Symphony in the Flint Hills
Posted on June 12, 2010 by Ching under Things to Do.
Jan and I volunteered to help the Symphony in the Flint Hills on Wednesday. On the way there, we took the Cassoday exit of the turnpike. Driving up, Jan wondered why the toll booth had no windows. We realized why once we got closer. It’s a self-service toll booth. It was the first one I’d ever seen.
It was really neat and would have been great if it actually worked. The machine wouldn’t take Jan’s ticket, though, so it still required human intervention. The man in the vehicle behind us even came out and tried to help and still couldn’t get it to work. Jan finally just had to buzz for help. After all of that, I wondered how many people simply drive off without paying out of frustration. It works in theory, but in reality? Not so much.
Incidentally, this is the only photo I took of the entire day. I figured that we would be hard at work and very busy the entire day so I didn’t even bother. My phone stayed in my purse locked in Jan’s car, several miles away from where I was. Good thing there were no emergencies!
I wish I could have taken pictures, though, because it was simply breathtaking out there on the prairie. When you look all around you and there’s nothing for miles but the lush, green land, it’s just amazing. All I could say was, “Wow!” Darcy got to take pictures when she went to volunteer on Thursday, but she said that the pictures didn’t do the landscape justice. The site that was selected this year is located in Bazaar Township and it’s magnificent.
Every year a different area of the Flint Hills is selected. This is the fifth annual event. I’m sure that previous Symphony in the Flint Hills sites were all equally beautiful.
I really wish that we’d been able to attend this year. Maybe I can convince Brian to go next year.
If you’re curious about what it’s like, visit the official Symphony site and/or check out these links to pictures that people have taken.
– First Annual Symphony in the Flint Hills (photos by Cammy2005)
– 2007 Symphony in the Flint Hills (photos by Vanheckfam)
– 2008 Symphony in the Flint Hills (photos by Foodperson)
– 2009 Symphony in the Flint Hills (photos by Jeff Cowell)
– More pictures from last year’s Symphony in the Flint Hills event (photos by NatoriousFAT)
– More pictures from last year (photos by Mr. Coreyo)
– And still more… because there’s tons of pictures of the event on Flickr (photos by Cindi H)
– Photos of Green Team volunteers preparing for this year’s Symphony in the Flint Hills event (Westar Energy)
It really looks like a lot of fun. Maybe we’ll see you all there next year?
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Our Hutchinson Day Trip
Posted on June 7, 2010 by Ching under Family, Things to Do.
We had fun celebrating David and Donna’s 37th wedding anniversary. As their anniversary gift, we treated them to lunch at Danny Boy’s Smokehouse, our favorite place to eat barbecue in Hutch, followed by a tour of the Kansas Underground Salt Museum. I had a blast. I hope they had fun, too.
We did combo passes so we went ahead and gave David the two All-Day Mission Passes for the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center as his early Father’s Day gift. We’ll have to wait to do that trip after Brian returns from Germany, though.
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Lady Gaga’s Poker Face – iPhone Apps Version
Posted on June 6, 2010 by Ching under Videos.
Jen and Armando showed us this YouTube video today. Some people just have way too much time on their hands! Kidding aside, I’m just jealous because I didn’t think of it first. LOL.
Actually, I couldn’t have done this because I don’t own an iPhone, let alone four. And, I’m tone deaf. So there’s no way I could have done this even if I tried. Some people are just more creative and talented than others. All the untalented, dull people can do is mock the people who are doing interesting, clever things.
Kudos to Kim Yeo Hee (aka Applegirl) for figuring out how to do this and sharing it with the world. You go, girl!
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Bradley Fair Outdoor Concert
Posted on June 5, 2010 by Ching under Date Ideas, Things to Do.
As luck would have it, we had a beautiful day on Thursday. It was a little hot in the early evening, but as the sun went down, the temperature was perfect. We thought the concert started at 6:30 pm (I’m not sure why I had that time in mind). The performance didn’t actually start until 7:30 pm, so we were an hour early. Typical because we are nerds and are usually thirty minutes to an hour early to everything. =P
It worked out great because we were one of the first ones there. We got the perfect spot across the water from the concert area. It wasn’t so perfect when the sun was still up because it wasn’t as shady as some of the other areas. It was absolutely pefect when the sun was gone, though.
There was a small tree next to us which was the perfect place to rest our bikes. Yup. We were uber nerds and rode our bikes out to Bradley Fair that night.
Brian read his book while we were waiting for the concert to begin. I took pictures, as always.
We got to meet mom and Tita Esper’s friend Lily, who set up right next to us. She gave us Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Yum! Brian got Chocolate Fudge Brownie flavor and I got Cherry Garcia. These things are neat because they’re the perfect size and they come with a spoon. We also got to have some coffee-flavored Dove mini ice cream bars. Lily was generous and super nice. I think even if we didn’t know the same people, she still would have shared her treats with us.
Brian also made friends with this man sitting next to us. He’s a huge classic car afficionado so he and Brian talked about cars most of the evening. He and his wife seemed like good people. I just love all the nice, wonderful people you meet at the Bradley Fair outdoor concerts.
Brian and I decided that we will drive next week and bring goodies to share with the people around us. Also, biking back to our place in the evening was not much fun. That drive in Wilson Estates is quite dark at night and it’s very hard to see. If we ever venture out biking that late in the evening again, we’ll need some headlights for our bikes. I think what made biking back worse was this guy in a Sandals vehicle kept harassing us. He yelled obsecenities at us almost the entire way home. What a weirdo! At one point this crazy whack-job even jumped out of the shadows to startle us. It worked. He scared the bejeezus of out me and I about fell off my bike. I managed to stay on and just kept pedaling my buns off. LOL.
I’m just kidding about the pedophile who was following us home. It was actually Jay. He and Becca joined us at the concert after they finished their mystery shop at Granite City. They kept us up past our bed time. =P
All jokes aside, we had a really good time on Thursday night. Next week will be even better. We will bring lots of food and goodies. We will bring our folding lawn chairs and some extra blankets. We will bring a cooler full of drinks to enjoy throughout the evening. We will bring Citronella or OFF to keep the bugs away. Since we plan on driving, we can bring a ton more stuff. And, best of all, now that we know when the music begins, we’ll try not to be so early.
What about you guys? Wanna join us? See you next Thursday!
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Chi-Chi Looks Great Today
Posted on June 4, 2010 by Ching under Life.
Check out our hibiscus (gumamela) Chi-Chi and her very nice blooms. I’m so glad we moved her to the end of the sidewalk, closer to the driveway. Beautiful!
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