One of the items on my list to cover in politics is our local elections. This November, three Solon City Council positions and three Solon Community School District Board positions will be on the ballot. This article by Chris Umscheid in the Solon Economist summarizes the ballot:
Greg Morris seems likely to win one council seat. Through his work with the volunteer fire department he is well known in the community and a constant, positive presence. Incumbents for council have an advantage, but it could be a jump ball for their seats. Will see if any issues arise that make this a race.
I note the Cedar Rapids Gazette posted an article today saying 34 candidates in six cities and three school districts failed to meet the filing deadline with the Iowa Secretary of State. Let me guess: They are all counties with a Republican county auditor.
The jump I made in 1989, from working for a top truckload common carrier to working for the ninth largest corporation in the world, freed me to be more creative. I read my journals from that time in the Calumet region near Lake Michigan and find in them the kernel of all that I would become as a creative person.
I am thankful my creative self came up through a grueling career as a transportation and logistics manager. It grounded me in the unpleasant reality that is society in the post-Reagan era. In particular, the more than 10,000 interviews I had with job applicants in transition changed me in a way that would not have been possible without them. For creativity to have been forged in this kind of life gives it an edge.
This passage came from my life experiences in the Calumet.
The book written by Jack Kerouac has the same validity as his presence here. What do the creators of these texts have to say to me? What shall I say from this outpost of civilization?
What becomes significant in this studio is not the clutter in it, but the words and texts produced here and sent into the rest of society. Things take on significance to me, but it is more important that I begin sending things out. Messages in a bottle if you will. (Personal Journal, Merrillville, Indiana, Sept. 15, 1990).
Because of my high level of engagement at work, it was exceedingly difficult to “send things out.” Likewise, there were not many platforms for doing so. I survived on letters to a few friends, trips to visit them, and time in my writing space contemplating life in society. When I could, I spent time in the garage or at the word processor in the dining area being creative. I never gave up being creative and that led me to today.
When I read a book, I image the author as if they were sitting across the room. Sometimes that works and indeed what Jack Kerouac wrote in any of his books is not far removed from his life. When I read one of Robert Caro’s books I imagine him in his workspace in New York, turning every page. When I read John Irving’s writing about Iowa City, I remember the occasional times I saw him near the English-Philosophy Building or visited one of the places mentioned in his books. When I read William Carlos Williams today, I can’t help but be influenced by the time I spent in Iowa City with his publisher James Laughlin. Laughlin got teary-eyed when he spoke of his last meeting with Flossie Williams. I want my writing to be like that: one step or less removed from the reader.
I mentioned clutter and sometimes such clutter gathered from projects of mine, auctions, and the detritus of living a life found its way into what I produced. I’m not sure it was particularly good, yet it reflects my urge to create something new and original. A collage of photographs, old calendar pages, and magazine advertising was something I found visually appealing at the time. That I still have this piece is remarkable.
Livelier than Andy Warhol by Paul Deaton, 1989.
Leaving the trucking firm freed me from my Iowa connections and enabled new ones in the Calumet. I became more of a creative being. When things didn’t work out at my new job I returned to the trucking firm. Yet I did something after leaving that stays with me. I was able to better balance work, creative endeavor and family after the experience. There is a straight line from that realization to today.
CC = Crimson Crisp; E = Earliblaze; RD = Red Delicious; Z = Zestar!
With the first big harvest from the Zestar! and Crimson Crisp trees, I decided to make applesauce from each variety. When I finished putting up 36 pints, I organized them to make this variety case. It will be interesting to see how the distinctive flavors mature over time. I never heard of anyone doing varietal applesauce, where each jar is the same variety of apple. So this may be unique to our household. That’s what a gardener can have when they work at it.
There is a daily, recurring task in my planner to “Make Applesauce.” Once I finish the planned amount, I will change it to “Make Cider Vinegar.” I’m still working off a pantry shelf full of apple butter so I don’t need more this year.
The first step was to pick and sort the apples, which I did a week or so ago. I sorted nine bushels of Red Delicious apples into saucers and juicers, and stacked them in crates next to the furnace. The race is on to process them before they go soft.
Apples awaiting processing.
Each day I take the tub that approximates one batch of applesauce, fill it up from the bins, and set it next to the stove. When I’m working on apples, the day starts with washing them as well as I can and air drying them on a towel. It is important to use a little elbow grease when cleaning them and make them a bit shiny. This removes the black spots that sometimes develop.
Next I cut them lengthwise in quarters and cut out the seeds. At this stage, it is important to remove as little of the core as possible since that is where pectin forms. We want pectin as a thickener. While I’m at it, I cut any bad spots and compost them.
I used to leave the seeds in, yet over time, I decided not to cook them and potentially release amygdalin, a cyanogenic glycoside composed of cyanide and sugar. A little cyanide can kill a human, however, it is unlikely enough cyanide is present if seeds are not crushed. Removing the seeds before cooking is overly cautious, but nothing in terms of flavor or workflow is lost by doing so.
When it is apple season there is always a form of apple juice around. I put about 12 ounces in the bottom of the cooking vessel to prevent scorching and create steam to cook the whole pot. Water is released from the flesh while cooking and it turns into a thick, delicious apple drink which I separate and store in the refrigerator.
Apples trimmed, cored, and ready to cook.
How long to cook the apples? Like anything enough but not too much. I stir the pot once and then when the apples on top begin to soften I turn the heat off and let them sit on the stove for at least an hour. This finishes the cooking without losing all of the goodness. It also allows them to reabsorb some of the apple juice.
Next, I use a large stainless steel cone strainer to separate the apples from the liquid. I put all of apples from the pot in there and cover it with a plate for at least an hour, sometimes more. Because I use applesauce mostly for recipes and baking, I don’t need a lot of moisture in it. If a person wanted to eat applesauce from a dish, or use it as baby food, the moisture level could be adjusted. I put my strainer in a large Rubbermaid pitcher to catch the liquid. It makes it easy to pour it into a Mason jar.
After the liquid is drained, I put small quantities in a different cone strainer and with a pestle, press the flesh out through the tiny perforations. I keep adding small amounts until it has all been pressed and what is left in the strainer is dry skins. This process saves the time of peeling apples. Sometimes I want chunky applesauce, so I peel the apples before cooking and then use a potato masher to break them up in the cooking pot.
The final step is to place the sauce in clean Mason jars with a new lid and water bath can them. When they have been canned, I loosen the ring, and if there is evidence of leakage before sealing, I wash it off so the ring doesn’t get corroded. If I run short of rings, I’ll store the jars with lid only. There has never been a problem.
My process is intended to make enough applesauce for two years, in between big harvests of the Red Delicious tree. I might adjust that if the other trees produce more apples.
I didn’t mention, but should, I take time to clean the kitchen and do dishes before getting started. I enjoy watching wildlife eat fallen apples through the window behind the sink and consider what a blessing having apple trees can be.
There is little to say about the death by gun violence of Charlie Kirk. Too many U.S. citizens die of gun violence and the Congress can, and should do something to prevent more death and destruction. On the other hand, Republicans, including gubernatorial candidate Brad Sherman, find things to say,
In a Sept. 16, “Letter to the People of Iowa,” published at The Iowa Standard, Sherman wrote in response to the shooting, “…many are waking up to the uncomfortable reality that the United States of America has been and is engaged in a long ideological war that is threatening to break out into all-out chaos.”
I’m calling malarkey.
There will only be chaos for as long as conservatives like Sherman persist in framing our lives in society that way.
When I go to the grocer, the convenience store, the hair stylist, or the hardware store there is no war going on. People are trying to live their complicated lives. For war to exist, there have to be at least two sides, and I just don’t see it in the people among whom I live. We don’t need Republican agitators like Sherman. We are better without them.
Kirk is dead. We should pay appropriate respects. Put down your inflammatory words Mr. Sherman. Any ideological war, if there ever was one, is over.
Let’s get on with making Iowa a better place to live.
~ First published as a letter to the editor on Sept. 18, 2025 at Little Village Magazine
The race to 2026 begins. As we age, time seems to move faster. On days like today I want to slow down and breathe.
We cope by taking one day at a time and living it as best we can. That doesn’t mean we eschew longer term goals. Rather we live consciously in the moment and make what good from life we can. It takes awareness to experience success at this. I decided long ago to make things from the experiences and artifacts of my life and put them out in the world. That is a main reason I became a blogger and have persisted.
My to-do list for this fall is short: Continue to finish daily chores. finish apple season, plant garlic, close down the garden, maintain health, and resume writing my autobiography. These things should be familiar to readers of this blog. I need to take up a new task: combating falsehoods clogging our information wavelengths. How I will do that is a work in progress.
I’m having a bit of a China issue. As I write, my blog has had 1,545 September views originating in China compared to 343 in the United States. I recognize many international visitors here, yet not like this. Something is going on, and I don’t understand the increase in views. The increased China traffic started August 14.
I’m familiar with the “Great Firewall of China,” designed to restrict access to the global internet within the borders of the Chinese mainland. Apparently there is a leak. The way views tally up is one at a time at a rate of 3-6 per hour. Seem like if a machine were training artificial intelligence with my posts, it wouldn’t be so slow. The other thing is Chinese “viewers” are seeing older posts and downloading a lot of files stored in my media file. In particular, files relating to climate change and nuclear power have been download quite a lot. The downloads otherwise seem somewhat random and related to specific posts. In the scope of the Chinese population, a couple thousand views per month is insignificant. Yet, it has me worried.
Bloggers make a decision to post our content on websites like WordPress. From the beginning we understood the possibility of piracy, yet I’m not writing posts for which I expect to get a Nobel Prize in Literature. If I determine the risk is too great, I will transfer my website address to one of the spare blogs I keep hidden and reduce the amount of public access to the old stuff. Who is really interested in what I wrote twelve years ago? That was when I took the whole blog down and started anew.
Anyway, this autumn is a time for writing. I hope to get back in the saddle with regular posts here, beginning today. It feels like fall. “God’s in his heaven— All’s right with the world!” ~Robert Browning
Trail walking on Sept. 9, 2025. The moon is still out.
Walking on the state park trail before dawn is the latest iteration of my use of the trail. When I go out early I am hoping to catch some glorious photographs of a colorful sky. Recent days have been rather quotidian. At least the moon is still out at that hour. Yesterday I settled for wildflowers.
Wildflowers on the state park trail on Sept. 10, 2025.
Our 55th high school class reunion is later this month and among other things, I agreed to bring a dessert. The planning group had a lengthy conversation about sheet cakes last year. The consensus was that a sheet cake would not be eaten. I have to bring 24 of something that can be held in hand. Thinking of a small cookie as someone else is bringing bars. Also considering something without sugar to be more diabetic friendly for my cohort of septuagenarians. The research sources will be my red, hand-written cookbook and four church cookbooks from the parish where I attended grade school. Nothing against the fancy pastry cookbooks sitting on my shelves. It is a reunion and a tribal recipe might go over. The first recipe to which I turned was for sugar cookies. I have nine bushels of apples picked and ready for the kitchen, so maybe something with those. There is time.
While I type, the last batch of tomato sauce is being water-bath canned. With what is leftover from previous years in whole tomatoes, the 24 pints I made should serve until next year. It is hard to believe how quickly tomato season is ending. I’ll make one last pass through the rows and that is likely it.
I decided to make eight quarts of applesauce (to make a case of the four leftover from 2023) and to finish one case of pints plus one more case. Total of 36 pints plus 12 quarts to last two years until the next Red Delicious harvest. It should be plenty. After that, I get out the juicer and make juice for cider vinegar. The quantity is never exact, and I just returned from counting six mostly empty half-gallon jars. I leave a little vinegar with the mother in each of the jars for a starter. I have five bushels of cider apples, plus more on the tree, so there will be plenty.
The food part of summer is winding to a close. I need to trim the garlic and put it into storage. I want to get the garlic for next year’s crop in the ground in early October. Once that is done, gardening season will be over for the year.
SNAP cuts: how will they impact eastern Iowa? How can our community respond?
Please join Fairness for Iowa for a Town Hall event that discusses how the $1 billion of cuts to SNAP in Iowa will impact our communities in eastern Iowa. These cuts are a direct result of the recent Trump tax bill that was voted for by all our federal representatives including Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Senator Joni Ernst, who prioritized tax cuts for billionaires over feeding hungry kids and community members.
At the event, attendees can hear from panelists across the local food system including Hai Huynh, Associate Director, Coralville Community Food Pantry, Sandra Komuhiimbo, Coralville Community Leader, and Nicki Ross, Executive Director, Table to Table. Learn more about local food insecurity issues and how our local food bank and pantry system is responding to the increased needs of our community as a result of the SNAP cuts.
Attendees will also have the opportunity to take further actions to push back on SNAP cuts at the federal and state level, and call out Congresswoman Miller-Meeks and Senator Joni Ernst for their votes and actions to not stand up for their constituents, and instead increase food insecurity in our communities.
Attendees are encouraged to bring a goods donation for the Coralville Food Pantry to the event. The greatest need is for:
baby food
diapers (adult and children, all sizes)
period products (tampons, menstrual cups, panty liners, etc.)
personal care products (toilet paper, shampoo, soap, etc.)
pet food (dog & cat)
Where: Meeting Room A, Coralville Public Library
When: Thursday Sept. 11, 5 until 6:30 p.m.
This is a chance to hear directly from community leaders and food security advocates about how this legislation could impact access to food for thousands of Iowans. Bring your questions, bring your voice, and bring a donation to help area food pantries.
How does a person win an election? By getting 50 percent of the votes cast plus one. Some say there is more to it than that, but in the end, a candidate has to track his/her votes before the election, make sure there are enough of them, and then turn out those votes before or on election day. In politics there is nothing more elemental than this.
Last Thursday, while debating one of two resolutions (see below), a friend stood and addressed the county Democratic Central Committee, saying instead of this debate, we should spend more of our time working to win elections. The debate we engaged in did not win elections and took time away from that, he asserted.
It is ironic that when State Senator Janice Weiner arrived, she was praised by the committee for her leadership in winning two special elections to the state senate this year. One of those elections gained national attention. A number of people in our county helped win those elections yet Senator Weiner’s leadership contributed undeniably. While we may debate issues, she was busy winning elections.
The main reason I stayed until the end of the meeting was to hear the debate and vote on the two resolutions.
During the first presidential election after my wedding, I attended the Iowa Caucus where I was elected to the county convention as a George McGovern delegate on the platform committee. At caucus we had a discussion of political issues and made some decisions about what should and should not be on the county platform. At the county convention some of the decisions we made were overturned. I noted some delegates came to the county convention with the explicit intent to reintroduce platform planks that were voted down at the precinct. My initial experience with the county Democratic Party was soured by this experience.
In my political work in this county, I never again joined the platform committee. Most years, I don’t even read the platform. I’m not sure it is even necessary. At the same time, I see the two issues in the proposed resolutions are important and relevant to what we do as Democrats. The DEI resolution is a result of the impact of the president’s policy on the University of Iowa, which is a major regional employer. U.S. support for the Israeli government during the Hamas-Israel War was clearly divisive among Democratic voters and likely contributed to Democratic voter suppression in the 2024 general election. Talking about these two issues as a central committee won’t change the world, yet it moves the group toward alignment in our politics. Having clear positions on DEI and the Palestinian genocide is important to winning elections. After taking time to amend the language, these two resolutions were approved by the body.
Iowa Democrats stand at a distance from winning statewide elections. First, we have to know who we are. This debate helped. As one speaker said during the debate, if we are not going to stand for our values now, then when? Here is the result of our debate:
Johnson County Democrats Statement in Support of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI):
The Johnson County Democrats support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in all walks of life and as policy at the public universities of our amazing state to help foster an open and welcoming environment for all people.
We condemn in the strongest sense President Trump’s bigoted attacks on DEI policies, diversity in our state and country, and Governor Kim Reynolds’ blatant waste of Iowa taxpayers’ resources and money by having state Attorney General Bird investigate a victimless incident at a time when Iowans are struggling with rising cancer rates, undrinkable water, and untenable increases in the cost of living.
The “Freedom to Flourish” in our great state is a freedom ALL people should enjoy regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, creed, or sexual orientation. We stand for an Iowa for ALL people and ALL Iowans.
“Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.”
Resolution for an Embargo on Military Aid and Weapons Transfers to Israel
RESOLVED, That the Johnson Country Democrats support an immediate embargo on all military aid, weapons shipments and military logistical support to the Israeli government; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the embargo on military aid, weapons shipments and logistical support continue until Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and B’tselem certify that the Israeli government is no longer engaged in apartheid rule.
Mount Rushmore on July 17, 2010. Photo by the author.
How does a photographer capture well-known sites? I would argue professional photographers whose work appears on post cards serve a useful function in capturing a personal experience.
This photograph of Mount Rushmore was created in part by my being there. Composition of the resulting image is due largely to the design of the visitors center which presented a platform from which I took it. The light is good and the talus provides context. However, picking up a postcard at the gift shop eliminates variations inherent in converting a digital image to a print. If you stick to selecting familiar images, postcards can be interchangeable with printed photos in terms of remembering the experience. I submit having both types of image upgrades the experience.
The advent of the “bucket list” likely ended a lot of meaningful photography. If Mount Rushmore were on my bucket list, I might have stepped in front of the camera to record myself with the famous sculpture. Maybe at home I would have a bulletin board where I pinned all my bucket list photographs. People are free to do what they want, but for me, the memory of that moment’s experience is what stands out more than a trophy photograph hanging on a wall or uploaded to a website.
Defining who we are in the context of our lives, and who we want to be matters more than an arbitrary list of places we seek to visit. Above all, it is about the experience. A personal photograph or postcard is a subset of what that experience is. Photos are not necessarily the most important part of it.
What was this experience about? My friend since seventh grade and I left our spouses behind and made a long road trip out west. The furthest point was Missoula, Montana where we visited another high school friend and their spouse. Mount Rushmore was one of the less interesting stops we made. We were so close to it we felt obliged to stop, so we did. It was tacked on to an experience about something else.
I am a bit old school in that I don’t see much purpose to video recording a well-know site. My aunt, uncle, and their family lived in Europe for a number of years. They took home movies on 8 millimeter film when they traveled. I recall one where they visited the leaning tower of Pisa and recorded the kids trying to push it the rest of the way over. It was a family joke, and that’s fine. I hope they bought a postcard to remember the architecture while they were at it, even if that wasn’t their interest. Life is not always a joke.
I had only one photograph in my memoir, An Iowa Life. However, I looked at a lot of them while writing it. A photograph invokes living memories and it was those memories that drove my writing. I expect to return to this image of Mount Rushmore when I get into the post-analog part of my life. For that purpose, it won’t matter if an image was one I took or a postcard. That’s as it should be.
Journey Home 
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