Monday, October 8, 2007

Seward, NE--Home of Spirea and Pyramids

You'd think a town with such an unfortunate name would settle for the implication it stinks. Although I simply drove around in it not stopping to stretch my legs, I'd like to go back and stay a while.

I went to Seward, 30 minutes wnw of Lincoln, to find a small nursery that had a few Spirea Mellow Yellow (Ogon) left (and 30% off!)--no one in Lincoln has any. Though the nursery was unimpressive compared to what I'm used to, any town that has a poem painted on the long wall of the first main building at the first stoplight gets applause from me. The poem was by Bill Kloefkorn--think he's still and has always been the NE state poet laureate (since 1982).

What a charming small midwestern town, at least what my idyllic senses impose on the place. It's home to a roman catholic seminary (and I did see nuns walking downtown, so maybe it IS a conservative town... what, in NE?). I know Concordia University is there and is a religious school; by the way, very small and confusing campus. http://www.sewardnebraskatourism.com/attractions/stgregory.htm

The city courthouse and town square was cool and surprisingly architectural: http://www.sewardnebraskatourism.com/attractions/courthouse.htm.

And I drove by a big white concrete pyramid, I assume built by the great Corn Pharaohs of the 1940s. Turns out it's the world's largest time capsule: "Seward is home to the World's Largest Time Capsule, a 45-ton, 20-by-8-by-6-foot concrete vault filled with some 5,000 relics, remembrances and reminders. Dedicated on July 4, 1975, the brainchild of the late Seward writer and historian Harold Davisson is scheduled to open in 2025." http://www.sewardnebraskatourism.com/attractions/timecapsule.htm. Thank you Egyptians for ruining the midwest.

The library looked SWANKY. I don't know if this is because Sewardians (?) appreciate learning and education or if that's what they want you to think. Either way, it's a pleasant downtown, but I had to get home to plant bulbs, a Spirea, and oh, a Black Lace Elderberry. "I don't wanna talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper! Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelled of elderberries!" (use French accent)

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