A New Year

I’m sitting at the kitchen table at my farm, looking out the window where snowflakes are gently falling. My wood-burning cook stove is keeping me warm and cozy.

On these last days of 2016, I’m thinking about the highs and lows of the year just past. It’s fairly easy to think about the negatives of the year, the shouting and finger pointing, the sadness experienced with the passing of a close friend or relative. The anger and unhappiness experienced by many. There were high points, too. The joy of weddings, anniversaries, and new babies born. For me, the opportunity for our family, all the kids and grand kids, and now two great grand kids gathering together for a week at a cabin on a lake last summer.

For many people 2016 was a difficult year. Other years have been difficult as well. I think back to when I was a kid, during the depths of the Great Depression of the 1930s, when many people were without work and had no place to live and nothing to eat. We were farm people. We had food; we had a roof over our heads, but not much else. I remember my folks took in relatives who did not have food and shelter. Relatives who lived with us until things got better in the country.

And then World War II came along, a devastating time, when everyone worked hard and hoped for a victory. But we made do as the war effort consumed the country’s resources at an ever increasing rate.

Through all of this and much more, my dad and mother had hope. They never lost it. My dad’s words, I’ve never forgotten them, “Remember, Jerry, next year will be better.”

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Next year will be better.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Wednesday, January 11. 6:30 p.m. Midvale Lutheran Church, 4329 Tokay Blvd. (corner of Midvale and Tokay), Fellowship Hall. Launch of new book, NEVER CURSE THE RAIN. Books signing and talk. All are welcome.

Saturday, January 14. 9:00 -12:00 a.m. Sequoia Library, Madison. Writing Workshop.”Writing From Your Life” Limited enrollment. Contact Sequoia Library: 608-266-6385.

Saturday, January 21 Noon. Heidel House, Green Lake, WI. Pheasants Forever. Noon talk. Whispers and Shadows. Book signing.

Saturday, February 11, 2:15. Garden Expo, Alliant Center, Madison. Roshara Journal
Sunday, February 12, 1:00 p.m. Garden Expo, Alliant Center, Madison. TV documentary “Never Curse the Rain” book signing and discussion.
Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):
The library now has available signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs:
Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (based on The Quiet Season book.)
Jerry Apps a Farm Story (based on Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm books.)
The Land with Jerry Apps, (based on the book Whispers and Shadows.)
Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including: Jerry’s newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
Jerry’s newest books, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their stories—are also available.
Contact the library for prices and special package deals.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835