Our House

Our cozy front room








The other side of our cozy front room








Our dining room










Our cozy kitchen

More of our front room.

Thought I would post some pictures of our cozy little home. I think cozy sounds better than tiny or small home. I can stand on my kitchen rug and sweep the whole floor - not a bad thing at all. Takes Bill but minutes to mop the floor and possibly 1-1/2 minutes to vacuum the front room. Leaves us more time on the weekend to have our adventures.

The Plazas

Today for our Saturday adventure we visited two of Kansas City's plazas. The first one was the Crown Plaza which is Hallmark Card's corporate headquarters. It was really fun to see all the stuff over the years that they have done and how things are made. We then hopped over to the Country Club Plaza, which is fantastic. There was an art fair going on so we need to go back another day to check out all the great statues, architecture, fountains, etc. There was about a bazillion people and hard to check anything out. The art fair was kind of fun, though. Couldn't afford anything but it was fun to look. The fountain picture and the statue picture are from Country Club Plaza and the other one is me looking grouchy at the Hallmark visitor's center. I wasn't really grouchy, I really enjoyed the tour, especially the Christmas trees! When we came home we were going to check out Historic Liberty Square here in Liberty but we were hot, tired and by then grouchy so stay tuned for the Square on another day. It's Bill's turn to choose the next adventure so we'll see what happens and where we go.

Discovering the Steamboat Arabia

Today Bill and I went to explore the "The Treasure of the Steamboat Arabia". This is a museum built to house the treasure found when the old steamboat Arabia was excavated in 1988. The steamer was bound for Council Bluffs when it hit a tree snag and sank. No human lives were lost - just a mule whose owner left it tied to the railing below deck. (The excavators have named the old mule Lawrence - a play on words). It was found in a corn field 42 feet under the earth - The Missouri's course moved and left it under a lot of mud and underground water. When excavated its cargo was nearly intact. The people who found it decided to house it in a museum rather than selling it off and it is a tremendous thing to see. They have been restoring things for 20 years and have 15 to 20 years more to go to restore everything. It had over 200 tons of cargo and most of it was still intact. It was exciting to see all the things that were important to people in the 1850's. My favorite things were the buttons and the dishes. Bill's favorite was all the displays - especially the tools and hardware and clothing. This is a must see for all of you who are coming out to visit. I'm making a list of great and fun things to do so we can keep you busy. We went for BBQ on the way home and all in all it was a fun, fun day.

A 150-year-old antique, also an old boat!

Exploring we will go***

We are now at our first full week here in Liberty and have already had a grand adventure. On Friday Bill announced that he had a little project at work he had to do on Saturday - is anyone who knows Bill surprised at this - and asked if I wanted to go along. Well, the project turned out to be a trip to Tulsa (that's in Oklahoma) and is a short 4-1/2 hour drive from here. We left at 3:30 a.m. and headed out. I slept most of the way and it rained torrents most of the way - fun Saturday activity I was thinking. Bill got his business taken care of (its still raining torrents by the way) and we went in search of lunch. A few years ago we met up with David (our grandson) his wife Lauren and their new baby, Mikayla at a restaurant named Cheddars and so we wanted to go there. We were able to find it and have lunch - it was fun reminiscing about seeing David, Lauren and meeting Mikayla for the first time. Bill said he remembered how good the shrimp was - I remembered the baby. Bill said he remembered where we sat - I remembered the baby. You get the picture. Anyway, we headed back (its still raining torrents). Coming back we found signs for the "Precious Moments" Chapel. On a whim we stopped to see what that was all about. Bill took a nap in the truck while I toured the Precious Moments Chapel - does that surprise anyone who knows Bill? Bottom line it was a lot of fun - a site to go see when all you guys come to visit. Note to Erin: I got a new "Precious Moments" nativity. We jumped back on the freeway only to find it closed at the next exit. When we got off there were no signs to say where to detour so we had a nice tour of rural Missouri while we tried to find a way back to the freeway. Its hard to get direction when the sun is covered and we went quite a bit East before we realized we were on the historic Route 66 and it went EAST not NORTH which is where we needed to be going. There was a lot of flooding and we supposed that was why the freeway was closed. End of story is that we eventually found North and the freeway and our way home. It was an adventuresome day and I am grateful to have seen the Precious Moments Chapel!

Saying goodbye, going away, seems like goodbye's such a hard thing to say.
Touching our hands, wondering why, it's time for saying goodbye.
Saying goodbye, why is it sad? Makes us remember the good times we've had.
Much more to say, foolish to try, it's time for saying goodbye.

Somehow I know, we'll meet again

Not sure quite where and I don't know just when
You're in my heart, so until then

It's time for saying goodbye.
~written by Ralph
Burns and Jeff Moss

We are pioneers - If you please

1. Loading the wagon

2. Dick (the wagonmaster) and Bill tethering the horses

3. Eastward Ho

This past weekend Bill and I started a new adventure in our lives - we moved to Missouri. We felt a bit like the pioneers starting out into the unknown - but we went East instead of West. We have made a few major moves in our lives but this one for me was the hardest! Again, I felt a little of what the pioneers must have felt as I sorted through my stuff deciding what I could take and what would have to be left behind as we are moving to a small apartment. The hardest of all, though, was leaving family and friends behind - lots of tears were shed and are still being shed as I sit in my little apartment wondering what on earth I am doing in Missouri. However, I know that Bill and I are supposed to be here and it will be an adventure finding out why. This morning I have been unpacking pictures and of course every one of them brings new tears as I am missing my family terribly. I am grateful for email, long distance phone service and airplanes. Hopefully, we will get some visitors - anyone who comes through Kansas City (actually we are in Liberty) had better stop in and say hi!