A book about my hometown

This has been an amazing week. I just found out a novel has been written about my hometown. I guess that is not very surprising to most people, unless you were born in a town with a population at the time of possibly 100 or less.

Homestead, Iowa. A village in the Amana Colonies. East Central Iowa. The book is Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa by Melanie Dobson. This little add-on village to the Amana's has almost always been forgotten. Nothing special ever happened here. It was just a great place to live as a child. In the fall, spring and summer, we played outside with all the neighborhood kids (all here means ALL) until the street lights went on. Riding bikes, kick the can, baseball, kick ball. It was perfect and safe. In the winter, we'd walk to the Pine Pond for ice skating. We had to cross the railroad track to get there, so I suppose our parents got together to figure out something safer. For many years, an empty lot was flooded and we ice skated right by our homes.

We used to have a working railroad station. My grandfather was a traveling salesman and spent a lot of time on the rails going between Amana and Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City. He sold woolen items made in the Amana Woolen Mills. It was always a great thrill welcoming him home, because he would bring all sorts of treats from the big city.

This new book, just released, takes place in the late 1800's. My grandparents were born during this time and I remember a lot of their stories about the time. I am hoping to recognize historical sites in our town in the book. As they say, "it is in the mail as we speak."

I see statistics now that the population is 425 which I tend to question. The most famous person ever to live in Homestead would have to be the actor, Ashton Kutcher. Of course, he is younger than my children, so I never knew him or his family. He lived outside of town on a farm.

Another famous person was Bill Zuber who, during his baseball career from 1936-1947, played for the Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, Washington Senators, New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

So, I have just added to my reading stack of books, but I have a feeling this book will be read quickly.

I am being overrun by books!!

I have a stack of 6 books sitting in front of me and one in the mail. Then there is another stack in the guest room with at least 3 paperbacks by daughter left for me at Christmas when she was here. My problem is I have been very distracted.

I am very late in finishing a baby blanket that I am knitting for a baby that was born last week. It has turned out to be a boring but pretty pattern and I get easily distracted. And then, there is the Internet and all the blogs I read and the time I spend on Facebook.

I need to step up to the plate and decide which book I need to start first. Actually, I am half done with 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper. He spoke in our church about his car accident and being declared dead for 90 minutes before someone noticed he was still alive. A very good book about how he saw heaven.

Spinning Forward by Terri DuLong is a novel about small town life in Florida and she is a knitter. I have corresponded with this author since she has a blog. I think this book will wait until I am in Montana for the summer.

Two wonderful books which the Trout has already read by the same author, Michael Sanders, are Families of the Vine and From Here, You can't See Paris. Since we love France and will be there soon, we do enjoy reading this kind of a book. I hope to get to them before we leave.

My blogger friend, Sam on 'My Carolina Kitchen' suggested The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry, by Kathleen Flinn, the story of romance, food and Paris and attending the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. I know I will love this book!!

I picked up Dear John by Nicholas Sparks at Costco last week. I love all of Nicholas Sparks' books and have heard good things about this one.

And then, the one in the mail. It is titled Somewhere to Belong by Judith Miller. It is a novel about people living in the Amana Colonies in the late 1800's. I am really looking forward to this one because that is my ancestors she is talking about. I commented on a review of the book and the author saw it and corresponded with me. I told her I would be critical because I have lived these stories of the past all my life. The book should be here this week. I am also in a drawing to win one on a blog of the reviewer and I have my fingers crossed for that one. I can certainly pay this one forward.

Smile!

Well, what do you think? Mr. Swan does not have a happy face. It is understandable. He is freezing, still, like most of Florida. The weather is just too unhappy around here. Very strange. But, there is hope in the near future. Finally, the 70's, which it should have been for the last 6 or 8 weeks, will arrive by Sunday.

I know, I know, anyone north of Atlanta thinks we are wimps. This part of the country is full of outdoor activities and when we can't participate because of the cold, we cry...a lot. More books are being read, more knitting, more TV and more computer time. Oh, yes, I also got that dreaded closet cleaned out, so all that is good.

To change the subject, I watched the 'germ' report yesterday and this morning on the "Today Show." It was shocking! In case you missed it, they focused on those bath tub toys that kids play with. You know the kind, with a squeaker that they fill up with bath water and then spray at each other, drink, and chew on. Well, they have been cut open to find black slimy something or other growing in there and when tested, the germs are over the top. Do not give these to a child. Only the toys without openings are allowed and then, clean with bleach often.

Then this morning, they checked for germs on rental cars. The steering wheel and shift were covered with germs including staph. Just makes you want to stay home and read and knit, doesn't it? WAIT...that's all I have been doing. Time to carry disinfectant wipes everywhere, I guess. How come we ate dirt as kids and never got sick?