Nottingham England, Home.
It's cold, rainy and misty. I woke up at 06:30 with a voice screaming "SACRED GARDEN" in my head, or in my dream. We got up at 07:55 so that Drew Curtis and I would beat everyone else to the showers. After a breakfast of toast, peanut butter and jams, Drew Curtis, John, and I walked to City Center to find a game store for Shadow Running. We could not find it on Station Street. We walked back along the canal. It started raining on the way home. When we got back, I ate a lunch of cheese and toast and an apple. We climbed on the bus for a tour of Nottingham with David Faldet as our tour guide. After the trip around Nottingham, seeing Wollaton Park, the two Universities and the Dovecote in Beeston, we headed for the last remaining stand of Sherwood Forest. We saw Major Oak and nothing much else, except a tourist trap. We came home and ate soup. Drew Curtis, Christy, Eve, and I cleaned the dishes.
That night there was a jumble sale in the church hall, which is our downstairs classroom. I bought combat boots for 10p. Then we had a meeting and I washed a load of whites. Now I've studied and it is time for bed. I love it here. Having a home and friends to live with is fun. I will sleep now. Goodnight.
1993
Harvest Farm Campground, Cresco, IA
We woke in the Airstream, and I started making pancakes while Rachel played with and watched the kids: Ole, Elyse, and Franceilia. Buck was also making breakfast for a lot of people, and he shared coffee, eggs, and meat with us. Before noon, the campground renters with the canoes and kayaks came to pick us up, and we loaded our canoe, Sara and Ryan's kayaks, and various others from the group and their canoes and kayaks and we headed down the dusty gravel road in Sarah's red S-10 Chevy. Mark decried the horror of Monteverdi as we rode. When we arrived, we were the first canoe in the water, and we paddled onward. The rest joined, and for the next 5 hours, we made our way down the Upper Iowa River. When we reached the landing for Harvest Farm, pulling the canoe out of everyone else's way, I got the Mercedes from the campsite, which was on top of a steep hill from where we landed, drove it down to wait for the others to unload, and Rob helped me put it up on the SUV.
We went to the campground, where Rachel began cooking Slopping Joe's for everyone, as there was a big pot-luck planned between the 20 or so in our group. There was a wine tasting for Empty Nest Winery in the barn there, and my usual click went over to try a few. I walked back to see if I could play any games after the second little shot of wine. The kids were played volleyball, and we joined in for a bit, but the court was so wide, there were rarely any returns and it took too long to get the ball each time it bounced out. Around the campfire, they were listening to a Hawkeyes/Cyclones game, and so there was no music until that dragged on to a Hawkeye win. I was exceedingly tired at this point, so I rested for a little on a cot, and then convinced Rachel and Frida to drive back tonight and I would come for the Airstream tomorrow and have breakfast and break camp with the others. After it started raining in earnest, we drove home through Harmony, stopping by the farm to drop off my canoe. I stayed up long enough to do a few hours of work on the Deco computers.
2013
We drove to Winona to pick up Jacob and then on to Read's Landing along the Mississippi for lunch with Craig and Gayle. We met up again in Minneapolis at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis for "The Book of Mormon" musical on tour. We arrived early, so we went to Solera next door for drinks and dessert. I had a drink called "Running with the Bulls" and a Sazerac, and Churros with hot chocolate for dessert. The show was so great, and well worth the long day trip. It was wonderful, funny, and amazing in every way. We were so impressed by the cast. This was there final performance in Mpls.
2014