Susan McCarthy Peabody

“I think I need to find a pair of jeans,” Chuck mumbled. “It’s not THAT cold!” I countered. “Mosquitoes! They haven’t gone away yet! They’ll eat me alive!” he advised as he dug through shorts and tee shirts looking for long pants. Today is the first day in the year that we go gleefully diving for sweatshirts and long pants because … it’s cool! For a little while in the morning, before the sun bakes the fog off, we have a hint of autumn. Keats described autumn as “Season of Mists and mellow fruitfulness.” I wrote a poem about autumn once and actually won a prize. We’re supposed to write about what we know, but I don’t have colorful leaves, or mists, or mellow fruitfulness… you see, we south Florida flowers have no autumn, no leaves falling (orange falling inspire poets to talk about the end of life as in “Margaret are you grieving over golden grove unleaving?” (Hopkins) or “It was my thirtieth Year to heaven / stood there then in the summer noon / Though the town below lay leaved with October blood. / O may my heart’s truth / Still be sung / On this high hill in a year’s turning.” In “Poem in October” Dylan Thomas mused over the view of his “unleaving” town that reminded him of the “autumn” of life. This is one day in the year when a northern cold front pushes in and actually gets here… this is one day when a morning begins crisp and cool. My neighbor mows the too long grass in shorts, and I champ at the bit to get out to pull weeds and mow too, and Chuck is sent to his shed that needs clean up after two years of neglect. Here we come mosquitoes! We’ll be wearing deet. Look elsewhere for someone to chomp on! Happy autumn dear friends and family!

Today dear friends and family is the day before September 11, ten years later. The news is going over what was happening that day before… the news that no longer matters. Economic, innocent, secure…  We’re in an alert status because I guess the enemy doesn’t think he has changed our lives that much. New York mayor Bloomberg is trying to explain why clergy is excluded from the September 11 celebration due to separation of church and state…. Oops on his forgetting that this country was established “under God…” The colonists felt God was on their side, and we talk about our “God-given rights.” No prayer, no religion will be at Ground Zero. Michael Brown, former Bush adminstration FEMA director, stated “we are not free from religion, we are free for religion.” I remember on that day 10 years ago, I went to our church at that time, Little Flower in Coral Gables and I prayed endlessly to Saint Michael the Archangel who in the book of Jude at the end of the New Testament… was fighting Satan (Jude 1: 6&9). Even Michael could not kill or put the stake in the enemy’s heart, but it is for us to expect God to chain Satan in the depths of the earth. On a better note… yesterday the sub vets spent an hour in memory… They prayed a benediction and sang the “Navy Hymn” as they tolled a bell for men lost and boats lost. “Lest we forget.” Submarines are still out there today guarding and protecting us.  The ceremony was beautiful and solumn.  We expect to close up the convention tonight and start on our last journey tomorrow (September 11) as I’m going to visit my Mom and Chuck will go to buddy Dave’s hunting camp for a week. God bless America. Have a blessed weekend. Love Susie

Hi dear friends and family. The title is a phrase used for torpedos…  I see the phrase on the vests of many of the guys here in Springfield.  There are many guys with about 10 submarine names on their vests and I tease them that they couldn’t make up their minds…  Apparently there were many submarines and when one went “in the yards” you just moved to another.  There are many “old guys” as the World War II submarine vets are here too. We took a wonderful guy named Jack Higgins who is 85 and fought in the Pacific to the Fantastic caverns yesterday. He was full of wonderful stories. Together Jack and I read the map and guided Chuck to the Caverns!  These guys were “at Pearl” and in Hong Kong as well as the Atlantic and the “Med.”  Chuck and I have been busy walking all around the University of Missouri area of Springfield, and I am going to St Agnes church with a wonderful priest named Mike. They sing a lot at Mass and I like that. The weather is chilly in the morning (low 50s and up to 70s during the day.) Everyone prays for rain. We watched the U of M v. Maryland football game last night that was played in the pouring rain in Maryland… I guess we all wonder why we can’t siphon some of that rain west…  today we’re going to Springfield’s botanical gardens and then to the VFW for a ceremony in thier gardens where they have the sail (the top) of a submarine  the USS Lapon one of whose missions was highlighted in the book Blind Man’s Bluff. These sails are memorials, “lest we forget” the men who fought and died for our freedom. On a sunny, albeit chilly day, I pray for our freedom, that we remember and work hard to protect the rights of the weak and those who can’t protect themselves. God bless America! Love Susie    

Hi dear friends and family! We left Breckenridge at about 8:30 mountain time, crossed the Continental Drive at Hoosier Pass, elevation over 11,000 feet, passed many miles of grazing land, and imagined Bonanza and the wagon trains headed west… miles and miles of just grazing land with mountains and rivers. Then we began a steady drop “down” to 7000 feet. We then passed through Fairplay, Colorado (I imagine poker players must not cheat in this town…) and crossed over the South Platte which has its headwaters near Fairplay. This is our third crossing of the South Platte (we crossed over it twice when it merged with the North Platte in - you guessed it, North Platte, Nebraska). … Passed Pike’s Peak and entered “the city” of Colorado Springs. Before we could shake a lamb’s tail, we were on the flat, great plains of Kansas. As broad as a Kansas corn field; corn as far as the eye can see… yep - that’s Kansas. We changed our clocks forward an hour and stopped in Colby, Kansas “The Oasis of Kansas” and the trading and service center for the wheat and corn producers in Kansas.  Time for a nap and a steak and some sweet corn. Yum. Love Susie

Good morning dear friends and family. I’m so sorry if some of you got spam emails as I used the computer in hotels along the way and a friend (Katie) in New York said she got one of those spam emails from me… Was I hacked while looking up mapquests?  I don’t know, but I hope you weren’t bothered.  Speaking of Katie… we heard from Katie, Barbara and Laura in New York and Connecticut and they are well with power out only less than 2 days. Northerners are tough and they survive!   The sun has risen over Breckenridge and the sky is a baby blue with white clouds. Almost like clockwork black clouds will roll in around 1 to 2 pm and the rain threatens, but some say the rains can’t get over the mountains. Every day I go down town and sit on a beautiful “Blue River” where miners dug for gold and minerals. The river has been all restored and park benches and art work decorate the river now. I sit and watch the mountains and utter “WOW!” and try to paint the mountains, but they change minutely. Just like when I try to paint a sunset. But we must pay attention to nature and watch her for she is magnificent and God-inspired like we are.  The Continental Divide is visible from the top of the big mountain, but we have not climbed that far.  Actually we took the Gondola up, but only went half way as I was starving and wanting to eat at one of the mountain cafes.   We walk every day and Chuck has taken to going to the gym as he isn’t going to rehab anymore.  He bikes and lifts heavy things to strengthen shoulders and arms. Good for him!  I walk and walk. This town is beautiful!  We drove over to Keystone which is not a town, just a bunch of condos and ski lifts. Breckenridge is a quaint town that has wonderful stores and art galleries on Main Street, Ridge Street, and a church (St Mary’s) on French Street. I walk about 10 blocks up and down and the three blocks wide. (Like Anchorage - long and slim on streets). Today we will go out for a last lunch and then laundry and packing. We will take 3 days to get to Springfield, Mo and the Submarine convention. After that week we will drive down to La Grange to visit my Mom and Chuck will go for a week in Thomaston (the hunting camp with Dave). Then we will go home to “face the music.”  I left the house all covered with much of Aunt Trudy’s furniture and boxes of her things.  We have lots of work to do, but our great country calls. I highly recommend getting into the car, gritting your teeth and forgetting $3.50 gas, and seeing America.  America is alive and well, and each individual community has real wonderful people, beautiful lakes and streams, all (people and waters) threatened by destruction and pollution, threatened by beatles eating the trees, kudzu, greed, over development, lest I overdo… threatened by politics, yet we must hope for America… Go out and thank God we live here and save a tree, hug a baby, and wade in the water. Vote responsibly and talk about God.  My dears. God bless you and God bless America. I’m off to church and then I will try to paint the mountain again. Love from Susie and Chuck on the road!!! 

Hi dear family and friends. We’ve passed over so many rivers in this cross country trip!  The Rabbit River here in downtown Des Moines looks a little low but the Des Moines looks good. Downtown Des Moines is beautiful with many condos and restaurants (downtown development).   We left Clear Lake on Sunday after a lovely boat ride and breakfast at the marina. It is so hard for me to imagine that frost will begin in a month (that is calculated on the crickets being so loud), snow fall by Hallowe’en, and ice fishing and driving on the lake by late December. We plan to be “on the water” too but it will be in a boat. I’ll be nudging Chuck along towards getting a boat in the water on Big Pine Key in Mid November as we prepare for a sunny hot Thanksgiving. No “Season of Mists and mellow fruitfulness” for this Miami/Big Pine couple. We are visiting friends Tim and Kyla who have stayed with us in Big Pine and love it down there, but Tim has to work and Des Moines is home. We are eating very well; last night we ate at an old Italian restaurant near the baseball stadium in downtown. All is well and we are watching the tropics for weather and hope the east coast of the US stays safe. Love to family and friends. Susie  

Hi dear family and friends. On holiday at Clear Lake! I’m overlooking a little harbor full of recreation boats. The sun is shining and the lake beckons. We arrived here Friday evening and boated over to an outdoor cafe and ate dinner, and then yesterday we boated over to the town of Clear Lake which was having a “Best of North Iowa” feast of ribs and other delicacies. Yum. Lots of antique shops and just fun places to explore. The sun is warm and there is a gentle breeze on the lake.  This morning so far I’ve walked and Chuck is porch sitting. We’ll boat on the lake every day and do mostly nothing. It will be grand. I went online and paid the water bill for the Miami house and all my work is done. Oh and I’m working on the first painting of the trip. We’re already “taking reservations” for Thanksgiving and expect cousin Carol from Ohio, Tim and Kyla from Des Moines, and …. we have room will accommodate, but I like to see you on the calendar. I expect to hear many Thanksgiving prayers this year.  Give thanks to our God and Father for our lives and our joy. Susie   

Hi dear friends and family from Hannibal, Missouri! While we were in Cookeville, Tn, we were looking at a map of Tennessee to try to route our way to Hannibal, and Yoel, 2 1/2 years old, pointed at the map and said, “That’s America!”  “Yes, Yoel, that is America!” I said. I was proud he was able to identify a map, and that he knows “America”.  Maybe we all need to re-know America. So, I recommend a trip “up the Mississippi.” On route 79 out of St. Louis, you will go through Louisiana (I discovered on this trip that the Louisiana purchase was really a 2-parter. The lower part, “Orleans,” took the name of Louisiana, and left the real Louisiana to be just a town name in Missouri. They have local artists’ shops and great views of the river!America is the little town of Hannibal, population of 16,000, in folding chairs in a small town square, listening to country, Gospel, and Bluegrass music celebrating Music Under the Stars. Hannibal celebrates trains and boats (we saw many trains and hear them all night long at our B&B called LulaBelle’s). Grain and coal carried down the Mississippi costs half what carrying it on roads does… uhhh duh folks, let’s use our waterways and trains more. Our flag flies high and proud in Hannibal. We sat in chairs lent to us, and applauded 2 youths who wrote and sang songs about America in a town that is struggling like many American towns to stay alive when so many towns boast way too many “for sale” signs. The featured group in Music Under the Stars celebrated and sang America and I quote: “This is America; it’s awesome.” We all need to get into the car and refind America. Try route 79 north out of St. Louis. Sing the “Highway 40 Blues”, open the car windows, and buy local sweet corn. At Hannibal you will love the local charm and great food at The Abby Rose restaurant and the wine and warmth at The Wine Stoppe. Hannibal celebrates the 4th of July for 5 days! We’re off for Clear Lake Iowa tomorrow. God bless Ameirca! Good night and sweet dreams. Susie 

Hi dear family and friends. We are testing the great healing that you all prayed into Chuck and I’m the one who got us lost today… We left Cookeville, Tennessee after great visits with Renee in Orlando, the Paparellis in Atlanta and Al and Shannon in Cookeville. Headed for “The Land between the Lakes”… looked pretty easy on the map.  Can’t get there from here. Left interstate 24 and looked and looked for route 79 to take us to “The Trace” that will go from south to north in this land between the lakes to actually the headwaters of the Tennessee river. Very exciting stuff. (This magical dream land called “the land between the lakes” is just west of Nashville, Tn in case anyone wants to try to find it.)  Anyhow when we circled back to I 24 north I knew enough to say, “fagettabout it, just keep going north to Paducah, Kentucky and we’ll head for the place where we might sleep tonight, Mount Vernon”. “Washington?  she’s going to Mt. Vernon, Washington?” you might ask. No. Apparently the middle of our nation just renamed places for places that already have names. Hence crossing the Ohio river from Kentucky into Illinois. Go figure. Tomorrow we will go through St Louis (crossing from Illinois to Missouri over the Mississippi river several times) and we’ll go north on route 79 to Louisiana which is a town on route 79 that is on the way to Hannibal, Missouri.  (Chuck is all afraid of being eaten by Hannibal the cannibal in that movie called Silence of the Lambs {yuck} and I assure him it is a different Hannibal).  So for tonight we are safe and secure in a Comfort Suites that gave us a nice rate for being AAA and then topped it with a 10% discount for Chuck being a retired FHP trooper for 32 years. How nice!  Yesterday we got free cake for being married 41 years.  Life is good. We’re off to a free cocktail party and then early bed as we have to enjoy the free breakfast and then possibly pancakes in Louisiana, Missouri on our way to Hannibal.  This is a great journey of “who knows where we’re going? and how in heaven’s name are we going to get there?”  Pray for Dee a lady who sweetly checked us in today, her husband is very sick. I know prayer works. Warmly to you,   Love Susie   

We have a pretty sizable Martin house in the back yard near the lake with 12 “apartments” that stay vacant over half the year while our Martin family travels across the hemisphere to Brazil. They come “home” to the lake house in February and chirp and sing, clean house, lay eggs, have babies, feed, feed, feed hungry mouths, and then…. the mothers wait patiently for the babies to learn to fly so the whole clan can fly back to Brazil. Chuck and I were away in the Keys for 10 days during this process of family growing and our neighbor Dave told us several babies jumped out to the edge of the “balcony” and …. gulp…. fell off. I considered for a moment trying to help them, but can you see me feeding hungry birds in a shoe box and doing all the stuff I have to do with the houses and to assist our dear Chuck? I couldn’t do it and anyway Dave said he couldn’t find the babies after they fell out of the nest… perhaps a hungry neighborhood cat found the babies and dispatched them in nature’s way.

So is this a blog about birds? In a sense yes, but the bigger picture is one I’ve written about before. I will never forget the first time I left Chuck “alone” in the hospital, or the evening I left him in the capable hands of Heather as he took his first flight from the nest to go to the Keys without me. …. I stood there alone in the driveway barely able to resist calling Heather on my cell every five minutes… “Is he OK? has he swooned?” He didn’t swoon and he’s fine. Last November, Chuck took a big hit to his brain that rattled him, and we all need to be aware of the horrors and dangers of simple head bumps. But the human is a remarkable machine and the brain, silent and hidden, repairs itself. So we hope. Neuro surgeons (the prima donnas of medicine)… will tell you, as ours has, they don’t know why the brain jiggled in Chuck’s case, jiggled and frazzled, swelled and was angry, but he’ll heal; so they say, “Just wait.” So I stood in the driveway yesterday and waved goodbye again. This time… it was Chuck himself driving himself off to take care of some construction and renovation items, to “pay the man” who is doing the work at Trudy’s, to mow the lots and spray the weeds, and generally to get out of the nest. Chuck doesn’t know about the nest. He’s very happy to sit here at home, “perched on the balcony,” waiting for his dinner. I think it was me who encouraged the solo flight. My friend Michele said he got chicken wings and I know he bought ice cream… buy one get one free… so he got two. And so I wonder, do the darlings ever think about broccoli as part of a balanced diet? If I don’t make it, it doesn’t go into that mouth. So mother birdies of my world… keep making the broccoli and let the birdies rest a while on the balcony. They’ll go, they won’t swoon, and they’ll have a good time. I’m off to do some long needed spring cleaning, clean the art room, clear some piles, and put some stuff away!!!!! Love to my family and friends from hot sunny south Florida.