Archive for April 2010
“That’s it!” She declared and basically refused to walk not even for my all-you-can-listen collection of Beatles CDs. We were in the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri. It’s a warm Sunday afternoon and the Plaza was not-too-surprisingly overwhelmed with happy-cheery shoppers. We stopped in front of the LatteLand Espresso & Tea Café and I unfortunately had to charge into the café like a wounded sea lion just to...
More →Marvin Gaye’s “You Are A Wonderful One” was gleefully mingling into sunbathed sceneries when I reached Western Historic Trails Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Sun was up. Breeze was on. A perfect spring Saturday morning, minus the inconvenience that I forgot to pack my dark chocolate reserve in my backpack. I hummed alone with Gaye like an old-fashioned karaoke machine and soon let go of my little chocolate emergency. You...
More →The Robert D. Ray Asian Gardens, located on the east bank of the Des Moines near the Des Moines Botanical Center, was opened on August 1, 2009 as the first phase of the CCCA Chinese Cultural Center of America’s Riverfront Project. The Gardens feature Responsibility Character Boulder, Victory Pagoda, Pioneer Hi-Bred Bridge for Friendship, John Deere Chinese Pavilion, Principal Financial Bridge for Prosperity, and RDG Circle of Diversity.
More →After having a robust cup of double-shot espresso in a café located in the trendy East Village district near the Iowa State Capitol, I unhurriedly drove toward the Des Moines Botanical Center with my slow mind tagged along like a sleepy monitor lizard with no nametag. The laid-back street scenes of Des Moines, accompanied by Tomaso Albinoni’s Adagio in G minor for Strings and Organ in my car’s stereo system,...
More →I took a mini-break in Clear Lake, Iowa, from my seemingly endless dreary conversation with the Interstate 35 on my way to Minneapolis. This unplanned visit turned out to be one of interesting stops of the trip filled with bits of magical sparks. After feeding my hungry car in a gas station, I visited a café to have a glass of iced tea and ran into musician/songwriter Stoney Footwalker from...
More →Ola Babcock Miller Building | Des Moines, Iowa | 2010 | Photo by Jen-Kuang Chang The Ola Babcock Miller Building, formerly known as the Iowa Historical Memorial and Arts Building, was renamed by the Iowa Legislature with support of the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women to honor Ola Babcock Miller in 1999. Ola, born on March 1, 1871 as Viola Babcock, was elected as Iowa’s first female Secretary...
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