Ethnic enrichment festival

   It turned out to be a pretty day to be outside for the annual ethnic enrichment festival at Swope Park in Kansas City, Missouri. I had never attended the festival before, though I had heard it was good. Turns out the best part was the food: nothing like eating your way around the entire world in one afternoon! I had a combo platter from Vietnam, complete with beef shish kebab, fried rice, crab rangoon, and spring roll. Not sure any of that is truly Vietnamese, but… Lucky me! It was all delicious. I had a green tea flavored かき氷 from the Japan booth too.

   Patty and Mickey, Fran, and my original Japanese teacher Sachie, were all there to man the kcjas booth. And I met up with Britten and Rich, and their friends Nikki and Mike. Fun! I'm thankful to them for getting me out of the house. I've been working hard on artwork for Hallmarket all weekend.

   And speaking of things that are exotic, check out this strange plant with bright purple pods and flowers that I spotted as I was on the homestretch on my run this morning, along 91st St.

   In my own backyard, my clematis is totally out of control, with about a billion buds on it. Can't wait for them all to spring open!