South Dakota Book Festival

I returned from the South Dakota Book Festival a week ago. I took a day off of work of Friday. (It was Homecoming activities in the high school and I am sure they didn't miss me much) and traveled three hours to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to the Holiday Inn for the Annual Book Festival put on by the South Dakota Humanities. The festival alternates locations with Deadwood each year. I ended up getting two books. One is "Buffalo Bill's America...William Cody and the Wild West Show". by Louis S. Warren. Since I was lived in LeClaire, Iowa I have had an interest in William Cody who was born near there. The other book I got was by "Bombay times: a Novel" by Thrity Umrigar. I heard her speak about her books and India. In fact, I road down the elevator with her. Such interesting people. I also attended a workshop on geneology and on demand printing. I had a great time with friends, eating, and enjoying the sites of Grand Rapids.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

My review

View all my reviews.

Planters of 2008

Here is what everyone has been waiting for. Mary's Planter

Beth's Planter

My Planter and Mom's Planter


I think we all did splendid this year and will be ready for another challenge next year for the 2009 season.

Tribute to Stone City

I spent the Labor Day weekend in the Wapsipinicon State Park near Anamosa, Iowa. This is just a few miles away from Stone City, where Grant Wood painted his rolling hills and stone buildings. This is where Grant Wood had his artist colony in 1933.

http://www.mtmercy.edu/stone/resource.htm

The first photo is the spectacular Anamosa State Penitentiary established in 1872. The second photo is a church in Stone City. The final picture is a mock up of the famous American Gothic home without the farmer and his daughter.

Bob Dylan and Multitechnological Distractions

Working on lesson plans for the Minnesota Humanities class, I wrote one on Bob Dylan and Hibbing, MN. The gist of the lesson was a student photo documentary on the sliding scale of alienation and a sense of belonging in a student's local community (school or otherwise).
What happens to me when I work on the web looking for resources is that I am distracted considerably. There must be some label for people like me, who cannot stay focused on the task at had and gets distracted with the multitude of information, video, photographs, web links, and interesting sidelines to the direct goal at hand. Instead of my mind working in a circular format, it goes out into the abyss, scattering to the wind. Some would call it "easily distracted". I guess I would call it "There is sure alot of stuff out there".

Iowa Sweetcorn: or Bloom where you are Planted

We were a little late getting out there, but a church friend and farmer has a patch of sweetcorn he graciously gives away each year to people. So, this morning, Saturday, the last weekend before teacher inservice, we stood inside the corn patch with our metal baskets shucking corn. The sky was blue, the white clouds floated effortlessly overhead and the breeze rustled the trees in the grove nearby. At that moment, I was in pure bliss. No, I am not in Beijing, China for the 2008 Olympics...No, I am not on some sunny beach by the ocean taking in the sound of the waves....No, I am not at the Metropolitan Museum of Art taking in the J. M. W. Turner exhibit.

Now the work begins as we scald, scrape and bag the corn for the freezer. Lots of work? yes. But, there is much satisfaction in knowing where my corn has come from, who has handled it, and how it was processed. Nothing worse than a bag of frozen corn from the store, without personality or flavor. Another example of craftsmanship and process.

"TEchNoloGy for the novice" or the "Leap of Faith" into the digital abiss

I constructed a new blog today. I felt inspired to create a blog specifically for the Lake Mills 7-12th grade artroom. Inspiration and motivation swept me into the designing of a new name for it. I came up with Designing Dogs. (We are the Lake Mills Bulldogs) I tried many names before I could find one that was available. So, this is it. I feel good about that. What I do not feel good about is the fact that I altered my "About Me" for the Designing Dogs blog which is presently rather dry and without any personality. And in doing so, I also altered the great write up I had for "Roadside Park". One influenced the other. I suspected this might happen and therefore copied and saved the original. Great idea, right? The bad news is that , in a moment of haste, I copied over it to insert the schools Mission Statement. All in all, technology is a great tool. But, there is so much unknown to this individual. Trial by error is necessary. It is the leap of faith into the digital abiss.