Recovery

Every year I worry about my Japanese Maple leaves making too early an appearance. The rain Saturday froze on the buds and, I hope, helped protect them. Still frozen early this morning. The forsythia I don't worry about... they're hardier.. and the little redbuds? Well... they just never seem to learn.

Harlem in KC

On the north side of the Missouri River between the Heart of America Bridge and the Downtown Airpot lies Harlem. Called by that name since the middle of the 1800s it was for many a village in an urban setting. Harlem had church, school, markets and quite the fishing industry for years despite being flooded repeatedly . 1881, 1903, 1951... just to name a few. Comes from being right on the riverfront. Today the levee blocks most of the view of the city to the south and only a few homes remain. This part of North Kansas City is now mostly industrial. St. Peter's Church, picture above, proclaims itself Orthodox Catholic.

Maternity Island

The geese at North Terrace Lake along Cliff Drive settled on a nest spot this week. Roughly 30 days from now we should see fuzzy little goslings.

Window Seat

My friends Frank and Audrey say this cat will come each evening, during nice weather, and lay in their window while they eat supper. The cat belongs to a neighbor.

More on Vanishing Victorian

At: http://f-stop-etcetera.blogspot.com/

So Long Victorian-update 3/27

Northeast KC lost another venerable old structure today as wrecking crews demolished a building over a century old. Due to a negligent owner the property was in such disrepair that an emergency demolition was ordered by the city. Another piece of our past gone forever.

These two pictures show: closeup, last summer, whole view, today just before the destruction. The house stood at Minnie and Brooklyn in the Pendleton Heights Neighborhood. Update: Original reports stated that the third floor of this building had fallen into the basement... as you can see from the top three photos taken on 3/26 the third floor is still there.

Pondus Remodelus

I dug a pond in my back yard about 10 years ago. At that time the water spectacular was on the right side.... then I moved it to the left side.... today I moved it to the middle. None of this means anything really. I have hastas planted all around the pond at the base of the stones. They will come up in another couple of weeks.... barring a frigid spell. I also insert faux water plants to cover up the intake pipe. I have two kinds of hastas... La Vista and Luego (pausing now for guffaws). All the rocks came from Cliff Drive... don't tell Parks and Rec.