A Beautiful Survivor

These lovely blooms were peaking out of overgrown landscaping. I can't grow a clematis for anything but this one is persisting through neglect.
 

Sometimes You Wonder

I see this and wonder ... is this something affected by the storms or is it an art installation that I don't understand.
 

Sneak Peek

Lowell and Vala got to see a rehearsal of the Indian Hills Middle School production of "Newsies." Hayden is assistant director so she let us watch. A chorus member talked with the girls and we got copies of The Banner, the newspaper the Newsies produced.

Near Miss

This huge branch missed the house by a hair. Fortunately, too, the car was in the garage. We have a love-hate relationship with our trees. This is on the lesser end.
 

Amazing High School Chefs

I enjoyed experiencing the Broadmoor Bistro yesterday with a group from church. It's a restaurant in the Shawnee Mission District Center for Academic Achievement and was excellent. We also got a tour of the kitchen. Amazing for high school students.

 

KU Relays Picnic Tradition

Every April while I was at KU we had a picnic and went to the KU Relays. Usually we were really hot. You can see Susan and Dad and our Jamaican exchange student Carol. The photo below is labeled Jim Ryun running but I don't see anyone on the track. Ryun broke the 4 minute mile that year at the relays so it would be cool if you could see him.

 

Enormous Hosta

Colin was demonstrating how large this hosta is. He asked if I could even see him.
 

Family Outing

Mom and Dad took the goslings for a swim in honor of Earth Day at South Park Lake.
 

Sun Rises

The sunflower art installation in Meadowbrook Park reminded me of the sun as the sunrise glinted on it at sunrise.

Experiment in Planting

I tried a new approach to potting. Place the pots for the plants in the soil and fill in around. Then remove pots and place plants in the soil. Supposedly an easier way to get plants where you want them. 

Three More

Lowell and I went on a hunt for hearts. We found 3. Above is "My Heart Resides in Strawberry Hill," which is at Merriam Marketplace. We found "Forever Bonded" (below) at McCarthy Honda and "Stitched Together" by the bearpit fountain in Merriam. We had fun hunting.

 

Heart #1

This is the first of the Parade of Hearts 2024 we found. This is Take Heart by Laura Noll Crossley. She says "So, while the entrepreneurial journey may be filled with ups and downs, it’s the mosaic of experiences that makes it truly beautiful."
 

Unpredictable Spring

In April 2009, the day for touring the renovated stadium was quite chilly with a brutal wind.
 

Happy Fountain Day

Colin and I had to search to find one of the fountains on for Kansas City Fountain Day. I'm guessing rain delayed some and the ceremony was up north in the afternoon so we took a pass on that. Colin thought the Meyer Circle Sea Horse Fountain was great.
 

We visited the Second Cup Cat Cafe in Olathe. You have an hour to interact with the cats. Many of the 12 were sleeping when we visited. It's called a cafe but there is no food involved so cats can roam everywhere. All the cats are adults and available for adoption. The idea is that it is less stressful than a shelter situation. None of us were in the market for adopting but we wanted to see what the cafe was like.