Kyle Munson’s Article: American Gothic Meets American Pie
Des Moines Register photo by John Gaps III On Thursday, Des Moines Register reporter Kyle Munson came down to Eldon and spent the day with me, the mayor Shirley Stacey, the American Gothic House Center administrator Molly Moser, and met other members of the community. Read his blog and see more pics HERE. And be sure to […]
Canoeing and (Locally Grown) Conversation on the Des Moines River
Yesterday I went canoeing on the Des Moines River. I haven’t been canoeing in at least a dozen years. But when my new friend Cari Garrett (not to be confused with Carrie the City Clerk/Xena Princess Warrior) told me she had a canoe and was planning an outing this week I begged her take me […]
The Ladies from Ames
I was sitting outside on my back patio this morning, drinking coffee in my pajamas when a group of women came around the corner. They were wearing name tags so I knew they were the visitors Molly (the American Gothic House Visitor Center administrator) had told me about when I saw her earlier while out […]
Just Say Yes
No one told me when I rented the American Gothic House that I was going to get corralled into doing things out of my normal scope of life. But then moving from Portland, Oregon to Eldon, Iowa (pop. 967) and into a house listed on the National Register of Historic Places was already way out of my […]
The New Girls in Town
This is how my day in Eldon, Iowa started today. Molly Moser — who is not only the new museum curator/American Gothic House Center administrator but also a fabulously talented artist with a sense of humor as dry as vermouth — called me my from the parking lot in front of my house on my Los Angeles cell phone […]
It Takes a Village
No sooner did I complain about how hard it’s been to clean this house (again, my apologies for venting) help arrived!Carrie Teninity (pictured above left) is many things. She is City Clerk for the City of Eldon. She is caretaker of the American Gothic House grounds, where she can be seen weekly maneuvering her John […]
American Gothic House: My New Home!
Sometimes you come to a fork in the road where you are forced to make a decision about which way to go, and the direction you choose can forever change your life. When I met Marcus in 2001 I was on a road trip from California to Oregon and saw a sign for Crater Lake […]
Houses of my Childhood
I know I’m supposed to be on a Pie Tour of Iowa, but I couldn’t come to my home state without revisiting all the places I lived. Believe me, I will get to the pie but first, here’s a look at where it all started…. I’m torn about how to describe my roots. I am […]
Baking Pies (& Taking Pics) at Better Homes & Gardens
On Saturday I was in the shower and looked down at my chest where I saw what looked like a small-but-dead black bug. After a second glance I realized, no, it was not an insect. It was a false eyelash that had come unglued from my eyelid. The sight made me laugh, in a disbelieving […]
Pie Not the Only Thing Being Judged at the Fair
Pie was not the only thing being judged at the Iowa State Fair. In between rounds of pie tasting I wandered over to the cattle barn, a place I clearly had a fascination with since I went there three times and always had a hard time extracting myself from the place. Inside the barn the […]