the author reveals what’s true and what she created for this novel.
Emma’s Quest
As the dark clouds of war escalate in Europe, Emma leaves her North Carolina home and the soldier whose heart has never stopped longing for hers. However, when Andrew Brown, the charming Scotsman who’d won her affection, fails to meet her train in Chicago, Emma questions her hasty decision. Hundreds of miles now separate her from all that’s familiar and the people she loves.
Has she misread Drew? Did her rush to heal her past prompt her to dismiss warning bells and ignore common sense?
My thoughts: What a compelling story, especially since it’s based on a family mystery. Tucker’s rock-solid friendship is absolutely endearing.
I was taken with the Recording Scotland Collection and The Pilgrim Trust which is mentioned in Emma’s Quest. In all of the research and reading I’ve done about WWII, this was new and delightful information for me.
The losses of the Brown family touched me as well, as my Grandma Leora lost three sons during WWII and was widowed within a three-year period.
“The Return” is an 11-minute podcast related to the Emma books.
Here is Starr Ayers’ website.
April 28, 2022
Indie Bookstore Day, April 30, 2022 – Come Say Hi!
Come help Beaverdale Books celebrate Indie Bookstore Day! They will be serving popcorn, offering some give-aways, and hosting “Pop-In Authors.”
They are open Saturday 10 to 5. I will be one of the Pop-In Authors, there from 11 to noon.
Beaverdale Books carries autographed copies of both Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II and Leora’s Dexter Stories: The Scarcity Years of the Great Depression.
It’s the only bookstore that ships autographed copies of the Leora stories.
Grandma Leora would be so delighted!
April 25, 2022
A Man With a Rake (poetry) by Ted Kooser
Happy Birthday to Ted Kooser, born April 25, 1939 in Ames Iowa!
He is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, for Delights and Shadows, and also served two terms as the Poet Laureate of the United States.
A Man With a Rake is his newest collection–eighteen delectable vignettes, “A Mouse Nest,” “A Sepia Photograph,” a “Fox.” Each a nugget of breathing space, an interlude. I was especially beguiled by “The Closed Road.” Ted Kooser’s gentle poetry captures essence.
The author of over twenty books, including five for children, and lives in a small town in Nebraska.
There’s a reason this poet is much loved. His poetry is so full of compelling vignettes of the ordinary, urging the mesmerized reader to pause and become a noticer of details as well. I’d list my favorite, but there are at least ten of them. I just love this man’s compelling work.
My fibromyalgia symptoms got so miserable I thought I’d never be able to write again. I gave away all of my poetry books, including Kooser’s Delights and Shadows and The Poetry Home Repair Manual. I since have gratefully acquired new copies of both.
April 23, 2022
I See Guthrie Center First!
April 21, 2022
Coffee Lovers’ Poetry Companion by Dr. Judy Richardson
The Book
For coffee lovers, poetry lovers, lovers of all kinds…
Have you ever stopped to think about how often coffee accompanies so many of our life experiences? Have a seat, take a sip or two of your favorite brew, and see if a poem or two you find in these pages bring back memories of your own.
The Author
My Thoughts
What a delightful collection of 56 poems, some rhyme, some don’t. There’s even some coffee quotes.
Memories associated with the delicious brew are categorized under Coffee Shop, Office Brew, Darker Brew, and Life with Coffee. From carefree verses to poignant ones (“The Worst Coffee” is so compelling), coffee had indeed been part of so much of our lives. A wonderful gift book for a coffee lover.
The author’s website.
Dr. Richardson will be first in the lineup of local authors for Indie Bookstore Day at our local Beaverdale Books in Des Moines, 10:00 – 11:00 on April 30.
April 18, 2022
“There was a Time”: A poet deftly works through prostate cancer
There was a Time: poems, musings, and thought of experiencing cancer
by Andrew J. Reynolds
This is a poetic and emotional response to being treated for prostate cancer, which takes the reader on a poignant journey through the emotions of diagnosis, treatment and recovery. There was a Time also looks at the loss of the author’s mother to pancreatic cancer, and the difficulty of watching a loved one pass from this world to the next.
This poet, writer, blogger, woodworker, and computer engineer holds a BA in English from San Jose State University. Andrew Reynolds retired from the high-tech world of Silicon Valley and has moved to Reno, NV where he lives with his wife and three cats.
He actively blogs at www.andrewsviewoftheweek.com where he shares photos of his woodshop creations and posts short essays and poetry. I “met” Andrew through his delightful Friday blog posts.
There was a Time is not available through Amazon, but if you’re interested in it, contact Andrew here.
April 16, 2022
New Every Morning (poem)
In spite of chronic fatigue, bone and muscle tenderness,
Even with an arduous learning curve with this bionic shoulder,
Despite wrinkles and sags and old-lady hands,
I thank God every early morning for the age I am,
Even in this senior-citizenness,
God’s mercies are new every morning.
(from 2020)
April 13, 2022
Mom’s Youngstown Kitchen
After the folks bought a farm south of Dexter, 1952, Mom longed for a handier kitchen. When Dad installed her steel Youngstown cupboards and black countertops, she was just delighted!
Found this on the internet, but it gives to the idea. Mom’s kitchen widow overlooked her garden, the farm yard with a grainery to the big red barn.
Mom only had the Melmac dishes in pink and green.Mom decorated her clean white kitchen with pink and green. She even had pink and green square Melmac dishes which were large enough so that Uncle Bill didn’t have to pile food on top of food when he worked with Dad and had noon dinner with us.
It was the kitchen where I learned to cook, kinda. I could stir gravy, to ward off lumps, but didn’t know how came about in the first place. I could mix up a spice cake from scratch, but Mom took over from there–baking and frosting. Dad enjoyed spice cake so much that sometimes it never got frosted.
For 4-H projects, we had to learn to bake a cake from scratch to finish, to plan and cook a meal. All done in Mom’s Youngstown kitchen.
What a familiar pose of Dad in his overalls reading The Des Moines Register. His portable radio is there so he’s been listening to the noon news and markets on WHO-Radio.Mom stirred up her famous caramel-pecan cloverleaf rolls in that kitchen, and her sought-after Christmas caramels, her wonderful potato salad.
Later, I see, she changed the pink and green to red. Their son-in-law bought the large spoon and fork on the wall when he was stationed in Vietnam.
At some point, even Mom’s kitchen was remodeled again, but it seems like she’d been even more satisfied with those clean white Youngstown steel cupboards in the 1950s.
