Petunias

Rock climbing

This rock climbing tower had been upright for climbing, but when ready to leave, it was mechanically lowered onto the truck bed. This picture was snapped as it was halfway down. Kansans have things like this instead of mountains and cliffs. Not nearly as pretty, but fun.

Theme Day - Breakfast

I'm a day late on theme day - but have photographed today's breakfast. Normally I just have a bowl of cereal and glass of ice water. But today, for show I've added whole wheat toast, fresh cantaloupe, and a hard boiled egg. The bowl of cereal barely shows in the upper left hand corner. Today it was Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds.

And now, on with the show

I wonder how many times that famous movie phrase has been spoken in this wonderful old movie theater. This is the Orpheum Theater, it was built in downtown Wichita at a cost of $750,000.00 and opened in 1922. I attended the new release of Mary Poppins with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, at this theater (1964). It was great fun just being in this theater, they don't make 'em like this anymore. I don't remember the cost of seeing the movie, but I do remember they gave a discount to students, seems like it cost about 50 cents. Popcorn was probably about 10 cents and it wasn't uncommon to see some being tossed towards the ground level seats from kids having fun in the balcony.
There came a time when, the Orpheum sat empty and unattended, becoming run down. Eventually a group of Wichitans decided to renovate it, and bring it back to life. If you are interested in old movie theaters, there's an excellent website about it, just look for the link in my sidebar titled Orpheum Theater. The website has an online video telling history of this old building - and the renovation (it's really interesting). The video shows pictures of the inside, plus there are articles and photos that can be viewed, and listings of upcoming performances and shows.

Sunflower

Palace of the Plains

In it's early days, this building was sometimes referred to as "The Palace of the Plains". It was completed in 1892 at a cost of $71,000. It served as Wichita's City Hall and included space for; regular offices, a jail, police and fire departments, courtrooms, offices for the board of education, and a large city library. In 1975 a new City Hall building was built, and this building then became the home of Wichita's Sedgwick County Historical Museum.

Canadian Geese

Canadian Geese, coming close to see if I've come to offer food.