A Week in Iowa

I spent last week in Davenport, Iowa visiting family members and attending my high school reunion. 

Here is the obligatory photo of the Mississippi River, as seen from the levee next to the Modern Woodmen baseball stadium (home of the Quad Cities River Bandits, the local Class A minor league team).  The bridge shown is the Centennial Bridge, which connects Davenport and Rock Island, Illinois.

My mother is no longer able to care for her flowers, but the beautiful perennials persist.

The neighbor to the south has two giant pin oaks.  One of the trees had its top snap off and crush my parents' front porch last summer.  The offending tree remained headless for a year.

Four days ago, a man came to lop off the remaining branches and take down the mighty trunk.  The fall was so violent that the whole house shook.

As I was getting ready to depart from the Moline airport this afternoon, I spied this modern sculpture in the airport lobby.  I suspect that the sculpture is a veiled commentary on current job prospects for musicians.  It's hard for them to make enough money to keep body and soul together.

"Grandpa's Violin" (Carved wood $2300) by Bill Wohlford — at Quad City International Airport (MLI).