Had a wonderful time. I got to play games and chitchat and make truffles (finished at the last minute) and spread the Firefly love. Definitely a good weekend. I am a very happy xnera.
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My old HP digital camera doesn't take very good shots, so hopefully Tom will post up some he took as well. PLEASE let me know if I misspelled anyone's screen name or other information.
It took me all morning to do this -- so this afternoon I will try to write my own "synopsis" of the weekend. Hope others will do that too!
Food is one way to describe the weekend -- probably the best food we will have all year! You can tell dkw really loves to cook.
Friday night, my daughter and I arrived at dkw's after dark, but had no problem finding the place right off. Walked into a room of people I didn't know -- which included dkw, her sister LJ, her friend Sara and her kids.
Through the evening I got acquainted with Tom & Christy, and Theca. (BannaOJ, Vána & Lime, and Xnera didn't arrive until after we gave up and went to bed about 1 AM.)(am I forgetting someone here)?
Friday evening, dkw made us homemade pizzas, and homemade bread, and there was plenty of Chex mix available all hours throughout the weekend. And hot cider!
Saturday morning we were treated to four different kinds of quiche, the homemade bread, and kuchen. (YUM!) I think we finally got everyone in and out of the kitchen, and the shower, and fed, by -- oh, lunch time... <GRIN>
In the afternoon dkw and her sister laid out a wonderful buffet of deli meats and cheese, the homemade bread, and broccoli/cheese soup. It was wonderful
Someone (xnera?) brought french silk pie to share, and someone else brought several varieties of fudge!
There was lots of game - playing and talking. BannaOJ spent most of Saturday either practicing for Sunday's church service (piano) or helping with a quilt in need of repair. Theca crocheted -- constantly. It was amazing to watch how much she could get done in one weekend -- a crochetted purse, and pair of slippers, some kitchen potholders (or something like that). Her hands were always busy.
Had a lot of fun playing Scene It (which I suck at because I don't watch many movies), and passing Bob_S around. We talked about LOTS of 'out of context' comments, but none of us wrote them down, I don't think. Tom was really into games -- he was teaching us all games all the time. First thing each morning, he pulled out the games.
Saturday night, it was one of dkw's friend (I don't remember her name) rooting for Iowa State while I was rooting for University of Kansas in a TV basketball game (KU won in overtime). And we all watched two hours of Firefly.
Sunday morning we all had omelets; some of us played games, some of us went to church, some did both.
Vána did a wonderful job on her oboe solo, and BannaOJ on accompanying her. dkw gave an excellent sermon on the transfiguration -- even if she did wait until the last possible minute to finish writing it before heading out the door.
I can't tell you much about Sunday because as soon as the early service was over, we headed home in order to make good time. We found a wonderful little cafe in Decatur City, Iowa for lunch (I am a huge fan of diners -- look for them everywhere) where IvyGirl and I enjoyed a wonderful lunch and peanut-butter pie.
Going through Kansas City on the way home was much much better (Sunday afternoon) than it was on the way up Friday evening. My foot does get tired on long trips since I don't have cruise control. However, that wasn't as bad as that 45 minute construction delay through KC on the way up -- had to keep my foot on the clutch the whole time to crawl through at 2 mph -- my leg got a workout!
Still lots of snow in dkw's area -- pretty much piled everywhere.
Those of you who were there with me -- as you left the area and noticed all the pretty little farms all around that area of Iowa -- that is pretty much exactly like my area if you were to come here to Kansas. Except her area has rolling hills, and we are pretty flat (that's why we can do the pivot irrigation, and you didn't see much of it in that area). But overall, the rural area looks much the same -- and all those old two-story white farmhouses you saw everywhere -- they are pretty much identical to my house and my place.
Others attendees -- please post as well!
Lovely, lovely weekend. It was so great to meet everyone. I had a great time!
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dkw does one of those pillows have a pillowcase made out of red t-shirt type material?
I can't find mine but I was too delirious last night to double check everywhere. It is a smaller pillow than average made out of the fun squish foam material.
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Lime, myself, Vana and xnera had an eventful road trip back.
The road trip out to Dana's was simply stressful, due to bad weather conditions. I did all the driving out.
Lime did most of the driving back. I had a quarter tank of gas when we left Dana's. The plan was, that I drive us back out to Highway 20 since I was the one who did it on the way in, and we would pull off at a gas station and fuel up once it got a little lower.
The problem was the distinct LACK of gas stations anywhere remotely near the highway. The gauge was on E, when we pulled off to a town that was only 2 miles from the highway instead of 6 or 10 miles away. The problem being that this little town (I can't remember the name but we wrote it down.) DIDN'T HAVE A GAS STATION.
Apparently it has been the town scandal for the last two years because the guy that bought the local filling station was from "outside town" and he stripped it of parts and anything usable and shut it down to count it as a loss. It had been operating moderately profitably for years prior to that point. (but we found this out much later on)
There is a lettered sign on a semi-vacant building, that says FOR GAS ON WEEKENDS OR EVENINGS CALL: (and gives a phone number) We would have called the number but none of our cell phones worked that far from the highway. So Lime and I started knocking on doors to ask the locals if we could use their phone to call the number. Well even though many residences appeared to be lived in NO ONE was home. We must have knocked on four or five doors in different blocks of the town before we found this very nice elderly couple that was home.
She called her son-in-law, and he came with his key to the grain elevator gas tanks. The gas pump at the grain elevator was an experience in and of itself. Painted on the side was "Gasohol" You had to have a key to open the box above, where there were about 12 analog dial gauges each with a spot for a key. He put his key in order to make the gas pump. It was a decided blast to the past for us city folk. The price was $1.55 per gallon which is actually quite good! I paid him a few extra bucks (we had to pool our cash on hand together) He tried to give it back but I told him to do something nice for his in-laws.
Xnera wrote down the elderly couple's name and address and we are going to send them a thank you card. We were thinking of posting it on hatrack and having anyone who was interested send a "thank you for your random act of kindness to our friends" postcard. I have a feeling that they would enjoy it immensely getting cards from all parts of the country.
AJ
Adventure #2: Dubuque, SHAZAAM and the "Food Court" Anyone else who was with me feel free to tell the tale otherwise I'll get to it later.
That's how the gas situation is in our small town near my farm in Kansas. The only gas station in town closed long ago, so the only place to get gas is at the Co-op (grain elevator). Luckily, I have a co-op card that turns on the pumps when they aren't open, but for cash sales, you would have to call someone.
Glad you got to experience small-town midwest life!
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Great photos Farmgirl! We have a few, which we'll link to later, but you have many more.
Does this mean that we're going to start seeing Ivygirl around here, or is the name just for fun?
Poor Banna and company! You did have quite an adventurous drive both there and back! Its quite a bit to Waterloo, and I don't even remember if there was a gas station in Radcliffe!
Iowa has rolling hills?! That was as flat a drive across highway 20 as from Chicago to Champaign, IL. We were so relieved to make it to the Mississippi Valley where we started to have landscape again. *smile* There is something comfortable about cropland, but I love forests and river valleys.
*is intrigued by the next food court saga*
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No, probably IvyGirl won't be posting here -- but she lurks from time to time (or reads over my shoulder). IvyGirl is her e-mail name, so I just used it for the purposes of the anonymonity of the photos.
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Adventure #2: Dubuque, SHAZAAM and the "Food Court"
Lime did the driving from our small town gas adventure on. I greatly appreciate this, though it did take him a little bit for him to get used to driving my "pregnant sea cow" of a mini-van. He used to drive one for deliveries though so I didn't have to explain most of the bells and whistles to him.
By the time we made it to Dubuque we were getting hungry and crabby. All of us were just a little bit out of sorts. We pulled into a Wendy's to get food. Wendy's normally accommodates ATM cards and we were all mostly out of cash after the Gas incident. Well the Wendy's in Dubuque DOESN'T take cards. Lime had already placed his order when we found this out.
Fortunately, there was a drive up ATM machine in the parking lot that was shared jointly between Wendy's and a US Bank. So Lime and I both dashed through the rain to use our ATM cards. We were amused we were walking up to a drive up. However our amusement rapidly disintegrated when the ATM machine told us it was out of cash. So we went over to the "brick and mortar" actual USBank building because normally there is a walkup ATM as well. Once again, NOT in Dubuque. We see another bank across the street, and I run in to tell xnera and Vana(who was in the bathroom) that we are driving over because we've had enough of walking in the rain.
Lime and I hop in my van (he was driving) and drive over to the other drive through ATM at the other bank. Our spirits sank further, though we couldn't help but laugh, when the ATM machine screen says "Welcome to the SHAZAAM banking system" or something close. However it did take both of our ATM cards, and only had a $1.00 surcharge. Lime now knows my ATM password since he was doing it through the driver's window, but I figure I don't really have anything to worry about since he doesn't know my Hatrack password <grin>. I flipped off the other bank as we drove back to the Wendy's, to make Mackillian proud.
Apparently Lime and I had similar thoughts running through our heads since we were both starving and crabby, in other words getting food into our digestive systems ASAP. However, across the street from the Wendy's was the local mall. While we had been acquiring cash, xnera and Vana had decided that they really didn't want to eat at Wendy's. (Their reasons were understandable and logical, since xnera had already eaten Wendy's twice recently, but made Lime and I more grumpy and out of sorts than we already were after the SHAZAAM adventure to get money.)
The local mall had a wing out that was labled, with a sign visible from the street as "Food Court". Lime claims that his last thought as we walked back into the Wendy's was "well at least it isn't the Food Court". Of course this was the logical place to go to for non-Wendy's food, or so you would think. I had my hopes up that there might even be a Chick-Fil-A. The mall was in most other ways quite busy for a sunday afternoon. However, when you walked into the food court it was dark, and akin to a tomb. Most of the slots for resturaunts were boarded up, with no apparent replacements there were no "coming soon" signs at all and several of the "space available" variety. There was one Aunt Anne's ish place that wasn't actually Aunt Anne's I don't think, but a wanna-be; there was a Chineese buffet where the food all looked days old, and ahh a Sbarro's. We flocked to the Sbarro's like moths to a light (and it was the most brightly lit) only to find that this particular Sbarro's had nothing available besides day-old looking pizza. No pasta, no breadsticks no nothing. We had pizza for lunch at Dana's.
At the end of the "food court" going into the rest of the mall there was a candy shop. After perusing the Mall directory, it was verified that there were indeed NO other spots for food in the entire mall. We went to the bathrooms, and headed back out, laughing because it was the only thing keeping us from crying or strangling each other.
A Burger King was spotted upon our departure from the mall. After a bit of delicate lane manuvering by Lime, we managed to end up in the Burger King parking lot. The Burger King was open, and we walked in, ordered our food and sat down to recover from the ordeal. Everyone was in much more cheerful dispositions after finally eating, and the rest of the trip from Dubuque to Rockford was uneventful.
No offense to dkw or her town which was delightful, but right now I belive myself, xnera, Vana and Lime, would all gladly sign any sort of Iowa Sucks! petition that was circulated.
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Chik-Fil-A would have been pretty cool - I've never been to one on account of the name. But now that I've got AJ's recommendation, I'll get to one next chance I have.
But only if I've lost some weight between now and then.
The weekend was fantastic. I can't thank everyone enough; it was exactly what Vána and I needed. We owe Dana and AJ lodging/free food and gas money, respectively, and I'm not gonna forget.
There were a lot of games and I'm glad I played 'em. I need to find more games to play that don't require a PC, anyway, and Munchkin, Chez Geek and Guillitine were all a blast to play. I also got a kick out of Aquire, but it'd be more difficult to play w/just two people.
Tom: I beat Karen at Ricochet Robots. I'm very proud of myself.
'Scene -It' was a lot of fun, but I felt that Bob's contributions to the visual questions of the game unbalanced things somewhat.
Thanks again for the great weekend!
Edit: Karen, thank you for letting me borrow your Firefly boxset. Just watched 'Our Mrs. Reynolds'... this is a great series.
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I should have told you to get gas before you left Radcliffe – I know there isn’t anything on hwy 20. Sorry guys.
Banna: yes, the pillow you describe is one of the two I have. I’ll try to figure out how cheaply I can get it to you. Sarah and Abby thank you a million times more for helping fix and finish their quilt.
Farmgirl: found your atlas. It was in the dining room and I hadn’t done a complete sweep there yet. Would you like me to send it, or were you serious about getting a new one?
I still have one unclaimed pillow and a sock!
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The pillow isn't that big of a deal. I didn't think I was going to get it but I was looking for an excuse to buy a smiliar pillow in a different brand. So maybe just next time we get together.
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Gee, my drives were pretty boring, I guess.
I saw a great big sign along the interstate for a tattoo parlor in the next town. So, what, people are driving along the interstate in the middle of nowhere and decide to make a detour for a tattoo?! I mean, I was bored, but not THAT bored...
And there was a tollbooth in Illinois or Indiana that had some interesting signs. First they said to slow up for the tollbooth. Then they said don't use breaks, as this was in a quiet zone. Then they said to "check brakes". Then I paid the toll. I'm not sure how one is supposed to pay a toll without using brakes. And what does "check brakes" mean, anyway?
I had a lot of fun this weekend. I had a hard time adjusting to all the people at Dana's after my solitary 8 hour drive, but that quickly passed. Everyone was just how I imagined them, although I hadn't really much of an idea of what Farmgirl would be like and I thought that Vana would be shorter, for some reason.
I enjoyed all the conversations and the games, although I guess I watched a lot more games than I played. Farmgirl described the weekend food and activities pretty well. I really enjoyed the church service, especially the readings, sermon, and AJ's piano playing and Vana's oboe playing.
It WAS a great weekend.
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"Tom: I beat Karen at Ricochet Robots. I'm very proud of myself."
As well you should be. I'm very impressed.
Although this raises an intriguing possibility: that at some point during the weekend, the real Karen was replaced with an imposter.
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dkw -- don't worry about the atlas, really. I would cost more to send it than for me to just buy a new one. Perhaps I'll pick it up from you when we go to Chicago, if I still want it then.
I imagine the sock is my daughter's since she has the habit of leaving socks everywhere -- when I can get her to wear them at all. But I'm not going to worry about that either. I wouldn't even know if it was missing -- we have so many unmatched socks in my house.
Theca -- the sign about brakes at the toll booth is directed toward semi drivers, not you. Semi trucks have "jake brakes" that reverse the engine that are quite loud. Basically it was telling truckers to not use their jake brakes, but to use and check their regular service brakes (the brakes on the wheels, on both the tractor and the trailer brakes) instead.
I forgot to mention the swan! DKW took this apple and made some very precise and unique cuts with a paring knife, and *presto* made a beautiful "swan" centerpiece for the relish dish. I was in awe. All weekend I felt like I was on one of those cruise ships where they have endless supplies of wonderful food day and night. (I have never been on a cruise ship -- just heard about it).
It's not that I'm a food fanatic -- it is just that I really admire people who have talents that I don't. Like artists -- people who can put wonderful things down with pen and paper -- because I can't do that. And with food -- so many people (like dkw) can make it into an art form, while I have always viewed cooking as sort of a chore and necessity, and just functional. So I voice admiration for people with these talents.
And I found lots to admire this weekend in all of you -- Tom's vast knowledge of all sorts of subjects; Theca's crocheting skills; BannaOJ's skill in quilting; dkw's cooking; etc etc. Quite a bunch we have. I'm so sorry that none of you got to see my skills <wink> but there were no lawns to mow or gardens to tend or landscaping to do, or animals to care for, or cars to be repaired. But I really do have skills! (playing that alchemy game was NOT one of them).
Hugs to all, Farmgirl
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Yeah...I saw the thing about the culinary swan and got all sad about killing a goose. I'd finally started to get over it, then the swan thing comes up.
There are birds massing outside my office window. What does that mean? They're all staring at me!!!
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Actually, familiarity with geese would give cause for concern in and of itself. Bob obviously hasn't had too much contact with geese or he wouldn't feel so bad.
At the best of times, they are aggressive, constantly pooping, ill-tempered, noisy flocks of feathered vermin.
Did I mention they are aggressive and ill-tempered?
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There were *tons* of geese that wandered around the campus where I went to seminary. One day during opening prayer for a class the woman leading the prayer went into a long, rambling thing about God “helping us to see ways to help people who are hungry and homeless, like maybe a way we could slaughter all the geese and use them to feed families who are hungry” . . . and on and on. The vegetarian members of the class were outraged, and even those of us who eat meat thought it was a pretty weird prayer. Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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It is so hard to stay in any sort of worship mode with long rambly prayers. I've heard some doozies in my time but nothing that tops your geese story!
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The scary thought is that this was just the idea she figured was okay to share in public. She hadn't even gotten to what she wants to do with Animal Shelters and orphanages.
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btw dkw, I have been meaning to comment on your sermon. I don't think you used the exact same language in the second service, but I know you used the term "dazzling darkness" in the first service.
There is a Madeline L'Engle book, A Ring of Endless Light, that talks about that. It quotes some famous poet or philosopher using that term and the theme runs throughout the book. Did you think of all of that when you were writing your sermon? And if so, who was that poet because I should read more of him.
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Tom -- what happened to that pic I saw you take of Karen with all the little RPG figurines in the foreground? I don't see that one up. I thought it would look real cool.
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That has to be one of the worste photos of me in existance. Thank you so much for sharing it with the world.
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I was planning on finding the book and looking it up, but my bookshelves are in such disarray at the moment it is hard to find stuff. I will be extremely happy when we get the library finished.
Though, right now with the weather being good we've started on the outside again.
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Hey everybody! I had a great time in Iowa, and enjoyed meeting everyone there! It was a lot of fun! I hope to see some more of you in Chicago later as well. It was good seeing all of you and learning about all the people my mother talks to all the time!
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Hey! Thanks! Well, hopefully I can pop in once in awhile, but I can't be around too much. Especially since I have to go to school again. Oh well. Plus I promised my mom I wouldn't be too nosy! Posts: 156 | Registered: Feb 2004
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That was as flat a drive across highway 20 as from Chicago to Champaign, IL. We were so relieved to make it to the Mississippi Valley where we started to have landscape again. *smile* There is something comfortable about cropland, but I love forests and river valleys.![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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