It’s a lazy Saturday morning in October.
Monthly Archives: October 2011
Only 24 Days Away
So lucky you. An invitation to a Halloween party, costumes and all. But you’d better get started now, or you’ll end up running all over town picking over costume dregs. Or worse, you’ll start rifling through your closet to dress up as a gypsy, a hippie or a biker chick. And let’s face it – those ideas are pretty lame no matter who’s throwing the party.
Save money by doing something clever and witty with just a few props. You could dress as a famous character or make a common saying come to life. Act out Think outside the box with a body-size box and a thinking cap. Make a sandwich board from foam core and let them read the Handwriting on the wall. If you are really desperate, trace your palm on paper and tape it on your cheek, for a Slap in the face.
Now here is a group that put in an all-out family effort for the holiday. All they used were grey and white felt, batting and a glue gun. If you duplicate this great look for say, a fun political fund-raiser, be sure to take care to line up the eye holes to prevent any injury.
(Image from Awkward Family Photos)
A Night Out
Organically grown grapes? Do they make a better wine? I talked it over a little bit with the friendly clerk at Trader Joe’s and decided why not try it? It’s a clean, crisp — as they say — a 2010 white table wine called Dynamic from Lake County in California.
A glass on the front porch is what I have in mind. Just before leaving to go to Knuckleheads, a saloon on the right side of the railroad tracks close to the river. The bill is Tom Russell, a folksy song and story-teller man.
There really isn’t much better than to get the chance to sit and listen to live music in a funky bar with a bunch of people who have the same taste in music as you do.
Isn’t October great?
Steve Jobs
October 5, 2011
Unplugged.
Location, Location
Put your name on a waiting list and you never know what will happen. But that’s how I ended up in a box seat on opening night for Turandot, the Lyric Opera’s first performance, at the new Kauffman performing arts center in Kansas City
I was greeted by a server holding a tray of champagne — and guided into a door that opened to a spacious area with 4 chairs angled toward an enclosed balcony overlooking the orchestra.
I settled in close to the railing so that I could put my champagne glass on the ledge. I looked to the left. Close enough to talk to were theatre-goers in rows just outside my box seat. I caught people looking over to where I sat and imagined them wondering how much my seat had cost.
Here Turandot (Lise Lindstrom) gazes up to check out my box seat.
I casually sipped my champagne as if I did not know that ushers had insisted that the others leave their unfinished drinks in the lobby bar. The server brought in a menu announcing an order of seasoned nuts, fresh fruit and a modest cheese tray for two could be delivered immediately for 45.00. I waved her away, saying that I had already had dinner.
The lights dimmed. I took off my shoes and pulled back in the chair. The opera? Oh, it was amazing. But not nearly as good as my box seat.
Walter and the Oven Season
Walter, a friendly clerk at the Sear’s Scratch and Dent Appliance Store down in the East Bottoms, announced that it is the beginning of Oven Season. 
“From here on out,” he says, “people start dreaming of what they can bake, roast, broil, saute, boil and lightly sear. They’ll squint at their old stoves and mentally switch them out for sleeker, bigger, more robust models. I’ll see ‘em coming in, all the way through December.”
He nods toward a bunch refrigerators.
“Those sales slump after summer. Nobody’s thinkin’ about guh spah choh,” he drawls,
“ it’s all about beef stew.”
Sometimes you just have to listen to learn.