We are home. We drove across Iowa and Nebraska to the Friends General Conference in Greeley, Colorado. We planned to visit the Historic Trails Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa but it is closed on Monday, the day of the week we arrived.
We did visit the Homestead National Monument in Beatrice, NE, which every American would find enlightening. Lincoln was president when the Homestead Act was passed in 1862.. It gave a deed for 160 acres staked out by the homesteader if that person lived on the claim for 5 years, erected a house of some sort on it and grew some food on it. It was very tempting to people from all over the world but it was very difficult. Only 40% of those who tried succeeded. The first homesteader was a citizen of Beatrice and filed his claim on the first day allowed, Jan.1, 1863. The last homesteader was Ken Deardorff in Alaska in 1979.
Later, we visited the Denver Art Museum, which is quite impressive. There was a special show of an exhibit called "Spun" about textile art, including genuine Navaho blankets and very memorable creations by Nick Cave. He has giant figures completely covered in small buttons sewed on. The walls of his exhibit are high stage curtains also totally covered in small buttons. Quite a sight!
All of the above took place with Lynn using a rollator, a four-wheeled walker with hand brakes, to get around. She turned her ankle off the edge of a sidewalk last Sunday and has been trying to get it to mend with ice and ibuprofen. It has been a serious limitation and was bad enough that she realized she couldn't get around a college campus to attend the Gathering events. So, we turned around and drove home, with more concentration and less leisure than we used going out.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
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