Tendlike Mary

Fair Monkey

2010-09-19T16:01:00.000-05:00

Alex and Mary Lynn with a celebrity at the Kansas State Fair.

More Chicago

2010-06-06T16:32:00.003-05:00

At the Lego store

Hancock building

Field Museum

Seurat...and Alex

Sue...Alex and Mary

Chicago May 2010

2010-06-01T20:59:00.006-05:00

At the Lincoln Park Zoo

Fennec fox statues but no fennec foxes at Lincoln Park zoo. (The sandcat made up for that.)

On the steps of the Field Museum with the Willis Tower (and oh so many lilacs.)

Puppet bike entertains the crowd on Michigan Avenue just south of the river.

A helicopter hovers over State Street on a Sunday morning.

Alex doesn't look thrilled about doing windows at the Hancock Building.

So he decides to have a talk with Dr. Hartley about it.

He takes a relaxing stroll through the Chicago Art Institute...

and visits the Adler Planetarium.

A good time was had by all.

Trafalgar Square pic

2009-12-21T19:50:00.001-06:00

Once every 6 months for a blog post - seems a little wrong. Here's the picture you like, Mom.

Truth as it Relates to the Ground

2009-07-26T16:31:00.002-05:00

Alex said something the other day that I just wanted to write down:

Being afraid that the truth will hurt is like being afraid that hitting the ground will hurt. The closer you are to it to begin with, the less it will hurt when you hit it.

This didn't seem to fit with his cynic blog, so I thought I'd put it here.

San Diego Trip

2009-07-14T19:31:00.015-05:00

Alex shoots video of the elephants at the San Diego Zoo.

Alex is ready for the start of the Shamu Rocks show at SeaWorld.

We drove up Mt. Palomar to see the 200" telescope at the top -- pretty interesting.

The San Diego Automobile Museum has a Tucker on display.

Alex ponders walking to Japan.

Alex and cousin Rex Warden stand with a F9F Panther on the deck of the USS Midway. Rex flew these planes in the Korean War.

Moon Camera

2009-05-21T21:43:00.005-05:00

Alex and Ken went to a Cosmosphere members event and Alex held this camera ---

Here is the same camera a few years earlier ---

It's the only camera like this brought back from the moon. The others were left on the moon to save weight.

The camera is the one Alan Shepard used on the moon for Apollo 14 a s seen above.

Last band concert for Alex

2009-05-21T18:07:00.002-05:00

Alex won't be taking band next year, so here is a picture taken after the last concert. Sorry it is a bad picture - cellphone camera.

George Pyle Park construction begins

2009-05-21T18:01:00.002-05:00

Here are a couple of pictures of crews working on the reconstruction in George W. Pyle Park.

Thanks to Bob Hunter for the pictures.

Views from the Eiffel Tower

2009-03-23T16:13:00.000-05:00

Third Installment of Photos

2009-03-22T21:35:00.002-05:00

Arc de Triomphe

Statue on Notre Dame

Crown of Thorns on display at Notre Dame

London!

More London and Paris

2009-03-18T21:08:00.002-05:00

Next to Notre Dame - Holy Flying Buttresses!

The Dome of Napoleon's Tomb

Some Elgin Marbles posing with Alex and Mary

The canal at the London Zoo

Tube Stop with a nice name

London and Paris

2009-03-17T20:50:00.004-05:00

From the Eiffel Tower

At the British Museum

In front of Venus

Musee D'Orsay

With Whistler's Mother

Tricorn Hat

2009-02-04T16:18:00.003-06:00

A Couple of Poems by My Favorite Poet

2009-02-03T19:17:00.006-06:00

"Poetry is Like a Garden"

Poetry
is like
a garden,
in that you
grow it slowly,
give it plenty of care,
and it will pay you back.
You can enter your produce
in a contest to show its worth, or
you can sell it to others, who may not
appreciate what you have put into it.
But sometimes, though,
the best thing to do,
is tend it yourself,
for yourself,
and let it
heal you.

"Speaking Freely"

Some people will say, and I will agree, that the best way to go about things,
is not to be seen when you don't want to be seen, and avoid all the trouble that brings.

Drawing attention to yourself, you may know, rarely ends with anything good.
In some extreme cases you'd find yourself under the ground in wood.

But then you may say, "Hey, wait a minute! What am I going to do?
I need to get some ideas across, but how, if I listen to you?"

To you I say only one last thing. I think you'll agree with this thought:
Your new ideas may be good for the world, but good for you, they are not.

2008-11-23T19:39:00.003-06:00

Cousins visit

2008-11-04T22:38:00.000-06:00

YEEEHAWWW!!!!

2008-10-31T22:04:00.004-05:00

Alex is ready to march at the Neewollah Festival in Independence, Kansas on October 25.
Click on picture to make it bigger.

The Observatory - A Short Story by Alex

2008-10-03T20:26:00.002-05:00

I really wanted to go to the museum. The Yanford Museum is one of the world’s greatest museums in myriad ways. It has a world-class number of fossils from many eras, a wide array of rare animals, multiple original Easter Island moai, and an excellent 3-D theater. But none of those were why I wanted to go to the museum. I wanted to go to its observatory, which all the reputable astronomy magazines said was the best in the world. I would have toured it on hundreds of occasions, if not for one final feature. It was a ten hour drive away.

I beseeched my parents almost constantly from the time I was five until the time I was twelve, but all for naught. We didn’t have that kind of money; there were things we were saving up for. All my failed arguments, though, made me smart. I could tell what almost worked, and eventually found the answer. A few weeks before Clyde, my little brother’s, third birthday, I spoke to him. “You know what Mom and Dad and I have just been talking about?” I said in what I was fairly certain was an inviting way.

“What?” he asked quite excitedly.

“A really cool museum. It’s got all sorts of things, like minerals, animals, dinosaurs…”

“Dinosaurs?” My brother loved dinosaurs. Everyone his age does.

“Yeah, but we’re not going.”

“Why not?”

“It’s too far away.”

“But I want to go!” He was extremely predictable.
“Well you should ask Mom and Dad then.”

“I will,” he said indignantly and marched off. I knew that victory was mine. My parents would know that I had talked Clyde into it, but there really wasn’t much they could do about it. In any case, his birthday was coming up. However, my parents did get their requital. Clyde’s admission, and mine, plus the cost of whatever he wanted from the museum’s gift shop, would be paid by me. The important thing was that we were going. Once I saw the observatory, it would be well worth the potentially exorbitant cost of whatever huge stuffed dinosaur my brother laid eyes on.

Two excruciatingly long weeks later came Clyde’s birthday, and we went to the Yanford Museum as expected. Obviously, the telescopes wouldn’t be working until it got dark, so most of my day was spent taking care of my brother as we went through the still fairly intriguing lesser exhibits. My brother started to become quite bothersome as he asked me to read most of the signs in the museum to him, but after a while I began to ignore him and thought of what I’d see through the amazing telescopes. The reviews described them as ‘incredible’, ‘revolutionary’, and one other word that I couldn’t quite remember. Through all my imagining, the day passed swiftly, and soon the observatory was open.

“You go on by yourself,” said my dad. “Your mother and I aren’t quite as interested in it as you are, and I think Clyde would like to see the dinosaurs again.”

“I’m fine with that, Dad. I’ll meet you at the dinosaur room in about an hour.”

“Just half an hour. You don’t need to spend that long looking into a telescope.”

I groaned. Even now my parents were against me. But there was no arguing it. I dashed to the observatory as quickly as I could so I wouldn’t lose any time.

There was no line at the entrance to the observatory, and I went right in. I couldn’t believe what I saw! The telescope was tiny! Well, not tiny, precisely, but much larger ones are available in most of the magazines I subscribe to. It wasn’t a museum-size telescope at all. Still, I remembered what the reviews said and decided to give it a chance. At least the museum attendant was nice enough to let me tell him where to aim it. I thought Mercury would be nice.

I looked through the view piece. It was an excellent picture, with extremely good focus and nice zoom. I really underestimated it. I moved it around smoothly and easily, and found other planets and astronomical points of interest with ease. It did seem both ‘incredible’ and ‘revolutionary’. But what was that other term they used?

I don’t remember when I realized I was doing things that one usually can’t do with a telescope. But eventually I couldn’t feel my body. I looked back at the Earth, which made me kind of nervous. Number one, I was definitely not on it anymore, and secondly, it was spinning around like mad. Days and weeks had to be passing there without me. And could I breathe out here? I wasn’t dying, obviously, but how?
I watched my planet spin for what I estimated was more than a year down there; a few hours for me. I missed my parents. I really did. I missed Clyde, too. I wanted to cry, but couldn’t, as my anatomy was… What was I? I tried to look back at myself, but then…

Whoa, what was that? I opened my eyes, and took them away from the telescope’s view piece. I shook out my hands, which were definitely there, and stepped back. “Did you like the telescope?” asked the attendant.

“Oh yeah, sure,” I mumbled, and then continued, “How long was I out?”

“A little over 20 minutes”

“Oh. Felt longer.”

“So what did you think of the view?”

“It was…” I suddenly remembered the third term the reviews had used, “Life-changing. Have you ever seen it?”

“No, people seem, well, different after they look into that thing. I don’t want to change that much”

I admired his logic, but remembered Mom, Dad, and Clyde, so I told him goodbye and left. When I saw my dad, I ran up to him and gave him an enormous hug. I hadn’t hugged him in far too long. Dad said they were ready to go after we stopped by the gift shop. Amazingly, Clyde didn’t want anything, but I bought him a bag of magnetic rocks anyway, just for his birthday. Clyde yawned. He was really kind of cute sometimes, especially when he was tired.

On the way home, my dad and I conversed while Mom and Clyde were asleep.

“You were really nice there, son.” My dad hardly ever used that pleasant tone with me anymore.

“Thanks, Dad. I hope Clyde likes me enough.”

“I’m sure he does. I don’t think I ever asked how the telescope was.”

“Pretty nice, but not really what I expected.”

With that, my dad quieted down, and I closed my eyes and went to sleep. It had been a long day.

Some photos of our trip to Colorado

2008-07-26T15:17:00.000-05:00

Alex films the scene at Red Rocks Amphitheatre west of Denver

Alex relaxes next to a Colorado stream

Alex and Mom are the same tallest!

Alex feeds the Lorikeets at the Denver Zoo

Alex is ready to be ejected from the Peterson Air Force Base Museum

Alex stands in front of the B-29 nicknamed Peachy at the Pueblo Air Museum

Inca Tern at Denver Zoo

2008-07-20T21:29:00.000-05:00

Poker Karma

2008-06-20T22:36:00.001-05:00

View from above

2008-06-11T19:34:00.000-05:00

My coworkers and I took an aerial tour of Hutch to take video and pictures. Here's one I took of Carey Park below.

Our Cat - the early days

2008-05-31T19:14:00.000-05:00

Hello

2008-05-31T18:35:00.000-05:00

Tendlike - a small child attempting to say "to pretend as if."