Peckish Travels

It is always good, and a bit humbling at this age, to learn about something of which you were previously unfamiliar. One of the buildings that we had been encouraged to check out while in Des Moines was the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates building. Neither Bob nor I had heard of the building and it brought no clear picture to mind as to what it was about. Today, we took a free guided tour with Bob’s sister and brother-in-law (who did know about the building and its purpose) and about 10 others, to learn more about the building.

The building itself is architecturally attractive and interesting, and it served as the Des Moines Central Public Library from 1903 until 2003, when it underwent a nearly $30 million renovation to become the Dr. Norman E. Borlaug World Food Prize Hall of Laureates.

Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, a native Iowan, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his lifetime of work to feed a hungry world. Specifically, he created new wheat varieties that transformed agriculture production in the 1940s and ‘50s and later in Asia and Latin America, sparking what is now known as the GreenRevolution. Because of his work, he is known as the man who has saved more lives than any other person in history. Very impressive!

He felt strongly that the Nobel Committee should give a prize for work in food and agriculture because of its importance for humanity. Apparently, the Nobel Committee is not allowed to give a prize in that area, so Dr. Borlaug helped lead an effort to annually bestow the World Food Prize to recognize contributions in any field related to the world food supply. The first prize was awarded in 1986.

Bob and I have wanted to visit the Iowa capitol that we can see from our hotel. We were particularly interested in the law library, as we had heard how beautiful that was supposed to be. We decided today was the day to explore that part of Iowa’s capital city.

The current capitol sits atop a hill at the end of Locust Avenue. It was completed in 1886. It is topped by a 23 karat gold covered dome, which was most recently regilded in 1999 for approximately $482,000.

The public enters on the ground floor (basement) of the capitol and goes through a quick screening process. The information desk had a helpful brochure for self-guided tours.

The State Law Library of Iowa occupies the entire west wing of the second floor and contains over 100,000 volumes. The quote above the door, which is unfortunately way too relevant with the current administration, reads, “Where law ends, tyranny begins.”

After our tour of the capitol, we walked through the East Village, where I stumbled on a Free Little Library to change out a book, and on into downtown to catch the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Bob and I have been moving around the greater Des Moines area catching up on doctor appointments and unfortunately also fighting a stomach or viral bug as well. However, we’re both feeling 100% once again.

Currently, we are staying at a Residence Inn Hotel in downtown Des Moines. We arrived yesterday afternoon and will be here until Wednesday morning when we return to Ankeny for our second housesit. After that, we have back-to-back-to-back housesits in the area until almost the end of April, along with a few more doctor’s appointments and procedures and maybe jury duty as well.

Today we decided to get out and walk part of Des Moines’ impressive trail system. It was in the lower 30s F when we headed out, with feel-like temps in the 20s. We headed out along the River, eventually making our way to and around Gray’s Lake for about a 6 mile walk.

We initially crossed the Red Bridge over the river but ended up having to come back as construction had the trail closed on that side.

Bob and I wrapped up our first Ankeny housesit midday yesterday. We don’t often say this, but we were happy to go. The very energetic Flynn made us both feel our age. We did make a bit of progress with him in terms of understanding how to moderate his behavior a bit so are hopeful for a calmer sit when we return later this month.

We are currently spending 5 free nights at a Baymont Hotel that we have earned from our secondary hotel program. After stopping to pick up groceries, we were delighted to arrive at our large room to exhale before watching the Oscars (or at least part of it). I need to get my annual fix of gawking at gorgeous dresses. However, we were disappointed/dismayed/ frustrated to find that neither TV in our room could be properly controlled by the remote or the buttons on the units themselves. That is, they could turn on the TV and they could control the volume, but they couldn’t pull up the channel guide or change the channel. Even worse, the channels that they were stuck on were Fox News on one and some kind of auto racing or truck racing on the other. Two programs/channels we would never have voluntarily chosen.

Based on instructions from the front desk, we tried reprogramming both tvs to no avail. The nice young front desk person came up, and she also was unsuccessful. She sent up two of her compatriots. They managed to get one tv to ABC to watch the Oscars but then it was stuck there. Finally, this morning after 2 trips to the room the maintenance guy was able to get both units fully functional. With all the world events, this is obviously a very little issue, but it would have been a long 5 nights without any tv, especially as we couldn’t comfortably watch at our last housesit, as Flynn saw that as his playroom.

Anyhoo, today has been lovely. We ran a couple of errands and then got out on a nearby trail that Bob found for us to enjoy what may be the last decent weather day for a few days.

We walked a few miles of the 19 mile Great Western Trail that opened in 1992. We encountered 1 runner and a number of cyclists using the trail.

Yesterday, Bob and I arrived in Ankeny, Iowa, for the first of many short housesits and stays in Iowa to allow us to catch up on doctor’s visits and catch up with family and friends. To that end on Tuesday, Bob and I stopped at the Methodist Manor in Storm Lake, Iowa ( Bob’s home town) to visit with his mother, who is now living there.

We spent the night in Storm Lake, and then drove the 2 hours and 15 minutes to Ankeny, Iowa, to meet up with our homeowner about midday for a walk through before they left. We are currently caring for 2 pets, a dog, Flynn, and a cat, Sweet Pea.

We had a good visit with the homeowner and a manic intro to Flynn, who is a wild, energetic puppy. We were really worried last night, but have found that he behaves when we are in work or dinner mode, so sitting at the dining table on the computer or eating. If we are in the living room, he seems to feel it is full-on play time, so that has been more of a challenge. Sweet Pea, on the other hand, is well named, a sweet, docile kitty, who likes to rub against you but is wary of the boisterous Flynn.

We are only here until Sunday, but will have a longer sit here later in March.

On Sunday, Bob and I had a great short reunion with college friends when they returned from their son’s wedding in Florida. We then drove 3 hours to Omaha, Nebraska. Normally, we would stay in Plattsmouth, south of Omaha with Bob’s sister, however, she is currently in Arizona with her husband, so we’re staying in a Marriott Courtyard in downtown Omaha.

Omaha is a city of about 490,000 in the state of Nebraska. It is the most populous city in Nebraska. It lies along the Missouri River across from the state of Iowa. Bob and I loved walking around the downtown area today in 60 degree Fahrenheit weather. We saw some of the Old Market part of downtown as well as a number of parks and a great trail along the Missouri River.

Last Saturday, I completed my housesit in Austin, Texas, for our good friends and two of my favorite cats. I also was able to catch up with a number of friends, which is always nice.

My flight from Austin to Kansas City to reunite with Bob was luckily incident free, which unfortunately is becoming less common than I’d like. Bob met me at the airport and drove me to our current housesit, which he started on February 4th, in Prairie Village, Kansas, a lovely suburb of Kansas City. We are caring for the spunky, adorable Coco. She likes her walks and also being chased or playing with toys in the house.

Bob had already had snow since he’d been here, but in the past couple of days, we’ve received at least another 4 inches, and it’s also been accompanied by some bitter cold, as in subzero windchill. With the bitter cold and having our car in the shop for a bit, we’ve been pretty much homebound in our lovely borrowed home for the past few days, except for appropriately attired walks.

Bob and I flew to Austin last Friday to meet up with friends for whom I would be doing a housesit. We got in about 10am, so were able to have a great get-together with them in their new condo. They fled out Saturday morning for a ski trip to Lake Tahoe and then some fun in Utah. I am caring for Pancho and Lefty, two of my favorite cats.

On Sunday, Bob and I had brunch with one of our former fellow condo owner from our condominium. He and Bob served on the HOA board, and we’ve enjoyed keeping in touch with him, as he’s another smart person from Wisconsin, and he’s seen the world. He’s no longer traveling internationally, but he’s doing well, having visited over 130 countries. After brunch, Bob and I walked around downtown Austin to see the continued growth of our beloved former home.

Bob flew back Monday to start our concurrent housesit in Kansas City for former college friends. He is caring for a dog, Coco.

Last night, Bob and I went to the Indiana University Auditorium to see the national touring production of the musical “Come From Away,” the story of Newfoundlanders taking in over 7,000 passengers when the skies were shut down over the US following the 9/11 terrorist strikes. It was an uplifting story because it showed human community and compassion— quite the antidote for the current political times in the US.

The auditorium was built as a Federal Works Agency project during the Great Depression and completed in 1941. it is also home to Thomas Hart Benson’s “Century of Progress” murals.

Today, we drove about 25 minutes east of Bloomington to Nashville, Indiana. Nashville has a population of about 1,300, and is best known as the center of the Brown County Art Colony, which formed in 1907. It came to our attention when the local woman who cut my hair a couple of weeks ago mentioned it as a popular tourist spot.

We walked around the downtown shopping district. As a Tuesday in January, it was quiet.

We also drove out to Hard Truth Distillery, mostly because we liked the name. It’s a gorgeous property, but we didn’t do any tastings.

Bob and I went back to Indiana University today to visit the art museum on campus. The Eskenazi Museum of Art is the latest version of the university’s art museum, which was conceived in 1941. The current building, designed by I. M. Pei, was completed in 1982. It is triangular in shape, and a financial gift by Sidney and Lois Eskenazi allowed for a full renovation of the building in 2015.

The museum is free to visit and has a collection of over 47,000 works of art. Its collections include modern, American and European art from Medieval times through the 1900s, a collection of Indigenous art from around the world, and a film space.

The painting below is of Henry Redford Hope and his family by Max Beckmann in 1950. Mr. Hope was the Chair of the IU Fine Arts Department from 1941-1968. He also served as the American Advisor on cultural affairs to UNESCO in the 1950s. He and his wife Sally were collectors of art, especially modern, and their collection forms the basis of the museum’s modern art collection.

Samples from the Modern Art Collection are below.

One from the American and European Collection, much of which is religious based.

And some samples from the Indigenous Collection.

The film exhibit was a short, looped clip, which was part of a larger project by Walid Raad that documents Beirut in the mid-1990s when many downtown buildings were demolished.