Wordless Wednesday-Close Up

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas at My House

Meet Me in St. Louis, BlogPaws!

My pal Maggie is here again this week to share why #BlogPaws should come to Missouri. Take it away Maggie!

Hi all! This is MaggieTKat again writing from the wonderful city of St. Louis, MO. I am joining my buddy SeabassCat to encourage BlogPaws to come to one of the cities in Missouri. St. Louis is truly the Gateway to the west, almost dead center of the United States. There are several interstates that converge in St. Louis: I-44, I-55, I-70, and I-64. I looked up mileage between St. Louis and some cities where bloggers and anipals live. Most of these cities are less than a days’ drive, or so Mom says, and she likes to stop for available litter boxes. Here’s my list:

City                       Miles

Columbus, OH     396

Chicago, IL           263

Oklahoma City, OK           459

Kansas City, MO   238

Denver, CO       796

Madison, WI       310

Atlanta, GA     468

Austin, TX    720

If you don’t want to drive, Lambert International Airport (code STL) is serviced by the following airlines: American, United, Southwest, AirTran, SA3000, Airchoice1, Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, Cape Air, Continental, Delta, Frontier, and US Air. Amtrak comes from Chicago and Kansas City, and Greyhound goes everywhere.

So, now you know that we are central to everything, a reasonable idea of mileage, and airlines you can take. So, please tell BlogPaws you would like to come to either Kansas City or St. Louis, Missouri! We would love to show you our state. As the song says, “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

Wow, St. Louis sounds pretty drivable! And look at that gorgeous picture of the Arch! Mom has always loved flying into St. Louis and seeing the river below her. Now don't you think we should have #MOBlogPaws?

The Sweet Sound of a Midwest #MOBlogPaws

Many thanks to Sebastian for allowing us to pawticipate yet again in the ongoing campaign to bring BlogPaws to Missouri in 2103.

Reason # 2309675 (or thereabouts):

The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Designed by the famous architect Moshe Safdie and in collaboration with renowned acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, this facility was designed to produce near perfect acoustics. Pretty impressive for a midwestern town, huh?

My human knows someone who's been involved in filming the story of its construction and he tells us that there is a magnificent pipe organ designed specifically for this space by the renowned Casavant Frères company.

The organ has 5,000 pipes, partially housed in a secondary building behind the Center that is 4 stories tall. And it took 6 weeks to tune, or "voice" the instrument to the fabulous acoustics of the hall!

The famous architect, Moshe Safdie, had this to say about the design of the building itself:

"The opportunity to design a major new performing arts center was precipitated by two significant decisions: the selection of an extraordinary site...and the decision to construct two dedicated halls for symphony, ballet, opera, and theater.

Each [of the two halls] reads as a distinct volume; metaphorically evoking a musical instrument and visible through the glass shell.

As the natural light changes, so does the building's transparency, reflecting the structure's surroundings and, at the same time, hinting at its interior.

At night, the entire building becomes inverted, displaying all of its interior activities to the community outside."

We think this is another pawesome reason for BlogPaws to be hosted in Missouri. Wouldn't you want to come hear a concert at one of the most acoustically perfect venues in the world?

Featured Furry: Jazz Man

Oh my cat! I have a doppelganger! His name is Jazz Man and he's a ten year old, very handsome, domestic shorthair mancat. He recently became homeless and is awaiting a new home at Wayside Waifs in Kansas City.

Unfortunately, his owner lost her home, so Jazz Man, along with his brofur Kiki, had to come to Wayside.

Kiki, Jazz Man's brofur.

Jazz Man is very sweet and loves to be petted. He's a little timid, but will venture out of his kennel in the cat adoption area occasionally to explore. He looks around, then will take cover under a kennel before coming out again. He gets along with other cats, but would probably do well in a quiet home as an only cat, too.

Jazz Man thinking about coming out of his kennel.

If you're thinking about adopting a new family member, Saturday is the Holiday Open House and adoption event at Wayside Waifs called "All I Want for Christmas is You." Starting at 10AM, all pets will be available for adoption for only $25! What a deal! At that price, you could adopt both Jazz Man AND Kiki! Don't forget, all pets adopted will already be current on their shots, be microchipped, and will go home with a 5 pound bag of Science Diet food.

Now, what do you think? Are we twins separated at birth?

That's a couple of good looking cats, right?

Kansas City: City of Fountains

When you think of the City of Fountains, you probably think of Rome, right? Well guess what? Kansas City, Missouri is called the City of Fountains, too! In fact, KC has the second most fountains of any city in the world, right behind Rome, Italy. Some say that KC actually has more working fountains than Rome.

Many of Kansas City's fountains are located at the Country Club Plaza. You can read what my pals over at A Tonk's Tail had to say about the Plaza in another #MOBlogPaws post, it's a pawsome spot to visit!

The J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain is the most photographed fountain in the city. The four horses are supposed to represent four rivers: the Mississippi, Volga, Rhine, and Seine.

The Neptune Fountain on the Plaza originally came from England and was installed in 1953.

The Bronze Boar has a sign telling visitors to rub his nose and drop a coin. All the coins go to Children's Mercy Hospital.

The Frog Fountain is located at Zona Rosa, another shopping district in Kansas City.

Some of Mom's favorite fountains are at Kauffman Stadium where the Royals play. Called the Water Spectacular, it is the largest privately owned fountain in the United States.

Although Kansas City, Missouri is known for its fountains, the entire metro area has fountains. This is the Lenexa City Hall Fountain, dyed pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. They also dye it green for their annual Spinach Festival! It runs 24 hours a day, even in the winter.

My favorite thing about the KC fountains? The first fountains in Kansas City were designed by the Humane Society so that dogs and horses would have fresh water. Sounds like KCMO has been thinking about its animals for a very long time!

You can learn more about the fountains at the City of Fountains Foundation. Wouldn't you love to visit Kansas City? It would be a great location for a Blog Paws Conference if you ask me!

Thankful: Today and Every Day

Today is my second Thanksgiving with my forever family and things just keep getting better. Every day I appreciate how good I've got it, but today is the day we express our thanks for what we have.

I'm thankful for Mom and Dad. We're a little family and it shows. There's nothing better than when we all cuddle together.

I'm thankful for Wayside Waifs. It's not fun being homeless, but the staff and volunteers at Wayside make it bearable. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have my mom!

I'm thankful for my Greenies. I get them every morning for breakfast and again at night before bedtime. I love Greenies!

I'm thankful for warm blankets on cold days.

I'm also thankful for all of my pals! I appreciate that you take the time to stop and read my little bloggie. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Holiday Season. *pawhugs*