My Motto

Truer words were never spoken. . . . LN

Soldiers and Sailors monument

This is a photo of our town's monument to the servicemen of World War I. Those are real Civil War cannons as the city discovered several years ago. They have been at this spot for many, many years. I believe they are now safely attached to the ground.

Still Scanning

This is a picture of my mother taken in about 1921. She would have been seventeen. She went directly from high school to nurse's training in Halstead, KS, when Dr. Arthur E. Hertzler was there. He established the hospital there and wrote the book, The Horse and Buggy Doctor. I have one of his books that he autographed to her and I imagine there are many more out there...all autographed to the nurses of the class of 1923.

Mother's Day

Boxes of photos hold other treasures. This is a Mother's Day card from the middle '60's. No date on it but 2nd or 3rd grade is my guess. Is that when the song "Rag Mop" was popular? I'm not sure if that refers to my hair. L. thought it read "Rage Mop" but I disagree.

At least it's signed with love.

Lunch Time

We decided to have lunch at the Lone Star and collect on the free dessert offered to L. by email. Someone signed him up to their "club."
After the cheeseburger and Texas Cheesesteak we chose,
neither one of us had room for dessert, This very nice
waitress offered to box it for us and we brought the key lime
pie home. It was good later in the evening with coffee.


Very clever t-shirt message!

Child of the '30's

This is the same girl that was in yesterday's post. I think the age is about four. I have no idea why she is looking so glum. I remember a happy childhood with dancing lessons even!
It looks like she is holding a candy (?) cigarette in her right hand.
Love those button shoes although I do remember the button hook sometimes pinched skin.

Dressed for the cool

This child is about two or three years old. She was born in 1931 and this photo was taken during the depression. Luckily, her father had a job with the electric company.

She actually appears to be dressed well and they had enough money to have a portrait taken by the Wade photo studio in Hutchinson, KS.

Notice the fancy bench and the tasselled curtain used for a back-drop.

Both of these photos were scanned in the same way but one is larger - I have no idea why.

I do notice that the facial expression is identical in both pictures. Maybe she was ready for a nap. That is something she does these days quite frequently.

New book store

This is the newest book shop in our town.
Really neat old books, new books, used books and "will order" books.
It's in the unit block of west B street on the north side.

The two granddaughters from Texas have been there and they loved it. Both bought a book and there is one on order.

Pictures from the past

This is a picture of my mother's brother, Lloyd C. Wright.
He served during WWI for one year in France. The army
uniform gives no clue as to what rank he was or what
division etc.
The sepia color makes the picture more solemn.
He was from Halstead KS and I remember him as a very
cheerful person (not apparent from this photo.)

Hurricane at the Mall

Now you can experience winds of 78.7 mph at the mall!
Our M. tried that yesterday. I got the feeling that she wasn't overly impressed.
It seemed to move hair around very effectively.
She left today to visit the other grandparents. She is fast becoming a young lady and will soon be fourteen!

Lunch at Cool Bean

Friends having soup and salad at the Cool Bean on Wednesday.

Cosmosphere Day

Today M. and I went to the planetarium show at the Kansas Cosmosphere. We saw the sky as it looks in all four seasons.
The neatest things we saw were the pictures of the constellations which they put up over the stars so that we could see more than Orion's belt. The outlines of the bull, the swan and the lion along with the hunter were really interesting.
We also learned that most of the really bright stars are visible during the winter months.

Steep stairway

This is the very steep stairway inside the "castle" at Coronado Heights. We old folks stayed on the ground but the young ones went up to the top .

More on the trip to Coronado Heights

We finally found the road from the south that led directly
to the hill where the stone building is located. My understand-
ing is that the building was built by the WPA in the '30's.
It is believed that Coronado may have reached this far north
near Lindsborg and the Smokey Hill River in his search for
Quivera in the 1500's.
It was fun trip. However, it was no cooler at 300 feet above
the plains!

Road trip

Yesterday we took what was to be a short trip to Marquette to the Motorcycle Museum. Many motorcycles of all ages and types to see. The amazing thing we found was a yellow Yamaha that looked exactly like one M. owned! In another area there were two helmets under a Harley sign that were identical to the ones the ones that Captain Crunch and the Driver wore in the late '70's. (Those were the days of CB radios and our family also included the Bowler and the Operator.)
After we left Marquette we went north to find Coronado Heights. After some directions from me which weren't quite right, we ended up on dirt, gravel and dried muddy roads with deep tracks. So glad the Driver was driving.

We did see a large deer run across the road. No camera ready however.

Dinner at the Airport

Two visitors from the south arrived yesterday by motorcycle! A long hot ride from Texas.
The young'un chose the Airport Restaurant for supper (Kansas term for the evening meal.)

Our variety of choices included chicken parmesan, hamburger steak smothered in mushrooms, a filet and my favorite - liver and onions. Only one brave person offered to taste my choice. I can remember when she was reluctant to taste anything new.

The verdict? Tastes like chicken. Who knew?

A beautiful rose

Sometimes you wonder why a friendship ends. Sometimes you just know why.
Respect for a person's feelings is very important to me. I would not do anything to hurt a friend (or anyone, for that matter.)

If someone made a request to me (their friend) I would honor it. Others seem not to be so inclined.

I have become more and more convinced that what we do as voters is pretty insignificant. We can vote our beliefs but as long as the electoral college is in place, votes are lost if they are not in the majority of the state's outcome.

I do not try to convince others as to how they should vote. I don't like to discuss politics at all. A good friend of my husband says that friends should not discuss politics. I agree completely. And he has never discussed same with his friend, my husband.

Requesting my email contacts to please not send me any political messages, had very little effect. In fact, I think it simply spurred one individual on to more and more emails. Emails that are crude, rude, insulting to candidates, office holders and to me. The last one listed all the things that members of an opposing party would do - how they would react to certain situations etc. Every one of them was a insult to a person who doesn't think the way they "ought to." Luckily, I'm a registered independent so they only applied to my previous affiliation.

To spare me from having to delete future unread emails, I have blocked this address from my email accounts. Friendships don't count for much when hatred of politicians rule.

Saturday Night Bath

This was actually Saturday afternoon, after the wading pool water had been warmed by the sun for several hours and finally was shaded by the house. Wally, as you can see, is enjoying it immensely. After the rinsing and towel drying, he raced around the backyard - I think he was trying to escape.

Light in the night

Night before last I woke up about 3:00 a.m. That's what happens when I take a late nap.
My eyes just wouldn't stay shut while I was trying to go back to sleep. Staring through the bedroom door and down the hall I finally realized that instead of pure blackness, I was seeing a pale, grayish blue light. It was so indistinct that I thought maybe it was something making a connection in my brain. (I've seen those computer generated pictures of a nervous impulse dashing around between synapses on the way to the next neuron inside a virtual head.) This was not a reflection or a steady light but a pulsating "thing."
Thoughts of spirits, supernatural events and other things crossed my mind. The more I looked I realized I was counting the seconds between the light and the darkness.

Four seconds. What could this be? There is nothing electronic in the larger bathroom and that seemed to be the source. Finally, I got up and approached the door. . .I could see it more plainly and it seemed to be coming from the top of the medicine cabinet. I turned on the light.
There it was. One of those automatic air fresheners that emit some kind of odor that is supposed to mask other odors. L. had bought it and put it up, out of sight unless you are staring at the ceiling.
Later he said that the battery must be low. After new batteries were installed, it still blinks. From now on, I'm closing that door at bedtime.

Chandelier

This is the lighting at Jillian's, my new favorite place to eat.
We had delicious sandwiches and a pasta salad about 2:00. The delay for lunch was because as we were leaving the house, the garage door failed to close.
Back inside, change to work clothes and L. got it fixed.
The trolley was disconnected from the rail (whatever that means.)

Even steven

This photo is hard to see but all the other shots I took had reflections and were even worse.
It's our thermometer that gives the temperature and humidity.
I had never before seen them with the same number. . . 77 degrees and 77 % humidity. And this is July? in Kansas? We are loving it!

Poison Something?

This vine doesn't look exactly like the photos in the brochure from the dermatologist but there are three leaves. L. wore gloves to pull them up. Last week he pulled some just like these and he now has poison ivy.
Ahhh, summer.

The July Rose

This single yellow rose is on a single stalk, not a bush, by the back fence.

L. got a good shot of it about noon. How does he get that black background?

Waiting for the rain to STOP

The dog is in the garage watching the rain come down and the water rise.
He does not like walks in the rain. Maybe later today, Wally.

Rainy 4th

It started raining yesterday. The forecast was "scattered showers." They may be scattered but they are also parked over Hutchinson. We have over four inches and all our sidewalks are covered with water. There seems to be no draining down the sewer openings.

I'm glad we don't have a basement.....