The Kansas Open

Emperor recently competed in the Kansas Open in Overland Park, KS, for three days.  There were over 100 players, mostly adults.  Emperor is now working through "500 English Miniatures" by Bill Wall.  The "English" means that the white player always begins by moving his pawn to c4.  Yes, an entire book about one pawn move.  At some point, we will also work through an entire book about the Caro-Kann (white moves to e4, then black to c6), the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit (BDG) which begins 1. d4 d5 2. e4 dxe4 3. f3 and Ruy Lopez (e4 e5).  I'm hoping to get through the English Miniatures book this year and get midway through another; however, Emperor plays two games in the books on most weekdays and gets to decide which book and which games.  Emperor had a hard time in this last tournament and wants to sharpen his game.

Our Nature Walk

Feel free to guess the flower name!  This is a little over six feet tall.

Tiny parking lot flowers

I don't know what this is but I'm not sure it is touchable.

Looks like a wild raspberry of some sort. 

Allegedly, Queen Anne's Lace only grows to about four feet in height.  This is almost five feet tall.

A black walnut tree.  Apparently Missouri is one of the world's biggest exporters of black walnut wood. 

These are called asters.  They look like daisies, but they're smaller and there are several flowers on one stalk.

I'm tempted to say that this is not a wild grape, but a "deadly nightshade" vine.

The Mighty Nile

Obviously the Pyramids weren't that close to the Nile, but we fit everything into the old/rusty cake pan as best as possible.  The "Nile" is made of aluminum foil and is flooded weekly (instead of annually).  Potting soil on the banks contain grass seed and Lego farmers.  The grass gets pretty bent up because the local giants enjoy petting it.