I'm Alive!

I really have been incredibly busy with other things, and my poor blog, and even my photography have been neglected.

I've switched jobs, where I have more of a 9-to-5 oriented job, but I swear I spend all my time out of work working on things away from my computer.

One of my best friends is having a baby and I'm making her the baby animal alphabet cross-stitch afghan, which is a HUGE undertaking and has taken up all of my free time.

Between that major project, adjusting to the new job and schedule, I have just now re-started taking pictures. I hope to have some 'processed' and posted soon for your viewing enjoyment!!

Stick with me, and I promise not to let so much time go by without picture goodness!

Freak Storm

It all started as a beastly hot summer's day. The Loop was hosting its First Annual Chalk Festival, something I was really excited about. But the heat was too much and I soon gave up on that. Later, after my parents and I visited a lovely indoor Art Fair, we decided to check out the chalk work.

We found a parking spot and walked in. My mom is a big fan of Patch.com and they had a booth - so she stopped and chatted with them.

I ran ahead, on the sidewalk up the east side of Fitz's. I had talked to some of the artists earlier in the day and I wanted to see their final work. I saw some really stunning finished pieces of art - and I'll post about them another time.

My parents had just caught up with me when we felt the first drops. It was just a few. We stood there chatting briefly with the guy who was working on the farmost piece (almost to Melville). That's when it went from brief sprinkles to downpour. The wind started to blow a little, and not wanting his work to get wet, we ran for the nearby bus shelter. It had benches and a roof overhang, but nothing else to protect us.

My parents sat on the bench and I stood to the south of them. The downpour continued and the wind blew a little. That's all we figured that would happen. We didn't anticpate what was going to happen next.

The wind gusts picked up, blowing the umbrella the guy was working under (think of one of those umbrellas that have a very heavy base) over. We never saw what happened to him or where he took refuge. Then it started really pouring and really blowing... At some point, I realized that we couldn't see the street which was about 2 feet away.

The next thing we know, Mom thinks she saw lightning, but what I saw was blue sparks of something flying into the power lines nearby. That's when we all instantaeously and mutually decided that we were no longer safe where we were. We headed to the nearest structure, which was the Starbucks at Melville and Delmar. The road had flashflooded and the rain was driving and we couldn't see. We were pelted by pea sized hail.

I only think we were in Starbucks for 5 minutes before the storm blew over. The nice folks at Starbucks handed out small towels and we all waited for the deluge to end. When it finally lightened enough, we decided to go home and get dry. On our way out, we encountered Starbucks patio furniture that had blown away, a rattling drain that seemed like it might blow its top, and my mom shouted out at us because she saw car after car with their rear windows blown out.

Luckily, we had parked far enough over, that we managed to miss that particular phenomenon. We went home and changed into drier clothes and reflected on our near miss.

I went back the following afternoon and took these pictures:

Our bus shelter: We were in the middle:



View from where we were standing to the tree:



Another view close to where we were huddled:



The tree that either got struck by lightning or blown over into the power lines:



A view from the sidewalk where you can see the shelter and the tree:



Another nearby tree, blown down or damaged in the same fashion, and the path of destruction further down the sidewalk:



Twin damaged trees:



Another closer view of the tree:



Path of destruction:



Another tree view:


Tree:



One last look back before I went back to the car:



We definitely realize how lucky we were to only end up soaking wet and slightly traumatized. The weather experts suspect it was a microburst which can have wind gusts from 40-60 mph. I'd agree that those gusts got up there. I've rarely seen a white-out from rain. And i've never been caught outside in a storm like this.

I love thunderstorms - but I like to enjoy them from the safety of a building, not exposed and endangered.

I think it'll be a little while before we venture out in a storm again, even in a car.

Water Lilies at the Missouri Botanical Garden

Recently, my family and I went to the Missouri Botanical Garden on a lovely summer day. We went to see the Treehouses exhibit but I was captivated by the water lilies...

















and a few other pretty flowers:

Summer Cooking!

I've made an unofficial pact with my parents about cooking together once a week - in an attempt to both see them and expand my cooking skills. My parents are EXCELLENT cooks and I have a lot to learn.

Our menu for this day was a recipe found in Cuisine at Home, a pretty amazing cooking magazine.



Grilled Vegetable Couscous w/ lemon and goat cheese, with Lemon Butter Chicken. Sounds delicious, doesn't it? Well, I can tell you it was.

First, we washed and prepped all the vegetables (asparagus, whole bell peppers, red onions, white onions, zucchini) for the grilling:



Then we grilled them to deliciousness:







Then we prepared our colorful couscous:



Next up, grilling the chicken:



Here's the finished product, all sliced up, pre-mixing:



All mixed up:



And the final product, before being eaten:



YUM!

Hungry yet? I am!

Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market

I had heard many good things about the DM farmer's market, and I love me a good farmer's market, but I was not prepared for the immensity and complexity of this market. In addition to the farmers hawking their freshly grown goods, there were food booths galore, as well as arts and crafts booths, and other amazing goodies. Plus there were street musicians, and people wandering around trying to sell really tiny puppies.

Speaking of the puppies, I think they are too young to be sold at the age they are, but I didn't talk to them long enough to see if they were selling them at a later date when they were more mature. That aside, they still were darling little things, don't you think?





But let's get down to the real things at hand - don't all these things look good enough to eat?



















So many sights such as a pickup truck full of cantaloupe:



Or people making amazing kettle corn in already horrifying heat:



Or someone hawking growing your own mushrooms to eat:



Refreshments were had - such as this delicious breakfast burrito:



while we listened to this guy while we waited:




I went back again the following week, and my only really exciting find was this man who did amazing weaving right before our eyes:







The details and the colors blew me away. I'm sure his work was very expensive, because it was amazing.


So if you're ever in downtown Des Moines, during the summer & fall (i think), check it out. It'll be well-worth your time!