Janet's Blog

Our recent rains have produced some green grass at last. Thank you, God! I was walking on the path that borders the east edge of Scottsbluff National Monument, just at dusk. It was a beautiful evening for a walk, still hot, but somewhat cooler since the sun had dropped behind the Monument. A soft, southeast breeze kept me comfortable as I moved briskly along the path. My first glimpse of the carnival, in the distance. As I headed south, back towards my car, I spotted a light, flashing in the distance. At first, I wasn't sure what I was seeing. The blinking light reminded me of a police car's light bar, but it was the wrong color. As I walked along, I began to notice other lights twinkling on the far side of the alfalfa field--hot pink and green, blue and yellow. Then, it dawned on me: it was the Oregon Trail Days carnival, set up at Red Rocks on the southeastern edge of town. I haven't been to a carnival in years, not since our kids were quite small. As an adult, I find car...

When I was a little girl living in Norfolk, Nebraska, I used to meet Aunt Marilyn in the park that was situated just over the Elkhorn River bridge, about halfway between her house and mine. Marilyn is just four years older than I am, so we were raised more like cousins than aunt and niece. We loved to play in that park; we especially loved the wide slide. So when Marilyn told me, not too long ago, that the playground had been demolished to make way for a new and better park, I was a little skeptical. While we were in Norfolk recently for a family reunion, I asked Bill to drive by the park so I could take a look. The change was so dramatic that Bill and I walked all over the new park. It had been turned into a river walk! When Marilyn and I played in the park so long ago, we weren't really aware that the park bordered the river, because it wasn't at all accessible to the park. But now! A new, wide biking and hiking path borders the river, even crossing the river with a new foot ...