Me, flanked by my Uncle Luman and Aunt Sharon, who hosted and toured me around for 8+ days. They live in Cedar Rapids, IA.

Our Dad's cousin, Ed and his step-mother, Violet at their home. We briefly stopped and met them on the way from and a week later, back to, Chicago's O'Hare Int'l.

The front of their home. From the street it looks like a one-story. Their basement floor is the same size as the upper floor and has a walk-out to the backyard.

Luman & Sharon's back yard (vegetable garden is center to the right).

Looking down the left side of it.

Another shot looking down their back yard area.

Shot from the side back corner of the house.

Their Granny Smith Apple tree - no fruit this year but most years, yes.

Their back equipment shed which sits behind what I (think) is an Ornamental Chinese Corkscrew tree. This tree was passed down to Luman as a cutting off the original. He in turn, has given cuttings to many people off it through the years.

(Most) of their vegetable/fruit garden.

Closer view. Raspberries are the taller plants in the back.

The flower garden at the crest of the slope near the back patio. Their Peonies took a beating the night before with the heavy rains.

Same with their Iris.

A headstone for Sharon's twin who died at birth. It's in one of Luman & Sharon's flower beds at their home.

Standing near their vegetable garden, looking back up towards their house.

Closer shot of it.

Closer view still, to show their 3 bird feeders.

Back patio area.

A casualty we found. This is what you get when you keep your windows so clean - the birds fly right into them. (Sharon had just cleaned their windows the week before.)

A (tiny) birdnest in one of their shrubs.

Luman, his son, Steve, and Steve's family the day after my arrival.

Steve's son, Dennis, who is a junior high athletic coach, standing by his awesome restored Corvair.

Luman and their good family friend, another Lisa.

Looking out to see Steve's backyard/deck at their home. The son must take after his father in landscaping.

A portion of Steve's basement floor in their home. Wow!!!

The mausoleum where Luman's first wife's ashes are inturned. Since I'd never been in a mausoleum before, I took several pictures from inside. I'm not morbid but thought it was a beautiful place.

Wall where Luman's first wife has a "drawer".

Looking past a sculpture down a long hallway of cripts.

A different wall of those who wanted the urns visible.

Looking out a window of the mausoleum at part of the cemetary grounds that surround it.

Half of the crowd that came out to watch the steel drum band's "concert in the park", despite the threat of rain, and it did start sprinkling part way thru the concert.

Most of the steel drum band. Luman's granddaughter plays in the back dark area - other shots of her later that I went around back to take.

Here's Michelle (Steve's daughter). You only see 2 of the (really) 7 55-gallon drums that are set up in a semi-circle around her that she plays all of. Each drum makes at least 3 different notes.

Close up.

At New Horizon's band rehearsal. This is a national organization that has bands in cities all across America of people 50 years old or more, combining their skills at instrument-playing to play local community concerts. This band had about 35 musicians, of which Luman and Sharon are 2 of.

Sharon looking for the next music sheet. She hasn't played Clarinet since high school until 3 years ago when they got involved with this group.

Luman on his French Horn. He was in the same boat as Sharon - not playing since high school although he taught high school band students for many years.

A portion of Coe College in Cedar Rapids where their band rehearsal was.

Steeple from the church on that campus. I have quite a few pictures of churches from this trip. They just looked different than what I'm used to in the parts of the country I've either lived or now live in.

The indoor tennis courts, 6 courts in all.

Sharon & Luman during the first set. They play in a weekly seniors' tennis league. I sat and watched them play 3 sets of tennis, non-stop - 2 hours in all. Wow, was I exhausted, just watching them!!! :)

Just Sharon.

Just Luman.

I went with Luman for his every-6-month check-up at the VA Hospital. This scene was looking out the VA Hospital windows in Iowa City, IA.

Another shot looking to the right out the same window.

The "capitol" building in Mt. Vernon, IA.

A church in Mt. Vernon, IA.

Another church, same town.

The old downtown of Mt. Vernon.

Another church in Mt. Vernon.

A shot of Cornell College's name marker. This was the college that both Luman and my Dad attended.

Photo looking across the campus lawn.

The church where my Dad married his first wife - it's on the Cornell Campus. (My Mom was his 2nd wife.)

Inside that same church.

Same church. A very old "lift" chair to get from the ground floor up to the second floor.

One of the older "dorm" buildings on campus. Luman said he used to go to a specific room on the 3rd floor for meals which (prepared by the female students) as part of his "room & board tuition. Back then it served as what colleges today call cafeterias.

As we were walking around the campus we came across, (amazingly to me), a different steel drum band practicing. Before my trip, I'd never even heard of a steel drum band and within just a few days, got to see 2 different college ones performing.

Inside Luman & Sharon's home church during Wednesday night's Choir practice.

Chris, Luman and Dale (Chris' Dad). A very nice family I was introduced to that we have a lot in common with.

Their Choir practicing in the Choir loft.

Half-way thru practice they shifted down to their Choir Room to practice a very fast-paced upcoming African anthem, sung in the dialect - too hard for me but they sounded wonderful! (Sharon's in the Choir; Luman used to be for years but recently decided his voice was no longer choir-worthy).

New Horizon's performance for third graders at a local elementary school. They were introducing these young students to various instrument types/sounds obtained while playing.

Closer view.

Just Luman & Sharon after the concert. They were standing mid-point on a bridge above the Cedar River that flows thru downtown Cedar Rapids.

Sharon's daughter and 3 grandchildren added to our photo group. They drove from 90 miles away to see the school performance, meet me and share dinner with us.

A look at the Cedar River overflowing it's banks in downtown Cedar Rapids on the day it crested. It's normally a shallow, gently-flowing river with large boulders visible out in the middle.

Sharon & Karla, playing duets together.

Joshua & Emily reading while the piano plays background music.

A country-style restaurant in the township of Amana, IA. It's a German town with lots of quaint shops and restaurants. This restaurant literally brings you a breakfast "buffet" to your table when you order the "country breakfast". Too much food and unfortunately, it's all too good.

One of the shops in Amana, obviously a clock shop.

In one of the furniture shops they had a very large selection of grandfather and cookoo clocks. Here's a few photos. Their wood furniture was absolutely amazing as well and you could go and view their production area where they make it on-sight.

A (very expensive) cookoo clock but very large and beautiful.

A different shop.

Luman & Sharon's back yard. It's hard to see him, but Luman (who's 82) is mowing the back yard. He's visible if you enlarge this - just coming out of the tree line to the right of the dark (uncut) strip down the middle. Their total lot is about 1.5 acres and it's ALL landscaped!

A better shot of him. It (only) takes him about 4 hours to mow their entire yard ...!!! He's the one who maintains most of their flower & vegetable gardens and lawn. Pretty amazing.. if only mine could look a fraction of how nice his are.

Luman shortly after coming inside from mowing all afternoon. Can you tell someone recently brought him a present from Texas???

Luman & Sharon.

Sharon's cat, Libby, the night before we left. They said that everytime they get a suitcase out to go somewhere, Libby always gets in it. He didn't fail to do it this time either.

In Genoa, IL, we saw many graves of Colton's & Pratt's, who I'm a descendant of.

My grandparent's headstone.

A family buried together.

More relatives and my Dad and Luman's cousin Bob who's not buried yet but has his headstone ready, waiting for a deceased date to be added whenever his time comes.

Ellen, my cousin-once-removed, heading to the back of the cemetary's chapel. The patio area in back was created by her family in memory of her brother, who was killed in the war. His was the headstone on the left in the previous picture. She and Bob are brother/sister.

A marker for her brother alongside the paved patio of the previous photo.

Luman & Sharon in Ellen's "ballroom" addition to their home. It looks out on one of the fairways of a golf course that makes up part of their backyard. They hosted us overnight and we had a wonderful time but too much wonderful food! :))

Ellen's husband, Jerry in the same room, opposite end.

Their gorgeous living/dining/kitchen area.

Looking out past their deck at their backyard golf course fairway.

Us around their dinner table. Ellen & Jerry's daughter (Denise), my second cousin, is behind Sharon with her Mom at the end. Luman accidentally got cut out of the picture. My birthday was the day before and Sharon's was in a few days so our desserts had "something special" on top.

(L-R): Me, Ellen, Luman (who are cousins to each other), Denise and Sharon just before we ate dessert.

Donna, another second-cousin-once-removed to me. We stopped briefly at her lovely home enroute to taking me to Chicago's O'Hare Int'l airport for my return trip and shared coffee together around a table full of friendly faces.

A typical farm near the city.

A typical farm in Iowa. They looked different in style than what I'm used to so my camcorder has LOTS of farms on the footage I filmed while there.

A view of the flooded Cedar River outside Cedar Rapids.

Going across another bridge and seeing more flooding.