Last guests and Graduation.

Last but not least, Caelia and Ben have arrived for a week of fun and relaxation, before they head off to the rigours of New York. I feel they have probably done it the right way round. The weather has turned quite cold again, but it's been so hot in Britain for the last few weeks, they don't seem that bothered.
We start with a winery visit. We haven't been to one yet and they are all around us. This is Stonehill Winery and is at Herman, on the slopes overlooking the town.

The cellars are impressive and it is sad to hear how the old, barrels, with carvings of the twelve apostles on them , were destroyed during prohibition. These are the largest series of underground vaulted cellars in America and you feel as if you could be in France.

We have a wine tasting and buy some of their prize wines, including a bottle of Norton. The Norton grape is very small. The size of a blueberry. It is consequently more difficult to pick and so costs more. Personally, I don't like it. It tastes homemade and not quite right and certainly not worth the $20 a bottle.

We have a very tasty German style meal in their restaurant and then head back via Graham Cave, which I think is worth seeing. There are some baby foxes inside the cave, who keep on peeping out. Caelia and Ben have super, zoom zoom lenses on their cameras and get amazing shots. I don't. I go for bigger targets!

We are driving in Ben and Caelia's rather large rental car. A SUV, supposedly medium size! I think Ben couldn't resist. He doesn't like that it is an automatic, but that is the norm here.

The spring flowers are starting to appear everywhere and I got rather carried away taking photos of them. I have never seen some of them before, but others are famiiar.

This almost looks like a wild garlic. A very pretty star shaped, white flower.

A long stemmed daisy with pink tinge.

This is a wild Sweet William.

This is a pink Dogwood.
This is the more usual white one that looks very delicate, like white lace amongst the green.

We are into the tourist routine now, which we are getting pretty good at. We are off for a session of shooting, this time with Roland on board.
I don't enjoy it so much second time. I think the novelty has worn off. Ben, Caelia and Roland all find it pretty easy to kill, although Roland manages to cut his thumb quite badly while reloading, which lessens his enthusiasm. We are all still amazed by how easy it is to get your hands on lethal weapons.

These are some of the targets you can choose. I hope you can read it.

Interesting shop. Lots of guns, ammunition and ways to kill or maim people. The lady behind the counter is petite and pretty and handles guns with great authority. She is in this place, in the middle of nowhere, all by herself, surrounded by guns and ammunition. I don't think I would be happy with that.
 Guns are just part of everyday life here. Strange country.

Ben discovers that Fulton has a bowling alley and we have an afternoon of bowling. Ben goes for brute force but I'm afraid it's a case of the hare and the tortoise. He bowls at twice the speed of everyone else, but Roland goes for accuracy. Roland, the tortoise, wins! and is rather pleased with himself. I didn't manage to capture the smirk on camera.

I insist everyone has a go with their other hand and Caelia wins! Oh well, can't be good at everything.
The revealing scoreboard.

Roland is marking exams, so we go off without him for an afternoon of mini golf, thwacking baseballs and other delights. There is a machine that shoots baseballs at you at varying speeds. I decide my one hand might never recover and give that a miss. Ben thwacks away with great enthusiasm and pretty much hits everything that comes at him. A good way to use up all that youthful energy!

Ben is still going for the hard hit and in mini golf his ball spends as much time off the course as on. I haven't played it for ages and I had forgotten what good fun it is. The weather is perfect. Ben gets a red neck, which calls for quite a few pathetic jokes on our part.














We visit the Berlin wall for 'that photo'. It has just been touched up, which seems a little weird.

And of course, Walmart. A thing of loveliness as you can see. There is no attempt to beautify or landscape. They all look the same- big, brown and ugly.

Ben casts a critical eye around and is not impressed. He is after all a supermarket manager. The main criticism- a lack of fresh produce and a piddling wine section. That just about sums it up.

We do the walk round Stinsons creek and Ben and Caelia compete over who can get the best photos of the bright red Cardinal. It is a difficult subject. It will insist on moving about all the time and posing behind leaves, but they do get some rather good pictures with their superior cameras. This is my attempt!

You need a bit of imagination and good eyesight.

The walk is in bright sunshine, with blue skies. The green is particularly fresh and bright.

This is the flower on the Tulip tree, which I think is stunning.

There are also lots of wild flowers emerging. I think this is the most attractive time of year so far.

I have seen lawns which are almost all violets. Very pretty.












We have all been eating too much all week, but we still have to do the diner breakfast. This place has lots of atmosphere, but is nothing to look at.

 There are a bunch of old men up near the counter having a good natter about all things important. Cars, food, tractors etc. They seem to spend a lot of time here.
This establishment is also not pleased with the non smoking regulations that came in at Christmas.

They don't like being told what they can and cannot do round here.

Mid week, we have a little party at the museum to launch Roland's book 'British Prime Ministers and Democracy'. A cracking read and a must for anyone's Christmas list. It's actually very interesting, but being an academic book is priced ridiculously high. The do goes well, with some nice speeches, good friends and wine, beer and food. A pretty good combination.

The swing seat is popular as always and needed for rests between eating and endless activities.

Poole is requested again and Liz from archives and boyfriend Chuck join us for a hamburger at Becks and a game afterwards. Fulton is buzzing. This is graduation weekend and mums and dads are in town.
The bar is fuller than last time and I was interested to note that the young men at the bar were all watching the Playboy channel on a TV at the bar. I suppose if you can't drink you have to have fun in other ways!
Despite the fact that Chuck is not feeling the best, he and Liz win. Ben is good, but he keeps on accidentally potting the white ball. A little too much zoom on the ball. Will he ever learn...

The campus looks pretty good in the sun. It has been spruced up for Graduation.

Caelia and Ben will miss it. They have opted for a Cardinals match in St Louis en route to New York. Caelia has got the T shirt and a red dress to blend with the crowd.
That's the medium SUV in the background.
 I think they have enjoyed their stay in Fulton and caught up on their sleep in time for the city that never does!

Saturday morning the mess in the bedrooms upstairs magically disappears into suitcases and we are left in our little house on our own. It suddenly seems very quiet. No time to ponder though- it's Graduation!!!

The town enters into the spirit of graduation and all the shops are selling graduation goodies. The walk to college is lined with flags.

The hall is full and it is the usual mix of religion, patriotism and sentimentality. The staff and students process in to 'Land of Hope and Glory', which I think of as being rather British, but good stirring stuff.
The emphasis is a bit too much on the grim world they are about to inflict themselves upon and the fact that they have a never ending life of service ahead of them. Enough to make you go away and top yourself. I think it could have been a bit lighter and not so pessemistic about the future. Too much about service, leadership, responsibility etc....... Not that the students look the slightest bit overwhelmed by all this. They are all on a high. The ceremony ends by the whole college processing across to the columns and all the graduating students walk through a line of professors, through the columns and out into the world. All very symbolic and actually rather effective.

Roland is done up in his robes, which are rather too much for the 80 degree heat, and in the procession.

They even have bagpipes. The piper is a rather solid lady, whose a bit wobbly on some of her notes.

Roland's robes are rather fetching!

It's the last time he will wear them. This is the end of term. The students and quite a few of the faculty will leave town and Fulton will revert to it's summer mode. Deserted!

More guests and almost tornadoed!

Guest no 3 arrives. Our lovely son, determined to have the full mid-west experience. He has had a week of West Coast fun and frivolity, it's time for the real thing!

He is very impressed with the museum, and Wren church and amused by our down town position; handy for pizza, a hair cut all that Fulton has to offer. He is his father's son. Walmart is a big hit with it's T shirts, jeans and hats, which are far cheaper than back home. We end up buying a second suitcase so he can take it all back. I am also hoping to squeeze a few of our things in, but at this rate there will be no room.
We visit Ozarkland- a must for any visitor. Skomer gets a few questionable items- a rebel hat and the like. I buy a plastic, painted, golden eagle money box. Who could resist? Judging by Roland's face, he could have.

Since we were last in the USA micro breweries have proliferated. Between them, father and son are doing their best to taste the lot! Here are a few of the empties.

We visit Crane's store. An old fashioned country store with food and clothes. More clothes are bought.

We have a night on the razz in Fulton with the archivist. Beer, bar football, pool and pin ball machines, then on to a fairly revolting meal at a bar in town. It's fun, but the son and heir is not impressed with our knowledge of the local bars. He has to find out where they all are from the shoe shop owner, who is a Fultonite.

We have a trip to Jeff City and get a private tour of the Capitol. See, we do know some of the right people.
We are getting to know this building very well, but it impresses each time. This is a mini version of Washington, well not that mini. The House is in session and there is a real buzz about the place. I am very impressed again with the openness of the place. No security barriers, x-rays or the like. We mingle with the state's representatives. Very refreshing. It's how a democracy should be.

 We get to see inside the dome. This gives you some idea of the scale of the place.

 and get to go up on the roof for a view over the Missouri and beyond.

We are on flood alert. The water is high. There have been quite a few storms and more are expected. There are also lurking tornadoes.

The next experience is shooting. This time indoors with hand guns. A new experience. I have been recommended a place, whose website urges us to exercise our 2nd amendment rights! A friend takes us for our first go with hand guns

We get a bit of advice as to what to choose and start with three very different guns. Skomer feels he has to try a magnum. Wonder why! I end up with one that looks like an old fashioned cowboys gun, a 22. It has very little kick back, which is more than you can say for the magnum.  Our friend chooses a Glock 9mm with a bit of a kick in it. They are all heavy. We all get a box of bullets , ear protection, which is essential and eye protection. Then we get to choose targets. We are now ready for the range.




Some of the targets you can choose might be considered to be non PC and their description in the shop certainly is.

We find that we are pretty good at killing the enemy and defending the country from terrorists and the like! We can hit the bits we want to hit.

Someone felt the need to try an even bigger gun!!!! and is rather pleased with the results.

It is an interesting 2 hours. Long enough to realise it is pretty easy to kill someone with a lethal weapon in your hand and an ability to aim vaguely in the right direction. You don't need any practice. We have a fellow shooter several lanes away happily obliterating the figure of a man with bullet cases flying in all directions.
A fun experience as well as a worrying one. It makes me think no one should ever be able to own a hand gun and have it in their home. These guns held up to 14 bullets in one magazine. Lethal. Far too easy to use if you lost it and felt like having a go at someone.

We leave the charms of Fulton behind and set out for the big city. We have tickets for a Cardinals match and a tour of the Budweiser factory, the biggest brewery in the world! Now you have to see that.
The drive to St Louis is in torrential rain and the forecast is not good.
We do a quick trip into the downtown. Skomer has to see the arch and the sun comes out especially.

There are tornado warnings further south and to the east and we sit down to a very nice meal in Clayton, with lightening and thunder and all mayhem being let loose outside. We are unaware that as we happily chomp away on scallops and the like, the main international airport in St Louis is getting a direct hit by a tornado. Skomer is due to fly out sunday morning. Panic sets in.
We are going with St Louis friends to the Bud factory and the match and he kindly lets us use his office so that Skomer can change his flight to leave from Kansas City, the other side of the state! We still have the day to enjoy, so it's beer first.

The Bud factory is enormous and has a lot of it's original victorian buildings and artefacts.

The interior is also interesting.

The production is phenomenal and at the end of the tour you get to have a couple of half pints of any of their products. Bud on tap at the factory tastes pretty good. I think we are all getting in the mood for the match.














Our friends have got us brilliant seats, with a really good view of the game. When you first enter you just see a mass of red and white and the arch and towers of down town St Louis. Very impressive.

The weather is holding......just. It's warm. The wrong sort, you know there's going to be more rain.

The game is between arch rivals the Cardinals, the St Louis local team and the Cincinnati Reds. Last year when they met it all ended in a punch up. One of the Cincinnati players is supposed to have kicked one of the Cardinals in the head and not surprisingly, is not very popular. Every time he comes out, the crowd stands and boos, in a fairly good natured way. It doesn't seem to put him off his game and his team wins.

This is Skomer attempting to explain the finer points of the game to his father! Our friends are very impressed that Skomer's knowledge of the game is excellent and he has the shirt and hat, thanks to Walmart. He is described as 'one of the guys'. He certainly doesn't look out of place.

We do! Roland and I noticeably not red. I have got red sandals on though.
Having never been that enthralled by the game on television, I have to say watching it live was a lot better and the atmosphere in the stadium was great. We drink more beer, eat hot dogs and nachos and generally it's an all american experience.
Then, unfortunately we have to leave. The drive to Kansas City is 250 miles + and Roland wants to do half of it tonight. So we go back to Fulton for a few hours sleep. The drive is in torrential rain but the next morning, the sun shines and the drive to Kansas City is easy, if somewhat dull.

Skomer get's off safe and sound only to be delayed by storms in Washington. I think he had a pretty good time. We are exhausted and just have enough time to get ready for offspring number 2. Caelia and Ben fly in this saturday. They want the full Missouri experience too.

Before they come we have our own version of the royal wedding at the museum. We are all going to dress up, wear hats, drink champagne and eat cake! A bit of fun and frivolity. The weather is still stormy, there are still tornadoes and floods, but Fulton has survived to party on- so far.

Spring arrives and so do visitors. Topeka and it's delights!

There is suddenly a feel of spring around. In the matter of a week the temperatures have regularly been hitting the 90's.
 Trees have blossomed.

 Bulbs appeared from nowhere and birds are suddenly very active.

This is the bright red male cardinal.
 My two redbud trees in the garden are a glorious mass of purply pink flowers and my seemingly empty garden has large patches of tulips and daffodils.

It has been lovely to be able to show people the many delights of Fulton and beyond in the sunshine. Having said that, delightful they may be, but they don't take long!

This is the bit of Berlin wall. One feels obliged to do this photo with all guests!
Then there is the walk round Stinsons Creek, which is turning green and pretty.

We have done the usual circle with the last two guests- Jefferson City for the Capitol.

This is Justice depicted in stain glass inside the Chamber of the Capitol.

 Herman for the Missouri, beer and wine with German heritage, then back to Fulton. Wildly exciting as you can imagine.
Roland was very pleased to have another enthusiast to enjoy the local trains. This one is going along the flood plain of the Missouri river going towards Herman from Jefferson city.

The flood plain is rather bleak and the houses are now empty. People live above the potential water level. The remains are rather romantic, stuck out in the middle of nowhere, with remnants of a garden amongst the grass.

On one of the back roads we come across a treasure trove of old cars. A man, who does them up in his shed and has literally hundreds spread over the hills around for the spare parts. As he pointed out there are no zoning laws in this county. He is very friendly and quite happy for us to wander round.

There are fields full of cars with cows feeding amongst them. You could have spent a long time taking photos.

The weather is perfect. Blue skies, hot, but not too hot. The porch comes into it's own. Icy cold champagne on a shaded porch, now you can't get better than that.

Our guests head off south and we drive west into Kansas to a conference in Topeka. The temperature drops dramatically and there is torrential rain all the way.
 The Ramada, Topeka is a particularly depressing hotel. Huge and ageing with a lot of brown and beige decors. Topeka does not impress. The weather doesn't help, but it looks pretty dull when the sun comes out the next day.
This is my first conference. It is the Midwest Victorian studies annual conference. English seems to dominate over history and I find most of the papers a lot of waffle about nothing very much. The title of the conference is 'Victorian environments: spaces, places, traces.' which gives you some idea. One of the papers is entitled 'The bedroom as male space for anxiety in Dickens's Lying Awake' another 'The train as spatio-temporal dislocation in Gaskell's North and south'. I know why I never did English and was never any good at it.
The best part of the conference is the end, when we are invited to several houses in the most attractive, Victorian part of Topeka- Potwin. A suburb of large, beautiful houses with big gardens, mature trees and brick roads. Perhaps I've been a bit unkind to Topeka.

Sunday morning we manage to get into the First Presbyterian Church to see the complete set of Tiffany glass windows. They are very beautiful. Lovely shades of blue and green.

My photos don't really do them justice, but it's a shame Tiffany didn't do more church windows.

We pick up Skomer from Kansas City airport and head on home. The drive is a rather dull one. The road is straight and there is nothing much to keep you awake. We are going to have to do this drive again in a couple of weeks. We are hitting two presidential libraries. Eisenhower's in Kansas, where Roland is giving a lecture and Truman's in Independence, Missouri. We think it's a lot of driving. It's nothing to American's.

Skomer is delighted with Fulton. We are under tornado watch again. Everyone in town is phoned with the warning. Television and radio have bulletins and it would be hard not to know you were under threat. They have been particularly bad this year with 42 deaths so far. The Carolinas have had the worst of it. Missouri gets a few in the east and the Cardinals match in St. Louis has to be cancelled.
Skomer wants to have the full on, hick/redneck experience. It's a bit hard in the four days he has here, but we will do our best! We have even managed to find a source of moonshine at his request and are going be getting lessons in shooting hand guns at Ammo Alley. Details later....