September 1 - Our August weather in Overland Park has been like September. john wonders what the September weather will be like. joyce has been observing leaves falling off trees. Don't tell anyone about this delightful weather or we might start to have tourists coming to Kansas to vacation. Both coasts are not the places to be right now: the West Coast has wild fires; the East Coast has hurricanes.

September 13 - Finally john has gotten The Greek Fisherman painting going! It has taken forever to figure out what was wrong. It turned out to be the boy in the painting. john's mentor, Fred Broski, emailed john that the boy was too small, others in john's painting class also tried to figure out what was wrong with the boy. Finally, joyce said that the boy is not important to the painting. With that, john painted out the boy, and it worked! john went from disgust to enthusiasm, and can now finish the painting! Here is john's latest attempt at this painting:

September 27 - As john has said before, the amount john and joyce are doing is indirectly proportional to what is put on this website. Here are a few of the things john and joyce have been doing:

1. From September 18 - 23, they were invited to spend time with their Danish friends, Ulf and Lise, at Ulf's cousin's house in Lake Tahoe. Kurt and Brooke's house in Truckee, CA., turned out to be a $3 - 4 million dollar vacation house! It is so beautiful it is hard to imagine just how beautiful it actually is. After staying there, taking a boat ride on Lake Tahoe, and walking along the western shore, john and joyce went on to Zion National Park. john plans on posting photos later today of Kurt's house and of Zion. Oh, by the way, Kurt's daughter has worked with Dale Chihuly in his glass factory in Seattle, Kurt's wife is a vice president at Motorola, and Kurt exports California wines to Denmark.

2. john is working again this year with the robotics team at Barstow private school. john arranged for the team to receive a certificate of recognition from the state of Kansas. The team will visit the office of senator Tim Owens beforehand, receive the certificate on the floor of the Senate, and then tour the Kansas Capitol. The team will again build a robot for competition in Dean Kamen's FIRST robotics team competition. You may know Dean Kamen from his invention of the Segway (http://www.segway.com/about-segway/who-we-are.php).

3. john has been asked to again give a lecture on "Innovation and Creativity" at the University of Missouri at Kansas City for the "Meet the Mentor" day presented by Science Pioneers. It is the kickoff of the Greater Kansas City Science Fair.

4. john has just started painting in oils for the first time. He is working on a landscape he started at Shawnee Mission park in acrylics. You can paint oil over acrylic, but not the other way around.

5. john continues to be president of The New Theatre Guild and president of the Brookridge Estates Homes Association.

6. john and joyce are putting in a floor to ceiling Pella window in one of their bedrooms.