State park trail entry point.

Journey Home

Tales from the pilgrimage.

Paul Deaton

  • A Rustic Soup

    It began with the first wave of tomato harvest. Because of the rain, a number of themburst their seams. I only knew to cut off the bad spots and store them in a stainless steel mixing bowl with a dinner plate as a lid. I put the bowl in the refrigerator overnight. Read more

  • When I got to 6:30 p.m. I couldn’t account for how I spent my day. I literally could not remember what I did after returning from the grocer in the county seat. I tried reconstructing events. When did, I received phone calls, wrote emails, Ate food, and the like. It was no help… the afternoon… Read more

  • Return to Journaling

    In January I began a new journal using an inexpensive, spiral-bound notebook. It is a place to write without public eyes. I need that. The pages have been slow to fill, yet when I do write there, I find a place to express something personal. I am glad to be back in that habit. I… Read more

  • Reduce NDAA Spending

    The following was sent to U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, along with U.S. House Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks… Read more

  • I used to think I could talk with Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks. That was in 2008 during her first run for Congress. I was on the county board of health and felt that gave me standing to discuss issues with the ophthalmologist. I found her during a break between two parades in Johnson County and asked… Read more

  • Hot Sauce Origin Story

    It is ironic that as many hot peppers as I use in our kitchen, my family has an aversion to capsaicin… Read more

  • Sometimes things come together in a positive manner. Read more

  • On the cusp of wilderness between 1833, when Iowa opened for settlement, and 1840, when the City of Solon was platted, people settled in the area. I seek to understand that time period, and it is hard to find reliable information about the views and culture of those immigrants. There are several later histories —… Read more

  • A Day Off the Grid

    Monday was a challenge for several reasons. The weather forecast was rain just after sunrise, so I reviewed radar and decided to take my walk about 40 minutes before dawn. Light was beginning to creep over the landscape, when I encountered a fellow trail walker who brought their own illumination in the form of a… Read more

  • Tomatoes are coming in, along with eggplant, peppers, garden huckleberries, and green beans. It won’t be long before the rush to harvest is finished. Read more