Jackson Park’s Lights

Jackson City Park lights 11-28-2015Friend Carla Jordan mentioned the trees in the Jackson City Park had been wrapped with lights. I said I had seen workers building an archway over the bridge that crosses Hubble Creek earlier in the week.

I needed to run some errands, so I thought I’d check it out. It wasn’t until I turned to The Missourian later that I saw a story that the tree lights had been turned on in a big ceremony Friday night.

When I went into the park from the south side like I usually do, intending on getting to the other side by going across the low-water crossing, the path was blocked because all the rain had turned it into a medium-water crossing. You’ll need to go in from the north if this rain keeps up.

There were a lot of displays along the roadway, much like you see in North County Park, but they weren’t lighted. I don’t know if that’ll come later or not.

Jackson Park photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move around. By the way, read the plea below. Y’all owe me big time for this. It’s been cold and rainy the past two days. I got my feet soaked and my ears cold taking these photos. There’s a nasty rumor that this is what winter in Missouri is like. Heated seats or not, my van might get pointed back to Florida before spring if that’s the case.

It’s that time of year again

Buy From Amazon.com to Support Ken SteinhoffEverybody is getting all excited about Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Overspend Wednesday (I made that one up), so I’m going to join the din. I hate to keep harping on this, but my mailbox is full or ads and teases, so it must work.

If you are going to shop Amazon anyway, please go to my blog and click on the big red ‘Click Here’ button at the top left of the page (or, this one). That’ll take you directly to Amazon with a code embedded. If you buy something, I’ll make from four to seven percent of your purchase price without it costing you anything.

Think of it as being your painless Christmas present to me.

Another Christmas Food

Christmas popcorn 11-27-2015We got Hutson’s Christmas window display out of the way last night. Two more things have to happen before the season is really here.

I haven’t gotten my traditional box of chocolate-covered cherries yet, but I did get one of the other staples.

Well, actually, a guess the tin of popcorn shouldn’t really count as Christmas because I usually buy it when it’s on deep clearance in some hardware store or discount house long about July, but it has a picture of Santa Claus or some winter scene on the side of it that SAYS Christmas.

Is fresh less stale?

When I ran across this tin, I thought I’d give it a try to see if the popcorn is any less stale when it’s purchased at the start of winter instead of the middle of the summer.

Nope. It’s either last year’s tin or it ALWAYS tastes like semi-flavored cardboard.

There may be some folks who eat the flavors in order, but I don’t go to that church. I open all the packages at once, give the white, unflavored (a relative term) a taste, then never dip into it again. Caramel and cheese corn must be eaten in the ratio of one handful of caramel to two handfuls of cheese.

Road food secret

I tend to mix my snacks that way. When I was on the road a lot, I’d buy a bag of almond M&Ms and a bag of pork rinds. That’s because you won’t know until you get to the motel room whether you are going to have a salt craving or a sweet craving. Ultimately, I’d compromise with a ratio of one piece of pork rind to two M&Ms. Washed down with a Dr. Pepper, of course. It covered all the bases.

 

It’s that time of year again

Buy From Amazon.com to Support Ken SteinhoffEverybody is getting all excited about Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Overspend Wednesday (I made that one up), so I’m going to join the din. I hate to keep harping on this, but my mailbox is full or ads and teases, so it must work.

If you are going to shop Amazon anyway, please go to my blog and click on the big red ‘Click Here’ button at the top left of the page (or, this one). That’ll take you directly to Amazon with a code embedded. If you buy something, I’ll make from four to seven percent of your purchase price without it costing you anything.

Think of it as being your painless Christmas present to me.

Hutson’s 2015 Window

Hutson's Furniture Store Christmas Display 11-26-2015You know it’s Christmas season when crowds show up in front of the Hutson Furniture Store’s window on Thanksgiving night. It was a great mix of people: old folks in wheelchairs, teenagers on dates, young parents whose kids pressed their noses and hands against the glass.

I remember the display as being bigger when I was a kid, but EVERYTHING was bigger back when I was a kid. It was a perfect night to stand out on Main Street. The temps were in the low 60s, the winds were calm, and the flash flood watch doesn’t kick in until Friday night.

Here’s what the display looked like in 2011.

Hutson’s Window photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move around.

It’s that time of year again

Buy From Amazon.com to Support Ken SteinhoffEverybody is getting all excited about Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Overspend Wednesday (I made that one up), so I’m going to join the din.

If you are going to shop Amazon anyway, please go to my blog and click on the big red ‘Click Here’ button at the top left of the page (or, this one). That’ll take you directly to Amazon with a code embedded. If you buy something, I’ll make from four to seven percent of your purchase price without it costing you anything.

Think of it as being your painless Christmas present to me.

Discovery Park at Dusk

Discovery Park of America 11-20-2015When I toured the Discovery Park of America in Union City, Tenn., in August, I mentioned that I was shooting extra photos so my museum friends could steal some ideas about how the park sets up its exhibits. When Curator Jessica was in town, we made a run  down so she could see the place in person.

To be honest, I wasn’t as impressed on my second visit. Still, we stuck around until they closed the joint.

This gallery is a good example of why you should keep shooting when the sun goes down.

Discovery Park photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move around.