Friday, December 26, 2014

Kansas City Venues

I was lucky to have two reasons to go to Kansas City, not including friends and family.  The first was the appearance of Chris Mann with the Kansas City Symphony.  My friend, Kristen Hart, called to see if I wanted to attend, and since Don was in China, I decided it would be awesome.  So I asked Linda Morgan to join us, as well as Kenneth and Melinda, and we had a lovely night.  We ate at the Blue Bird Bistro, which had delicious food, by the way, and then went to the Kauffman Center.  I did not know what to expect, but the Kauffman Center exceeded any thoughts I might have had about it.

A theater in the round, with comfy seats and no one further away than 100 feet (at least that is what we were told) from the stage, made for a wonderful concert.  Seeing Chris perform for the first time in awhile allowed us to see his maturation in terms of his stage presence.  His voice has always been magnificent, so that was not a surprise - just a joy!  The song he and his wife, Laura, wrote for the Alzheimer's Association caused several tears from our group, and the O Holy Night duet with the other woman who was singing brought more.  Her final song about growing up brought even more!

The next weekend we returned to KC to help Kenneth and Melinda set up the nursery, and Saturday night, we went to a KSU game at the Sprint Center.  The game seemed a little lackluster, but the Sprint Center was a great place to play.  Susan and Rick Gaskill and Doug Thompson joined us for dinner, the game, and then breakfast the next morning.  Susan managed to procure awesome seats for the game.  We were afraid they would be nosebleeds, but they were perfect!    The 'Cats won the game, which was the icing on the weekend.

When we left that Sunday morning, we headed to St. John to pick up the puppies - the ending of a fun weekend!

Puppies

The puppy love was real.  I wanted one. And as badly as I knew it was stupid to get a puppy in the winter, I also knew cock-a-poos are hard to find (except in Wisconsin or in puppy mills in Missouri).  So when an ad appeared in the paper on the day Don returned from China, I at least had to mention it to him.  When I called about them, he even suggested that we could go meet the pups in Hutchinson.  I was surprised that he was on board.

On a rainy Sunday afternoon, we met in the parking lot of the McDonald's in Hutchinson, and in the back of the car there were three blonde fuzz balls.  One, clearly bigger than the other two, had loads of personality, but it was obvious he was into everything.  The other two just wanted to come be with me. Don fell for the big one pretty quickly; I was leaning toward the runt, but we committed to the big one as we thought he would have more personality.  We couldn't take them, however, as we were headed to Kansas City the next weekend with no way to take them with us.  So we would have to wait until the next Sunday to get them.

Sunday afternoon we left Kansas City and drove to St. John, Kansas, which is an hour west of Hutchinson.  Long drive but worth it.  Once we got there, Di immediately started stumping for the second puppy.  I looked at Don who was visibly caving.  I knew we would be going home with two puppies, and I didn't have to say a thing!


Monday, December 22, 2014

In the Blink of An Eye

How quickly things can change!

Two weeks ago, Don was in China, and we were planning a trip to Iceland in March with puppies to come in May.

On the Thursday of Don's trip in China, he received an email from Diana.  Unfortunately, he could not read it.  All he saw was a text from Kenneth saying, "Congratulations."  So he wrote me asking if Diana had gotten engaged.  Indeed she had.

On the Saturday he arrived home, I found an ad in the paper for some Cockapoo puppies.  He agreed that we would go see them on Sunday, the 14th.  Cute, Cute, Cute.  We committed to buy one of them, but we couldn't get him until the 21st.

So within just a few days, our daughter became engaged, we had committed to a puppy, and the trip to Iceland?  Well, just say it is on hold for now!

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Going Gray

Several years ago, my friend who cuts my hair suggested that I quit coloring it.  I didn't like the idea, but she thought it was time, so when we went to Alaska, I did.  By the time we returned, the color was nearly gone, and I was almost all gray.

I did not ever want to be THAT woman:  the one with coal black hair on a sallow complexion.  I decided that going gray was better than that.  I have been surprised by how many people tell me that they like my gray, though I am still not wild about it.

This last weekend, however, I think I figured it out.  I have a friend who had been coloring her hair, but when she became ill, she quit.  Her hair is now its natural gray, and she looks lovely.  As a matter of fact, she looks younger than she did.  And though her hair is thinning, now that it is gray the thinning is not nearly as noticeable.

So I have decided there are worse things than having gray hair.  Embrace it, Karen, embrace it.