Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Iowa pictures

Here are the pictures I promised from Iowa. This is my dad (in the middle) with his two brothers.

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From left to right this is me, my mom, my aunt (dad's sister) and her husband. This was taken in a steak house that had very good steaks.

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My dad wanted to show me the Middleburg Cemetery, where his parents, aunts, and baby sister are buried. It was a lovely day, and a very beautiful setting; very peaceful and quiet.

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Here's my grandparents' gravestone. The date of my grandfather's death is 1935. My dad hardly remembers him... even though he does have a memory of being in that place during the funeral.

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Here's the gravestone of his baby sister. She only lived for a month. Even after 80 years that was very sad. There were several gravestones with little lambs on them, all of infants.

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Here is a picture of the bustling metropolis of Middleburg (or should I say smallville?); picture taken from the cemetary. There was a store there when my dad was young, a couple of churches, and maybe 1/2 dozen houses.

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I was a little surprised that I didn't remember how beautiful NW Iowa is; rolling hills and "fruited plains." On our way there and back we went through windmill farms:

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(The box on the top of this windmill is as big as a car!)

The family was very happy we were back. Here's P modeling a Halloween ensemble, a witches hat, a spider bracelet, and a self-propelled broom.

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He greeted me with a litany of disasters that happened while I was gone: P & C and momma got locked out of the garage and were late to school (that one was my fault); math homework was a bear one night (it took two adults and a boy to solve the story problem); and "someone" dropped the toothpaste in the toilet. Hopefully everything will be better now I am back. It is nice to be missed.

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