Ye old stomping grounds

I've gone to visit my mother et al in Lincoln, NE and returned home again. I meant to do a quick post before I left, took my laptop along and thought I might be able to do a post while there, and now . . . well. I don't know how quickly I will be able to edit photos and finish this, but "a journey of a thousand miles . . ." and all that. When you see this, it's obviously done.

The high points of my trip were seeing old friends and visiting my old stomping grounds. I'm terrible at selfies so there are no photos of me or my three friends😢, but I did take photos of my alma mater and the associated church where I got married. All have changed in 41 years of course; the church has been added onto and college (now university) buildings have disappeared (notably the old science building where my FIL taught and the art building; I had classes in both), expanded, and appeared in the intervening years. Much of this I have seen, at least from the outside, in previous visits, but this time I got to see the improvements and additions from the inside as one of my friends is now a professor at the university and gave me a guided tour.

the old science building and my FIL's office were to the left of this arch

the old gym, where I played volleyball (for fun)

one of the expanded buildings, and two of the programs the school is now known for

the girls' dorm, where I lived for four years

inside the new gym, above and below

the iconic clocktower

MUCH newer art, carved from a dead(?) tree

the expanded college/university church (only the part to the right of the cross was there in the 80s)

the outside of the stained glass panels (next three photos) in the original church building

we were married here the last weekend before the pipe organ installation began

Seeing my mom was both good and hard. Except for the Sabbath hours, meeting up with friends (one each Saturday, Sunday, and Monday), having one quick coffee break with my sister, and going out for an early birthday dinner with Mom, my sister, and her family, I stayed busy helping Mom from morning to bedtime. We threw out empty boxes and useless things and put stuff out on the freebie table in her apartment complex*, shredded old documents, rearranged furniture, set up her TV, made a rhubarb crisp (instead of birthday cake, with rhubarb from the complex's garden), coordinated needs with the complex's handyman, hung pictures and photos, and tried to get her NE driver's license and car registration (when that failed, I started applying online for missing documents**). We made visible progress, but I felt frustrated that I couldn't do more for her and save my sister and BIL additional effort and time off work.

my lovely mother

The entrance to her apartment complex.

The units on the front side face the treed driveway and can see nothing else.

The units on the back side see only green fields and the back of the Holmes Lake dam.

Mom's apartment is second to last on the left, ground floor.

Holmes Lake. The top of the dam is a wonderful walking path.

*There is NO rhyme or reason in what she brought to Lincoln and what she left behind in TX.

** Mom either doesn't have or has no idea where copies of her birth certificate, marriage licenses, Dad's death certificate, or her car title are. Any of these could have been inadvertently tossed, are still in unlabeled boxes and file folders in her apartment, or were left in her TX house and tossed out with all that she left behind. Getting replacement copies takes time, money, and in some cases, information that she can no longer remember accurately.  😳🙄😩😢

I kept up with my daily step goal throughout the trip, and spun a lot of silk while traveling. This was the first time I've been to PDX since its major renovation, which made my favorite airport even better. I acted like a tourist and took photos!

the Denver airport does have a view of the Rockies, though

on my way to Nebraska

in Nebraska, against Mom's coordinating blouse

on the way home

Now home again, home again, which feels so good but is always so busy. In spite of washing my hands of the rest of the prunes when I left, I couldn't resist picking enough to fill the dehydrator one more time when I got back. In the meantime, Rick and Brian got the rest of the dead fir from our lower pasture moved into the woodshed. The garden needs attention; I harvested most of what I need for a big pasta salad and a big batch of pesto but haven't touched the tomatoes yet. Next week is supposed to be wet; I foresee baking and applesauce-making in my near future.

Poppy and I have an agility match this Sunday and when we get home a buyer is arriving to pick up young Bryan as a flock sire; hurray! Maybe he'll look around and want to take a ewe or two....

That's it for now from . . .