We don't do much shopping in the way of Christmas Presents in my family but rather spend time with family and friends going out to eat and socializing. However I do try to buy myself something for Christmas and it came in today and is now parked in my garage.

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Now just to figure out all the bells and whistles. (smile)

Been very nice weather here in Kansas City but we are in for a change. Just in time to get the new car dirty.

Got the tree up the other day but have not really decorated it yet so perhaps i will get that done tomorrow.

But for now time to chill and get my ass to bed.

It was a beautiful day here in Central Kansas. The sun was shining and the temperature was in the 60's. The house will filled with friends and family. After taking my brother's X wife out to the lake where she had not been for many years we went up to the cemetery to prepare my brothers grave.

After the service his son laid his father to his final resting place and then we headed to the family farm for an evening of family and friends.

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My nephew arrived with his girl friend on horseback from his nearby home.

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My nieces’ son had to have his tun on the horse as well.

Then it was conversation, beer, wine and stories of days gone by.

The weather was perfect and all and all it was a good day.

Tomorrow I will be heading back to KC.

I am home at the farm for the Thanksgiving Weekend. Here are some pictures from today.

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Tomorro we will bury my brother who died in a fall in Arches National Park in Utah. His son and daughter and son in law and grand children are all here as well as his X wife. Hopefully the weather tomorrow will be as nice as it was today.

Since I returned from San Francisco been pretty busy here around the house and catching up on some picture framing for some clients.

Also going to Astronomy class on Tue and Thursday mornings in preparation for teaching this coming spring semester.

This past week was my friend Kurt’s birthday and I drove him to St Louis to visit his friend Rick as Rick was throwing him a birthday party. The weather was fantastic and all had a great time.

On Sunday Kurt, Rick and myself took Kurt’s parents out to breakfast and then we headed to the City Museum in St Louis, which was a kids paradise. It was a visual overload and even we had a great time. You could drop off a kid there and you would not see the kid or the rest of the day. Here are a few pictures that I took at the museum.

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Eventually we packed up and got out of St Louis at about 5 PM and not too far west of the city hit pouring rain which made driving a bitch but eventually the rain passed and we made it back to KC at about 9 PM.

On Monday it rained most of the day and this morning (Tuesday) the ground was dusted with a coating of snow but it soon melted.

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I went to class this morning and then headed down town to pick up some picture framing supplies and then stopped off at Home Depot to take a look at a washer and
Dryer that are on sale and then it was off to the gym.

Now I am home putting the frames together and Kurt and I will soon head over to my friends Carl and Sue for dinner.

Tomorrow I am going out to Nebraska Furniture Mart to see what they have there in the way of washer and dryers and if not a great deal will probably purchase the new one at Home Depot. The ones that I have here are not doing well. I did buy them from the homeowner about 5 years ago for $25 bucks so I guess I should be happy that they lasted as long as they did.

After a late night in San Francisco of good friends, good food, good drinks and fun times it was up early this morning and leave my home away from home in the CASTRO.

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The beautiful sunrise over Market and 16th didn’t make it any easier to walk to the Mission/16th street BART station to head off to the airport but it had to be done.

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The ride on BART was kind of sad and then it was onto the Shuttle to the Domestic Terminal and than make my way thought security and then relax until my 9:05 flight, which left on time. The views of the Bay were very nice but again just made me not want to go home.

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Upon arrival to the Denver Area (have a plane change here) I could see the remains of the snowstorm that hit Denver the day that I few out to San Francisco. Looks like it may be a good ski season

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Now I am home once again. Laundry is in the washer and chilling.


To be honest I am pretty tired after the past couple of very late nights but I don’t regret the late hours in any way.

Thank you everyone who may be reading this that are in the bay area and it was great to see you all.

My good friends from Melbourne Australia and I were joined by notdefined and mh58 at a restaurant in the CASTRO and after dinner we all came back to our B & B and shared a bottle of very nice wine that I had purchased at the Perry Mason Vineyard earlier in the week when I went up there with Tommy and Morgan for the afternoon.

My friends from OZ had to go meet their cousins as she had booked a trip to Yosemite National Park. Randal was not too pleased about her scheduling as they wanted to remain in the city for tonight but it just didn’t work out. We did at least have a very nice afternoon yesterday and I took them to the 16th/Mission BART station and rode with them to the Embarcadero Station and then returned to the B&B to pick up a few things before heading to the California Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park. It was a very nice experience and I recommend a visit if you get to SF. The Aquarium is very nice and I was very impressed with the new Largest Digital Planetarium that they installed during the renovation of the facility. I would definitely recommend going to see that when you are there.

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The roof of the facility is a "Living Roof"

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I headed back to the B&B and did a quick work out at 24-hour fitness and am now relaxing and will meet Tommy and Morgan about 5 this afternoon. In the mean time I will start to get my things organized for my morning departure on BART to SFO for my return flight back to KC. I really would like to stay longer but there are some things that have to be taken care of on the home front that cannot be ignored.

This morning after a lazy breakfast I wondered around the CASTRO for a bit in the amazing Fall San Francisco Weather. Shortly before noon my friends Randal and Dale who are from Melbourne Australia arrived at the Bed and Breakfast. After a cup of coffee on 18th we headed to Lands End to enjoy the view and the amazing fall weather. We are not back at the B & B relaxing until we meet friend for a dink and dinner notdefined, mh58 and hopefully squalidbear will join us for drinks before dinner and then Tommy, Morgan and my friends and myself we head off to find food somewhere in the city.

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We also had lunch at Louis' beofore taking the hike alone the trail.

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Yesterday morning after a nice breakfast, which included Danish Pastries as well, and 4 kinds of Danish Liquor one of which Carl had made himself.




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Then it was off to the CalTrain for the ride into the city. After arriving to the city I had lunch with my friends notdefined> and mh58.

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Saturday evening was Halloween and I eventually went to the CASTRO where most of the evening was spent inside 440 on Castro. When I did finally leave the bar the sidewalks were so crowded that it was next to impossible to move to the end of the block. I finally decided to just return to my room and go to bed at a reasonable time (2 AM)

The MUNI was filled with people celebrating the occasion

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This morning (Sunday) I got up at 7 AM and after showering I took a walk to the 16th Mission BART Station and headed to the East Bay to meet Tommy and Morgan as we were going up to Sonoma for the afternoon. It was a perfect day and we finally arrived to the Raymond Burr Winery and Vineyard. We tasted a few of the wines and basically enjoyed the view and the company.

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I purchased a nice bottle of wine, which I will share with my friends who have recently arrived from Melbourne Australia who I will be catching up with tomorrow (Monday)

Tommy and Morgan dropped me off at the Rockridge BART station and as the sun was setting in the west the Train finally arrived and I made my way back into the city.

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After dropping off my stuff at the B & B I headed to the Lone Star Beer Bust to catch up with some friends who I have known for some time who used to live in Albuquerque. I also meant some new friends as well. Woof



It is now a bit after Midnight and I am about to hit the bed. Hopefully tomorrow I will make it to the gym (24 hour fitness), which is very close to my B & B and then meet my friends somewhere about noon.

I had not planned to go into the Winchester Mystery Mansion but today i decided to drive back to San Jose to see the inside. I waited for my time in the mansion. And then took the tour and glad that i did. It is really an interesting victorian building

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Now I am back at my cousins house (wine in hand) doing laundry and waiting for her daughter and family to get here for dinner and then i will get organized for my Cal Train Ride into the city in the morning and check into my B&B where i will be staying for the remainder of my stay before going home on Thursday.

Looking forward to catching up with my friends from Melbourne Australia on Monday but will be running around on my own for the weekend in San Francisco.

I got up this morning and after having a very nice breakfast with my cousins Carl and I headed over to San Jose to the Tech Museum. On the way we stopped off to take a look at the Winchester Mystery House. It is the home of the Winchester family - - you know the Winchester Rifle and guns. After her husband died she got this wild idea that as long as she kept building onto the house she would not die. So needless to say the house became quite large with doors going to nowhere and rooms of odd shapes and sizes. I didn’t go on the tour of the house but it was interesting to walk around.

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After that we headed onto the Tech Museum in San Jose. It was fun to play with all the interactive exhibits. Carl and I had them do a 3D scan of our heads and this is what we got.

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By the time we looked and played with the exhibits and went to the IMAX movie “Under the Sea” it was time to head back to the house and have a nice scotch and then relax until dinner.

My cousin had made us Danish Meat Balls with Red Cabbage and the dinner was most excellent.

Not sure what I am going to do tomorrow but may take my cousins car and just run around the local area. Then do laundry and get packed up as I am going to cath the CalTrain into the city on Saturday morning where I will be running around the weekend and hopefully catch up with notdefined and then run around the city for the evening and meet squalidbear for a drink. Not sure what Sunday will have in store, but possibly the science museum in Golden Gate Park and beer bust at the edge and hopefully catch up with a friend that is competing in a leather contest who is in the city from back east. Monday I will be catching up with my friends Randal and Dale who are here from Melbourne Australia and hang with them until Thursday when I head back to Kansas City.

I arrived at my cousin’s house on Tuesday afternoon. The weather was bright and sunny and it was a nice drive from SFO to their home, which is between Saratoga and Los Gatos south of San Francisco. Needless to say a very nice place to hang out.

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To be honest last night I had to look for my bedroom when it was time to go to bed. We are talking about 5500 square feet of space here. It is needless to say a beautiful home.

My cousin’s husband and I got up this morning and headed to Big Basin State Park, which is not for from where they live. The weather was great for walking around amongst the redwood trees and it was a great morning/afternoon.

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After the hike we headed to the small town of Boulder Creek for lunch and then on to Santa Cruz.

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After that it was back to the house for a glass of very nice red wine and relax until dinner here at the house this evening.

Not sure what is in store for tomorrow but I am sure it will be another great day. I will not be heading into the City of San Francisco until Sat morning.

It has been a busy day doing a bit of house cleaning and getting packed for my departure to SF in the morning. I did make it to the gym and had a good workout and then had to get some smaller size toiletries for the trip. Laundry is about done and almost packed and my boarding pass is printed out and money in my pocket.

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I arrive at SFO about 2:15 PM tomorrow (Tuesday) at which time my cousin who lives about 40 min south of the airport will pick me up. I will be visiting them on Tuesday through Friday nights and on Saturday morning I will head into the city where I have reservations at a B&B called http://24henry.com/. I hope to meet notdefined after his voice lesson and give him some spices that I purchased today at my favorite spice shop “Planters Seed and Spice” Tommy has been there and he would agree - - it is a neat place. Hopefully I will also get a chance to catch up with squalidbear while I am in the city over the weekend.


I am not sure what I will be doing on the weekend, as I will be basically just running around on my own. If there are any LJ people that would be interested in a coffee or something let me know. I do hope to get to the Science Museum, which was not open on my last few visits to the city as it was still under renovation.

Monday my friends from Melbourne Australia will be coming into the city and I will run with them and have dinner with them as well on Monday evening. On Tue Randal and Dale will relocate to the same B&B in which I am staying and we will do things in the city until I depart on Thursday morning back to KC.

This morning the sun came out and the temperature was sitting at about 39 F. As the day progressed the temperature rose and it turned out to be a beautiful day. My friend Steve who is here for the weekend and myself headed to the city market.

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While in the area we stopped off at Planters Seed and Spice to stock up on some spices that I was lacking here at the house. Then it was off to basically just enjoy the weather and the color of the trees, which are this weekend at their peek.

We went to the Liberty Memorial and took the ride to the top as well as walked around the area before heading back to the house.

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After getting home I decided that I would clean out the terraces in the front of the house as well as dig up some of the purple fountain grass which I am going to try to dormant and save for next spring.

We are now just relaxing and going to head out this evening and hopefully get in a bit earlier than I did last evening.

Tomorrow Steve will head back home and I will hit the gym and then start to organize for my departure to San Francisco on Tuesday morning.

Oh yes where else but in America. Squirt Pan Cake Batter . (????)



Thank you COSTCO you have made my life so much easier. lol

Last Tuesday morning I headed down to Table Rock Lake with my great friends Carl and Sue to help them do yard work and house cleaning. We had not been there since last June when we had gone down to see Carl’s mom who was in a nursing home. I was so glad that we went down at that time as she passed away the following week.

As Carl and Sue had been away most of the summer to the west coast there was much to be done. When we arrived the weather was fantastic and we had a great evening. We did some hiking around and were blessed with a very nice sunset over the lake with a glass of great red wine.

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Wednesday we were blessed with a fantastic sunrise as well.

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We did a full day (about 8 hours of yard work and house cleaning and finally relaxed for the rest of the evening to a very nice dinner and watched a movie.

This morning the weather took a turn for the worst. We had planned on going down to Arkansas to do some hiking today (Thursday) but it was pissing rain and looked like it was going to continue for the rest of the day. We finally decided to pack stuff up and head back to Kansas City.

We got home about 3 PM and after unloading my stuff I hit the gym and then joined my friends Carl and Sue for Sue’s birthday dinner and am now relaxing before going to bed. BTW it rained the either way (4.5 hours) from Table Rock to KC.

Almost perfect fall weather actually:

got the lawn mowed and the laundry done and has still be a day dominated by thinking. A lot to think about.

I did make it to the gym which is one of my get away places.

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Ok so it is a somber look but I have been doing some somber thinking (smile) . My mood did however allow me to push the weights a bit harder today.

Now off to have tacos with some friends as I usually do on Monday Evening.

Just a thought: Why is it that you can help out a friend time after time after time after time in so many ways and when you only want some of their time to listen they don't seem to have time. I have always made things about someone else - - probably too often but for once it is my turn to be "All about Me" as it is all about me this time.

Shit happens doesn't it (lol)

What do they say - - a parent can take care of 7 children but 7 children can't take care of one parent. Strange isn't it.

On a lighter note this guy is truly amazing!!!

Today the weather here in Kansa City was absolutely a perfect fall day. And it was much needed as a lot of stuff is going through my mind at the moment. Some not so great things actually so most of the day was spent in thought at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. To walk in the sun with my camera can be and is a very relaxing thing for me to do.

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The day was spent enjoying the art and the world around me for the most part. One of the most important things that I thought about today was how you value and nurture a friendship. Friendships do not survive all by themselves. Like any living things they have to be taken care of or they will die. It is very important to feed a friendship in order for it to grow and flourish or at some time when that friendship is needed it may not be there. One can be a very lonely number.

At this moment in my life friends are very important to me as some things are going on in my life that are very stressful. It is now when I need a friend I am finding out if the effort I have put into a friendship can be called upon. I am not so sure that it can and today that has been a very difficult realization for me to cope with.

The day has pretty much been a day alone enjoying the sun and color of the trees and basically just thinking. I am so glad that the weather was as it was today.

I ended up along the Missouri River just watching time roll on by. It was actually quite peaceful but eventually it was time to go home.

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I went to some very good friends for dinner who have have thankfully just returned from a trip to the east coast and walking into their home was like a warm blanket on a chilly night. Thank you and you know who you are.

No longer One but Three.

Now back home. I will be heading to the lake with my friends on Tuesday and then back home to prepare for a trip to visit friends in San Francisco who are coming from Melbourne Australia.

The Sun finally came out today so decided it was time to get out of the house and enjoy some of the fall colors. These are a few of the photos from today’s walk. These were taking at the Liberty Memorial, Kansas City, MO

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Pretty but not so sure I am going to enjoy the season that follows.

Home from the family reunion. Stories abounded and food a plenty.

A few pictures from the evening

It kind of started here as my grand parents loaded up the trunk and got on the ship to sailed to America. This is the truck in which they loaded up there belongings

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Then came the 9 kids

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The Kids quite a few years later.

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Now I am the older generation as my parents as well as all of my aunts and uncles are gone. My father was the youngest of 9 children and had 7 sisters and one brother who was the oldest. The remaining cousins who were the children of my father’s oldest brother are the upper end of my generation, Mark being 88 years old.

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My father was the youngest and thus my end of the family are the younger end with my younger brother being the youngest at 59.

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I am sad that my oldest brother who died about a month ago was not able to be here with us. He absolutely loved these events and it was like pulling teeth to get him to go home.



My youngest brothers family. My brother has been divorced for quite a few years and his X wife died about 2 years ago.

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My oldest sisters family

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These are only some of the people who were at the event this afternoon going into late in the evening. There were about 100 people at the reunion and it all began with my grandparents who emigrated from Sweden back in the 1800’s. I have a mixture of feeling very blessed and at the same time feeling a bit old but mostly blessed that our family has been able to keep in contact through all these years and weather most storms that have come our way. I especially am glad that my brother and my cousin who is the daughter of my father’s oldest sister are the family historians. They work many long hours researching our family history. My brother now owns the old home place and is very proud to keep the home place in tact and always welcomes any member of the Hanson Clan into what I still consider my HOME. My house is in Kansas City but my Home is here and I suspect always will be.

Now time to get my ass to bed. Tomorrow I will leave my Home and return to my House in Kansas City.