July 2, 2011

Saturday was a day of rest, relaxation, fabric shopping and laundry.  I went into Grand Island and hit the antique mall and quilt store.  The antique mall had scads of cool furniture at reasonable prices—a trailer would’ve been handy.  The quilt store was small, but had a nice selection of Kansas Troubles, one of my favorite fabric lines.  Of course I needed to pick up some of the new End of Summer line for fall.  I picked up enough to make a simple wall quilt for my kitchen area.  Then I went home and made it---from start to almost finish.  I ran out of thread.  Bummer.  But I only need to add six border pieces and it will be finished. 

My home is in the KOA campground.  I am living in one of the lodges.  Camping at its finest—queen size bed, flat screen TV, private bath, micro, fridge, gas grill, nice table for sewing, patio furniture and a great view of the corn across the way.  I love it here.  Quiet, nice people and really sllllooooooowwwww internet.  What did we do before the www?

July 3, 2011

Today dawned nice and clear after a night filled with one thunderstorm after another.  You have no doubt heard about the flooding of the Missouri River.  Well, upstream the Platte River is starting to flood.  They have not released water into the Missouri and things are starting to back up.  The locals were not happy to pick up more rain.

I hit the road fairly early and headed to Red Cloud, Nebraska to visit the Willa Cather History Center.  I’ve only read a couple of her books, but I have found them interesting.  Her life was very interesting as well.  I enjoyed my personal two hour tour given by someone near my mother’s age.  Which is fine, however, she moved painfully slow and it was hotter than heck.  At one point I thought I was going to have to finish the tour without her.  It was a town tour and we went from building to building.  Each building played a role in one of Willa’s books.  By the end of the tour, I was unlocking and locking the doors for the poor sweet woman.  I told her that I admired her spunk and she told me volunteering was what kept her going.  I believe her. 

I have made an interesting observation.  Introductory movies for historical sites are boring.  Laura told me that at one of her conferences she learned that movies for such places should be very short.  Nine minutes works for me—twenty minutes doesn’t.

The highlight of my day was visiting the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie Restoration.  850 acres of restored prairie!!  It was stunning.  You could look out from atop the hill and see wide open space for what seemed like miles.  There were also a couple of loop trails.  I tackled one—even though it was in the mid 90s.  There was a sign at the simple gate that asks you to be sure to close the gate because the prairie is also pasture land for cattle.  Sure enough, I found evidence at my feet a few steps down the path.  Fortunately I was observant and didn’t have to scrape my shoes.  Several prairie flowers were blooming and the birds were chattering.  As I walked down the mowed path, I couldn’t help but wonder what the pioneers thought as they walked through the untamed prairie.  What a risk they were taking, yet they were so determined to go on.  I could see cattle when I reached the second walking loop gate.  I opted out.  I found it interesting that I could have walked with the cattle if I wanted to.  I’m thinking I used good judgment.

I ended up sewing for several hours on Sunday night.  I finished my wall quilt and pieced together three sets of eight blocks each for another quilt.  Once I got started it was hard to stop.

Imagine walking through this for miles each day to get to your new soddy---that you have to build.