In 1977 Brinton wrote an essay, "Sunshine and Rain in Iowa; Reminiscing Through 86 Years," which reflects on rural Iowa, hard work, church traditions, and the love of family and community. Brinton gives the rich details of her childhood, wedding, Sunday dinners, and husking corn. She explains the process for drying corn, testing oat seeds, removing chinch bugs, and the workings of a primitive electrical system. She offers a recipe for making soap, explains World War I rationing, describes roving gypsies, peddlers, the circus and Chautauquas. People and places in Stuart, Iowa are illuminated in her writing as well as the 'brick' ice cream with the lavender wedding bell shipped in from Atlantic for her wedding dinner. She describes the depression of the 1930s, the preaching of Billy Sunday, a train trip through Iowa, which was her honeymoon, and explains the importance of woolen underwear and feather beds in winter.