Though it was iffy, the weather cooperated for both the opening festivities on Thursday evening and the race and parade the following morning.  Fortunately, we were indoors (AC!) and didn't have to suffer the heat and humidity.

What is it about Iowan's...so free with their hugs?  We reaped the affection and complements from previous year's readers, anxious to pick up a copy of Stolen Genes-Stolen Children.  Along with the complements (thank you!) we heard the usual number of stories.  A big thank you to the organizers who make this event happen every year.

In particular, Patricia, originally from England, related her own tragic childhood experience.  The heavy bombing of London by the Luftwaffe forced her parents to farm her out, along with many other of London's youth, to an orphanage in the north.  When it came time to pick her up when things became safer, the orphanage matron convinced her mother that she didn't want to go home and preferred the orphanage.  Likewise, Patricia was told her mother didn't want her any more.  She didn't find her (blood) mother until much later in life, just before her mother died.  The same was true for her father.  We encouraged Patricia to take this story public, both to American and British television and in her own book.



Alicia and Katrina, tried playing my fiddle.  Alicia seemed a natural, but Katrina...a budding photographer, decided she still preferred her guitar.