By Joann M. Ringelstetter
The Wizard of Oz is one of my all-time favorite movies, and the Scarecrow is my favorite character from the movie. When Dorothy asks him what he would do if he had a brain (instead of only straw), he sings a song entitled “If I Only Had a Brain.”
Scarecrow: "I could while away the hours
Conferrin' with the flowers
Consultin' with the rain.
And my head I'd be scratchin'
While my thoughts were busy hatchin'
If I only had a brain.”
Two weeks ago, Ruth and I were in Iowa for the purpose of photographing barns. On Sunday afternoon, we took a break from the barns and headed into the small town of Ackley to capture an old phone booth Ruth had somehow stumbled on in her never-ending research.
As we came into town and turned down Main Street in search of the phone booth, it appeared to be a rather busy town. There were benches all along the street and there were people lounging on the benches and talking with one another.
Wait a minute! These weren’t townspeople – they were scarecrows (or dummies) of every age and profession. There was an artist sitting with her paint palette in front of a gallery.
There was a soldier in uniform relaxing on a bench. In the shop windows behind him, the stars and stripes were displayed proudly.
There were two women soaking up the sunshine in front of the Barber Shop.
And there was a Maytag repairman, I mean repairwoman, daydreaming about someday being called for an actual repair.
So where did all these scarecrows come from and why were they here? Someone put a lot of work into this.
Scarecrow: “I'd unravel every riddle
For any individ’le
In trouble or in pain."
Dorothy: "With the thoughts you'd be thinkin'
You could be another Lincoln
If you only had a brain.”
Let me interrupt myself for a minute here to tell you what I discovered in doing my research for this story. In July of last year, a scarecrow appeared on the bench outside the hardware store in Ackley and he looked a bit like the owner of the hardware store. And soon more scarecrows began to appear and no one knew where they were coming from. It wasn’t until a half dozen of the scarecrows showed up that someone finally figured out that their creator was local businesswoman Joyce Geiken, owner of a vintage clothing shop on Main Street. In an effort to boost the local economy, she began placing scarecrows on many of the 25 new benches that had recently been added to the downtown.
Joyce has now made over 35 characters and many of them are look-alikes for local shop owners. She made them hoping that they would become a tourist attraction. The town of Ackley and its new “citizens” have appeared on CBS Evening News, so they’ve gotten some serious publicity. Okay, back to my story.
I walked all the way down Main Street photographing all the colorful characters who were sitting in front of the shops. And then I crossed the street and discovered a man in a striped prisoner uniform sleeping on the bench in front of the City Hall building. On the side of City Hall is a wonderful band shell that is painted with a scene of the town. The band shell is the centerpiece of a small town triangle.
Scarecrow: “Oh, I could tell you why the ocean's near the shore.
I could think of things I never thunk before.
And then I'd sit, and think some more.”
As I was photographing more scarecrows on my way back towards the car, I saw two couples enjoying the scarecrow “dummies”. And then the men crossed over to the town triangle and the women were still “exploring” the scarecrows. As one of the wives got up close to one of the scarecrows, her husband (seeing me with my tripod) said, “Would you like to take a picture of a live dummy with one of those dummies?” I was about to tell him he was being very disrespectful to his wife when he finished with, “I’ll go sit by one of the dummies if you want.”
I responded, “No, that’s okay, but you really shouldn’t talk about yourself like that.” They all laughed and then crossed over to check out the scarecrow dummies on the other side of the street. I finished taking my scarecrow photographs and then…oh, that’s right, I almost forgot what we came here for… the phone booth, which was sitting at the tip of the town triangle.
I returned to the car and put my camera equipment away and then went back to a couple of the scarecrows to see how they were put together. I have to admit that I’ve tried making scarecrows at home a couple of times and they never turned out all that well. So I was looking for some tips on how to make them more life-like. However, I didn’t tell Ruth that’s what I was doing, so she was sitting in the car wondering why I was “feeling up” the dummies.
As we left this quiet little town in search of another barn, I commented to Ruth that I could live in a little town like this. It was so peaceful. I think the only people we saw on the street that day were the two couples enjoying the scarecrows, a young man sitting next to one of the scarecrows and talking on his cell phone, and a boy about 10 years old walking down the street holding his little brother’s hand.
As I started to write this story and think about the scarecrow photos I would put with it, I kicked myself for not taking a picture of the whole street, showing many of the scarecrows at once. Or I could have set up the tripod with the timer on and taken a picture of us with the scarecrows. In the words of the immortal Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz, “Oh, I’m a failure because I haven’t got a brain!”
Scarecrow: “I would not be just a nothin' my head all full of stuffin'
My heart all full of pain.
I would dance and be merry, life would be a ding-a-derry,
If I only had a brain.”
Happy Shunpiking!
Joann
Shunpiking To Heaven Backroads Blog
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Irwin’s Point of View
By Irwin (the most magnificent GPS in the world)
Irwin here. I’d just like to set the record straight. Don’t believe everything they say about me. I can hear them talking and laughing at me. They get me out of that dark box in the stuffy bag whenever they need something from me. I plan the route (rather quickly if I do say so myself), and then tell them where to turn. Sometimes they won’t even listen when we first leave that woman’s driveway. They say they want the fastest route, but when I tell them, they ignore me and go the way they want to. Then I have to recalculate, and when I announce that I’m recalculating, the grumbling begins.
My view isn’t very good either, which is why I never know what the stopping, veering off track, and turning around are all about. Sometimes we drive far enough past something that I have an idea what they were looking at, but sometimes I don’t know what they’re doing. How was I supposed to know that they saw a gorgeous barn just down the road in the wrong direction? When I could finally see it out the back window as we drove away, it was pretty cool.
They pick on me about my ability to find farm addresses too. I know when we get to where the land starts, and that’s when I tell them we have arrived. Just because they can’t see the driveway isn’t my fault! Let them try to find some farms without me. Maybe then they would appreciate me more.
Last weekend, though, they did give me one compliment. That one who is always looking at maps, like she knows more than me, said that I had done a very good job finding the addresses this time. Like I had not done so well before! But I’ll take any compliment I can get from them. They sure don’t give me compliments often.
And they turn around for things I can’t understand. Why are we stopping for a rusty old truck in a field? Someone should explain to me what we’re looking for. Maybe I could help. The one driving while we’re on the backroads is always turning around. Sometimes we drive back for miles to look at something. And then sometimes we just turn around again without doing anything. What is that all about?
And the one that is always looking at the maps needs to pay attention more. If she would just pay attention to the road and let me handle the maps, she wouldn’t have to ask if we could go back so often because she “might” have seen something. Ok, so sometimes she does, but sometimes we turn around for nothing. But they don’t like it when I tell them to turn around. I tell them to drive until they can safely make a U-turn, and they turn around right in the middle of the road!
I have to admit, I do like traveling with them though. It’s not all interstates where all I can do is announce which exit to take and which lane to be in. I have to do a little of that with them, but mostly we go on some fun roads -- roads most of my friends will never see in their entire lives.
I guess maybe I can put up with their oddities. They think they’re putting up with mine.
What is it they always say at the end? Oh yes, Happy Shunpiking!
Irwin
Irwin here. I’d just like to set the record straight. Don’t believe everything they say about me. I can hear them talking and laughing at me. They get me out of that dark box in the stuffy bag whenever they need something from me. I plan the route (rather quickly if I do say so myself), and then tell them where to turn. Sometimes they won’t even listen when we first leave that woman’s driveway. They say they want the fastest route, but when I tell them, they ignore me and go the way they want to. Then I have to recalculate, and when I announce that I’m recalculating, the grumbling begins.
My view isn’t very good either, which is why I never know what the stopping, veering off track, and turning around are all about. Sometimes we drive far enough past something that I have an idea what they were looking at, but sometimes I don’t know what they’re doing. How was I supposed to know that they saw a gorgeous barn just down the road in the wrong direction? When I could finally see it out the back window as we drove away, it was pretty cool.
They pick on me about my ability to find farm addresses too. I know when we get to where the land starts, and that’s when I tell them we have arrived. Just because they can’t see the driveway isn’t my fault! Let them try to find some farms without me. Maybe then they would appreciate me more.
Last weekend, though, they did give me one compliment. That one who is always looking at maps, like she knows more than me, said that I had done a very good job finding the addresses this time. Like I had not done so well before! But I’ll take any compliment I can get from them. They sure don’t give me compliments often.
And they turn around for things I can’t understand. Why are we stopping for a rusty old truck in a field? Someone should explain to me what we’re looking for. Maybe I could help. The one driving while we’re on the backroads is always turning around. Sometimes we drive back for miles to look at something. And then sometimes we just turn around again without doing anything. What is that all about?
And the one that is always looking at the maps needs to pay attention more. If she would just pay attention to the road and let me handle the maps, she wouldn’t have to ask if we could go back so often because she “might” have seen something. Ok, so sometimes she does, but sometimes we turn around for nothing. But they don’t like it when I tell them to turn around. I tell them to drive until they can safely make a U-turn, and they turn around right in the middle of the road!
I have to admit, I do like traveling with them though. It’s not all interstates where all I can do is announce which exit to take and which lane to be in. I have to do a little of that with them, but mostly we go on some fun roads -- roads most of my friends will never see in their entire lives.
I guess maybe I can put up with their oddities. They think they’re putting up with mine.
What is it they always say at the end? Oh yes, Happy Shunpiking!
Irwin
Sunday, October 17, 2010
A Tribute to Tom T. Hall
By Joann M. Ringelstetter
Tom T. Hall is one of the best loved country music storytellers of our time. When we were kids, we used to watch him perform on Hee Haw, the country music variety show that aired every Saturday night.
In 1973, Tom recorded his most successful single – a song entitled, “I Love.” It’s a simple song about loving simple things and it reminds me of some of the things I love about hitting the backroads with my camera.
"I Love"
By Tom T. Hall
I love little baby ducks,
Old pickup trucks,
Slow-moving trains and rain.
I love, little country streams,
Sleep without dreams,
Sunday school in May and hay.
I love leaves in the wind,
Pictures of my friends,
Birds of the world and squirrels.
I love coffee in a cup,
Little fuzzy pups,
Bourbon in a glass and grass.
I love honest open smiles,
Kisses from a child,
Tomatoes on the vine
and onions.
And I love you, too.
Thanks for reading the stories we tell each week and sharing our love of the backroads with us.
Happy Shunpiking!
Joann
Tom T. Hall is one of the best loved country music storytellers of our time. When we were kids, we used to watch him perform on Hee Haw, the country music variety show that aired every Saturday night.
In 1973, Tom recorded his most successful single – a song entitled, “I Love.” It’s a simple song about loving simple things and it reminds me of some of the things I love about hitting the backroads with my camera.
"I Love"
By Tom T. Hall
I love little baby ducks,
Old pickup trucks,
Slow-moving trains and rain.
I love, little country streams,
Sleep without dreams,
Sunday school in May and hay.
I love leaves in the wind,
Pictures of my friends,
Birds of the world and squirrels.
I love coffee in a cup,
Little fuzzy pups,
Bourbon in a glass and grass.
I love honest open smiles,
Kisses from a child,
Tomatoes on the vine
and onions.
And I love you, too.
Thanks for reading the stories we tell each week and sharing our love of the backroads with us.
Happy Shunpiking!
Joann
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