Day One Hundred and Eighty One: In the Shadows of Something Great

Pete and I went to see the Twins play the Royals tonight over at the New K.  As expected, we had a picture fest. :)  A Kauffman Stadium highlight has always been the fountains lining the outfield. There aren't nearly as many as there were before, but the fountains that are there are somehow cooler than before: there are seats built around the fountains, you can stand behind them to watch the game, and probably pay a premium to sit "underneath" them in hopes of catching  home run.

Lining the area where you can stand to watch the game (and "ask" the fountains to pop up in between each half inning as a nice transition), they have iron cast figures of great Royals players.  This one of George Brett aligned perfectly with the sun and the new fountains to give me this awesome shot. I love it.

The new K is quite nice and I highly recommend you make a visit there.  There are new amenities that make me wonder how we could have possibly considered the old K a stadium.  I mean, who DOESN'T have a carousel, or a mini-golf course, or a mini-baseball field where kiddos can make their way to the plate in hopes of hitting a home run.  This guy, however, is going to need another chance.

Here's another view of the George Brett statute with the K in the background. It's pretty nice, too.

Since we didn't end up having to pay for tickets (some good Samaritan gave us two free tickets when we were in line to purchase ours) we'll probably have to head back sometime soon.  And maybe this time we'll have to leave the camera at home and actually root for the Royals.  They need any crowd support they can get. :)

Day One Hundred and Eighty: God's Fingers

If a crescent moon is God's thumbnail (so says a line from the classic movie "Angels in the Outfield"), then rays like these are His fingers.

I've never been lucky enough to capture them before tonight,

  

but if His hands are this beautiful, I can't wait to someday (hopefully) see His face.

Colorado: check!

I'm finally up to date on my blog posts! Here are links to all the sites from Colorado!


Day One Hundred and Sixty-Eight: Home on the Range (Colorado Day 1)

Day One Hundred and Sixty-Nine: Headin' West (Colorado Day 2)

Day One Hundred and Seventy: America the Beautiful (Colorado Day 3)

Day One Hundred and Seventy- One: Some Flat Mountains and the Pink Palace of Fun (Colorado Day 4)

I took many more photos than what are on here. Check them out by visiting my smugmug site!

Day One Hundred and Seventy-Nine: It's all about who you know

As I've mentioned before, Pete's family was in town this weekend. Tonight after mass, we were all hungry and decided on Chinese food. The only real option for Chinese food with the Haack family is from Panda Garden, as Pete's brother used to work with the lady, Lucy, who owns the restaurant.

I'm not sure how long it's been since Lucy has seen Pete's brother Don, but it took less than half a second (literally) for her to recognize him. Although we were only getting our food to-go, she ushered us in, sat us down, and offered us some hot tea and water while we waited. Since she has such a positive feeling about Pete's whole family, she threw in some free crab rangoons, and egg drop soup.

Chinese food generally comes in large portions, and the food we ordered was already more than we could eat. Add to that the free soup and crab rangoons, and we had a feast. As with any feast, there is always a mess that results afterward, and tonight was no exception. But boy was it good!

Day One Hundred and Seventy-Eight: Fiesta!

Last night was the 28th Annual St. John's Fiesta Mexicana. Each yeah, St. John the Evangelist highlights the Mexican community in Lawrence by hosting a weekend of events of food, fun, and music on the school parking lot grounds. Pete and I ventured out there with his parents last night-- who were in town for the weekend -- to see the sights. When we arrived, the Mariachi band was playing, and just before we left, these dancers took the stage.

Here are Fr. John (Pastor at St. John's) and Lisa (Music Director at St. John's) tasting some delicious food, and obviously enjoying themselves.

The man playing the guitarron in the Mariachi band.

In my four years in Lawrence, I've yet to get to fully experience the fiesta (it was HOT last night, so we couldn't stay long) but there's always next year.

Day One Hundred and Seventy-Seven: A summer classic

This is Pete's niece, Miranda. Miranda' family calls her by a variety of different names --Annie, Mo, Mir --- and on and on. But tonight, on this hot summer's night, one title is appropriate for Miranda: ice cream fan. Here she is enjoying her first big scoop of Sylas & Maddy's Ice Cream on a weekend trip to Lawrence. What a great way to spend the summer.

Day One Hundred and Seventy-Six: Typical Lawrence

This is Lawrence.  Establishments like the Bourgeois Pig-- half bohemian coffee house, half regular ole' bar-- are what gives Lawrence its flavor.  Sure Lawrence is a pretty typical town in most aspects: we have a Target, two Wal-Marts, a bunch of grocery stores, banks, and parks.  Fat people, skinny people, old people, young people, white people, black people, people who don't know which way is up, and people who are some of the smartest (seriously) in the whole world.  But what makes Lawrence wonderful is that all these people can live together.  Preps and jocks, potheads and the religious right (okay, probably not that right) can all venture up and down Mass street, turn the corner and stop in the Bourgeois Pig and enjoy themselves.  Typical Lawrence is even more wonderful in the summertime when the transients (a.k.a college students) have left our town to be itself and all that it is.  People are out and about, sitting inside and taking in the fresh air, and stopping to enjoy life. Yes. That's Lawrence.

Someday I'll probably move away from here.  In a way I'm anxious to do so, but somewhere deep inside wants to stay for quite a long time.  I'm not sure what the future will bring, but for right now, I'm happy just to be in "typical" old Lawrence.

Day One Hundred and Seventy-Five: Time keeps on slipping into the future

Tonight was "St. Lawrence Night" at Old Chicago.  Basically what that meant is that a bunch of us went out to dinner and St. Lawrence received 10% of the profit off our bills.  Grace, St. Lawrence's fundraising guru, worked it out so we could play some games afterward, too.    Someone brought one of my favorites -- a little known singing game called "Encore" -- and we dueled the night away in a back and forth "Name that Tune"-esque competition.  Since most of us are "old" we ended up giving up before a victor emerged, but  not before I got this picture.  It's nothing TOO exciting, but I like it. I hope you do, too!

P.S. I'm up for nearly any game, any time- day or night.  If you get that itch, give me a call! :)

Day One Hundred and Seventy-Four: Ave Maria

This beautiful painting graces the walls of my living room.  My roommate Jennifer brought it back from Mexico when she led a service trip there this past spring break.  A protestant friend of mine visited my house not long after it first appeared on our walls and commented on its beauty, but didn't quite know what it was.  I was taken back at first because I thought that Marian apparitions were known to everyone everywhere, but then I realized I sometimes live in my Catholic world and am not always aware of what people know or don't know.

This Marian Apparition pictured above is "Our Lady of Guadalupe".  The history of Our Lady of Guadalupe is below:

Mesoamerica, the New World, 1521: The capital city of the Aztec empire falls under the Spanish forces. Less than 20 years later, 9 million of the inhabitants of the land, who professed for centuries a polytheistic and human sacrificing religion, are converted to Christianity. What happened in those times that produced such an incredible and historically unprecedented conversion?

In 1531 a "Lady from Heaven" appeared to a humble Native American at Tepeyac, a hill northwest of what is now Mexico City.  She identified herself as the ever virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the True God for whom we live, of the Creator of all things, Lord of heaven and the earth. 

She made a request for a church to be built on the site, and submitted her wish to the local Bishop. When the Bishop hesitated, and requested her for a sign, the Mother of God obeyed without delay or question to the Church's local Bishop, and sent her native messenger to the top of the hill in mid-December to gather an assorment of roses for the Bishop. 

After complying to the Bishop's request for a sign, She also left for us an image of herself imprinted miraculously on the native's tilma, a poor quality cactus-cloth, which should have deteriorated in 20 years but shows no sign of decay 477 years later and still defies all scientific explanations of its origin.
It apparently even reflects in Her eyes what was in front of her in 1531.

Her message of love and compassion, and her universal promise of help and protection to all mankind, as well as the story of the apparitions, are described in the "Nican Mopohua", a 16th century document written in the native Nahuatl language.

There is reason to believe that at Tepeyac Mary came in her glorified body, and her actual physical hands rearranged the roses in Juan Diego’s tilma, which makes this apparition very special.
An incredible list of miracles, cures and interventions are attributed to Her. Yearly, between 18 - 20 million pilgrims visit the Basilica, making it Christianity's most visited sanctuary.

Altogether 25 popes have officially honored Our Lady of Guadalupe. His Holiness John Paul II visited her Sanctuary four times: on his first apostolic trip outside Rome as Pope in 1979, and again in 1990, 1999 and 2002.

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated on December 12th. In 1999, Pope John Paul II, in his homily from the Solemn Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, during his third visit to the sanctuary, declared the date of December the 12th as a Liturgical Holy Day for the whole continent. 

During the same visit Pope John Paul II entrusted the cause of life to her loving protection, and placed under her motherly care the innocent lives of children, especially those who are in danger of not being born.

This picture certainly doesn't do the painting justice (feel free to stop by any time to see it), and the painting doesn't do the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe justice.  Hopefully someday I'll understand both.

Day Seventy-Three: HOT HOT HOT!

Today, we reach a new milestone in the picture-of-the day project: a video "photo-of-the-day".  My idea was to watch an ice cube melt.  I'm not sure what exactly I was thinking when I first stumbled upon this idea because, frankly, a picture of a single ice cube on the sidewalk isn't all that interesting.  (I think I just wanted to show you how stinkin' HOT it is here right now.)  But as I was flipping through the pictures I took of this ice cube, I noticed that, when put all together and viewed fairly quickly, it was a fun "animation".  So, I took the pictures, shrank them down, and put them into this short 20 second video comprised of about 35 different shots.  The pictures themselves are nothing spectacular, but it is fun to watch the ice cube go away and the water circle expand.

Just in case you were wondering, it took the ice cube about 12 minutes to go from fully formed to a puddle of water.  That's a little longer than I was expecting on this day of 100 degree heat (107 degree heat index), but I suppose pretty darn fast. It might have gone faster if the ice was in the sun, but I had a long run on Monday (8 miles!) and by the time I got out of the gym, direct sunlight was hard to come by.

Anyway, enjoy my first video "photo-of the day"!

Day One Hundred and Seventy-Two: Another Public Service Announcement

This is a cooler.

This is a stove.

This what happens when you place a cooler on top of a hot stove.  Any questions?

Day One Hundred and Seventy-One: Some Flat Mountains and the Pink Palace of Fun (Colorado Day 4)

(click on any of the pictures to see them larger!)


When you sleep outside, you don't really get the benefit of curtains. Pete and I could have probably slept in longer from all of yesterday's activities, but at 6:15 a.m. (ish), the dogs were up and ready to go. Anyone who has slept with a dog knows that when they're up, there's no calming them down (as is usually evidenced by Lucy walking on my face in the mornings.) So, we decided to pack up, leave the "state park" and head back over to Boulder to hike the Flatirons.

And hike we did. I'm not sure exactly how many miles it was to the top of Royal Arch, but probably somewhere around 3-4. Combine that with two dogs pulling you along the way, the elevation (and therefore lack of oxygen) and lots of upward elevation, you get a good workout. (And an pretty darn okay substitute for marathon training for the day.) We encountered a lot of beautiful and interesting things along our way -- like the tree bark you see above. Here is more of the beauty that lined our way up and back down.

On our way back down, we encountered several artists spending their morning trying to put the beauty of the mountains onto paper. As you can see at Pete's blog, this woman, painting in pastels, did an excellent job.

After a long hike, nourishment is definitely a must. One of the things that we planned before heading out was to find that nourishment at none other than Casa Bonita: the home of cliff divers, (bad) skits, and over priced Mexican food. But hey, it's about the atmosphere, right?

Pete obviously enjoyed his time at Casa Bonita. Unfortuantely, I couldn't convince him to bring a little piece of the magic home with him by purchasing this sombrero for his personal collection.

A small stream of water dropping into a barrel (in the new, expanded part of Casa Bonita) led to this picture.

After filling up our tummies with free sopaillas, we headed into Denver to take in a Rockies game. Although we left after the 7th inning stretch when the Rockies were down (we had to get up early to drive home in time for church), the "hottest team in baseball" pulled out "W".

We head home tomorrow, but if you could give a trip a "W", this one would certainly qualify. Hopefully it won't be too long before we're back again.

Day One Hundred and Seventy: America the Beautiful (Colorado Day 3)

(Note: click on any of the pictures to see them larger!)


Today was "our" day. I'm not really sure exactly what that means, but mostly that Pete and I didn't have a whole lot planned, so we could take our time getting to our ultimate destination of the campsite we reserved north of Denver.

Because we had to leave the dogs in the car overnight, we felt a bit guilty about them being cooped up, so the first item on the agenda was to find a place to let them round around. As the good Lord said, "Ask, and you shall be answered." Not far from our hotel was this field that (we think) was specifically designated as somewhat of a dog park. We let Lucy and Farley out of the car and off to play in the grass and creek with the mountains wishing us a good morning in the background.

Lucy has always been a "jumper", but has started to display this tendency on a regular basis. Usually she leaps (as we're calling it) when she is very excited about something. I guess you could say that's what happened when she had the chance to run around and play in the mountains.

After our stay in Breckenridge (which wasn't complete until we shared the most delicious cookie I've ever had-- double chocolate chip with frosting -- MMMMM), we decided we'd make our way to Boulder via a stop in the Arapaho National Forrest near Mount Evans. I didn't take many pictures here (and the one of Pete and I is one that he actually took), so you should check out his blog for sites of Echo Lake, Mount Evans, and the sights in between.

After the forest (where we didn't see any lions, tiger, or bears-- unless you count Lucy as a little Mountain Lion), we made our way to Boulder and walked around the 16th street mall for a bit. On our way to the campsite (which turned out to be nothing more than a mosquito breeding ground), we found an amazing sunset and literally chased it down. Pete also got some stunning pictures here, so you should find your way over to his blog, but I was able to get this one of the sun setting behind the mountains and the cows grazing.

The campsite, literally 1000 yards from I-25, wasn't really more than a flat piece of land they mowed and put concrete slabs on so they could call it a State Park and charge people to be on it. Not quite what we were looking in a Colorado campground. But, we decided to stay, and subsequently attempted a to build a fire. It wasn't all that successful, but we did roast some hot dogs and marshmallows and got to call it a night with full tummies. It was a long, but fantastic day in Colorado!

Day One Hundred and Sixty-Nine: Headin' West (Colorado- Day 2)

When your day starts off with sights like these, how can it NOT be a good day?

And a good day it was. Pete and I headed out from Hays (where Jennifer's aunt and uncle graciously hosted us over night) EARLY to make our way to Colorado. But first, we took a detour to Castle Rock, a stop on the Oregon Trail made famous by the game of the same name.

Just outside of Denver, we decided to take a take the scenic route, literally, (Highway 86, I think) around Denver that "introduced" us to the mountains. The view was spectacular. We stopped off to check into our hotel in Breckenridge, and then made our way to Aspen for the JAMIE CULLUM CONCERT! It was a spectacular evening with an incredibly talented musician (seriously...check him out!) and a wonderful boyfriend. I expect the rest of the weekend to be equally as delightful.

I didn't take any pictures of the mountains today, so you'll have to look at tomorrow's post for some those shots.

Day One Hundred and Sixty-Eight: Home on the Range (Colorado- Day 4)

If the Flint Hills rolled all the way through Western Kansas, I could maybe agree that it isn't that bad. Unfortunately, rolling hills like these stop around Salina and the rest of the journey is pretty darn flat. Hopefully this site will sustain me until the mountains. ONWARD!

P.S. Pete took a few more shots than I did in the Flint Hills. Check his pictures out!

Day One Hundred and Sixty-Seven: 'shrooms

Although Pete and I are headed out into the great blue yonder tomorrow afternoon, this photo was taken anywhere but the "great" outdoors. In fact, these mushrooms are growing in my front yard. This morning when I took Lucy out to go potty at around 6:30 a.m., these mushrooms were just little babies. In fact, when I first noticed "something" in the lawn, they looked like a minature snowman. (Obviously when I got closer -- to see what Lucy was trying to eat--, I realized what they actually were. Nevermind the fact that it was 90 degrees here today and there is no way a snowman could be in my front yard.) I thought about taking a picture at that point, but was running behind on getting ready for work and dismissed the idea.

Tonight was the ending of an era in the burger night tradition, as Brandon and Liz are moving to Ohio later this week. Because they were busy packing and live in Kansas City, we decided to take burger night to them. As a result, I didn't arrive home until about 10 p.m. When I did, I found the mushrooms had -- well, mushroomed -- and now looked like this. They were now too cool not to take a picture of at this point (and I didn't have my picture of the day yet), so I set up the shot and came out with this!

In some ways, I wish I would have taken a picture in the morning and gotten this one at night so I could illustrate to you just how much these mushrooms grew in a period of about 15-ish hours. Nevertheless, I'm really happy with this photo and really like the dark, mildly ominous background and shawdows. It also reminds me a little bit of a super close view of the mushrooms from the Mario Bros games, (which -IMHO- itself makes this picture awesome). (Side note: if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, there is a sweet application called "World 9" where, whenever you "jump" or shake the iPod/Phone, it makes the jumping sound from Mario Brothers. IT costs $0.99, but it's well worht the investment.)

As you may have guessed, my comment about heading off into the wild blue yonder above means it's time for Pete and me to head to Colordao for vacation (woot!). It is highly unlikely I will be posting upates on my regular schedule, but I hope that we can use Pete's iPhone to take some pictures of the beautiful Rocky Mountains and post them while we're out there and make you drool. Check back every once in a while to see what we're up to! If not, see you on Monday!

Day One Hundred and Sixty-Six: A Public Service Announcement

This is the sun.

(Thanks to http://www.psy.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/sun.jpg for this picture.)

These are gummy bears.

(Thanks to http://www.superwoman.ca for this picture)

These are gummy bears in the sun.  Any questions?

Day One Hundred and Sixty-Five: Iron Man

This morning I woke up early (MUCH earlier than anyone ever should on a Sunday) to take pictures at the Ironman Kansas being held out at Clinton Lake. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Triathlon, it consists of a 1.2 mile swim, followed by 56 miles of biking, and 13.1 miles (a half-marathon) of running...a total of 70.3 miles. Needless to say, those who finish the task well deserve the title of Iron Man.

(Note: Click on any of the pictures to make them larger!)

When I arrived, I was greeted by a steady parade of participants already biking. The race actually began at 6:00 a.m. (okay, so they woke up earlier than I did...) and many of the atheletes were well on their way by the time I got there at around 7:30.




To make the course safe for the approximately 2,000 participants, the race starts in phases, with the fastest athletes going first. Although the waiting to begin is probably torture for some, it benefited my picture taking because I got to see two phases of the race at once. But, before seeing anyone in the water, the spectators had to go on a nice little walk (probably at least 2 miles, round trip) down to the lake itself (bikers racing past the whole way there). Walking the course did help me to understand part of what the participants are going through, and that the terrain wasn't going to make finishing any easier, as this hill well illustrates.



When I finally made it down to the lake, there were only a few people left swimming. You can see the pain and anguish that was already overcoming them by the looks on their faces.



At each transition point-- from water to bike, and bike to run-- there stations like this one. Each person has a designated place where they previously set everything they'd need for the next leg. After the swim portion, your bike, shoes, helmet, and hopefully cheering section are all waiting for you.



But don't try and take any shortcuts, or you may end up here.




After changing, you bring your bike to the start of the biking portion, and mount up knowing you're 1.2 miles and 1/3 of the way complete with the race.



After seeing a few participants transition from water to bike, I headed back up the hill to see what was going on there. At the top, I encountered the area where the participants trade in their biking shoes for tennis shoes and take on 13.1 miles of running.

Apparently the Ironman Kansas running path is a loop, so when you make it back to this area the first time, you encounter these signs (that would probably kill whatever of my spirit was left at that point):



But of course, you eventually make it back around, and get to run, crawl, or drag yourself down this last but most glorious stretch of the course to the finish.




By the time I got done taking pictures at the bike-to-run change station, it was time for me to go; I had to complete my own run (training run of 7 miles today...week 5 now complete!). The race front runners weren't going to make an appearance at this part of the course for another half an hour, so I was unable to get any pictures of the running portion of the race. But in order to complete the tri-fecta, here's a picture of me pounding the pavement a couple of weeks ago in Wisconsin, taken by my favorite photographer (Pete).



Hearing some of the stories I heard while walking around (for instance, a man who only has use of one side of his body was completing the swimming portion as I was watching) certainly inspire me to continue on in my training for the Marine Corps Marathon in October. It also reminds me how important my fundraising efforts for St. Jude Children's Hospital are. (Click here to donate!) As crazy as it may seem, the Ironman is something I may someday take on. Then again, I've got a marathon to complete first.