Autumn 08 in KC

This has been a great year for fall color in our area. Some years we don't get much color and some years we get lots of color, but it doesn't last. This year the color came gradually in stages and lasted for weeks.


Our photo club theme this month was autumn color and we took different apporaches to the theme. Wife's solution was a very creative still-life approach. It was all done at the kitchen table and involved a light table, tripod, camera, and computer. Yes there is a little Photo Shop magic here. It's a very pleasing result.

Hubby's approach was more straight forward (imagine that). The pictures below are from the KC area and eastern Kansas.

Red leaves foreground - mirror curtain wall behind

The Loretto

Fox Creek School

Tallgrass National Prairie Preserve

Farm bins and grass - eastern Kansas

Jesse James Festival Rodeo

The 2008 Jesse James Festival and Rodeo in Kearney, Missouri

San Diego Trip

In September we traveled to San Diego for a weekend to see our favorite sailor. The weather was of course beautiful as we toured the Cabrillo Monument and Mount Soledad.

Saturday was really fun. We spent much of the day in the Temecula Valley wineries. It's northeast of San Diego and includes several wineries. We sampled several of them.

Sunday brought a trip to Tijuana. We drove down and toured by car a little, then parked and walked. No photos from that day - we elected to leave the cameras behind. Sailor and dad had fantastic tacos. Mom was a little skittish about eating at the hole in the wall restaurant. Our purchases included a cigar and some Christmas ornaments - big spenders!

Dog Park

Wonder Dog loves to go to the dog park with her "big sister" - the Big Dog and her buddy. This dog park is in Huntsville, Alabama. It includes an area specially for dogs under 25 lbs., which of course Wonder Dog was not about to stay in. She likes to run with the big dogs!

Farmer's Markets

The attraction of the farmer's market is interesting. If we wanted to, we could get all the same vegatables at the grocery store, but there is something fun about making the trip to the farmer's market. We choose to believe that we aer getting a better deal - better price or fresher product. But maybe its just more entertaining!

Kansas City Dragon Boat Festival

The weather semi-cooperated on Saturday for Hubby's Dragon Boat Festival. Rain on Thursday made for less than ideal water quality in Brush Creek on the Plaza and the race had to be rescheduled for next Saturday. Third time's a charm! Saturday was the reschedule date from the original date in June. But the festival part went off without a hitch!

There was a great turn-out, good food, and fantastic entertainment. It was terribly hot and humid, which made for good water sales! But, I think the children's part of the entertainment was my favorite. So precious! Sister and the two nieces volunteered and we so appreciate it. It takes many volunteers to pull it all together.

Hubby has worked hard putting the festival together. He has put his heart and soul into it, with proceeds going to victims of the earthquake that devastated China back in May.

I attended the MACE (Mid-America Association for Computers in Education) Conference on Thursday and Friday. Missouri's Teacher of the Year, Eric Langhorst, was the keynote speaker and is quite inspiring. Students who pass through his 8th grade history class have been truly blessed. What an amazing credit to the profession! It was good to spend the two days with teachers doing so many amazing things in their classrooms.

Not much on the schedule this week. Help one of the nieces prepare for a math test, work on plans for school, and make a couple of trips to the gym. Oh yeah, and stay cool.

Back to Reality

Why is it you have to rest up after a vacation? Maybe it is just that it is such a shock to the system to get back to the daily routine. No matter. We’re back and we’re rested. We’ve unpacked, done the laundry, and put the suitcases away. We logged about 4200 miles on the trip to Montana. And my rear end shows it! It was great fun, but it sure is good to be home. Wonder Dog is glad too!

We went to the Farmers Market in Overland Park yesterday. Us and about 1000 of our closest friends! We picked up Sister and away we went. Decided to have breakfast first at the Farm to Market Café on Santa Fe in downtown Overland Park. The breakfast strata was delish, as always, and the coffee was the blackest and hottest in town. It was a great way to start the day.

After perusing the produce at the farmers market, we picked up a watermelon, some sweet corn, peaches, candy onions, and yellow tomatoes. And…my favorite tomato preserves.
Sister got some berries and cut flowers.

Hubby grilled the corn last night, along with burgers. I sliced a couple of the yellow tomatoes and we had quite a feast. Grilling the corn brings out the sweetness and caramelizes some of the kernels. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. The tomatoes were pretty tasty, too.

The Sunday paper is filled with Back to School ads today. I love this time of year! Many people think of spring as a time of new beginning. That is what September does to me. It has since I was a little girl. If I breathe deep, I can still smell the sharpened pencils and new crayons. But, this means that I need to start getting ready for the new school year this week. Summer break will be over in a few short weeks. I finished my summer classes on Friday, so I am ready to start planning for my students. The planning is almost as much fun as the teaching! I’m ready!