Another Road Trip

I haven't gone anywhere for weeks on end. Then within 5 days I've made trips to Minneapolis and Kansas City. What's up with that??
I left around 9am Saturday morning to make the 3-hour trip to Overland Park, KS...a suburb of Kansas City. My dear friend, Anne, who lives in Colorado was there visiting her sister. She called me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I would drive down while she was there. Of course!! We had so much fun! We visited the shops in Country Club Plaza and 'licked the windows' as the French call window shopping and then watched as the annual WaterFire event pictured here unfolded. Torch-wielding boaters lit huge bonfires in the middle of Brush Creek that flows alongside the Plaza. As wonderful music blared over the sound system, performers entertained with belly dancing and fiery sword swallowing. It all felt very pagan. We returned home to glasses of Pouilly Fuisse wine, brie, bread and olive oil, and a Rick Steves DVD of Paris and Provence. On Sunday morning we looked at all of Anne's vacation photos from France and then went to the Nelson Akins Art Museum to immerse ourselves in art from all over the world. I was able to locate my very favorite exhibit there to share with Anne and Jean. It's a display case full of cricket cages and cricket accoutrements from ancient China. It makes me giggle and smile every time I imagine little fighting crickets singing in their ivory carved cages and sleeping in their tiny beds decorated with Chinese poetry. Overall...a weekend well worth the road trip!