Late July 2021
A few years
back when my mother-in-law died, I was clearing out her house and came across a box of letters. They were used by my Frau's
grandfather, Clarence, to write his book, Remembering John W. Cookson: A
Wisconsin Anti-fascist in the Spanish Civil War, 1937-1938.
You see,
Clarence was a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and fought against the
fascists in Spain from 1937-38. Cookson was his best friend and the pair battled Franco together over there. If my memory of hearing Clarence talk a family event from many years ago is accurate, then Cookson died in Clarence's arms. For his
part, Clarence was injured during the Battle of the Ebro in 1938 and that ended
his fighting career – with a gun, that is.
The letters
were mainly ones written by Cookson to his family from Spain. Here's a bit of one.
Sorry about the quality. I'd take a new photo but I donated the letters to the
Wisconsin Historical Society before getting a better picture.
You say
" of course Chamberlain's plan will avert a European war & that is
what England is afraid of".
…
But I'm
afraid that unless Chamberlain is ousted there may be a world war.
There is something rather harrowing about this exchange when you know how history played out. I feel a vicarious sense of fatalism reading it knowing that Germany invades Poland the following year and the enormous human toll to come.
You can find
out more about Clarence and his remarkable career as a peace and social justice
activist here.
********
While it
took a couple visits, the experts have finally attached the base and quarter
round and so our 3-month kitchen floor replacement odyssey has, for all intents and purposes, finally come to
an end.
********
Earlier in the summer I discovered the Madison Parks events website and, while it took me a few weeks, I finally attended an event. This one involved Starkweather Creek near my home. I arrived on a lovely Saturday morning and was greeted by a couple folks and a little dog too. They were going to demonstrate their monthly testing routine which measured the creek's rate of flow, temperature, and other fluvial attributes.
With the measurements having been taken, we took a look at the critters in the creek to see if any of the less hardy ones could be found in an attempt to try to gauge the effects of the PFAS and other pollutants. We found a couple bugs that are fairly sensitive to pollution so the creek doesn't appear to be in dire straits. There were lots of mayfly and dragonfly larvae and, I must admit, I had no idea that you'd find oodles of insect larvae in the water. I figured that flying creatures grew up on land. There were also lots of crawfish and snails.
On my return bike
ride, I ran across an old car which looked like it was straight out of a François
Truffaut film.
********
Back in the
spring, the Frau's father was talking up his plans to plant a Three Sisters
garden. Various Native American tribes used to plant corn, beans, and squash
closely together as the arrangement was beneficial to all involved. This method
helps attract pollinators, keep away pests, and allows the plants to help one another
grow.
And on a
recent visit to the father-in-law's, we got a glimpse of the garden.
Bonus photo. I call this one "Tight Squeeze".
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