Wednesday, July 14, 2010

As a picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words, I figure that my only real hope of giving my readers any idea of what we're doing here in the USA lies in posting some photos.

First of all, no visit to the USA is complete without an enormous fiberglass animal statue, such as the World's Largest Holstein Cow up in North Dakota....or the slightly smaller, but no less beloved Giant Chicken of Lincoln, Nebraska.
This big guy roosts in the parking lot of a very popular local restaurant. Lee's has been around forever and some of my earliest memories involve eating there with my whole family. Grandpa Augie would invariably tell me to go over to ask the organist to play 'Love Letters in the Sand' and he'd give me a quarter for her big glass tip jar.
I must have done it dozens of times over the years, but I was always SO embarrassed...

It's not much to look at, but it was fun to take my kids to visit...and eat some of that amazing chicken!
Here's my mom and Tya at the bar:

(If you blow up the photo and look to the right of Tya, you can see that the organ is still there and the tip jar still sitting right on top of it)

But my home state of Nebraska is about so much more than Lee's fried chicken and old Pat Boone songs.
It's also about college football.
And, more specifically, college football merchandise:
Yes, the Huskers reign here and their insignia is to be found everywhere, on everyone, at all times. If you want to blend in here, all you have to do is wear a University of Nebraska t-shirt. It's a kind of uniform. As you can see, though, we haven't quite got that mastered yet and Tya's Goth wear kind of stands out like a sad, dark and mournful sore thumb...

We end up spending a lot of time in stores. When we're not looking at books and clothes, we're mostly to be found shopping for food. And when we do so, usually Tya grabs my camera, recruits her brother and heads off to document the fascinating world of the American supermarket. She seems particularly fascinated by the huge quantities and has quite a number of photos of Sev holding jumbo-sized containers of just about everything a person could want to eat.
For example:
They seem to have a good time, though the other shoppers aren't quite sure of what to make of them...

I have lots more photos and lots more to say about our trip. I just hope I can find the time to post them and do some more writing. I miss my blog!

7 comments:

Heidi said...

You should take them to Costco, if bulk sizes are the goal...

Joy said...

And your blog readers miss you, too!

As much as "they" say one can never go home again, it is nice to know that some things, like tip jars on organs, never change. :) Enjoy the rest of your travels!!

The Pliers said...

Life in France had me by the shorthairs while you were sneaking out of town so I missed saying a heartfelt "Bon voyage!" to you and the whole family.

I love the photos and think that Tya looks sophisticated in her basic black ensembles. When I was growing up in Oklahoma I had a horror of huge containers of food because they symbolized the "commodities" that were issued to the poor families, such as ours, to feed their children––bricks of Velveeta, vats of peanut butter, bag-of-cement-sized holders of mashed potato flakes (just add hot water).

Congratulations on having made it and getting to show the kids around the scenes of your growing up. At my Uncle's in OKC, it's Jimmy's Diner!

Your blog misses you, too.

Have fun!

Great photos!

Momma Bee said...

I'll see your Big Chicken and raise you https://www.student.gsu.edu/~nnelson3/hometown.html

Only 6 miles from my house!

oreneta said...

I adore the mental image of Goth Tya and Sev wandering the aisles exclaiming over stuff and taking photos....LOVE IT

Anonymous said...

How great to see these pictures and hear about your visit! I used to love going up to the organist at Lee's. Do you remember the lady who was blind that played the organ? It's nice to see they haven't remodeled the place since we were kids!!!

Pardon My French said...

The jumbo-sized containers of food amaze me now -- it's odd how I forget (and then quickly readapt). It's the little things, like free access to shopping carts. And not only that, but the fact that shopping carts come equipped with seat belts for small children. Then there are the complimentary disinfecting wipes for the handle...