Confluence of Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

View from the Illinois side of the confluence of two of the world's great rivers. Right here, Lewis and Clark camped out for five months in winter 1803-04, training -- yes, actually training and preparing -- for the big journey up the Missouri. Finally they set out on May 14, 1804. They called this area Camp River Dubois. Down the road a piece -- maybe a mile -- and looking like a big silver dart stuck partway into the earth, is a 200-foot-tall monument with three observation decks: 50, 100 and 150 feet. Duke and me went up for an even more dramatic view of the confluence, the levee, and the oil refinery across the highway; it just opened this summer of 2010. Worth your $4. Just to look at the confluence is free. Located along Illinois Highway 3, aka "The Great River Road," some miles south of Alton, Illinois.

Earthly Possessions: Gloves

Deerskin leather gloves, the one outdoor-wardrobe item I grab and wear almost daily -- and I nearly didn't buy them because they cost $15 at the feedstore ten years ago. They've pulled poison ivy and briars, yanked cedars out of the earth, defied barbed wire, helped me plant and garden; steadied my hands on brooms, weedwhips, hoes, rakes, hoses, brushcutters, shovels, saws and crowbars; helped me carry ladders and cinder blocks and broken branches, and claw wet leafmeal out of gutters; and indoors they've helped me pick up shards of ceramic and glass. When they're really muddy I run' em through the washer and let 'em hang by clothespins to dry. I'll completely destroy women's garden gloves in one hour, men's regular work gloves in one day, part-leather work gloves in a week, but these deerskin gloves are gems -- also a rare great fit for small hands! -- and have redeemed their price 100 times over.

Garnish with Wild Blackberries

 

Vegan lemon creme with blackberries picked in my meadow. When extending my rifle range I cut deep into the brush and thus made a convenient lane into a whole universe of blackberries, and can pick as many as the colander'll hold. Worth the thorns. Made sure to leave some for the wildlife.

The creme is an easy, no-cook lemon pudding, made in a blender -- best to let it sit overnight to marry its flavors. Recipe by famed vegan cookbook writer Bryanna Clark Grogan: 1 package extra-firm silken tofu, crumbled; 1/3 cup maple syrup; 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice; 1 lemon's lemon zest. Blend until very smooth. You can dollop the creme on cake also.

Good Morning

Love to wake up (a privilege in itself), look out the kitchen window (and living in my cabin is a privilege in itself) and see some of my wild-turkey friends. Was concerned because the feral cats in the area might have discouraged turkeys; but here they were, four of them, although only two agreed to pose, before walking with great dignity out of camera range. I've put the camera on a post right near the door and now can grab it whenever I see anything wonderful just outside.

On the Trail

To walk through a sturdy Missouri oak and hickory forest is a privilege. It is a mighty thing. This view, a path all paved with light, is along a steepish two-mile trail I walk often, near Rockwoods Range, never failing spring summer winter fall to halt in my tracks and marvel and wish I had been born in Missouri.

Graves

I wouldn't post this unless I was sure that J. William and Margaret had been teased about this in life and woodn't mind being teased about it 100 years down the road. Rest in Peace. Taken near Stotts City, MO.

Dirty Dozen

Organic eggs? Sure as yer born! So organic and so very free-range that the hens lay them all over creation: in grass, mud, you name it; and a human being, my friend Duke, who has and loves his chickens, then has to go on a genuine egg hunt. The eggs stay fresh without refrigeration for a while, protected by a special invisible coating that you shouldn't wash off until ready to use; it gets washed off when eggs are processed for grocery stores. These you could leave on the counter just as they are for several days. But if washed, into the fridge they must go.