birds, cats and BBQ

Only Willie the Wildcat had a better view of the game than we did--front row seats get you a great view and an appearance on the jumbotron! I felt badly for the guys who spent a cold night in a tent but it looks like they were comfortable (with a big screen tv and 6 bottles of whiskey!). Lack of sleep didn't keep John and Mike from smoking these tasty looking chickens.

It was a busy weekend with both the American Royal BBQ (which we participated in with a team of fellow architects + designers) and the KSU/ISU football game at Arrowhead. We spent most of the day Friday getting ready for the party Friday night--setting up the tent and tables, smoking meat (chicken, lamb, sausage, pork butt, ribs, brisket, mussels and a bacon explosion) and making side dishes (baked beans and grilled potato salad) and the evening visiting with friends and eating way too much meat! On Saturday morning, the Lang family (minus Mackenzie who is spending the semester in Italy) arrived in town and we headed to Arrowhead Stadium (where we had more BBQ and great seats) to watch a very close game between KSU and ISU (KSU blocked what would have been a game tying extra point with 32 seconds left!)

Mike and some of the other teammates spent a cold night out at the Royal making sure that the smoker stayed at the right temperature so the meat (chicken, ribs, brisket and sausage) would be ready for the judging that started this morning (a friend and I went out with warm coffee and made breakfast for the guys early today). They didn't have a top 20 finish but we all had alot of fun! Now if we can just get the smell of smoke out of our clothes. and hair. and shoes.

2009 asla annual meeting

The 2009 ASLA Annual Meeting was held in Chicago September 18-21. I had never attended an annual meeting so I was very grateful when both Confluence and Kappa Alpha Theta offered to help fund my registration and travel expenses! Chicago is one of my favorite cities and a great setting for a conference themed "Beyond Sustainability: Regenerating Places and People". There were some great educational sessions with topics including urban agriculture and 'driving cars out of the park: ways to reduce autos in city parks' and a panel including Herbert Dreiseitl discussing innovative stormwater management. Mayor Richard Daley was the keynote speaker and I got to experience Northerly Island (the old Miegs field where the mayor had the landing strip torn out in the middle of the night) on a great early morning run. Other highlights included the LAF 'Millenium Magic' Fundraiser on the Pritzker Pavillion stage, a women in landscape architecture tour of the Lurie Garden and reconnecting with old friends.