My Iowa Beach

I really prefer the beaches on South Padre

Island, but this is my only alternative.

Hawkeye Park is part of my daily 10

mile bike ride. Yesterday when on this

cement sidewalk, I had to veer to the

road. After 4.1" of rain on Sunday night

into Monday morning, part of my road

way was all water, the pond was out of

her boundaries. Lots of baby Canadians

in the area and the park is always full

of lunch folks and small fishermen/women.

8/8/8 Beijing

Here they are, our

Iowa Olympians. I

went to a reception

for them a couple weeks

ago. Wow, Simon Estes

sang the Nat'l Anthem!

He is also an Iowan.

Best smile goes to Shawn

Johnson, our little gymnast.

She could bring home a boat

load of medals. At 16 years of

age, wow, current world champ.

Lolo Jones is about 10 years older

and is the current leader in the

100 m hurdles. 12.53 seconds I

think, to win in Oregon when she

made the team. Bring home the GOLD ladies!

All's Well in the Rest of the Valley

A phone call from Alamo today confirmed all

is well with the mobile home. The neighbor

does not have a key, but he said structurally,

all is well. One piece of the skirt around the

bottom of the mobile is missing and some

one down the street lost their deck in the

wind. When Dolly hit my island she turned

north and away from the expressway and

border line leading to Alamo!  

Coeur d Alammert Iowa Golf

As you 

can 

see, my

garden

is full

of water again. A little over 4" of rain.

Want to golf? This is baptised  Coeur

D Alammert golf water hole, in honor

of the beautiful course in Idaho. I found

this "spear" piece of wood in the back

yard, peeled away from a limb and then

dropped

MAMMA MIA

Did you see the play? Have you seen the movie this past week?

Anyone who loves dancing, lots of up beat music.......get off your
duff and get to the theater for MAMMA MIA.........

Meryl Streep is one of my favorites and her cast is HOT.........
James Bond......her daughter is on her way to a great career..........
what a voice from Amanda..........

It isn't an Oscar winner for best movie, they don't vote this type
of movie as the best.......but if there was a category for most
fun.........A WINNER.......

A tip of the hat to the cast of MAMMA MIA........enjoy...........

Alamo and a calm day on South Padre

There might not

be a scene like

this in Alamo if

Dolly has struck.

Moving in day,

first year of being

a retiree, snowbird, winter

Texan, but now a

full Texan. On the

right, the warning

flag on the island.

This day was 

calm, not like the

last few days!

Dolly Missed ONE

Dolly the Hurricane has missed

one of my homes in Texas. This is

the Breeze, stored in La Feria, Tx.

No damage to her, but a roof on

one of the buildings on the Dixie

property lost a roof. No word yet

from Alamo

What's Happening?

Several days since the last posting. I have been 

messing around with the template. I love this

one with the surf, reminds me of SPI, TX. I

think I have it right, with black text print. Why

didn't the last text show up black?

Mama Mia is on the big screen and it is great fun!

I have always loved musicals. Probably because

I can't carry a tune. Everyone can sing, there are

just a small number of people that can carry a 

sweet tune..Go see Meryl Streep and cast in

this musical. Loads of fun.     Golf game on Thurs

was the orange ball....we only had a threesome

and we are the best golfers in the league, but we

only shot an 83.....You assign one golfer as the

point on each hole, you use her score and then 

you use the lowest of the other 2 in the group.

We should have had a 4th, but Becky is in VA...

I hope we win something....next year my course

is going private. I don't know where I will end

up for league play. I am NOT HAPPY with 

BRIARWOOD!   it isn't always about money, but

I guess they think so.......Nothing big this week.

We had another set of thunderstorms. mark

replanted his ponds on the farm and they were

washed out again!!! DRAT!!!  3.5" in Ankeny, more

one hour north. I Cubs have lost every time I

have seen them play this year. I guess I won't 

attend anymore games....hang loose......I am 

a child of the 60's......right on........

Smile Boxes Are Us

I can see where this is heading.....I'll have to buy a membership to 

Smile Box. It is so much fun and with nearly 10,000 photos on my

computer....girls just gotta have fun!  I'll be able to show off my talents

and let ya'll know about my year long summer life.....

Summer has finally started in Iowa. Garage sale over, most of the

getting rid of the "junque" is over, the garage is clean, need to make

a donation  of some furniture. Now, it is time to get on the bicycle and

peddle my A#### all over town. I am not one to train for RAGBRAI....

the bike ride across the great state of Iowa. My knees won't handle

that much riding and my butt isn't in shape either....So, it's a9 or 10 

am ride to Cross Train, then hit the streets of my hometown. One hour

today, almost 10 miles, including a few miles on the new bike

trail that will eventually extend 20 miles to Woodward. 

Iowa Flood relief concert tonight from the Nadas, the Little River

Band and REO Speedwagon. At $20 a head, a bargain, and at 6 PM

news there were over 7,000 there already.....Over four hours of

music.

Lolo Jones donated $12,000 along with two sponsors to a single

mother in Cedar Rapids for flood repairs. Shawn Johnson did the

same thing, giving to her trainer, since his gymnastics studio was

also damaged by the flooding. Look for these two athletes in the

Olympics in Bejing. 60 m hurdles and gymnastics. Two GOLDEN

GIRLS from Des Moines, Iowa.

FORE...........

The Daughter of a JFK Friend was Married 6/7/8 San Francisco

Make a Smilebox photobook

Hummers in Dayton Slide Show

Baseball with Turk and the Cubs

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Bon Fire and Fireworks

I have been so busy making Smile Boxes that I have forgotten to post 

some of my fun shots of fireworks and the bon fire.  You never know

what you will get shooting fireworks, with a beer in hand. 

Sweet Old Cars

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Who's Who in the Smilebox

Summerfest in Ankeny was invented to celebrate my birthday....ain't the city fathers 

just great? The four day week end celebration has all of the usual events, parades,

carnival, beer tent, queen contest, karaoke, and a big fireworks finale. Our high school

alumni association has their annual reunion during the week end. We have a golf 

outing, banquet, individual class reunions, brunch. The class of 68 celebrated #40 with

their party at this  golf course and car museum. The owner is a classmate and is on the

Forbes List. A very generous man that invited us to his company's headquarters.

We saw all  of Chevrolet's finest: Corvettes, Camaros, to the first and only big green party bus, 1932 I think. All convertibles and all beautiful. Some of my fireworks photos 

were really funny, you NEVER know what

you will get on film when shooting this event. Finally today I went to the official send off

for our two local OLYMPIANS. Shawn Johnson with her great smile will bring home up to

five gold medals in gymnastics. At 16 years of age, what an athlete. LOLO Jones is 26 and

ran a world record last week to qualify for Bejing in the 60 meter hurdles. LOLO donated

her winners check to Iowa flood relief. Her sponsors matched her donation and that 

$12,000 check went to a single mother to help her back on her feet after losing her  home

in the June floods. Shawn gave the same amount to Coach Chow, her gymnastics coach. His

facility was flooded also and Shawn had to spend time training in Ames prior to the

qualifying event. What a great week, we shot a 66 in the alumni golf event, no prizes! The

best part is visiting with long time friends that I don't get to see very often, local folks as

well as out of state friends. Time to relax....last night I had a steak on the grill and a 

martini, first one in a week.......sweet.....enjoy the slide show I put together from a newly

found web site, Smile Box. Free for two weeks. All photos from my "on a LARK photography

company.....

They do it Right in Ankeny for my birthday

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Some fun from Texas

http://smilebox.com/play/

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Last Week End Highlights

Stan fixed Brats for us on Sunday
night, they were wonderful, jalapeno,
mush/swiss, and regular. He fixed
two for each of us. The next night
we were wondering what our problem
was last night? We didn't clean up
and left some brats on the grill....
This pond is NOT supposed to be
in this corn/bean field in Dayton. No
crops there this season. Finally, on the
way home.....COOKIES on the road...

Mini Reunion on the Farm

My friend Marla was home this week from Arizona. My friend Jan was home from Minnesota, along with two of her children and their children. After golf on Sunday, I arrived in time to say hello, get a bunch of hugs, and say good bye to five leaving for home in Minnesota and three going back to Rockwell City. The regular family reunions are on hold since the farmer's wife is being
nanny to grandson Drew down in Phoenix. I was able to meet Micah, he will be two in December. A busy little guy. He will have
a sibling sometime in September. Great brats on the grill cooked by Stanley Steamer, but on Monday night we were wondering
why we didn't clean up afterwards? Mark found three brats still on the grill when getting ready to fix us some delicious Iowa
Rib Eyes. We had a beautiful bon fire that night also, after 18 holes of golf. I have had one round of 18 this summer, on Sunday,so we were all a little tired about hole 15. I really scrambled all day on the course.
Bad tee shot, then a great recovery, sweet
chip shot and even made a few long putts to save par. Dayton is a fun and tough course, very small greens compared to
Briarwood. Lots of places to find lost balls and to also contribute. Great cold beer though!

May in Wisconsin

In all of the mess of water in the basement, garage sale,
golf tournaments....I forgot to post some photos of the
family. Black dress is the college grad,Dano. Dad and
cousin Mark, tall boyfriend and Greg in the kitchen as
well as Mary working in the kitchen, Aidan and sister
Reese playing in the yard, Greg and Lindsey playing
bean bags, father Brice and daughter in the chair. Will have
to look for Jeanne, Lisa and Paula......OK, Paula and Reese,
Aidan with the head gear I brought from Mexico for
Reese, Jeanne and Lisa and Reese after my heart, shooting
pictures. It is a real camera and pretty cool. Jeanne said
they had not downloaded any of the photos yet, I am
anxious to see the results.Too bad all of the photos are
not posted in the order I downloaded.

Aloha to Pupule

Aloha means many things, hello, good-bye, take good care, I love you. In this case it is good-bye to Pupule......Pupule means "Crazy"
in the Hawaiian language. We found this out back in the late 70's
on our first trip to the islands. There is a Crazy Shirt company, we tried to get them to make a Pupule tee shirt, it hasn't happened.
anyway, I had the Iowa Pupule, Aunt Jean had the Illinois Pupule,
as in license plates, AJ's was a 67 mustang convertible, mine is a
66 Corvair Monza. I bought it from my mom, her only inheritance when my father died. Tonight, at 707 PM, the buyer left the house.
There was a tear in my beer. Fortunately, Pupule will be three doors
away, so I can see her often. If only I had kept her in running order, low mileage for one reason. It's too late baby.......

A Really Wet Week In Iowa

The garage sale is over, didn't do as well as I had hoped, but St
Vince will be here in a few days to collect all of the stuff we
don't want anymore. The clothing will be given to anyone who has the need, the rest of the stuff will either be sold or tossed out.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is shut down, at least eight feet of water in
their downtown area. I know it well, from volleyball and bowling
tournament trips over there. Iowa City, home to my Hawkeyes is also
in bad shape. At least a dozen of the U's buildings are in bad
shape or lost already. The bldg that houses the computers has about
a 10 foot high sand bag wall around it. Over 100 volunteers passed
books from the basement of the library up three floors to safety.
The rare books are stored in the basement, they had to quit when
the tornado sirens went off Sat afternoon.

My back yard is dry, but it stinks. Sat was the first time we could mow in a week.

Baby
Kayley, born at 27 weeks is making great progress. with each day there are more tests, but this AZ children's hospital is a great
one and the parents have access to everything. If they need to know
about something the doctor's discussed with them, they send a
message to the Emily Information center and the next day they
receive a big package of answers....

The roses are blooming, in the
midst of the high water. The golf course I play at had major flooding on the back nine and it is now open. Two big tournaments out there this week, I am playing in the Komen event and the local
chamber of commerce has their big yearly event also. Whew....we
are lucky compared to the people in Cedar Rapids, Chelsea, Iowa
City, New Hartford........a long list of battered towns and cities.
Carry on my friends.......

Another weary day

1993 was the flood of the century. On a Sunday morning, July 11, I awoke to the phone ringing. Brother Jeff
answered it. Brother Greg was at work. We were taking care of our invalid Mother, due to a stroke. Jeff said
the levee broke about 2-3 AM....he has to get the truck back to DSM, he was a volunteer for the road race
through downtown DSM that day. water pressure down, maybe NO drinking water....he didn't know when he
would be back home. I told him to stop and try to find some water on the way home...On his way out the door,
he said.....by the way..HAPPY BIRTHDAY.....well, we are one month from that date and it looks like the levees
might break again, probably this week. A friend has a birthday today . Water still available. New Hartford, Iowa
was totally evacuated again. Mother Naure is strong willed.....baby Kayley was born at three pounds and is in intensive care
for the rest of the summer....a fiesty little girl.....I think she is that way because she is a blonde....just like
MOM....but a smart blonde.....take care of me you ##$$&*@#!.......it is wonderful knowing the ability of our
medical society today. Take good care ya'll. stock up on veggies in the can, might not be any on the
shelves this winter....Are Victory gardens returning? New name,victory was because of the war.......Aloha.......

Where has the time gone?

Busy girl here in Iowa. One week of heading up tours for the 7th graders at the Historical Society Museum..one week
end in Waterloo for state bowling, a week end in Madison Wisc for graduation, cleaned the graves on Memorial Day,
then a month of getting ready for a garage sale next week end....Whew...In the mean time, lots of rain. water in the
basement, not too much, but I lost a 10 by 20 piece of carpet and padding.
Lammert Lake was out of her boundary TWO days last week.....let's see if I have a photo.........

First photo shows most of the back yard, 2nd one my tomato/green pepper/ionion garden with my nearly 60
year old peonies on their own island and the last photo....24 hours later.....Both days, Thurs and Sunday rain took
24 hours to evaporate into the earth., I assume harvest will be late August or early Sept, if at all. The onions look
good at this stage. Can't put in my flowers, zinnias, for the butterflies and hummers.....

Garage is full and I still have a ton of stuff to add. That won't get done this time, might have to hold another
sale in July......I just hope the rain holds off this week end......

Water levels in Polk County and Iowa are near the levels of 1993 when we had the 100 year flood.......the levee
broke on my birhday.....