Celebrating Libraries and History

Last Friday I traveled to Iowa to join Mary Conneally and Lorna Seilstad for a talk at the Sac City, Iowa, library to help some of their readers celebrate National Library Week. The three of us had a wonderful time. Put authors together in a car and time passes quickly. We arrived a bit early as the sweet librarian had sent us brochures about some of the sights we might want to see in their community. I enjoyed a delicious bowl of chicken tortellini soup at the local eatery, but I forgot to take a picture so you’ll have to use your imagination. Sac City is the home of the world’s largest popcorn ball. It’s in an enclosed building with a glass window. We only got the “window view” since the Museum Village where it is located, wasn’t open on Friday. In case you’re interested, the popcorn ball weighs 5,000 pounds and is 28.8 feet in circumference and stands 8’4” high. Personally, I would call it a popcorn egg—it’s more oval than round. That fact aside, that’s a LOT of popcorn!

Even though the Museum Village wasn’t open, we weren’t deterred. We did a lot of window-peeking and snapping pictures. That's Mary with me above left. The buildings are small reproductions, but the antiques inside are originals. From our peek through the windows, I would have enjoyed seeing a lot of them up close and personal—which means a return to Sac City may be in order sometime in the future.

Sac City is also known for its barn quilts. There are barn quilts on small Morton buildings, garages, and, of course, big old barns. We enjoyed driving around the county seeing how many we could find. And guess what else we found? Sheep! Since I’ve done so much research about sheep for my next Amana book, I couldn’t resist snapping a picture of these two. They seemed as though they were posing for the perfect photo, don’t you think?

By the time we completed our sightseeing, it was off to the library to meet Brandi Ledfor, the director. After each of us gave a talk and answered questions and answers, we had the opportunity to visit and enjoy refreshments with a wonderful group of ladies who love Christian fiction.

On the way home, we stopped in Onewa, Iowa to take a look at the museum complex. That's Mary and Lorna in front of a restored Chicago and Northwestern railroad depot that houses more than 800 items of railroad memorabilia. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open either, but that didn’t stop us. Once again, we peered into windows, snapped pictures, and decided this was yet another reason for a return trip.

The winner of the three-in-one Broadmoor Legacy is Liz R. Congratulations, Liz. I'll be emailing you in the next couple days for your mailing address.

May you find joy as you explore history. ~Judy