Karen of Arcola

Last year I read 89 books and listened to 23 audio books. Here are some of my favorites.

The Last Mapmaker – Christina Soontornvat
Klipfish Code – Mary Casanova
The Light in Hidden Places – Sharon Cameron
Boxcar Children – Gertrude Chandler Warner
Rescue – Jennifer A Nielsen
The Civil War of Amos Abernathy – Michael Leali
Love, Violet – Charlotte Sullivan Wild
Tryout – Christina Soontornvat
Wildoak – C.C. Harrington
Rescue at Lake Wild – Terry Lynn Johnson
You are Here – edited by Ellen Oh
Dad’s Girlfriend and Other Anxieties – Kelleye Crocker
Warrior Girl Unearthed – Angeline Boulley
Hey Otter! Hey Beaver! – Brian Pinkney
Just a Girl: A True Story of World War II – Lia Levi
Mystery of the Radcliffe Riddle – Taryn Souders
A Walk in the Woods – Nikki Grimes, Jerry Pinkney, Brian Pinkney
See the Ghost – David LaRochelle
Attack of the Black Rectangles – A.S. King
Almost There Almost Not – Linda Urban
Simon Sort of Says – Erin Bow
Jennifer Chan is Not Alone – Tae Keller
The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo, #1) – Rick Riordan
A Crooked Kind of Perfect – Linda Urban

River Otters love to play in the snow and in the river.

Several years ago, I replace our front lawn with a native flower garden. Flowers bloom throughout the season. Butterflies, bees, and birds love it. Fireflies light up at dust.

Dutchman Breeches blooming

Wood Anemone

Lupine

Hepatica poking up through the leaves

Blue, purple and white phlox

In 2021 I read 83 books and listened to another 17. Here is a list of my favorites for the year. Mostly middle grade fiction along a few picture books and a chapter book.

What were your favorites?

• Fighting Words – Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
• The Magic in Changing Your Stars – Leah Henderson
• Echo Mountain – Lauren Wolk
• When Winter Comes: discovering wildlife in our snowy woods – Aimee Bissonette
• Three Keys – Kelly Yang
• We Dream of Space – Erin Entrada Kelly
• A Wish in the Dark – Christina Soontornvat
• All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team – Christina Soontornvat
• The Most Beautiful Thing – Kao Kalia Yang
• LMNO Peas – Keith Baker
• What About Worms – Ryan T. Higgins
• The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart – Stephanie Burgis
• Amari and the Night Brothers – B B Alston
• Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis and Traci Sorell
• When You Trap a Tiger- Tae Keller
• A place to hang the moon – Kate Albus
• Merci Suarez Can’t Dance – Meg Medina
• Starfish – Lisa Fipps
• Canyon’s Edge – Dusti Bowling
• Alone – Megan E. Freeman
• Henry at Home – Megan Mayor
• Long Lost– Jacqueline West
• Where’s Baby? –  Anne Hunter
• Wolf’s Curse – Jessica Vitalis
• The Beatryce Prophecy – Kate DiCamillo
• The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy – Anne Ursu
• Born Behind Bars – Padma Venkatramam
• From the Desk of Zoe Washington – Janae Marks
• The List of Things That Will Not Change – Rebecca Stead

I read and listened to 90 books in 2020. I did not listen to as many books since I was able to work from home for most of the year.

A few of my favorites:

Bridge Home – Padma Venkatraman
Speak the graphic novel – Laurie Halse Anderson
Right as Rain – Lindsey Stoddard
Caterpillar Summer – Gillian McDunn
Framed – James Ponti
My Jasper June – Laurel Snyder
Ways to Make Sunshine – Renee Watson
Chirp – Kate Messner
Dear Martin – Nic Stone
Prairie Lotus- Linda Sue Park
Stella Endicott and the Anything is Possible Poem – Kate DiCamillo
The Fowl Twins – Eoin Colfer
Alien Superstar – Henry Winkler & Lin Oliver
Everything Everything- Nicola Yoon
Beverly, Right Here – Kate Di Camillo
The One and Only Bob – Katherine Applegate

Last month, I kayaked along the shores of the St. Croix River capturing images of the beautiful fall colors.

Click on the image to see my SmugMug site.

I’ve published my first picture book. Not a children’s picture book, but a photo book of Stillwater. A few friends and I combined out talents and published gorgeous book titled “Stillwater in Seasons”. We spent over a year selecting images and getting the book ready to print. It’s been a lot of fun. The book is for sale at Valley Bookseller in downtown Stillwater.

Stillwater in Seasons was featured on the front page of the Local section of the Pioneer Press on Sept 15.

We had a book launch at Valley Booksellers and the event was well attended. Stillwater’s Mayor Ted Kozlowski stopped in to get a signed copy.

We’ve almost sold out of our first printing. The second printing has been ordered.

Earlier this summer, the Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 steam engine traveled around the country to celebrate the 150 anniversary of the transcontinental railroad completion.

I managed to capture images of Big Boy 4014 traveling from St. Paul on its way east to Wisconsin. A few puffed of smoke in the distance let us know it was heading our way. The powerful engine appeared through the trees and steamed though town. I could see the 4014 on the front of the engine. In another moment, I watched as it rumbled away hardly believing it had come and gone so quickly.

Traditionally, the powerful steam engines were used in the mountainous area of Odgen to Cheyenne. They are not often seen in the farm fields of the Midwest. Several years ago, #4014 came out of retirement and went through a multi-year restoration process. The Big Boy locomotives are 132 feet long and weigh 1.2 million pounds. Because of their great length, the frames of the Big Boys are articulated, to allow them to negotiate curves. They weigh in at 600 tons and can move at up to 80 mph.

See https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/4014/index.htm to read more about the Big Boy 4014.

Hudson has a hot air balloon affair in February.

The balloons launch at sunrise. It was still dark when we left the house. The sky had started to lighten when we crossed the river. We were worried the balloons would launch before we got there. By the time we found a parking spot, the sun was just peaking over the horizon. Turns out they start readying the balloons for launch at sunrise. The first balloons were just getting set up to fly. I wandered around balloonists prepping their balloons for a couple of hours. The temps were in the teens with sunshine and light winds.

Over 30 balloons lifted off during the morning. We saw a few landing on our way home.

Hello again. I received exciting news a few weeks ago. One of my images was selected for an Honorable Mention in the Discover Stillwater photo contest. It is an image of a gondola boat between the spans of the old lift bridge. I took many pictures of the gondola on different days. The lighting and conditions worked best for this shot.