Friends

We attended a reception at the Library this afternoon where a Daughter of Jacques and Ann Berger was recognized for having donated this "Friends" sculpture to the Library. It is located near the west door and fits in to the landscaping beautifully. We are all very proud of our Seward Memorial Library and this is one more feature that helps make it a community centerpiece. The Bergers were an old Seward Family and for years associated with an "Auto Shop" Business. Back in the days when automobiles had generators, they had the equipment and ability to "rewind them" which brought customers to town from miles around. The modern "Alternators" have changed all of that and their business has gone the way of many in our small towns. We knew the Bergers through the Church as well as through their business. Jacques was in Kiwanis and an early user of Ameritrade for stock market trades during his retirement years. In fact he was instrumental in getting me started with Ameritrade back in the early '90's. They were good people and this is a great memorial. Thanks

Politics

It takes a certain type of person to be a politician. On occasions, this is how I feel like I'm treated on the Seward City Council, and that's only a hint at what people must go through at the State and National level. I don't know why we can't have civil discussion  of the problems and agree on rational decisions. We really do pretty good at the local level and yet we are troubled by the need for everything to be discussed in open meetings. I long for the days when it was possible to get together on the golf course or over a beer and hammer out differences. What has happened to the "Art of Compromise". Our small coffee group is made up of fellows from both ends of the political spectrum and yet we are able to agree on many things and enjoy each others company. The public is bound to have negative impressions of all politicians when their opponents continue to hammer away at their weakness or make misstatements (if not lies) about their records. We would have more respect for our leaders if the media and opponents didn't trash them as they do. Probably none of them are as bad as their opponents would lead us to believe or as good as what they and their party tell us. And, we the voting public, get chewed up by the alligator. 

60 short years ago.

This picture was taken 60 years ago in the summer of 1952. Verlon would have been approaching his 2nd birthday and Tim was about 4 months old. Elaine was in the prime of her life but the old '41 Chevy was on it's last legs. There was very little traffic on the graveled East Bradford St.  and it never occurred to me that we were not legally parked when we were headed the wrong direction. This Chevy was my first car and was our family car until the folks got the new Fleetline Chevy in 1948. I had driven the '41 back to Virginia along with brother Don and 3 buddies early in 1948. Don, Ed and I also went to Chicago to see the Yankees play the White Sox and the Cubs play the Cardinals that same fall. It served us well.

Later in the summer of '52 we were able to trade-in the old '41 to Sahn Chevrolet for a "brand new" '52 Chevy 2-door. We were real proud of our 1st new car and of the fact that we were able to pay for it before driving away. We even parked it headed the right direction. Another item of interest is the TV antenna on the top of our little house. We were able to get 2 channels from Omaha and 1 from Lincoln with our Admiral set from the House of Davisson. We were the first of the SCS guys here in Seward to have TV. Jim, Dave and Clarence all came up to the house to watch Dr. Roger Bannister run the 1st 4 minute mile on live TV. It was a momentous occasion at the time. 

Black Walnut Trees

We were pleased to see our Walnut trees doing well as we checked on them last Friday. We planted 24 of them in the spring of 2009 , hauled out a lot of water the first year, put in a couple replacements the next year and were pleased to see that they are all alive and doing well. The trees are located next to Plum Creek and are on excellent soil. Those conditions have been what has helped them through the very dry summer we are experiencing. The planting is adjacent to the Hiker-Biker trail and the City crew has done a good job of keeping the area mowed. There is also a planting of Northern Pecans which Chuck planted at the same time but we didn't walk down the trail to see how they are coming. I refer to these as "our" trees even though they are located on City land and are considered a Chamber of Commerce-First Impressions project because Elaine and I were the ones that planted & tended them during their first couple years. 

Highlights

This is our book of "Highlights". At the end of each year I go back through my Daily Journal and briefly list what I consider highlights by month and date. When we started this summary some years ago, it took a while to "catch up" by going back through the early years. One big 3-ring binder contains the most important events to remember from the time I started keeping a 5-year Diary when I was 15 years old, through 2011. My criteria of items to be included has varied over the years.  For the first time this year, I am drawing a couple lines along the edge of the page every day of special events as I enter them. The number of pages to cover a year has varied from 2 to 8 . The book is really an "index" to all of my Diaries and Journals. If it were necessary to grab only one item to save if the house was on fire, this book would be it. It should be in a safety deposit box down at the Bank and then I could save this computer. 

Elaine and Phlox

Here is Elaine with a clump of Phlox  in our back yard. The first time I took a picture of Elaine standing by some blooming Phlox was a year or so after we were married and she was pregnant with our first child. We lived in a little furnished apartment over on east Lincoln Street here in Seward. The Maltby's who lived in the house with the apartment had a lovely garden where the Phlox was blooming. A lot of water has flown down the Big Blue River between the time of the two pictures. But, the water in the river was flowing at a minimal level as we crossed it today. The farmers who irrigate out of it have been shut off unless they were among the earliest permit holders. We had gone to Goehner for the 125th anniversary of the village where the Kitones sang as part of the celebration. After our concert, we toured the Seward County Museum there in Goehner and went through the 1906 Gottlob and Anna Eberspacher house which has been restored and is part of the exhibit. It was an interesting afternoon. 

Neil Armstrong

The announcement of Neil Armstrong's death today and pictures of his being the first man on the moon on July 20, 1969 caused me to see how I recorded the event at that time. "We went to late Church. Aldrin and Armstrong landed on the moon about 4:00pm. They are to get out and walk on the moon in just a few minutes (10:15), "  I noted the following day that we stayed up till 1:00am watching the moon walk. Tim was out in Lincoln for UN-L Freshman orientation. A few days earlier Tim and I had gone down to JFK, sat in upper deck box seats and watched the Senators beat the Yankees both games of a double header. We didn't get home till 6;20. A few days later Jon ran into a car with his bike and needed 9 stitches in his forehead at the Alexandria Hospital emergency room. Verlon was working in Richmond and thinking of joining the Navy. Laurie flew back to Baltimore with Tim following his orientation and we took them to the White House to see Nixon and the visiting German Chancellor Kissinger. My promotion to Assistant Director of Personnel for SCS was being processed. Jon decorated the basement for  Carolyn's 16th birthday. I took Elaine to Trader Vic's for her 39th birthday.  It was a busy time in our lives.