Mother's Day Trip to Kansas City - Day Four

May Crowning

I went to Mass with Anola at St. Therese The Little Flower Church, her long time home church.  As usual there was a lot going on in this energetic and racially diverse parish.  We happened to catch a procession of children with flowers to place in front of the statue of Mary.  The ceremony culminated with placing a crown on her head.  The little girl who placed it had some difficulty getting it straight and thus Mary spent the rest of Mass looking out at us in either a somewhat disheveled state or with a bit of rakish swagger.  Take your pick.

After Mass I picked up Louisa and along with Mom joined Peter, Anola, and Bob for lunch at Sweet Tomatoes, another one of Mom's favorite places.  Mary joined us back at Mom's apartment for dessert.

We spent the next couple of hours with the mother of whom we are all so proud and fond.  Our two out of town brothers, Tom and Terry, called to wish her happy Mother's Day.  

A couple of years ago she began writing poetry.  This spring an annual volume of poetry by local poets was dedicated to her and included two of her poems.  This is one of them.

I'm Really Not That Old

When I am old, I will wear purple,

As the saying goes.

But the many shades of purple

Present a lot of woes.

I'm not an artist, never was

And find the going rough.

To make the color that I want

Is really very tough.

I think you take vibrant red

And a touch of blue,

But when you mix the whole thing up,

It really, really isn't you.

So I put my palette down

And turn to things I know.

To solve the problem of my choice

I life my head and raise my voice:

I really don't like purple!

Could it be that I'm so bold

That I don't like purple

Because I'm really not that old?

Mother's Day Trip to Kansas City - Day Three

Cafe Sebastienne at the Kemper Museum

After breakfast with my brother-in-law, Peter, at First Watch, we went to the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art near the Plaza for some indoor photography.  This is a wonderful community asset created and sustained by Kansas City's leading banking family.  There is no admission charge.  Among the many interesting features and exhibits is the Cafe Sebastienne.  The walls are completely covered with a 110 interlocking paintings by Frederick James Brown.  Each piece is a tribute to specific artist or school.  In the artist's words, "This is a project of love.  It is a tribute to art and artists throughout the ages.  The works in exhibition are my interpretations of the selected artists and/or art.  No attempt was made, nor was it ever the intent, to reproduce or copy any works of art."  Any visit to Kansas City should include some time at the Kemper Museum.

Louisa

After that I drove to Grandview to pick up my sister, Louisa, who is rehabbing after knee replacement surgery.  Actually this is her second replacement...but of the same knee.  The first one ended up providing a home base for a raging staph infection that nearly cost her the leg!  She has been off work since January but should go back next month.  She is doing well and it was so great to see her pain free after two years of dealing with infection and its systemic effects.

After lunch I returned to Grand Court to pick up Mom for a trip to Kauffman Gardens, again down by the Plaza.  These gardens were created as another public asset by the Kauffman family.  Ewing and Muriel Kuaffman founded Marion Laboratories and the Kansas City Royals Baseball Team.  Their immense fortune was used at their deaths to create the Kauffman Foundation (NPR listeners will often hear a reference as an underwriter) which is primarily focused on the quality of life of the Greater Kansas City area.

Mom and me

It was beautiful spring afternoon, cloudless skies with a steady breeze.  The gardens were filled with wedding parties, graduating seniors, families, and young couples.  We enjoyed looking at the flowers and the people...oh, yes, and the resident cat, Tom.

We stopped at a nursery on the way home so Mom could pick out a plant or two for her balcony.  She chose a couple of coleus plants.  She then prevailed on me not to eat dinner in the dining room at Grand Court.  She wanted to go to another of her favorite dining spots:  McDonalds.  So we did of course.  After holding out for three days, I finally gave in to eating bad but delicious food.  "Please supersize those fries."

Click here to view the constantly updated album of photos from this trip to Kansas City.

Mother's Day Trip to Kansas City - Day Two

The Liberty Memorial

Mom and I decided to visit the National World War I Museum at the Liberty Memorial.  Anyone who grew up in Kansas City is familiar with this although many of us have not visited it since it was reconstructed, enlarged, and developed.  We remember the two halls on either side of tower with a perpetual flame (electrically lit) that symbolized the liberty that was "guaranteed" by the "war to end all wars." Sadly, of course, that was not true.  But no one realized that when ground was broken in 1921 in a ceremony attended by 100,000 Kansas Citians along with the Allied leaders:  Field Marshall Foch (France), General Pershing (United States), Admiral Beatty (Great Britain), General Diaz (Italy), and General Jacques (Belgium).  Also present was the nine-year-old Ruth Platt who walked from 31st and Flora with a procession from her school, St. Vincent's Academy.  Mom shared that bit of history with one of guides who was showing us through main gallery with the "Music of World War I" exhibit.

Ruth Platt Pickett being interviewed at the National World
War I Museum

Within 15 minutes, a group from the museum's public relations department showed up with a video camera to interview her about her experience.  She told how her mother had given her sister, Maude, and her a nickel apiece for streetcar fare to get back home.  But kids being what they were and still are, Mom and Maude decided to spend their nickels getting an ice cream cone and then walked back home!  After Mom enjoyed listening to the music of that era at the exhibit, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Over There Cafe courtesy of the museum staff.

Mom with Pat Croaker

As we visited with the guide, Pat Croaker, we learned that he had grown up in Good Counsel Parish in Kansas City and, much to our surprise and delight, had been a friend and classmate of my brother, Terry, at Rockhurst High School.  You can read more about the Liberty Memorial in an interesting and accurate Wikipedia article.

You can see more pictures of our visit in the Picasa album with pictures of this Kansas City visit.  We returned to Grand Court where we had dinner and then back in Mom's apartment watched Gran Turino with Clint Eastwood followed by one of Mom's favorite programs, Blue Bloods with Tom Selleck who is the real reason she likes it.

Mother's Day Trip to Kansas City - Day One

On the way from United B to C at O'Hare

I have not been on the road for a couple of months but that is coming to an end.  I just began a trip to Kansas City to spend Mother's Day with my Mom and sisters.  I left Rochester on a 6:00 am flight through Chicago and arrived in Kansas City on time at 9:30.  I drove up to Clyde MO to the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration monastery to visit with Sr. Paula.  I had a great visit with her as I always do.  We have been friends and spiritual companions for more than 30 years beginning in San Diego.

Culinary innovation

While I had shared many meals with her, I had never experienced what I had at the retirement facility on the grounds of the monastery.  The menu for dinner (the noon meal) is shown below.  Yes, it does say "Revamped Apple Crisp."  When I asked Paula what that meant, she replied simply, "We had apples crisp yesterday."  Apparently, "revamped" is the new word for leftovers.  The only revamping I sanoticed  was that the leftover apple crisp was placed in a large bowl and then smothered in Dream Whip.

Sr. Paula is celebrating her 60th Jubilee this year.  She is in good health again after a bout of illnesses and up to all her old tricks.  She continues to read and reflect and bring her own style of plain spoken sophistication to matters spiritual and ecclesial.  

Old and new in the Heartland.

As I was driving in to Clyde I saw a scene that caught my eye.  On the way out, I pulled the car over and took several shots of an "old school" windmill used to pump water for livestock and three of the modern wind turbines that generate electricity.  I thought it a nice commentary on a land out of time and modern at the same time.

I drove down to Kansas City and stopped at Panera to get dinner for Mom.  It is one of her favorite spots although she didn't feel like going out.  We visited and ate our dinner and then watched Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwick in "There's Always Tomorrow" on Turner Classic Movies.