Old Friends Are the Best

Historic Carrollton, Texas square.

Watering plants

Ever wondered how hanging baskets stay so healthy?

The House Within

The all-electric house was moved from Shawnee to inside the new Johnson County Museum and Heritage Center. I was curious to see how that looked. Here's a not-very-good photo of it. Once inside it, it looks the same as before. Fascinating.

Third Times the Charm?

For the third time in a week, our rain gauge is overflowing. Mother Nature is on a terror. At least Wednesday night's storm didn't include wind and power outages. Severe flooding though, including a record high off Indian Creek and 103rd (see below). Where I'm standing to take the photo is usually a trail and the edge of the creek is where the branches are. This is of course after it receded some as I'm not dumb enough to go looking for photos during a flood.

Happy Birthday to Stacy

Celebrating her birthday coming on Tuesday.

Calls Are Only a Quarter

This phone booth in the Westport Coffee House is a working phone booth. You have to buy a 25-cent token at the counter and you can only talk for 3 minutes but you can make a call.

Still Not Right

Not sure if the problem here is lack of attention to detail or a shortage of letters. But this is strike 2.

The Aftermath

The hellacious thunderstorm that descended upon us Saturday night about 10:00 left many downed limbs, widespread power outages and a few fallen trees. We were lucky. Our limbs missed the house leaving us with just the cleanup, which Overland Park was kind enough to provide a drop off for. And our power was only out for about six hours.

Rooftop Park

Cosentino's Market Downtown has a garden on the roof, including a train car and a dog park. A hidden gem.

Color Picker

I'm guessing these folks are trying to pick a new color for their home. See their decision below.

Spell Check, Please

Happy Anniversary to Ray and Mary Grace

Tomorrow would have been their 71st wedding anniversary.

Whizzo's Wonderland

Featuring Hayden. Part of the new Johnson County Museum. Since she and Stacy were on Whizzo, as was I, it seemed appropriate.

This Is Hunger

This tour by Mazon, a Jewish hunger initiative, was fascinating and enlightening. Contained in a double-wide trailer, it is designed to educate on the prevalence of hunger in America, encourage everyone to speak out on behalf of the 42 million Americans who struggle with hunger every day, and demonstrative that folks come from all walks of life and income levels before ending up hungry.

Three Trails West

Cindy and I took a walking tour of Westport by the Historic Kansas City Foundation. This map of the Santa Fe Trail, Oregon Trail and California Trail is in Pioneer Park at Broadway and Westport Road. The tour was partly to counter redevelopment that could threaten the area's historic character.

Maximum Clean

The kids at VBS got the lower two-thirds of my car really clean. We raised $600 to help pay for 100 pairs of the Shoe That Grows that we sent to Malawi with one of our members who is a doctor and was helping in a clinic.

A Royal Celebration

Summer fireworks at Kauffman Stadium enliven a summer night. Too bad the Royals didn't.

Me and My Peeps

My VBS class this week. Great kids. You might recognize one of the instructors in the mint green shirt.

Welcome Grace

Holly appears awestruck by an infant Grace. Happy Birthday to Grace today.

Patriotic Doodles

More fun driveway doodles.

Hidden Serpent

I discovered this delightful tiny fountain in a yard while I was on a walk. Not running but its intriguing.

Which One Wins the Prize?

Family Tree Nursery employees created containers for a competition. The pink flags were customer votes for honorable mention and the blue ones for ones they thought were winners.

Bridge of Freedom

Part of the Flags for Freedom display in Merriam.

Art Alley

Imaginative artists and graffiti writers constantly change the face of this alley in the east Crossroads Arts District. It's in the vicinity of 17th and Cherry and well worth seeing. A little hard to photograph because it's long and skinny.

Molten Sky

This is from the evening of July 4th but it is so cool that I'm posting it now. (Fireworks took priority previously.) It was as cool as the fireworks that followed.

In Step

July 1997 had quite a cast for the 4th of July extravaganza, even Mom got into the act in her hat. Seem to be extra children I don't know and they are not participating in the show. Not sure what's happening with Scott's pants, but that's nothing new.

Bursting in Air

Another successful July 4th holiday of fireworks.

Waiting

Waiting for the Fairway fireworks. Beautiful night.

An American Tribute

Always fun to see how people decorate for the holiday.

Welcome to the Market

The impressive entrance to the City Market.

Not Just the Flowers

Not just the flowers are colorful. The planter supports are very clever too.