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A completely random opportunity to visit the Iron District of North Kansas City found a small cluster of brightly painted shipping containers standing ready to serve up a delicious lunch.  Though somewhat overpriced, that appears to be the standard these days. The concept launched in September of 2019 in  what developers assumed was the first logical step in developing a new food and entertainment district for the area .  They were probably on point for that moment in time too.  However, months later, the global shut down would present a whole new obstacle. Emerging mostly unscathed to a much different financial, emotional, and relationship landscape the Iron District continues in the same planned environment.  Offering include sandwiches, tacos, ice cream, breakfast, burgers, as well as Mediterranean and Laotian opportunities. This particular visit enjoyed a Shroomin' Swiss Burger with a side of onion rings from The Iron Grill. It was every bit as delicious as ...

A night out with the Kansas City Royals found former player Alex Gordon standing for induction to the Royals Hall of Fame.  Celebrating a 14-year career, he is undoubtedly one of the more memorable play makers for the franchise.   During his career he was named American League All-Star three different times and won eight Gold Glove Awards.  He was infamous for diving into the left field stands to turn fouls into outs, and few will forget his game-tying home run in the 2015 World Series.  These achievements are only overshadowed by his personal commitment to the very best person and player he could be.  As former manager and Royals Hall of Famer Ned Yost stated, Alex Gordon was "One-hundred percent, all of the time.” A beautiful night for baseball at "The K" did not turn out so well for team though, who found themselves trailing behind, after having scored first.  They were unable to respond a...

A random Friday evening found our crew testing our memory of track titles in four rounds of music bingo at the local American Legion Hall.  We found we were able to recognize much more than had been expected overall, though it did not help much until near the end.  In the first three rounds, none of the six of us hit at all. The final round found one or another of us winning all three of the prizes for the evening, thereby covering part of the cost our tab!  It probably had more to do with the population level at that time than any other.  Most had departed for the evening.  We had a lot of fun though, enjoying  good drinks and better conversation, matching our wits against a few minutes of melody.  We look forward to giving it another try soon!

Thousands of well-groomed horses lay quietly basking in the sun under the clear blue skies, waiting for recognition of their efforts at primping and preening, as well as resting up for the chance to thunder down the nearby asphalt track.  The title for the best in looks and fasted in the stretch were up for grabs Saturday afternoon, just an hour north of Kansas City, in the small community of Osborn, at the Horsepower Festival Spring. Most were dressed in their very finest for this event, while others cared little for the spotlight of show, hoping only to blow the doors off their competition.  All were there in honor of the founder of this little eighth mile outlaw track developed by local land owner Mike Franks.  Diesel Power Motorsports, the coordinators behind this event, sprinkled in a good does of food trucks and vendors to ensure stable hands and their accompaniment remained hydrated, well-fed, and amused at an affordable rate.  Even the ...

An opportunity to visit the last program of the season for the Kansas City Ballet offered up "Fusion," an interpretation of four short stories by internationally recognized leaders in choreography and dance.   The evening began early with an up close and personal pre-game talk, led by Artistic Director Devon Carney, which defined the efforts that went into this particular event.  Others in charge of choreography, sound, and lighting, joined the discussion focused primarily on the premier of one of the four short works, which ultimately stood out above all of the others. The lineup began with Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s "Tulips and lobster," inspired by the 17th-century Dutch masters’ paintings, which debuted at the Kansas City Ballet in 2018.  Earlier talks described it as baroque and felt as much.  It got the ball rolling though, with a story revolving around the tulip. The lobster felt thrown in for lack of anything more...