covid

It’s good to be back

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Zoom in on Front Standard. Yankee Doodle Dandy [Blu-ray] [1942].

We had our first celebration party Saturday night.  No masks, no social distancing.  Lots of good b-b-q’d food–burgers, brats, ribs.  Add all the other picnic food, and we stuffed ourselves.  Later, our house was surrounded by individual fireworks.  One time, I wondered if flames licked our roof.  All turned out fine.

Yesterday, we had a later start to our 2nd celebration and had to travel for it.   I started watching Yankee Doodle Dandy in the morning, and again for the nearly twentieth time wasn’t disappointed. The black and white screen didn’t disappoint either because the music and acting related brought color of its own type and emphasized family, patriotism, a united country.  All of which we can be proud. Like other generations who bounced back after our county’s crises, we are bouncing back from Covid–I hope for a long time now. On our way home, the sky was lit up with all sorts of colored lights–north, east, west anyway–we saw colorful expressions of “Let freedom ring,” celebrating our county’s freedom.

It seems like most of the nation is hot and dry or enduring storms of one type or another.  We have lots to be sad and worry about, lots to be thankful for–and we are free, to a certain extent, to say what we want, do what we want, and explore, which is what I’ve been doing again for my upcoming book–Where Two Rivers Meet.

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It all started with the comment my sister made about giants rumored to have been found back in the 1800s. “Giants,” I asked.  She plagued about my memory again because I had never heard the tales….”Out near Clearwater Lake,” she said, trying to ‘shiver me timber’ memories. So I did an Internet search.  Little else is known, and not much media was given any coverage, BUT:

“In the “Pioneer Press” of June 29, 1888, is an account of the discovery, twelve miles from Clearwater, N. E. 1/4, sec. 21, T. 121-27, by Charles W. Pinkerton, of the town of Corinna, of the remains of seven persons said to have been from seven to eight feet high.” Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge, History of Wright County, Minnesota, 1888.

We both started researching and took a few trips out to dig up graves where we knew they were supposed to be found–south of Clearwater. Our freedoms didn’t allow us to go on private properties.  Following what we thought were the right coordinates, we drove on paved and dry roads with dust spraying the back of my SUV.  Because so much has been developed, the area, Clearwater Lake,  gave up no hints as to where we should look.  When we got home the last time, we re-checked the coordinates and realized we were off a couple of sections.

I have to be honest, I’ve been known to travel on trails that aren’t posted private property (to my sister’s embarrassment and fear).  But without a little brave/stupid hankering for answers, I would not have been able to write my first book, Steppes to Neu-Odessa, which is a biographical dictionary of Odessa Township, Yankton County, SD, and where the first German-Russians settled in the US–including mine). I don’t worry too much about not having an invitation, but I definitely won’t go where there is a warning, and I am not wanted.  But if anyone gets a hankering or an invitation, let us know.  We might follow along.  I might also want to see the many, MANY, native mounds that surround a number of the lakes in this vicinity and the Clearwater River.  Otherwise, I have the freedom to imagine what I want for the next book.

Hope you are still enjoying your Independence Day weekend on this Federal holiday.  HOT! yes, but so much to do and find and explore.

IMG_9994.JPG  ANYONE FOLLOWING ME?

On the road again,

Cindy

 

 

 

 

In Memoriam

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When we were working, my husband and I took yearly summer vacations.  It turned out to be a sort of spur-of-decision where we’d head but often took off east. From Maine to the Keys, we traveled, stopping to see historic sites and breathe in the ocean air.  Anything history from Acadia National Park to Fort Jefferson at Dry Tortugas National Park we explored inland and outlands, hardly a spot we did not explore up and down the coast.  Our favorites, though, are Salem and Danvers, Massachusetts, where the Salem Witch Trials took place and affected many of my own ancestors’ lives.  We have taken in many, if not most, of the Civil War historic sites and battlefields such as Gettysburg, Arlington National, Vicksburg, Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park, Antietam, the list goes on. We drove right into Andersonville, at the end of the day but were ushered out after a short drive, yet not before we saw Minnesota’s memorial to our men.

Many of the Around Clearwater men as well as my ancestors enlisted, fought hard, suffered, and even died for our country. 

One man I have been researching is Ellet Parcher Perkins.  In the next of my Minnesota Main Street Women series, Ellet, a cousin of hers,  accompanies my protagonist from Vermont to Minnesota when her brother-in-law writes her to come work as a hotel housekeeper in the early days of Clearwater. While this information may or not be fiction, the following isn’t.  After enlistment, he rises from corporal to captain with great honors but suffers from his wounds the rest of his life.  So many of these men fought while their wives and families took over the work at home.  The same can be said for the other wars that followed.  So much sacrifice on the battlefields and home front for our country.

This year Memorial Day, we will honor all who have suffered so much in war, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Memorial-Day (how Memorial Day was founded ) and now we include our thoughts and memories of those who fought Covid here at home.  Those who fought to keep us healthy and those who died without their loved ones surrounding them with love.

It’s been a hard year, undoubtedly, but now as we head out to celebrate Memorial Day, let’s not forget all those who have fought for us and those who have sacrificed their lives.

Have a great weekend.

Cindy