Heading for Iowa

We are leaving in the morning to visit with Cece and Al. Those of you that don't know them they are former sister and brother- in-law but now very special friends. Cece is to have a cancerous kidney removed this next Wednesday and please keep her in your prayers that the surgery will be successful. She has already had two surgeries since last February. They live in Nevada which is about 8 miles east of Ames. Some of you "Iowans" might remember the little town. Kathie and Calvin drove up last week end for a visit and had a great time. Am not looking forward to the long drive but know that we need to make the trip. We met up with Kathie, Calvin, Emily, Derek and Stratton this evening for "Homecomers" which must be like Donna's Pioneer Days. People were standing in a long line to pay $15.00 for a "ride bracelet" and it wasn't moving very fast. After living in Cape for 42 years neither John nor I had ever been there. They used to hold it in mid August but when schools started opening earlier they moved it to July. Was a nice evening and so there were lots of people and just wonder where they all came from. My friend Mary and I did a "road trip" today. Went to the little town of Altenburg which is very German Lutheran. They have a wonderful museum that was built from monies received from a man in the town who never married and was a banker. They have many wonderful displays and the neat thing is that the lady who is the curator keeps the displays changing. Earlier in the spring they had a wonderful quilt display and now it is of aprons that belonged to women in the area. Most were from the 40's and 50's. Some interesting fancy ones that were made for wedding receptions that the servers wore. Also there were some great old German recipes. They had a bad wind storm about 6 weeks ago and blew the steeple off the church. The church dates back to1867 so there is lots of history in this little town. We have been on tours of the little country churches at Christmas time and they are so pretty. So even in Southeast Missouri we have lots of history. Try us sometime. You'll like it.