Week 9 - Tires and Wilbur

This week was all about lunches and travel but in an old lady life way, I was also thrilled to get new tires on my car. It doesn't take much these days.

I got new tires on Wednesday while I was on campus. I dropped my car before work and bummed a ride back after work with Allan, our computer tech who is a total peach. I had lunch with Dodie at Bison Witches so didn't need my car at lunch. The first drive home on new tires is always a treat. It feels like flying.

I had lunch with Helen on Thursday and then Friday was another exploration day with Rene. This time we were going to Wilbur - home of the Czech Festival each summer. We had to go through Crete (another town I'd never been to) so checked out the downtown and Doane College on our way through. Wilbur is a cute small town with 2 meat markets and just a few shops. We explored them all then called the museum to schedule a time to see it. After a nice lunch at the Wilbur Hotel, we met Doris at the museum and she gave us a private tour. Without her commentary, it would have been a quick visit but she knew all the stories behind the exhibits so it was actually fun. We then explored a few small towns on the way back, which included a stop in Hallam.

An F4 tornado hit Hallam in May 2004 and UNL sent busloads of staff down to help with the clean up. It was unbelievable to see it first hand - no amount of news coverage prepares you for the abject destruction. The group I was with spent our entire day helping one woman at her house, which had been pulled off its foundation and plunked back down a few feet away. Her name was Connie and as I slogged through her stuff trying to salvage things, I thought we had a lot in common - Penzey's spices, scrapbooking and Birkenstocks. I've thought of her over the years and when we were in Hallam, I took Rene to the street where she lived but all the houses were new so there was nothing to reference. There was a woman raking leaves so we stopped to ask if she knew Connie and it was her! What are the chances? We chatted for a few minutes, which was a treat. After a couple more small towns on the way back and a stop at Aldi, I dropped Rene off and headed home. It was another fun day of exploring small town Nebraska. We will do more of these for sure.

Having been out and about on Friday, I stayed home all weekend. I did my usual chatting with friends while knitting in the sun on Saturday morning and then got busy with chores. I had a fun video chat with Anne from Africa too. My project for the weekend was to clear out 2 corners of my back room, which was mostly knitting stuff. I put away lots of yarn, organized some WIPs (works in progress) and even ripped out and restarted a shawl from years ago. You never realize how messy something looks until it's gone and the cleared space looks so good.

So it was a fun week. Lunches, exploration and productivity to end the week. Nothing wrong with that and I hope I have a few more weeks like it in the near future.