I won't be making any house posts for awhile. This week I'm back in my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, to participate in a concert of the transcontinental Welsh choir I've belonged to since 1999.
That comes off this Saturday, and I fly home to Pennsylvania this coming Monday. But already I'm wishing I could have stayed at least another week, if not two.
No, it's not homesickness, exactly. But there is a strong element of pride. I simply cannot believe all the changes that have happened here in the past four years! The amount of new construction is prodigious. And from just driving past it on the street, most of it looks very impressive. It would take days, if not weeks, to take it all in!
One of the most famous-- or notorious-- new erections is the new Bloch exhibit building on the grounds of the Nelson Gallery of Art. I dunno about it. People say the interior is sublime. But judging from photographs and ordinary people's comments, the outside looks like a bloody warehouse.
I'm hanging fire till I can visit Sunday afternoon. I reserve hope that it won't be as bad as people say, but I'm afraid it will.
Meanwhile, I comfort myself by getting where I need to go by way of the miles and miles of Kansas City's beautiful 115-year-old boulevard system, taking in parks, fountains, artwork, and lovely residential districts along the way. Thank you, St. George Kessler. Many communities took advantage of your eye and expertise; why did no one in Pixburgh ever think to do the same?
2 comments:
Just found this post--I live about 45 minutes from Kansas City. I think the Bloch extension looks just awful from the outside, too! Did you get to see the interior on your visit? My favorite part is the way sunlight shines through lenses in the reflecting pool to make interesting patterns on, of all things, the parking garage floor!
Hi, Jayne,
Just discovered your comment-- all these months later. Yes, I saw it and the Bloch addition is bloody awful. What were they thinking? Interior is all right, though it doesn't have the richness of the original building.
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