Nothing Is Static - Kansas City Visit

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

We left Kansas City on Thursday and headed for Justice, Il. (Chicago).  We're now in Cincinnati and will be having a family get together later this afternoon.  The weather has been good and the scenery the best.  

Here's a bit about our stay in Kansas City:

We had breakfast with our friends in Fayetteville, Ar. before taking off.  We had dinner at their house the night before but they insisted on toast and coffee before taking off.  It wasn't "toast", it was French toast with fresh fruit, goat yogurt and butter.  Very good.

We traveled through Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri.  The section of Oklahoma was off the beaten path and through farmlad.  It was a great drive getting off the whacky interstate.  I thought having driven in Mexico for so many years that there would be no issues.  What a mad house.  The driving habits are some we almost never see.  At times you think that someone is coming after you the way they approach from behind.

The first stop was my oldest nephew's house.  Patrick and Virginia live a rehabilitated part of the city, right off of downtown.  Urban blight had hit about 30 years ago leaving abandoned and destroyed homes.  The city plowed them down and new, low-income homes were built.  Since then though, the area has gone through a complete renaissance,   The original homes an 100 year old brick apartment buildings have been restored.  Younger professionals have purchased homes and condominiums have replaced the old.  

Patrick is a writer who has published many books including his cross-country adventures and river rafting.  He taught English at the university and now nearing retirement is a mail carrier.  A few more years and he'll receive his pension.  Virginia was a registered nurse most of her life, now retired she has taken up jazz singing and has begun singing in local pubs and clubs.

My 82 year old sister was there and it was a great reunion.  I talk to her several times a week but haven't seen her for over 10 years.  She lost her husband to dementia earlier this year.  She is now deciding where her life will go and making plans to enjoy her years.  

I've published the Country Club Plaza before on my blog.  It's an area created by the famous J.C. Nichols.  It was a Spanish-influenced open plaza area that covers several square miles.  The architecture is Spanish with some nuances that may or may not match.  The buildings are covered with clay tiled rooves (roofs), tiled sidwalks and fountains every where.  Some are originals and many are copies.  Kansas City earned the name of the "City of Fountains" because of Nichols great plan.  I used to hang out here a kid.  We lived up the hill from the Plaza and friends would just walk around and get into mischief.  There was a bowling alley and we formed a league and bowled for two years, tean shirts and all.

My niece prepared a delicious dinner for us and her family.  Pot roast, steamed veggies, and green beans.  So we decided we should bring desert.  We stopped at the Cheesecake Factory and picked up a really delicious Red Velvet.   The best ever with the exception of my low-fat, no-fat yogurt cheescake!

What follows are some of the many statues and fountains found around the Plaza.

This shop used to be a medical uniform shop.  My mother had never worked apart from being a made for a rich Kansas City family.  However, she was called for jury duty which turned into a month-long trial.  They were sequestered for four weeks in a downtown hotel.  My mother received a juicy check which she used to buy a new sewing machine.  After that she had the bug.  One of my brother's mother-in-law, recently widowed, began working in the uniform shop and invited my mom to work with her.  My mother received her liberation when she was in her 60s.  She had money to do what she wanted, when she wanted.  What followed was a driver's license and a car of her own.

This colorful building is where my dentist was located.  I had bad teeth from the get go.  Not sure why, bad nutrition, lack of vitamins from my mother or just genetic although no one else had this problem.  I had caps on most of my teeth by age seven, they would just crumble.  My mom would walk me to the dentist, I dreaded it.  Once I bit the dentist's finger and he back handed me.  When finished with the work he took me to the waiting room and told my mom.  She never said a word, she was very understanding.  After, each appointment, she would take me to the Woolworth's counter for a grilled cheese sandwich.  She was really something.  

The famous boar fountain has been there since before I was born.  Known as the "Wild Boar of Florence", with the original marble-carved boar by the Greeks over 2000 years ago.  Italians made a copy that still stands to the entrance of the Straw Market in Florence.  A bronze copy was made and it is one of the two replicas in the world.  If you see it, be sure to rub it's nose for good luck.

The old Skelly Oil Building, a Oklahoma oil company, sits on 47th street.  Now defunct, my oldest sister worked there.  My dad took the bus to work everyday and on his way home, he would stop by and pick up my sister.  One day, he went into her office and told her, "you need to tell your boss you're quitting.  Your mom is having a baby (number 10).  She'll need your help".  She quit, and six months later she was married and her fisrt child was a little more than six months older than my little brother.  She had helped raise five of my siblings doing household chores and changing diapers.  She figured if she was going to do it, she would do it for herself.  Some time after their marriage, she called crying saying she made fried chicken and mashed potatoes.  She didn't know how to cook for two.  My mom said not to worry and 30 minutes later we were eating dinner! 

Now a movie theater below, was a Sears store.  Right in the middle was the boy's department first floor.  I used to go with my friend Kevin and we would look at the mao shirts.  Oh how I wanted one.  It was white with black buttons and some gold-threaded trim.  It was there for at least two years.  My dad wouldn't permit me to wear what he said was a hippie shirt.

I tried to find the picture.  At this fountain was a wall where the restaurant is.  It had large niches with statues in them.  I had my picture taken there some 40 years ago.  

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If you click on the picture below you will see that what they thought was Spanish cultural architecture was really a Mexican tile art depicting people going to market. 

A tile work depicting a man in a sombrero, sarape and a donkey.  Not Spanish!

More to follow about Kansas City and our interesting tour of the Steamboat Arabia that sunk over 180 years ago and found buried under a cornfield some 300 feet away.