Trip to Kansas City - Days Five, Six, Seven, and Eight

National World War I Museum at the Liberty Memorial

On Thursday we stayed with Mom for her physical therapy and speech therapy sessions.  After a quick lunch Marilyn and I headed down to the Liberty Memorial to spend the afternoon going through the excellent National World War I Museum at the Liberty Memorial.  That evening we dined with Mom at Grand Court and spent the evening visiting with Anola and Peter who had just returned from North Carolina. Early the next day, Marilyn flew home for a family baby shower in Buffalo the next day. 

On Saturday I began the day breakfasting with Peter and then visiting the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art to experience an exhibit of photographs by Laura McPhee entitled "River of No Return."  These are 6 ft. x 8 ft. chromogenic prints which is to say the kind of prints we are used to getting from film -- remember film?  The photographs are very engaging and intriguing; their large size adds to the impact.  I wondered about the dark room she would have used to prints these giants! 

Then I was off to the Reading Reptile, the young person's bookstore in Brookside.  They had a big display of Anola's book and will be hosting a book signing the following Friday.  Anola and Peter had just returned from a book launch at the Historic Site of Chicamacomico Life Saving Station in Rodanthe.  Her book, Whisper Island, tells the story of a 12 year old girl in 1913 who wants to be part of the Life Saving Service...but, no girls allowed.  One reviewer said, "What a sweet, tender, amazing book! I sat down to read it and didn't get up until it was finished it was so captivating! A story told from the heart with all the passion of a young girl trying to make it in a man's world."

While I waited to get together with my sister, Mary, I revisited Loose Park and took this panorama image with my phone camera.

While I was continuing to kill time, I went by the old neighborhood and found a Forest Avenue Community Day in progress.  They had spent the morning cleaning up and were celebrating with some nice eats.  They were set up pretty much in front of the house where I grew up.  I stopped and visited.  There were a couple of families that remembered some families that had lived there such a long time ago.  The neighborhood still struggles but it was good to see such positive attitudes and energies.

That evening Anola, Peter, Mom and I went to Culver's for some burgers and shakes.  Gotta like a place that advertises "butterburgers!"

I left the next day at 5:30 AM.  I had intended to stop in Richmond Indiana but found that I was not at all tired and it was much too early to stop at 3:00.  So I kept going and eventually got home a bit after 11:00 PM after 17 hours on the road.

Trip to Kansas City July 2013 - Days Three and Four

Along Indian Creek Trail

July 16 was Mom's 101st birthday.  In contrast to last year's big celebration, this was a calm celebration.  I began the day as usual with early morning coffee with Sean who had flown in the day before with his family.  I accumulated some more stars at the local Starbuck's while I got caught up with his life, especially the developments with his very challenging job.  After that, Marilyn and I took an hour's walk along a wonderful biking hiking trail along Indian Creek near my Mom's place.  It was a cool start to a very hot day although it was much hotter in Rochester where there was a heat alert in effect!

We returned to Mom's and sat in on her physical therapy session and then went to lunch with my brother Terry, his wife Johnny along with Sean and his family.  The family members in town then gathered with Mom for dinner at Cinzetti's, a wonderful Italian restaurant.  We had our own space for a lively session with lots of laughter and way too much good food including many--too many--delicious desserts!  Two of my siblings were not in town:  Tom who had been here before we arrived and Anola who was in North Carolina for the launch of her newest novel, Whisper Island.  

The next day was spent reviewing the reports from Mom's therapists as we began the process of making decisions about her living situation.  Marilyn and I took a break and headed to the Country Club Plaza for lunch and shopping and then stopped by Loose Park to view the rose gardens.  Of course, we also stopped at the Baskins & Robbins in Brookside for some ice cream.  Hey, it was hot.

We went down for dinner with Mom at Grand Court so we could visit with her friends at the table.  Bill Binder was there along with Nadine, Barbara, and Mary.  All the men in the dining look forward to our visits so they can get a chance to see Marilyn.  Before dinner, we met Nels and his wife Jean.  They were married at Grand Court two years ago.  Nels is 94.  Their wedding was the first and so far the only one involving residents of Grand Court.  He happily explained that two Social Security checks are better than one.  I suppose that there will be more such weddings in the future.

My big learning for the day concerned my Android phone and its camera.  I had no idea of the many functions that come with the camera function:  HDR, panorama, and a number of very sophisticated editing apps -all of them free.  Marilyn had sent me a link to very informative book about these.  Click here to go to the Android Store for a free copy.  After dinner we went for a walk in the new garden at Grand Court where I used the new apps to take some photos and then edited them.  The picture to the right is an example.  The app I used easily allowed me to achieve an SLR look by defocusing the background while keeping Mom and me in sharp focus.  Nice, huh?  These apps are so impressive that I may try leaving my other cameras at home on a trip and just using my phone!

We spent the evening watching one of Mom's favorite movies, "Shall We Dance?"  She has watched this so many times that she actually wore out her original DVD and I had to get her a new one last year.

Go here to see the continually updated Picasa album of this Kansas City trip.

Trip to Kansas City July 2013 - Days One and Two

The Wabash River at sunset:  Terre Haute

We are off on our annual summer trip to Kansas City to celebrate my mother's 101st birthday.  We drove the 1000 miles and stopped over night in Terre Haute, our usual pattern.  After dinner, we went to Fairbanks Park and strolled along the Wabash River and enjoyed a lovely sunset.

This was home to the Wea Tribe of the great Miami Nation whose control extended over present day Indiana, western Ohio, eastern Illinois, and southern Michigan.  As happened with other tribes, the Wea sold its land rights to the federal government for what amounted to paltry sums and eventually were relocated.  Some of the Wea stayed in Indiana around Terre Haute.  Their descendants still live in the area.  You can learn more on their web site.

You can also see more photos of the Wabash stroll by clicking here.  

When we arrived in Kansas City, we met my cousins, Lois and Andy Sciolaro, for lunch and a fun catching up.  Then it was off to Grand Court to stay at Mom's and see Sean, Julie, and Sam who had arrived the day before.  After dinner at Sweet Tomatoes--Mom stayed home to rest up--it was back to Grand Court for me to rest up.

Here is a link to the trip album which will be updated each day.