lighthouse 10 September 2014

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Sally Gerard

Boarding the boat, The Hope, we set off on a three hour tour (not kidding) and got to IMG_1665hear every manner of Gilligan’s Island jokes. We passed right under the Mackinac Bridge heading off to the west to see the lighthouses that keep the ships, to this day, in safe waters. I had not realized that each lighthouse is built to look different and each signal deviates slightly so that mariners will know where they are in the waters.

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The cars and semis passing overhead looked more like Matchbox cars two hundred feet above us. Our cruise host from the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association described the engineer and this new kind of suspension bridge which is really anchored in huge cement caissons in the water.

The weather turned rough and the mighty ship was tossed! We rode the top of white cap waves, crashing down into the four and five foot wells. Most of the passengers headed below, but a couple of us remained up top. I knew if I went down below in that kind of rough water, I’d be crawling out when we returned to shore. I hung on and let the wind and rain buffet me all they wanted in exchange for keeping my stomach where it was supposed to be. It was such a great experience and adventure.

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St. Helena Island Lighthouse ended up sheltering us from the storm in her cove on the south side of the island. Darkening skies and lightning striking made me glad for this cover and her light was activated due to the steel grey clouds and fog. Our guide shared with us that volunteer opportunities are available on this island as well as at many other lighthouses in their keep.

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I hadn’t realized either, that many lighthouses are  anchored out in the water and are not on land at all. This beauty required a four man crew, with three men on rotating shifts while the fourth had shore leave. This was your home for three full weeks and then you got a week off. We were told it was rather difficult and dull. I thought it sounded like paradise, especially for a writer.

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What to do when it rains 5 September 2014

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Sally Gerard

IMG_1761Waking up to rain, we were so glad to have our Frogg Toggs pants and wished we’d gotten jackets as well. The water logged holding grounds held more as the rain poured down most of the morning. Scheduled to leave the tractor parking and journey to the Mackinac Bridge was delayed by the Bridge Authority on account of lightning, so we waited and soaked the sog into our bones.

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Finally the word to begin came and we took off with over 900 other tractors to drive the five mile long Mighty Mac. The storms continued to roll around as all the tractors took over the outside lane and rolled up the bridge accompanied by over 900 smiling faces. The people of the Ausable Valley Engine & Tractor Club welcome these Coloradans as their own. Lynn and Snowman and Nancy and all the rest!

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The fog came over just as we reached the top and the wind and rain we’d come to know as intimate friends, returned to ride with us over the top and down the north side onto theUpper Peninsula and St. Ignace. It was glorious.

IMG_1830Looking back over my shoulder, Robert and the John Deere A emerge unscathed and ready to tackle the bridge again some day. For now, the tractors sit on the show grounds basking in all the attention of the hundreds of people gawking at these old workhorses who built this country.

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Get some Michigan 4 September 2014

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Sally Gerard

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Driving out of Grand Rapids at 5:15 this morning, Orion was bright in the southeast, but lightning flashed in the north. Hot coffee took the John Deere A, the MMZA and us down the road to dawn in northern Michigan. Beautiful and chock full of trees. We did hit a bit of a hail storm and heavy rain, but it passed quickly.

This huge old dairy barn sat in the field next to the 950 or so antique tractors lined IMG_1650up in rows by tractor club awaiting the arrival of Friday morning to drive across the five mile long Mackinac Bridge from Mackinaw City to St. Ignace.

We took a boat ride tour of some of the lighthouses in the Lake Michigan side of the Mackinac Straights and passed right underneath the big, brazen bridge. The cars and semis passing overhead looked like matchbox cars on some little kid’s dream track. The weather moved in as we powered along in the boat, and only the hardy (that would be us and one other guy) stayed up top in the open to view these beacons, each one unique and different so that mariners could find their way, knowing each lighthouse’s differences to pinpoint their location in the big water. I’ll post more of that journey another day when it isn’t so late in the mountain time zone! IMG_1673

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Mighty Mac 2 September 2014

Posted on September 2, 2014 by Sally Gerard

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We left early this morning on our cross country trip from eastern Colorado to the Mackinac Bridge in upper Michigan. I mean way north, eh? Driving across Nebraska was so lush and green for this time of the year. The soybeans fields were thick, the corn that hadn’t seen hail was tall and green with huge ears, and the state was out mowing the roadside grasses growing out of control!

It’s funny what you see when you take a road trip. Passing an old school bus painted like a sunrise in a thick forest, we decided it was a “hippy” bus, a throw-back. I love it when you pass bunches of semis, cars, travel-trailers, and pick-ups, and I wave as we go by. Then we stop for fuel or our roadside park picnic (fried chicken, popcorn, grapes and pasta salad pulled from the cooler) and when we get back on the highway, we pass all the same people again.

Stopping for ice-cream with my college student son and then dinner with family is the best and mine really is the best! Overnighting in Council Bluffs, Iowa and all is quiet tonight in this normally crowded and noisy casino town. Tomorrow, it’s off through Iowa and facing the drive around Chicago which we feel will be our biggest challenge with the antique tractor-loaded trailer and our patience. Thinking of the farm will sooth frayed nerves. I hope. IMG_0774

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famous 29 August 2014

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Sally Gerard

2005_1008Image0001Who am I famous to, and why? Am I famous to God? Is that yellow Aspen leaf I put in my water bottle holder famous to God? Is it famous to God in the same way I am?

Why is it so valued to be famous in the way superstars are? What does an autograph really give you? What do I want to be famous for?

Compassion, going out of my way for others, holding babies, the smell of warm brownies wafting through my home, listening, living life to its fullest, love, riding horses when I’m 95, remembering tiny details important to someone else, appreciating beauty and being thankful for it, not giving up, writing my heart. I want to be famous to my sons as one who always loves them no matter what and famous for reminding them to live their dream and to love life. I want to be famous to my love giving him the knowledge that there is one who loves him so dearly she cannot help but have it ooze from her pores and onto his lips in a kiss and in the tenth “I love you” of the day. I want to be famous for never giving up on a kid, for driving antique tractors on long drives with a packed lunch, for care taking of various critters in my charge, for living a simple life full of love and joy. What do you want to be famous for?

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The Barn Loft 27 August 2014

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Sally Gerard

IMG_1576In spring, one loft door opens to greening grasses springing up at the cement base, and the bulls bellowing for their cows. Palm size baby bunnies nibble the new sweet blades. Wild roses, heavy with buds, sit close under vibrant violet lilacs. Rains fill make-shift ponds for birds.

In summer, both loft doors open letting any breeze swing through to cool as the tall grasses dance across the filed and the cattle surround the water tank. Bunnies stay cool under the lilac bushes, and horses graze the pasture.IMG_1582

In fall, one or two loft doors open bringing warm sun in or a cool breeze. Grasses are brittling, ready to rest. Bawling calves must be on their own as new ones grow in the bellies of their mammas. The scent of rose and lilac has faded and the rabbits linger in the waning light.

In winter, one loft door is open, a layer of white blown in at the the base. The bulls, alone now, make their way to some early IMG_1578morning hay. A well-earned dormancy drapes the brown and white land.

Up in the loft–I watch and try to capture this life with words floating up from the seasons and in through the doors.

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My Little House 25 August 2014

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Sally Gerard

We had so much rain on Friday that we could not get into the field to work on Saturday, so we loaded up in my trusty 4-Runner and headed up to an antique farm show. We get to a few of these each year, and wish we could get to more! I love to wander around the displays, dreaming about what life must have been like so long ago when this country was still being discovered by settlers and farming was still a family business.

One enterprising fellow came up with a great way to feed his work crew at those busy times when you needed more than just the family to put up a crop. He built this wagon, pulled by horses out to the field where his wife and daughter managed the cooking on a wood fired stove in the back right corner.

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When it was noon and dinner was ready, the crew filed in to sit facing either direction on the built in benches and were served the meal. The screens running the length on both sides let air circulate but kept the flies out. Ingenious! I bet that crew felt like they had the Hilton in their field.

 

Then I saw this mail “truck” pulled by one horse and decided I could have been very happy toodling along delivering the mail with my trusty horse to pull me through rain, sleet, snow, wind and dark of night! Can you even imagine?IMG_1547 Maybe you’d stop at noon along a crick bank somewhere, let the horse graze a bit while you ate your lunch packed in a pail, perhaps nap a minute or two and then be on your way. The joy you’d bring folks as you left off a letter from Great Aunt Martha, or that package with the new shoes you’d ordered from the Sears catalogue.

 

One of my favorites is this antique cutter. It would have been pulled by one horse too. I imagine Almanzo Wilder driving it through blizzards to pick up Laura Ingalls from her school and bring her to her home for the weekend while he was courting her. They’d be tucked in together and covered with a heavy wool blanket to keep out the cold and snow. I often think there was mistake in the century I was born in and that I should have been born into this earlier time. IMG_1544

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A Good Feeling 21 August 2014

Posted on August 21, 2014 by Sally Gerard
A double rainbow last night!

A double rainbow last night!

I made a list a while back of things that make me feel good:

The smell of coffee brewing in the morning, afternoon or evening, horses neighing, starting my tractor, tractor drives, riding Indian, riding any horse, hugs, kisses and sharing joy, hearing and saying, “I love you,” taking a hot shower, running, getting my to-do list done, cooking a good meal, going out to eat, really good dessert, getting a letter in the mail, reading a good book, popcorn and movie night, talking a walk with Robert, seeing the sun rise and set,

Pre-dawn this morning.

Pre-dawn this morning.

watching the moon, stars and planets, chocolate cake that is moist and piled with loads of chocolate frosting, grooming Indian, time with friends, making someone’s day lighter, riding along in the pick-up with Robert, fixing fence, tamping, seeing our kids happy, healthy and productive, time with family, shooting and hunting, camping, playing guitar and singing, getting lost in writing, curling up with hot chocolate and marshmallows, watching snow fall, having a whole day to do whatever I want, homemade ice-cream right off the dasher, cotton candy and peanuts in the shell at a baseball game or the circus, broadway musicals, running in new running shoes the first time, dinner in the crock pot after a long day, fresh flowers, reading the Psalms, feeding cattle at dawn, bread baking, planting a garden and harvesting, farming and anything that requires running a tractor, dipping chocolate covered biscotti in hot coffee, putting money in my savings account, and anything that makes me feel alive!

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Burning Man

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Sally Gerard

I always tell Mike he is the strong one, the one who holds the rest of us from drowning and he always denies it. But it’s true and you’ve captured him here.

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Mike at the Norden ChuteI don’t really have to cook anymore because I married a man with a passion for cooking. Don’t get me wrong; I can cook. I learned from some great teachers like my Aunt Suzy and Aunt Heddy. Good stuff too, like homemade spaghetti sauce and lemon chicken. But Steve loves to cook and who am I to get in his way?

But baking is not his passion so I still do that. I maintain that baking is how I first caught Steve’s attention. I baked every Saturday for the three years I served on the Adult Education Committee at church. I didn’t feel like I could add anything spiritually or theologically to that team, but I could make sure that those attending classes every Sunday for those three years had something freshly baked to feed their bodies while they were filling their souls. I’m pretty sure that’s how I came…

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Waiting 19 August 2014

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Sally Gerard

Waiting is definitely the most difficult part of any endeavor. IMG_1468Whether it is the anticipation of a wrapped box, the days leading up to a trip that’s been planned and dreamed about, or the book coming back from the editor!

I love my editor because I get little progress reports from her as she makes her way through my manuscript. Of course I’m on pins and needles, but her short messages of progress and encouragement keep me on task with the new work I’m writing.

We wait in anticipation for so many things: the garden to sprout and then to mature with fruits and vegetables, the start of the school year, the meeting with a boss for a promotion, the weather to do any number of things, the night to bring the dawn and the dusk to bring the cool night stars, the birth of a new baby, someone to “pop the question,” family to arrive for a visit, children to learn to walk and talk and drive,IMG_1483 our birthday to come around, the sweet sound of “I love you” to sound in our ear, for a long day of work to end so we can relax, our favorite singer’s new album to be released, a movie to premier, elections to be over, the toaster to trip, the cookies to come out of the oven, the floor to dry after we mop, the elk to show up in the meadow, God to answer our fervent prayers, our novel to be on the best seller list, someone to like our post, the rain or the snow, the wind to stop, the mail or that package filled with treasure, and of course the dessert tray!

I wonder though, even as I languish in the waiting, whether or not I spend too much time waiting and not enough time living. IMG_1495

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