November 2020

In November Cynthia and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary by going to DSM and staying in our nifty mid-century modern hideaway again. And we visited Peace Tree when we got there:

 

A picture-perfect breakfast:

After a brisk walk around Gray's Lake we explored the new tunnel connecting to Waterworks Park:

All those years living in DSM and we never visited the Salisbury House. So we checked that off the list and it was even better than expected. As cool as it was I still think I like Glensheen better. This place is quite the castle, though. It was built for Carl Weeks, a pharmacist who made a killing making his own cosmetics and selling them in his stores, later distributing them nationwide. The Weeks family didn't have much money prior to their unexpected success, so when they achieved overnight wealth they didn't really know what to do with it all and went a tad overboard. They spent uncontrollably until the cosmetic business declined around a decade later and they lost ownership of the home, donating it to Drake University with the agreement that they could remain as tenants. Drake gradually placed more limitations on how they could live there and which parts of the house the family could access until they eventually moved out and lived in a small ranch-style house nearby.

The entryway was designed to impress and although I didn't get a picture of it from the main floor, I did get this shot from up above in the balcony overlooking the room:

The back stairs coming down from the balcony:

They had an enormous garage and a separate building for grounds keepers and a mechanic. They ended up in the center of controversy when one of the sons raced around the neighborhood in one of the cars late one night and killed another driver.

A Thanksgiving with just the four of us:

One of Cynthia's coworkers asked if I could draw a picture of her childhood home. This is my first completed color pencil drawing in over 20 years:

We found this snake on the trail on one of our walks. He/she was very cold and could barely move. I helped the snake find some soft earth to tunnel into:

Every spring and fall I clear out the Conrad's gutters. This year I installed gutter guards so their gutters wouldn't keep clogging:

Time to put up the tree!

I think this squirrel is ready for winter:

Daniels Park. A few months ago on July 4th we celebrated on this very spot pictured here with friends and family. It will be a very long time before Cedar Rapids recovers from the derecho.

Now It's June

In June we spent a lot of time outside, riding bikes and relaxing in the backyard.

Since we didn't get to go on our previously-planned summer vacation, we went to the exotic land of Des Moines instead and found some safe, social-distancing things to do. Like going to Zombie Burger:

And Living History Farms. If you don't like the vintage-y looking filter I'm using that's too bad because I really got carried away with it:

It was a hot day and some of the staff were actually baking pies over a wood stove in this house, which (like most of the buildings there) did not have AC. And they were wearing their thick pioneer costumes with long sleeves. That would be a rough job.

The bank was our last stop. I spent a lot of time at the printing shop (which is my favorite place), but of course forgot to take any pictures. 

We drove by our old house. It's kinda sad to see the way the current owners have let it go. We spent 5 years working hard to fix that house up and we hoped the people who came along after us would pick up where we left off. Oh well. Also, what's up with the orange shutters and the painted orange brick?

We were the first ones to stay in this Airbnb which opened for business the day we arrived:

In the evening we paddled around Gray's Lake for a while:

I found this nifty old postcard at the Brass Armadillo:

Father's Day! We grilled salmon on cedar planks and the girls washed my car: