Flying Kites

On Saturday Janille and I headed out for a date and an afternoon of fun. Over the last 3 years I had been under the somewhat accurate impression that Abilene was in the middle of nowhere Texas and that there was nothing to do here. Over the last semester I’ve discovered that this is not necessarily the case. While Abilene is a small town there are a number of activities, organizations, and opportunities to have some good times. One of these happens to be the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature. Although it’s not very big it’s free and when you’re in college that’s a big bonus. They feature 3 or 4 artists/writers a year and have an excellent display. The featured artist when we went was Ashley Bryan. He has illustrated several books of African poetry, African American folk tales, and several picture books. We spent more than an hour looking through the exhibits and the store. Unfortunately we don’t have any pictures of the museum itself but we might go back to see their other exhibits so stay tuned.

Looking at picture books is hungry work so, having finished with the museum, we went to a local park in Abilene where had a picnic lunch we had prepared that morning. It was a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful, warm, and the sky was clear. Janille’s mom had also given us 2 kites over Easter weekend and we had those with us as well. I can’t remember if I have ever flown a kite before but if I had it was a long time ago. It was a lot of fun. While we were there we met a couple kids who asked if they could play with the kites too. We said “of course!” and spent the next hour or so playing with them. We finished off the day by heading down to Coldstone and having some ice-cream and finished up season 3 of lost.



Although I’m still convinced there isn’t too much to do here in Abilene, and I’m trying to space my date ideas out a little bit, I’ve found that there actually is culture, fun, and enjoyment to be had in this small Texas town. Of course having someone to do it all with helps immensely and that was definitely the greatest part of the whole day.