Abraham Lincoln

I watched Saturday Night Live tonight*. It was a repeat, an episode with Justin Timberlake hosting. In the opening sequence, Justin wandered through the halls of the SNL studio and talked to people along the way. As he passed one doorway, an Abraham Lincoln look-alike came out and walked away from the camera. It dawned on me that it seems like any time someone is wandering the halls of SNL, an Abraham Lincoln look-alike is also there, wandering the halls.

At least, I assume it is a look-alike. Mighty curious.

* Not actually tonight, since it is now early Sunday morning. Let's just say a few hours ago. Yeh, that's fine.

Sit and Read a Little Bit

This will be the last garden photo for a few days. But don't worry, I have lots more that I will put up. This shows a bit more of the layout of part of the garden area, including some ponds. There are many benches in the gardens, all different kinds. I always think it looks so inviting to just sit there for an hour and read a good book. When I was growing up I loved going to school, but I also couldn't wait for summer. Why? So that I could go to the Library, get as many books as I wanted and read all day. A place like this would have been just wonderful, especially with just a gentle breeze blowing and a few birds singing in the trees.

Arborvitae Stalagmites

Well, I'm pretty sure these are Arborvitae and they do look somewhat like stalagmites. I would like to have known more about these. Is it just four Arborvitae, or are there multiple bushes growing in a clump? Imagine seeing these on a dark night. They might look like scary creatures. I also imagine that you could have fun using these in a musical number where all of a sudden about twenty dancers pop out from behind them. Or you could do a spy thriller or horror movie with the bad guy hiding behind them. In real life though, these are most likely condominiums for the birds.

Art in the Garden

And yes, here we have something more from the Overland Park Garden - a whimsical sculpture. I could analyze it for you, tell you what it means etc. But that would spoil the fun. Just enjoy.

There are many sculptures in the gardens, some are just for fun, like this one. Some are more traditional and then there are some that are quite abstract. They add a lot of interest and obviously make for neat photos.

Weeping Redbud Tree

This is a nice specimen of Redbud. It looks to be a Weeping Redbud! Yet another photo from Overland Park Arboretum. You can see the interesting branch structure, the pink flowers and the green leaves just starting to bud out. In Spring, first the neon pink flowers grace the branches, then those disappear and the leaves take over.

We saw many Redbuds along the way on our trip, just growing along the highway. What seems to be a common tree in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas is a landscape treat in Minnesota. If you need a specimen tree for the yard, something that won't take up too much space, buy a Redbud and plant it soon.

Cute Little House

This cute little house is at the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. I didn't notice it when I took the photo, but it appears that there is no back to the house. It looks like you can see the trees through the windows. But, upon closer inspection, I can tell that it is just reflections in the windows. Plus I have other photos that show the other side of the barn.

It would be fun to have this little house in the back yard. It could be a playhouse for the kids. Or an art studio. Or a garden shed.

I'll put that on my list of things to do: Make cute little house in back yard. It comes in at # 1,495 on my list. So, it won't be done this summer.

Overland Park Garden - Tulips

I'll be putting a few of my many photos from Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens near Kansas City up on the blog in the next few posts. This photo shows the tulips lining the fence just as we entered the gardens. I love the trees at this time of year (Spring) when they are just starting to bud out. You can actually see the forest through the trees now.

It may be hard to tell, but the fence has a few scattered oak leaves along the way. Behind the fence is a nice picnic shelter. We thoroughly enjoyed the gardens. There was much we didn't see, but we did spend an hour here and were impressed with the variety and natural setting.

A Horse is a Horse (of course of course)

Anyone remember that great song? Anyone? Anyone?

No matter. I spotted this horse statue while we were in Texas and snapped this photo from the car as we drove past. So if it looks a bit fuzzy, that's why. My assumption is that you can find at least a few horses living at this ranch. Probably not this big and probably not light bluish-green, but horses nonetheless.

Keep watching for more wonderful photos from our trip to Texas.

Customer Service with a Smile

On our recent trip to Texas, we stayed at Hampton Inns in Liberty, Oklahoma City and Topeka. We always had a pleasant stay with very nice accommodations and a good breakfast in the morning. These two very helpful young women agreed to be in a photo in the front lobby area on our first night traveling. They were so courteous and polite. We even got a call from them shortly after we brought our bags to the room to make sure everything in the room was just right. As you can see, customer service with a smile.

Happy National Train Day

And yet another important day is here! There are tons of great train photos, but I don't have any of those great ones. I do have a few, however, so at least I'm making the effort.

Many years ago, when we were watching trains in Oklahoma, we met a ferroequinologist. There are many of them all over the world and they often hang out together at museums. He knew a lot about the subject and we spent a few hours talking with him while waiting for an iron horse to go by.

Do Not Disturb

We recently drove down to Texas for a visit. We took lots of pictures and I will share them in the next few weeks here. Tonight I am getting tired so, it's just a quick posting for now. We stayed at Hampton Inns along the way and we found them to be quite nice. This is a photo of the "Do Not Disturb" sign for our room. Someone came up with a cute idea for a very mundane item.

Just in case you can't tell, the woman in the photo is jumping on the bed!