Hello From Postville, Iowa... Watching Waves from Far Away

No tropical development in the Atlantic Basin today which is good as I am far, far away in Postville, Iowa. I did miss the big storm of protest earlier in the week here but today it is quiet and bucolic in Postville. Warm, sunny and not very tropical!

I do like the wave off of Africa. Really, beautiful structure and moving slow and I think it's a keeper. I don't believe it will re-curve fast as I do not see development that fast. I don't think the models are dealing with reality and they don't seem to remember it's July not September. It may never develop, it may fizzle but it isn't going to zoom off to the Azores so fast. Well, I don't think so... hard to tell anything for sure in July and it is still July.

So..from the wonders of wifi I have the Internet in Iowa and from the wonders of satellite TV I have TWC and about 500 channels. So, I will be watching and reading from out here in the heartland!

See the wave:

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/eumet/eatl/jsl-l.jpg

I'm watching that wave all the way from far away in Iowa!

What did I get to see besides the yummy little baby boy?

I did get to see a beautiful sunset in a beautiful, bucolic setting of a cornfield from the side of the road. When I can upload my pics I'll post some on the blog. Unfortunately Virgin Mobile does not work in this part of Iowa. Actually, neither does Cingular unless you are on certain hills from what I have heard. Amazingly, my sidekick does at times.

I saw a beautiful rainbow as we flew out of Houston, the colors are so vibrant from the air. It was beyond beautiful. I made the blessings for a rainbow and smiled. Flying into Houston as we went over the storms in the Gulf there was a little bit of turbulence. And, I wondered again could those storms organize? Is it possible?

Arriving in Minneapolis I realized it was about 35 years ago almost to the week that I came to Minnesota for the first time. Years ago... spent a few summers of my life here. I love Minnesota, it's clean, pretty and almost looks normal or whatever my image of normal is other than palm trees blowing in the breeze on south beach in an afternoon thunderstorm. And, I found myself wondering as we drove down from Minneapolis what it must look like here in a thunderstorm. Such a beautiful ride.

I love the open sky and to be able to watch the clouds dance across the horizon which they do here in Iowa or this little corner of Iowa that is more Minn/Wisc I think in ways than Iowa. I wonder does Kansas and Oklahoma look like this? Looking down in the plane all I saw was farms and wiggly sort of little rivers.

What is in a name? Looks a lot like Wisconsin to me in parts.

Speaking of cheese.. my son works at the cheese plant as a kosher supervisor and he has now learned how to make cheese it seems. Last night he made ricotta cheese from buttermilk that he made earlier in the week. Life on the prairie. A month or so ago he helped deliver a calf on the farm near here.

Okay... so enough of Iowa. People are friendly here, no matter what anyone has told you and it's pretty and warm and I am visiting my yummy grandson. So, cute. Adorable. Really, have seen a lot of kids and he is one of the cuter ones. Mother and Father are doing fine and no they are not from Iowa but California. The baby may have been born in nearby Decorah but his father was born on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles at Kaiser Hospital!

What a world... so big and so wide and to get away like this is a real treasure.

So..that's it. Lots of Somalians here lately it seems. I saw them walking through the streets though this shouldn't be such a big surprise as the first thing I saw upon arriving at MSP airport was Arabs everywhere, walking around and orientals. I remembered again how International and Big City Minneapolis is and has always been. Sort of like Portland Maine, a real cosmopolitan mix of people mixed in with the original Swedish and Norwegian farm folk who first lived on these northern plains.

It is America and it is America at it's finest. A land where people have come for centuries to start over, to find work, to find new lives and to live safe far from persecution and prejudice. My great, great grandparents came from England to the South and lived in Key West and Tampa. My ex-husbands family came from Germany to escape persecution. My children are genetically linked forever with the Frank Family for if Anne Frank had lived and made it to America as was her dream she would have been my kid's great-great Aunt I suppose if I did the genealogical math right.

So, here I am watching African waves from the heartland in a city where a meat packing plant keeps the little dying city alive with revenue as it's workers from all parts of the world find work and spend their money.

In the words of the great Dolly Levi of the Matchmaker/Hello Dolly fame not the Tropical Dolly "money is not worth a thing unless it's spread around encouraging young things to grow."

In Iowa things are growing.. more than just cornfields, the IGA food market stays alive, the schools stay alive and when a town loses it's school it tends to die out and corn grows and cows grow and children and families grow.

And, the clouds grow... and maybe while I am here I'll get to see some real Iowa Afternoon Thunderstorms.. or any thunderstorms before I travel back to the tropics.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH BY THE WAY........ my weather radio doesn't work here? Hello? Does that make sense? Don't they have tornadoes here? I asked my son but he says he just goes to weather.com with a live stream and the town has a siren to let you know if there is a twister nearby............. okie dokie... well don't I feel safe.

Besos Bobbi