Country Gal/City Woman: "Once in a Blue Moon..."

One of the better days of my life came about a year ago when I was able, without forethought, to explain with the full confidence of a true Googler, the meaning of "once in a blue moon" to Arcadia resident Laurie Thompson, also friend and co-sharer of two delightful grandsons courtesy of her oldest, Brad, and my youngest, Dana.

Whether it be around the coffee table or loaded dinner table at family affairs, it is to Laurie that we unabashedly turn to for "specifics" in any category, anytime, she being a bearer of a wealth of information gleaned from her years as a teacher at the Holly Avenue Elementary School and now retired Director of a Center (based at Caltech) that has informed science teachers up and down the state of California, and elsewhere, on how to better reach and teach students on that subject matter.  Without Googling!

In my official role as the "make-a-mental-note taker" in both families, I come away from these learning experiences with a fully-satiated appetite and a heaping mound of information to impress upon my Thursday afternoon bowling buddies, hopefully with the same unassuming and casual "pizzazz" that I will, for that one scintillating moment, plagiarize from my mentor. 

However, through no fault of her own, not having been raised in a small country town in the Midwest where "blue moons" and "so just how high is your corn on this Fourth of July?" and "artificial insemination" are just a portion of the perplexing issues discussed nonchalantly while waiting for the twilight softball game to begin at Sunnyside Park, Laurie was found to be about one-third lacking in this non-typical Jeopardy answer department.  (She has since been "updated".)

So you can imagine how terribly impressed I was with "Moi" those few months ago as I successfully remembered all that Google had spelled out about the until-then mysterious "blue moon."  It was right up there with learning how to tell time on the Grant School wall clock in Kindergarten, making Igloos out of donated (so tasty) marshmallows in First Grade, being first down the Fire Escape in the Second Grade and playing Gretel in "Hansel and Gretel" in the Third Grade!  

Google says that the phrase "once in a blue moon" has been around since 1528 and, further, that "blue moon" refers to the third full moon in a season with four full moons OR the second full moon of a calendar month.   It may have happened already, I haven't checked, but a "blue moon" will occur this year and in the years 2014 and 2017, and are considered "rare."

Again, a bit of "back story" because it will help the both of us to get to the end of this story in time to check the summer skies for any rarities tonight...

It will soon be a year since my oldest daughter, Mary of Temple City, my niece Peggy Kilroy of Des Moines, and I were happily seated at a Pizza Ranch table (across the parking lot from the Hy-Vee on East Seventh Street in Atlantic, Iowa) alongside nephew Alan Cranston, and his lovely wife, ex-Southern belle, Molly, on an evening slowly edging daughter and me toward the end of a most memorable two-week vacation.

Metaphorically speaking, along with the delicious slices of warm Peach Pizza drizzled with a white frosting for dessert, a two-weeks' supply of Blogs began fermenting within this soul as the five of us literally "fought" a battle of wits trying to, once again, live the memories of the days we had just shared and those from long ago.  All that was lacking was a "title" for this rarest of times we shared as family.  (An exact "title" will pop up before deadline...not to worry!)

"Once in a blue moon" more than describes that late August time of our lives.  From the moment our Allegiant Airlines plane landed safely on the Des Moines runway until we reluctantly packed our bags one more time for the trip back to south Arcadia, it was beyond more than what we had eagerly anticipated. 

Two separate "Bucket Lists" had been dutifully compiled, and now combined, on yellow legal-size pads of paper since the previous January; Mary's "to do" stuff was slightly longer and more daring than my "to do" stuff, mine tagged with a (?) mark if it did not include a meal of some sort or did not have a good "shot" of happening.   (I was leaving a cupboard full of Nutrisystem and Marie Osmond's beguiling nagging at home and arriving in Iowa with the mindset that we would turn away no home-cooked meal nor miss any restaurant or cafe in the whole of Atlantic and part of Des Moines for those two weeks of pure "hawg heaven!"  It was!)

Now as I edit my notes I am of the opinion that "Blogging is not for sissies," and it will be a challenge to transcribe all the chicken scratches (forgotten shorthand) hurridly penned on pads of paper; "my Iowa people" have lately taken to dropping subtle hints about reading of the exploits of Summer-2010, hoping to spot an occasional familiar name (like their's, you s'pose?) in this arcadia.patch.com blog and I agree...the time has come!   

It had been raining for weeks, dragging on into several months, just prior to our touchdown at Des Moines Airport.  But for now, the flooded areas were gradually receding and all was well.  Corn crops, home-grown Beefsteak tomatoes, potential blue-ribbon winning livestock and "to-die-for" home-made foodstuffs to be shown at the Iowa State Fair once again became the topics of conversations up and down the grocery store aisles and over the backyard fences, much like in the 1945 version of the  movie "State Fair," starring Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews, Dick Haymes and Vivian Blaine, Charles Winniger and Fay Bainter (Pat Boone, Bobby Darin and Ann-Margaret were featured in the 1962 version when the location became the Texas State Fair...now that is just wrong!) 

Enough of that...Now, tell me true:  How many people do you know who would put "Visit Livestock Building" on a "Bucket List"?  Daughter did, and we did, indeed, see the "biggest boar," "biggest sow," and stalls full of exotic animals we had never seen before in Iowa, but the "World's Biggest Horse" went missing the day we came calling.   A faint spray of air freshener would have been so lovely.  One down....

I placed his name on my "Bucket List" with that (?) behind it as I knew when "push came to shove" I would probably NOT do it, being bashful and all that, you know.  Walk up and shake his hand...that is all I really wanted to do.  Entertainment-wise, the Bill Riley, Jr. Talent Show is as important a show as the Main Grandstand events, Fair organizers flying in the likes of Alan Jackson, George Strait and that cute little singer with the signature hairstyle.  No, not Justin Bieber.  Taylor Swift!

Headliner Bill Riley, Jr. is as huge today as his father, Bill Riley, Sr. was in my heyday.  It so happens that Bill's mother, Helen Ann, was a former co-worker of mine at Metropolitan Life Insurance Company at the time she married his father.  Riley, Sr. had been an all-around broadcaster for WHO for years and founded the Talent Show to encourage talented young people from the entire state to perform.  I could erase the (?) mark, in my mind, only after I had the opportunity to tell Bill, Jr. how much I valued his mother's friendship in our workplace, simple as that, and yet, important to me and, perhaps, some consolation to the son who is now continuing on in his father and mother's silenced footsteps. 

On our way to the stage area a young man crossed our path and Peggy whispered excitedly, "That's Bill Riley!"  She did not know of my (?) so help me, Hannah!  By the time her voice reached back to me, Bill had disappeared into his mobile home to freshen up for the next show.  All was lost...or was it?  

Waiting (or stalking) was simply out of the question.  But a simple question called out to his Girl Friday did the trick:  Would Bill step outside for a moment to greet his mother's old friend?  Yes, he would, and he did, and we talked.  Knowing the next show must go on at 12:30 p.m. sharp, I walked away, pleased as punch and perhaps a bit smug, totally agreeing with Oprah when she talks about "random acts of kindness!"  It works both ways.  Two down... 

Pulled barbecued pork sandwiches earlier and funnel cakes in hand as we headed toward the main gates and home under a threatening raincloud.  Can't make that sentence more satisfying!  Three down...

The capitol of Iowa offers much for the tourist, and we missed little, thanks to our kinfolk.  We gathered and stored calories from every type of eatery from the exclusive Wakonda Country Club to HoHuts, a novel dining experience for us in that it was a Mongolian Meal with food selections made and prepared on an individual basis, flavored with sauces as mild or as hot as desired.  Arcadia "city fathers" might give this franchise top consideration, jes sayin'! 

But it was a young racing horse named "Jesse" that drew us to the stalls at Prairie Meadow in nearby Altoona.  Owned by nephews Mark and Tom Crum, "Jesse"  "placed" in his racing debut on the very day of our arrival and has since earned his keep in a very winning way.  The biscuits and country gravy served to the owners, trainers and jockeys at the unassuming cafe closeby anytime after the 5 a.m. workouts have our seal of approval, too!   "Jesse" and Mary bonded immediately, and their leave-taking of each other fourteen days later, I swear, left "Jesse" teary-eyed.  Mary doesn't like to talk about it.  Four down...

So began our long-awaited time with our Des Moines kinfolk.  Lest I forget my manners and disappoint one or two of them who might be expecting to see their name in this Blog, let me thank again all those who carted us around that "metropolis" with scattered streets of red brick roads and a State Capitol, the dome of which shines brightly with a heavy coat of 23-karat gold leaf. 

In the 1933 version of "State Fair" starring Will Rogers, Janet Gaynor, Lew Ayres, Norman Foster, and Sally Eilers, a list of credits, unforgettable names, scrolled slowly down the silver screen. 

I will do likewise with heartfelt applause:   Dr. Stephen and Cheryl Stefani, Wayne and Norma Knight, Peggy Kilroy, Mark, Kathy and Gina Crum, Tom Crum, Mickey, Pat and Cathy Crum, Keith Cranston, Rosalyn Cranston, Krista Stewart Hill, Matthew and Libby Hill with month-old baby daughter, Zoe Ann, Barry and Kim Stewart Von Ahsen (all family members); and Facebook Friends Thomas Nielsen and his uncle and aunt Dale and LaVila Nielsen, Sharon Williams and Jane Buck.  "Jesse" is in a class all his own...

Next Stop:  Atlantic, Iowa    Three Guardian Angels Save the Days!