A war in the park!! 06-24-23

When KoKo went out for his afternoon piddle I saw all these barrel shaped things in the park.  They moved a little so I think they must be filled with air.  Then along came a hoard of boys (maybe aged 9 to 12) running from the other end of the park carrying pretend long guns.  They divided up and took up positions behind the "barrels".  Then their adult "director" blew his whistle and the boys moved toward each other, shielding behind the "barrels" and firing away.  They must be using those foam rubber bullets that I see laying around in yards and on the sidewalk, especially after a holiday, as they went around picking them up after the battle was over.  I don't know how they keep score, I didn't see anyone fall and play dead.  They attacked each other three times before the "director" called them off to drink some water and they trooped back the way they came.  

The blue rectangle looks like a large gym mat is leaning against the 25' flood light post, can't tell the purpose or what the blue thing on the other side might be.  

I didn't catch them in the heat of the battle. 

The other end of the park.  See the blue patch in the center?

The headquarters with blue awning to provide some shade, the high today was 77F. The black square is the usual trash can that is there all the time.  

I don't know how long they were out there playing war.  KoKo was ready to come inside and what KoKo wants, KoKo gets!!  

When there were more and larger trees there was much more surreptitious activity, including some fornication, but the trees became infected with something and died so they had to be removed.  A variety of long needle pine trees were planted and are slowly growing. They have done well this year with all the rain.  The very large trees you see are outside of the park.  

Lots of excitement in my neighborhood!! 

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Road Trip - Indiana Kenosha, Wisconsin to Davenport, Iowa 07-22-14

 

 

I suppose it is logical that the states that have heavy winters would need to do their road work in the summertime.  But it is really annoying for the tourists  - like me.  Barriers of every shape and size.  I wonder why some of the diagonals slant a different direction.

Only 256 miles today, but some of them were hunting for a couple quilt shops on the Row by Row Experience list - like Quilt Play in Grayslake.  I might try to get one row pattern from each state I have yet to go through, but I know that Colorado doesn't have any shops that are participating  - nor do AZ and NM.  So far I have four patterns two from Indiana shops and two from Illinois shops.  I didn't go far enough into Wisconsin or stay long enough to collect a pattern.  Quilt Play is a nice little shop with a wide selection. It is necessary to buy their kit to get the snowflakes already cut out with fusible on the back.  The other shop I visited was Quilters Destination in Arlington Heights.  It was very difficult to find and I had to call twice for directions.  They were not very helpful and the sign on the street is very small.  I finally snagged three ladies coming out of JoAnn's in the nearby shopping center and one could give me the names of some adjacent shops and I finally found it.  Found a great "Ruth McDowell" type fabric on the sales table for $2.50/yd and took all seven yards. 

I saw the sign for frozen custard too late to pull and had to make a convoluted back track to treat  myself to a medium cup of MANGO.  It was delicious and made a filling lunch.   And isn't it a wonderful glowing color. 

There were several signs saying that a driver cannot retrace their route to get back on the roadway.  There was an arrow pointing in this direction, but I couldn't  figure out the conflict between Do Not Enter and Exit Only.  I finally found the actual exit and eventually a side street with some shade so I could enjoy my MANGO frozen custard.

When I got on I-80 and finally came to a rest stop I spent some time straightening maps, looking for my cell phone which was hiding from me and just relax out of the traffic for a bit.  They have a great play area for the kids with a teeter-totter front and center.  I was thinking I  haven't seen one of those for decades.  Two boys of about seven years old came up and have it a try, but didn't find it very entrancing.  Not as much fun as killing somebody in a computer game, I suppose. 

 

People say that Kansas is very flat, but I have never found it so - it sort of undulates.  But this area in southern Illinois is amazingly flat.  I wonder if  the Mississippi River has caused the flatness by flooding over great areas in centuries past.  This was very close to where I crossed the river.  More corn.

And more corn.  The light was shining through growing cloud cover and gave an eerie light.

And more corn behind a fringe of tall weeds - might be Heterotheca grandiflora.

A great almost sunset.  The sun kept popping in and out of the clouds.

It was strangely like an autumn twilight, but it was 88F and humid.

The clouds moved on and the sun was dropping lower, at 8pm it was 86F.  Supposed to be cooler tomorrow.

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A Kite Flying Day 11-26-13

It was a gorgeous day, a little cool in the morning, but the high in Anaheim (just two miles away and abutting Placentia's south border) was 81F, the warmest spot in the country.   I met my friend Liz for coffee and ran a few errands.   When I arrived back in my driveway I saw the two little boys on the corner were out enjoying the sunshine.  


Timmy was flying his kite, by himself for the first time.  He really had it up there and was handling like a pro.  I saw later than when it came down his dad was there to hold it up so Timmy could get it up in the sky again.  Little Adam is too small/young to hold the kite up high to give it a good start.  

There was a nice steady breeze that kept it steady in the sky. 

All of our wires are underground, so it is a good place to fly a kite, unless a kite eating tree snatches it.

Timmy flies and Adam has a drink of water from an Arrowhead bottle.

I love seeing these little guys growing and learning.  They were both born after their parents moved here.  Good parents = good boys.