Monday, February 2, 2009

Wishing For Warmer Weather

This video was taken last May along the ocean front walk in Ogunquit, MN. The day before had been 70's and we were on the beach, but this little resort town was great to get away to for a pre-season weekend. And it reminds me that...

I'm really, really, really, really looking forward to:

  • Vacation
  • Spring
  • The Ocean

I'm so sick and tired of winter that I can't be more articulate than that.

(This also proves I will most likely not be a television presenter on the Travel Channel anytime soon!)

Sunday, February 1, 2009





When we saw the sky coming up around the north side of the Nelson-Atkins Museum, we had to pull into the circle drive and take a few pictures. The Sculpture Lawn is one of my favorite places in Kansas City. I love the buildings, with their distinctive architectural concepts, I love the large, well maintained green space, and I love the view of it and from it. I love sitting on the benches that surround the lawn and watching people play games of pickup Ultimate and football, following the slope of the lawn all the way down to Theis Park and Brush Creek, the sculptures that dot the landscape, especially the shuttlecocks that are so familiar to a KansasCitian.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Tomorrow

Tomorrow the weather looks promising - sunny and about 50 degrees - so I intend to get out and enjoy it. I have been too long inside, with the holidays and the working and the coldness (of which I am extremely pathetic about), and I hope to run my errands in such a way as to make them adventurous. I have to go to the drug store, bank, and library, but perhaps I can check out an art store, a new boutique, or see how the rose garden is looking so far this winter.

I also have many projects beckoning me to stay inside and complete, but hopefully the allure of sunny warmish weather will override my procrastination. Maybe....maybe I'll even do everything on my list. And then, as a reward, tramp through the urban wilderness. To some people that might not seem like much of a reward, but walking through the city is always interesting.

The last time I took a tramp was the day after the election. I swear the air itself was celebrating -everything seemed elated - and I'm not even a huge supporter. I voted for him, yes, but there ended my support. I'm just not that in to politics, sorry. But the world did seem like a better place. That could have been the strangly balmy air in November, but that is how it felt, regardless of political leanings.

I love "discovering" a place in a city. Of course, in a city you are never the first person to find something. Others have seen it, others have been there. But to come across something you never knew existed, and has never come up in conversation, and seems to have materialised from the ether -there are so many of these things in cities -new places, new things, new people - and they are always new to someone. In a neighborhood a couple of months ago, I came across some urban conservation preserve, a house, in a fairly discreet neighborhood, which was left to grow untended, as in nature. The "lawn" was covered with ground cover and the dried stalks of wildflowers, the trees were shady. There was a path through the yard to the front porch, beckoning the weary traveler to step "inside" this wilderness, and enjoy the rejuvenating power of nature. And it was on the corner of Charlotte and 57th.

So tomorrow, that future time in which all things are possible, I will be out in the world, discovering things, new and old, for myself.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Dandelion

Earlier this month, a typical frigid and uninspiring January day, I was walking across one of the large lawns that are ubiqitous of college campuses, when I spied, amidst the dead grasses and fallen leaves, a lone dandelion. We had had one brief warm day, somewhere in the mid fifties, and that was enough for this little guy to show his face.

I instantly pulled out my camera to capture his bravery, knowing that a cold day was coming and his reward for trying to get a little sun and warmth would to be frozen at the roots again, shriveled and dying.

To read on, please visit this link.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Plans

In less than two months, I will be traveling down the streets of Brussels. Why Brussels, when all of Europe and beyond beckons? Why this small, and from many accounts, unassuming city as a destination? The best reason of all.....to visit friends!

I wish I could conveniently position friends and relations in all the corners and cracks in the world. To stay with a (semi) native, someone who knows the area, who knows where the best restaraunts are, the times for the market, how to get from Point A to Point B to Point C, and most importantly knows when the bars open, that - if I can't be a native myself - can save all the time and bother of trying to acclimate oneself to a new town. And let's not forget the savings on hotels!

I've been reading up on Brussels in preparation for the trip and the information is a little disheartening.....many books say things like, "Paris (Amsterdam, Bruges, London, Antwerp, Prague) is only a train ride away." Surely there's more to the town than that! I think my favorite quote so far is from Bill Bryson's Neither Here Nor There in which he says something to the effect of "I walked around the Grand Place and took in all the sites....and then wondered if 9:47 in the morning was to early to start drinking." Though, why not? One of Brussels best draws is its famous and delicious beers. When in Belguim.....

Even though the tourist books and travelogues aren't being helpful, the best part about the town is what can't be written. What I love about Europe is the hidden corners, the stumbled-upon treasures that seem created just for you - whether it's a particular fountain, or the store that stole your heart, or the friendly native who doesn't speak any English but is overwhelmed to try what he does know on you. And there is always my favorite game - be understood in a language you don't speak. It can cause some interesting times, I assure you.

In my week of travel, I know we'll spend one day in Germany, visiting my boyfriend's grandfather's home and hopefully one or two days in a neighboring city. But I'm most looking forward to walking the streets and imagining what it would be like to walk these streets every day. I plan to take tons of pictures and make lots of memories. And maybe buy a thing or two that's really Belgian. That's my type of adventure.