change

Geometry

IMG_8099Fuzzy tendrils reach out from a blossom’s golden innards in a Strawberry Hill Farms potted plant in Columbia, Missouri. The farm might be the biggest plant nursery I’ve seen.

IMG_8101Columbia’s where my grandparents live, at least when they’re not out at the farm. Until a little more than a week ago, it had been maybe a decade since I was there. Their house is almost exactly how I remember — the carpet, the board games on the shelves, the crowded kitchen bar my grandma always apologizes for. The place felt a little smaller than I remembered.

It was an extended weekend of driving, first to Columbia, then up to St. Joe, where my friend Mike makes cookies and hangs out with his shy cat named Henderson.

IMG_8157

IMG_8169From there it was up to Lincoln, Nebraska, of course. It’s been too long for each of these places.

IMG_8318

IMG_8280

IMG_8288

IMG_8205

IMG_8328

IMG_8324I’ve known each of these places for years, but they aren’t the same as before. Their shapes always change. It’s the same for people and their stories, I suppose.

IMG_8172For example, take this sister and her two students, running through a big, empty field toward a Science Olympiad event just because that’s what you do in big, empty fields. Science Olympiad is a competition with a couple dozen different topics and challenges, and back in my middle-school and high-school days, I was a massive Science Olympiad nerd.

You can clearly see I’m not a nerd anymore. But the point is new nerds and new coaches have come in. Now one of my old teammates is an event supervisor, and my old coach comes mostly for old times’ sake, and they’re both working on bigger things. The state competition still happens in Lincoln, but the town has changed, too, especially downtown. Time and other forces have nudged and stretched everything’s shape.

IMG_8207The university’s new features include a rock-climbing building and a roving skateboard gang. At least some of the same trombone players are still around to climb with.

IMG_8379

IMG_8357

IMG_8365

IMG_8374

IMG_8377I’m sorry it’s taken so long for this post, and to make it up to you, I plan to have another up today or tomorrow from yesterday’s Razorback Greenway opening here in Northwest Arkansas. Take a look, if you like.

Thanks for looking!

Summer’s End

_C1_1424Fall begins Tuesday and highs in the 90s have vanished from the forecast. With summer’s end come fall sports, politics, shorter days and more pants. I tried getting a sample of these changes this week.

I’ll start with the boys surfing cardboard, above. The Razorbacks once again trounced their opponent, and a celebration for parents and families meant a bit more activity around the student union, including some singing along to classic rock covers:

_C1_1398

_C1_1408

_C1_1452Also on Saturday, the opponents of Fayetteville’s anti-discrimination ordinance turned in more than enough petitions to bring the ordinance to a public vote. The law protects lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from being fired, evicted or turned away from a business because of their identity, along with a few other groups. (I took some photos outside the City Council’s vote on the law here.)

The opponents question whether such discrimination is a problem and say the law takes away from business owners’ rights. If enough of those signatures are verified in the next week or two, the vote would probably come in December or January.

These next several weeks will bring plenty more politics for us to cover, so wish us luck.

_C1_1274

_C1_1298All right, that’s enough news for this post. The rest I’ll devote to summer’s fading light.

_C1_1149

_C1_1127

_C1_1125

_C1_1162

_C1_1206

_C1_1243

_C1_1244

_C1_1258The Bikes, Blues & BBQ Motorcycle Rally begins Wednesday and looks to bring a few hundred thousand people to the region. Surely I’ll get at least a couple of photos from the crowd for next time, right?

Thanks for looking!

Dan