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A Sunday afternoon at The Nelson found a quiet escape into a world of graphical grace, framed by the vision of Alphonse Mucha.  With temperatures expected to peak near 37 °C, it proved the perfect escape from the intense August heat and humidity of Kansas City.   The hushed and contemplative halls of the art museum embraced us in wonderfully frigid temperatures, as Art Nouveau learning and appreciation filled our vision for the hottest part of the day. The heart of the exhibition reveals Mucha’s iconic graphic style. Classic lithographic prints and study sketches line the walls, showcasing the iconic cascading hair, serene profiles, and delicate floral halos that defined an entire artistic movement.   Standing before the vertical panels and poste...

  A fun night ensued after a random opportunity to head out and watch the KC Diamonds take on the Atlanta Smoke.  The girls played their heart out but just could not overcome an early deficit, losing 6-5.  It did not seem to matter to anyone a whole lot.  All smiles in a subsequent autograph session with their younger fans, as well as the dance party on the field, they had played well.  That was enough.  Shine on, you crazy diamonds!  We look forward to catching another game soon!

  The rodeo at the Platte County Fair caught our interest this year, turning out to be a great time in the relatively cool evening in late July.  Temperatures in the low 20s °C made for a comfortable evening. Early enough for the Mutton Busting championships, the crowd cheered all the contestants.  More especially, one young man the chased them all down and hung on until the announcer said "Ok!  You can let got now. He hung on tight and bowled through lingering crowd of sheep abandoned by their previous riders.  The video below shows his entire ride. The cowboys and cowgirls were up next, including bareback and a little wrastlin' and ropin'.  We didn't make it much further than that though.  There might have been some bull riding too, and just as we were leaving, we overheard announcement of a injured player.   He turned out ok, or so we assume.  The stadium cheered after a lengthy hush and there are no reports of incident.  Video s...

In spite of a full day of rain, clouds were few and far between by the time Eddie Montgomery of Montgomery Gentry took the stage at Freedom Fest in Gladstone.  The country band hammered through nearly every track that had made them relatively infamous to a good size crowd singing right alongside them.  The Elders were the only others to take the stage, playing their fun array of folk tunes just prior to that.  Thankfully, the organizers kept with the intended schedule, or we might have been there all night waiting on bands to finish up so we could to the fireworks. The change of venue this year to Happy Rock Park, from the usual location at Oak Grove Park, appeared to work out much better for the increased attendance, offering plenty of parking and space to move about.  If it had been a perfectly sunny and temperate day, it might not have worked out so well.    Fortunately, the culmination of various conditions shined down on the event p...

A few back-to-back, information-packed days discussing Agentic AI and tech strategy in Las Vegas with Info-Tech Research Group wrapped up with a Wednesday night party at Blake Shelton’s iconic Ole Red on the Strip. Walking into the second floor and grabbing some liquid refreshment, we looked over the edge to take in the music. Desert Heat was banging out popular tunes for three floors of the four-story setup, while the catering crew was already in motion setting up a delicious Honky Tonk buffet. The fourth-floor rooftop presented a slight shift in tone. Country duo Nathan Dean and his wife Mandy Jean brought a similar musical style to an electronic-enhanced acoustic stage. Their performance, under the warm desert evening sky, alongside the Las Vegas Strip backdrop, with an array of misters keeping things cool, proved the most satisfying to me. The music wasn't the only draw, though. Huge screens throughout the space had the game on, keeping most folks distracted. That al...

Random cancelled plans let to other cancelled plans, leading us to improvise, ultimately ending up in Lawrence for a completely chance sighting of an invasion of buskers. We did not even know it existed before that morning and it appeared reasonably safe, in spite of weather that seemed to be leaning in an unforgiving direction. While cloud cover edged towards an all encompassing stance, the sun shined down on the early part of the afternoon. A quick lunch at Free State Brewery, home of the event sponsor, set the tone for us to take to the streets between Vermont and New Hampshire on 8th and enjoy amusements available.  The entire situation really did not feel too far out of line with the normal for Lawrence, even though the event has been described by some as a "once-a-year-get-weird" for the town.  It is usually a weird town all on its own, without any supporting cast.  This just centralized the weirdness, if it can be characterized as much....

  A cool evening for drag-racing kicked things off with the Horsepower Festival at US-36 Raceway.  This year proved a little less populated than last year.  The threat of rain hanging in the air scared most of the car and truck entries away before the sunset.  The concern became a light reality early on, but only deterred things for 30 minutes.  Keeping a sharp eye on track conditions, the pits slung car after car down the track at a record pace. Starting an hour later than usual and then delayed, thing finished up earlier than expected all around.   The overall winner this year was not the shiniest or the most beautiful.  A well worn Chevrolet Apache  32 took that prize.  How could anyone not love such a beast decked out in its finest patina of rust. 

A sharp, late-spring chill hung over Batesville Motor Speedway tonight. It wasn’t a brutal winter freeze, but it was certainly chilly enough to have fans in the grandstands buying sweatshirts and keeping the concession stand busy pouring hot chocolate. Out on the dirt track, though, nobody was thinking about the temperature. The Wimp Reed Memorial Arkansas Spring Nationals warmed this cool little night as horsepower rumbled by, with drivers deftly sliding around each curve. The trance inducing hum drew everyone around the track with them.

For more than a century, the "Valley of the Vapors" traded on a single commodity: its water. A visual revolution is simmering beneath the surface these days. Walking through downtown Hot Springs is to witness a silent, high-contrast dialogue between the preserved and the provocative. As steam rises from historic bathhouses, a new wave of contemporary murals answers back—loud, proud, and scaled with a metropolitan ambition that defies the city's small-town zip code. Nothing captures this transition quite like the "Uneeda Biscuit" ghost sign. A fading relic of 20th-century commerce, its peeling paint serves as the city’s aesthetic bedrock. It is a reminder of what this place once was, a bustling hub of early-century trade. The story no longer ends with the past though; new chapters are currently spray-painted in neon hues just a few blocks away. The local art scene refuses to stick to a single script, revealing a community comfortable with its own contradictions. ...

Walking through Atlanta is an exercise in shifting perspectives. One moment you are immersed in the raw, technicolor energy of the streets; the next, you stand before the silent, dignified bronze of history. This journey began at Centennial park and stretched more than a kilometer around downtown. The Olympic legacy still towers over the city and may very well forever. The monuments to the Games and those that lost their lives in this celebration of unity serve as a bridge between the street-level grit and the formal city center, marking a moment when Atlanta stepped onto the global stage, permanently altering its architectural DNA. The People's Gallery The city speaks loudest in the shadow of the overpasses and alleyways though, as well as it does in the ordinary everyday city streets. The walls are alive in these places and the city uses every inch to express identity or frustration. One mural captures a profound social moment displaying children greeting their new playmates. It...