 This past weekend my sister and I visited the place where our grandmother last lived. She died when I was 13. She had a beautiful lilac bush on the edge of her yard.  After only 3 days in the water roots are already visible. Roots should come out the bottom of the shoot and where there are nodules where side branches or leaves had just started to show.  Day 8 and you can see the white fuzzy roots growing on the stems.
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 This is what Augustine's plate set looked like. This is a reticulated milk glass with a place to weave a ribbon around the center. It is from the late 1800's. Augustine and her parents arrived in this country in 1894. My grandmother and her sister-in-law attended the estate auction after Augustine's died and each bought a plate. I can only guess that it would have been a fond remembering for them of sharing an afternoon visit and treat with Augustine.
 Spending the weekend in Maquoketa again working on Augustine's story. Met with Betty Miller, a second cousin, who knew Augustine when she was a small girl about 5 years old and Augustine was about 60 years old. Betty told me a story about Augustine getting lost in a blizzard about 1934 after walking to town. It was dark and she was wandering over the fields to get home and got turned around in the storm and dark. Augustine knocked on the window near Betty's bed to get the family's attention and it scared young Betty to see a face at her window in the night. She never forgot the fright. Betty's father hooked up the wagon and gave Augustine a ride home. I think I will use this story in the novel.
 Had a wonderful time tonight with this fun book club in Farley Iowa. Hope to be back again with another book in the future. They had wonderful comments about Rescuing Love.
#rescuinglove #caroldenekas #bookclub  Today I worked on creating the look for the first public show coming up on November 2 in Clinton, Iowa.  I had a great time gathering information for two upcoming novels...working titles are "Augustine" and "Nettie". Both books will be loosely guided by the lives of these two women. Thanks to my researcher and sister, Joyce for taking time to put together the binder of facts and timeline for me and for spending her weekend taking me around to get acquainted with locations. It was a lot of fun:)
 This is the spot where the house stood that Nettie and Peter lived in during their first year of marriage in 1921. You can see the small yard fence line. The house stood on the grassy knoll behind the fence. Nettie and Peter were my dad's parents and part of their story will be the guiding influence for my 3rd book. I'll call it "Nettie" for now as a working title. This will be the photo I use for future updates about this particular novel.
Great day researching "Augustine". It was a beautiful day to spend outside and we couldn't have had better luck. We set out on our journey hoping to simply identify where the spot was that Augustine and her parents settled in Jackson County Iowa after arriving from Belgium in 1894. Instead, we found to our amazement, her exact house...still standing and mostly unchanged from the time she lived in it. The family now residing there gave us the grand tour and allowed me to photograph all that I wanted. A few outbuildings and pastureland remained as well of the original farmstead. We stopped at the St. Aloysious Cemetery in South Garryowen, Jackson County Iowa to visit Augustine and Jules' graves where they rest side-by-side. Augustine was 20 when she emigrated to the USA. She left Belgium on Feb 28, 1894 and arrived here on March 17, 1894. She and her parents traveled on the SS Pennsylvania. Jules Hubert also left Belgium and arrived the same dates via the same ship. Did they meet onboard? Did they know each other prior to sailing? Some census records indicate that they were married and some indicate that he was the hired man. Her tombstone has her maiden name. Regardless, he stayed with her after her parents' death and tended the farm. Can't wait to spend this weekend in Jackson County Iowa researching my third and fourth novels. At this point, without formal titles, they will be called Nettie (3) and Augustine (4) after the two women whose lives they will be somewhat based on. Not sure what I will actually use for main character names at this point when I write the books. These books will be set in Jackson County Iowa in the early 1900s.
 Messy stuff done...check. Insulation done...check. Drywall up...almost check:) we have two more interior walls to finish. An empty canvas ready Ok, so it's taken me a month to get back to this project but I'm finally there:) Got this bedroom mudded and it should be ready to sand tomorrow morning. I tried a new product this time. It's a joint compound with DUST CONTROL. We'll see how much dust control there really is when I start sanding.    This dust control stuff really works! It goes on nice and when sanding it just falls to the floor and doesn't float in the air. So much nicer than the non dust control stuff I've used before.  |
AuthorI grew up and have lived in Iowa until recently when I moved to a small town in Illinois to begin a new chapter in my life which includes a loving supportive husband and numerous grandchildren to spoil. I have three beautiful daughters and a Miniature Schnauzer. I'm interested in anything that supports healthy families and healthy lifestyles. Archives
January 2020
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