More Statehouse Crane

The crane looms over the dome of the Statehouse. It will be there about a year, I'm told.



The counterweight end. When there is nobody in the cab, the arm is loose and swings in the wind like a weather vane, to prevent the winds from stressing it.



The cab where the operator spends his day. I'm told that once up there, he doesn't come down until his shift is over. Brings up some questions I really didn't want to think about.



The dismantling of the red crane that was used to assemble the blue crane.



And, the Native American statue on the dome draws a bead on the crane workers...ready, aim...!

Cheryl's Book!

I have a new book. It's Cheryl Unruh's new book, "Flyover People: Life on the Ground in a Rectangular State."

The book is a collection of some of her columns written for the Emporia Gazette over the past several years. She writes about the beauty and strangeness of Kansas, and about growing up in a "flyover state." When it came out late last month, she brought me my own personal signed copy, and I humbly discovered my name in the acknowledgements too. Wow.

The lovely photo on the cover is the work of Dave Leiker, Cheryl's husband. His photo site is linked on the side here, and you should look.

They are so far available in Topeka only at the Southwind Gallery at Framewoods, which is at 3074 SW 29th St. (29th & Oakley), across from the Brookwood Shopping center. They are also at Town Crier in Emporia, The Raven in Lawrence, and many other places. Check her site, Flyover People, for more locations. You can also order them online at Flyover People, here.

I have a new book and it's good. Get you one, too.

Statehouse Crane

The red crane, which is pretty good sized itself, is being used to put into place the pieces of the blue crane as part of the Statehouse renovation project that's been going on for some years now. The blue crane, when completed, will be the largest free-standing crane in North America. So I decided this was a Topeka Event and needed to be here. The workers that are waaaay up there putting together this giant Erector Set, if they have any fear, they don't show it. Just looking at where they are and what they are doing makes my knees wobbly!

Must Moon Again

At Lake Shawnee again, the Moon of August 24, 2010. The clouds were thin and thick and made the Moon kind of weird sometimes. The wind was up a bit, and the play of the silvery moonlight on the lake was especially nice, though hard to capture.

What Summer Is

Grown in Manhattan, bought at Rees Fruit Farm, sacrificed to the greater gastronmic good.

Moon, Clouds, Beauty

It was very cloudy the night of the Full Moon in July. So much so, that R. and I waited at the lake for a full hour after the time of moonrise before we could see her. Read these from the bottom up, please, I'm too lazy today to change them.

More of The End of Center

They are still taking apart the old Center Building on the old Topeka State Hospital grounds. These are only some of the pictures I've taken in the past month; the rest are in my Picasa albums,

End of Center Building