anticipation

"It's always exciting when a new Chick-fil-A Restaurant opens. But it's especially rewarding for 100 people who will be chosen to participate in the Grand Opening. Those "First 100" participants who comply with the official rules will receive a Grand Prize of one Chick-fil-A Meal per week for a year!" ~ CFA



This is a first for Buddy, the gathering of the masses, the lines before daylight, the lottery to see who will be the first 100, the tents set up in the parking lot for the final 24 hours before the official store opening. Wow, some dedicated chicken fans!

not long now

"What a fantastic day! Also our flag was put up this morning - and it's a beauty! It may be a little hard to tell the size, but it's an 18 FOOT flag - we love it! :)" ~ CFA West Wichita





"We gave away 6000 free Chick-fil-A Sandwiches today, and 3000 of those were to some amazing people in front of our local New Market Square Walmart!" ~ CFA West Wichita Facebook

A great way to practice cooking chicken, the crew is busy learning the ropes at the newly finished Chick-fil-A in west Wichita, Kansas. How about an order for 6,000 sandwiches? Practice makes perfect. And then give them away to the community - marketing 101.

Buddy's new mantra: Not Long Now!


Not Long Now! Opening day August 9th!

the road home

Flint Hills of Kansas - east of Wichita:

The continent's largest remaining tract of tallgrass, 82,000 square miles. Explorer Zebulon Pike first coined the name the Flint Hills in 1806 when he entered into his journal, "passed very ruff flint hills". The underlying bedrock of the hills is a flinty limestone.
On the road again, heading home from Wichita to Georgia over the weekend, decided to take the 'road less traveled' instead of the interstate. It was certainly less traveled, almost no traffic at all. Lots of miles through rural Kansas and Missouri, lots of farms. A few little towns. An occasional tractor on the road. Very peaceful, just taking the back roads.

baked corn

Headlines:

WORST DROUGHT IN 50 YEARS

Grain prices pushed to record highs on Thursday as scattered rains in U.S. Midwest did little to douse fears that the worst drought in half a century will end soon or relieve worries around the world about higher food prices.

WARMEST HALF-YEAR IN HISTORY

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that the January-June period was the hottest half-year on record in the United States, with 29 states seriously affected.

More than half the United States was experiencing moderate drought or worse this week, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor report issued on Thursday.

CROPS PLOWED UNDER

That is bad news for farmers and consumers, with corn, soybeans and wheat in the United States -- the largest world exporter of those key crops -- baking in fields, losing yield potential daily or being plowed under for insurance claims.

I took these pictures of a nearby corn field, some other fields didn't get over 3' high, they were mowed down this week. It is hot and dry with no end in sight. Thankfully the humidity is nothing like at home in Georgia! And also according to the news, the silver lining is: no water, no mosquitoes! So it could be worse.

the solar state

Central Riverside Park

interactive water fountain

wish we could get in the water!

Solar Calendar, sculptures by Steve Murillo

how it works

Well since being here in Kansas, my perspective of the state has changed. At first I thought Kansas = corn, then Kansas = wheat, now I know for sure Kansas = SUN.

It could be called the solar state, which is of course what makes all those things grow so well.

at the movies

With our love of movies and the oppressive heat, a popular place is the movie theatre. Luckily they have some outstanding ones here in Wichita. The Warren Theatres dominate the market, a local company.

There are 3 in town - one on the west side (17 theatres plus IMAX), the east side (20 theatres), and downtown (7 theatres). The IMAX is the largest digital IMAX screen in the world! The three locations have different features for different tastes and needs - stadium seating, cry rooms, waiters, bar, diner, director's suites, malt shop.

The décor reflects the golden age of movies, art deco, lots of neon and gold. Music from vintage movie soundtracks plays in the lobby and in the theatres before the movie starts, inspiring a guessing game of name that movie. Buddy recognizes some from the basement movie era at his folks house, some get stuck in your head and you find yourself humming them much later, like "I could have danced all night" from My Fair Lady.

Then the curtains go up and (unlike other theatres) there are NO commercials for the dentist down the block or for upcoming television shows or how to rent this auditorium for your next business meeting. There are 3 previews of coming attractions and then the movie starts.

Most of the time we go to the closest one here on the west side, here in the 'burbs where the everything is big - parking lot, lobby, bathrooms, and we love it when the usher takes our tickets and directs us, "go past the second lobby..."

We recently decided to try out the downtown theatre. It is a little smaller than the ones in the 'burbs, fitting into a revamped area of Old Town along with adjacent restaurants and shops.



One of the first obvious differences at the downtown location is - instead of a concession stand there was a bar, with stools, and lots of wines and beers lined up on the wall. Not very convenient, we thought, what if there was a crowd looking for popcorn? We bellied up to the bar and ordered our usual tub of popcorn and diet coke.

Walking into the movie, we were handed a menu, and discovered that you can order anything directly from your movie seat - by pushing the call button. Anything from popcorn and coke to nachos to hamburgers and fries to ribs, everything is delivered to your seat on a tray that attaches to the cup holder. The space between the rows is enormous so the waiters can come and go easily. The waiter takes your order on a handheld electronic device, the order goes electronically to the kitchen and is delivered promptly back to you. You 'run a tab' with the waiter and at the end of the movie he comes around to get your credit card information.

This was all pretty weird and neat at the same time, except the waiters did not wait until the credits to settle up (like advertised) instead they came around during the climax of the move, the last big scenes, which was very distracting. We were obviously newbies here - we got popcorn and coke in the lobby... and decided that we couldn't imagine eating all that food in the dark movie theatre anyway, but it was quite entertaining and a new experience for us.

We have always loved going to the movies and often frequent our local theatres at home, but I must say these Warren theatres are the nicest we have ever seen.

WSU campus decor

all those shoes!

Wichita State University. Sculpture on campus, is it just for decoration? Or art? Or if you live among these expressions of art and talent and pass by these sculptures daily going to and from classes, do you absorb some of the culture and beauty by proximity or osmosis?

- The Ulrich Museum of Art’s Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection boasts 76 works spread across the 330-acre Wichita State University campus, and Public Art Review named this collection among the Top Ten campus sculpture collections in 2006.


Millipede
Tom Otterness (American, born 1952)
2008 - bronze, 60 x 48 x 300 in.

Always playful and engaging, Otterness's sculptures are also rich with content. With them, he poses questions about how we relate to one another and the world around us. In his proposal to create this giant, friendly bug for the campus, Otterness explained: "I find the Millipede a great work for the site within the context of the University. A millipede's body is composed of linked segments working together and heading in one direction."

Inverted Q Trial Proof (White)
Claes Oldenburg (American,
born Sweden, 1929)
1988 - cast resin and white urethane paint
72 x 70 x 63 in.

The work began with his 1970 drawings Alphabet Good Humor Bar, in which inflated, cartoon-like letters were shaped into a partially-eaten ice cream bar. Inevitably, the drawings were translated into a monumental sculpture for both the city of Lansing, Michigan, and the home of writer Michael Crichton. When Oldenburg began to explore the possibilities of the letter Q, he realized "an inverted position seemed necessary because a Q with its tail buried wouldn't be a Q at all."

Grandfather’s Horse
John Kearney (American, born 1924)
1973 - stainless steel and chrome, 114 x 101 x 52 1/2 in.

made out of car bumpers, like the one in downtown Wichita

Grandfather's Horse, 1973, is characteristic of Kearney's animal forms. Grandfather's Horse was inspired literally by his grandfather's horse and stands as a tribute to his grandfather, one of the founders of Coffeyville, Kansas.

Love (Blue/Green),
Robert Indiana (American, born 1928)
1980 - aluminum and polymer resin
72 x 72 x 36 in.

The LOVE icon has become one of the most recognizable images in popular culture. Appearing on t-shirts, posters, and even the three-cent stamp in the early 1970s, the icon has appealed to Americans' nostalgic reminiscences of the late 1960s. Indiana never copyrighted the image, so he saw little gain from its reproduction. Nevertheless, it remains one of the defining images of his career, and the work for which he is popularly known.

The Sunflower State

advice From a sunflower:

Be outstanding in your field
Hold your head high
Spread seeds of happiness
Feed the birds
Think solar
Keep on the sunny side
Grow up!



Upon arriving in Kansas we started a list of places to see/things to do while here, one of which was to see a field of sunflowers. They usually don't bloom this early and I figured that listed item would be left undone, but thanks to the early spring and summer, the sunflowers are blooming early! Their heads are a little bowed down, maybe the heat or drought, but they are all standing tall.

The list is getting shorter just like my time here in Kansas, sunflowers check!



Advice from Nature

Wichita Art Museum

The Bicentennial Tapestries #2 (1975)
Calder, Alexander
American, 1898-1976
42 in. x 59 in.
wool, 13/200

The Skeleton (1916)
Bellows, George
American, 1882-1925
30 1/4 x 44 3/8 in.
oil on canvas

Kansas Cornfield (1933)
Curry, John Steuart
American, 1897-1946
60 3/8 x 38 3/8 in.
oil on canvas

Red Brick and Shadow (ca. 2000)
Lorusso, Joseph
American, born 1966
42 x 42 in.
oil on canvas

Wichita Art Museum is free on Saturday! And it is quiet and air conditioned... a perfect place to be on a sultry Saturday in Wichita. Not my usual thing, but while in the city might as well sample a little culture, it certainly couldn't hurt, right? Well I was pleasantly surprised, finding lots of different art forms, tapestries, glass, oil, sculpture, wood. Which of course raises the question, 'what is art?'

One of my favorites was the 10' high wooden piece below. The artist used found wooden pieces constructed into 11 boxes stacked and painted all black.


Night Sun III (1959-1968)
Nevelson, Louise
American, 1899-1988
118 x 93 x 8 in.
wood

Louise Nevelson website

Nevelson experimented with early conceptual art using found objects, and dabbled in painting and printing before dedicating her lifework to sculpture. Usually created out of wood, her sculptures appear puzzle-like, with multiple intricately cut pieces placed into wall sculptures or independently standing pieces, often 3-D. One of the most unique features of her work is that her figures are often painted in monochromatic black or white.~Louise Nevelson, wikipedia

At art galleries, unlike craft shows, you probably do not have many people saying - I could do that..., but there were a few that I thought the grandkids might try - and I must admit the thought did cross my mind on this one out of wood. I found it especially interesting (and doable) - all pieces of wood collected and put together, painted black - it is fun to try to identify what these pieces were in another life - like a pallet or bed post or stair rail or even clothespin. Someone with imagination like this would have a great time in the old wood shop in Georgia, just saying... which once again supports the old proverb, one man's trash is another man's treasure, or in this case, woman.


photo album HERE

Coleman memories

Go to the garage or basement, look back in the corner, covered in cobwebs - see the green, with the red Coleman logo? I knew it, you just found your old Coleman camping equipment!



Remember the green lanterns you had to fill with Coleman fuel and pump up so the bright mantles would light up your campsite? And the green camp stove that folded down compact for travel? They were probably made right here in Wichita, Kansas at the Coleman Factory!


Coleman Museum, Wichita


Coleman Factory archives, Wichita

In 1909, W.C. Coleman started selling The Coleman® lantern, farmers and ranchers could now work longer - I am sure they were thrilled!

In World War I nearly 70,000 lanterns were distributed to American forces fighting in Europe.

In World War II, the Army ordered 5000 compact stoves, the plant here in Wichita shipped them out to North Africa in 1942, the Coleman stove was considered one of the two most important pieces of noncombat equipment in the war effort, the other being the Jeep.

After the war was the beginning of the interstate highways, the big cars, and the road trip - and Coleman stoves and lanterns were ideal traveling companions. ~ Coleman History

So keep looking, you might even have some old pictures of yourself using Coleman equipment, say maybe back in 1973...



I started out married life with Coleman. 39 years ago today I started out on a trip, an adventure, which turned out to be one of many exciting adventures.

The Coleman stove was the first stove I used after getting married, cooked my first dinner on the old Coleman. I remember we made popcorn on the Coleman stove on that trip also, it was a comical picture, shaking the big pot back and forth on the little stove.

We left the church on that hot July night (7/7/73), the little red car covered in messages written in shoe polish, the seats filled with rice, dragging tin cans behind, the trunk and back seat filled with camping stuff - tent, sleeping bags, pots and pans, skeeter spray, and of course the trusty Coleman stove and lantern - all the essentials for a camping road trip across country. Thanks for the memories!

corn

Corn and Kansas are synonymous. There is even a nearby town called Maize. The first time I saw Kansas was in July 1973. Traveling from Georgia to Colorado. From the time we hit Kansas City until we crossed over into Colorado on I-70 it was corn as far as you could see. It took a whole day to travel through Kansas, a whole day of corn and flat and hot. Of course since then we have discovered there is much more to Kansas. But there is still a lot of corn! This year the spring came early and there was a great spring wheat crop, but the summer heat also arrived early and along with no rain threatens to decimate the corn.

I am sure the corn in Kansas has many higher purposes, from ethanol to cattle feed to Corn Flakes, but it is good to see it for sale in the roadside stands, fresh sweet corn on the cob! Or as our neighbor used to call it - roas'in ears [roasting ears] - we could buy fresh corn $1 a dozen right off the stalk, leaving the shucks there for the pigs.

But back to Kansas, corn is still alive and well here, as are the farmers. Some local farmer boys have so much fun on their farm they made a video. In an interview, the Peterson brothers said they aimed the video at their city friends because they "hardly knew anything about the farm." They ended up educating the world. "I'm Farming and I Grow It" is all the rage here in Kansas and beyond, and has become an Internet sensation with more than 3.2 million views since it was posted June 25 on YouTube.


Peterson brothers having fun on the farm

Well that's all for the crop report today, stay tuned for more Kansas news - I heard there is going to be a Wheat Festival soon with a baking contest and cow chip throwing, yeehaw! No, seriously, it sounds like fun!

Yoder, KS

Yoder, Kansas - the commercial on Wichita television said come visit the small Amish community, so I did. Following the signs, I almost missed the downtown area, it was all of about half a block, with the hardware store, mercantile, quilt shop, bank, and post office.

The Mercantile has quilts and gifts and lots of tourists milling around. The Amish lady who ran the store drove up on a tractor.

The Carriage Crossing restaurant seemed very popular, the parking lot was filling up fast with cars and tractors and even a horse and buggy.


The folks at Yoder Meats were giving out free samples in front of the restaurant, pretty good!

Yoder, Kansas, a simple little town between Wichita and Hutch - if you have time and are passing by (don't blink you will miss it) - stop in and tell them you saw them on TV, they love it!

horse power

Horse out of car bumpers
downtown Wichita sculpture
by artist John Kearney

Trained in bronze casting, Kearney found welded steel appealing, falling back on welding skills learned in the U.S. Navy during WWII performing underwater repair of naval vessels.

The artist frequented salvage yards, and on one occasion he returned with an armful of automobile bumpers. Throwing them to the ground, he noticed that the bumpers had fallen into a shape that vaguely resembled a female dancer. Kearney constructed his first bumper sculpture, developing a style for which he is still known.

Kearney finds the notion of constructing a horse from bumpers particularly ironic, since the car put horse out of business as a mode of human transportation.


~more bio and story on another nearby Kearney sculpture Grandfather's Horse - HERE

~photo 8 April 2012 while on the Wichita Bronze tour