Music...Reading...etc

Well I went to Karen's Kitchen last night and listened to Mark Bowling.  What an amazing talent he has!  To me, his voice and singing style sound like a cross between Chris Isaak and Garth Brooks.  In addition to a having the soul of a poet, he has a disarming sense of humor.  It was enjoyable time.  Mark is from Derby, Kansas and is finalizing a deal with record producers in Nashville.  He considers himself a composer first and a performer second.  I thought he was exceptional at both.   

From there we went to the American Legion Hall for a Valentine Dance benefitting Heart to Heart, a charity sponsored by the Sheriff.  The motto of Heart to Heart is "Children are our greatest resource."  "By creating Heart to Heart, children who had been abused could come to a center that was built child friendly and with resources available for the child and the child's family. Heart to Heart relies on a multidisciplinary response to child abuse. Instead of numerous interviews by various agencies, those agencies joined in a team effort so the child would be interviewed by only one person. It is the goal of Heart to Heart to provide the necessary services, resources and compassion for children and the families who come to the center reporting abuse." (http://www.hearttoheartcac.com/) 

Please forgive my digression from the dance... Larry Thompson's Belt Buckle Band played for four hours.  This, too, was a combination of good music and humor.  This band had five musicians...all very talented and able to play each other's instruments.  One of the band members lives in Newton, several in Wichita, one in Hesston, and one has a goat farm in southeastern Kansas (as you may imagine, he was quite a hoot!).  I was told that Larry Thompson is a principal at a school in Hesston (Hesston is much smaller than Newton so there may be only 2 schools in the community, but there is also a private college).  I ran into some old friends and some new ones from City Hall.  There was plenty of food and drinks.  Toward the end of the evening, the results of a silent auction were revealed.  There was a wide assortment of prizes donated by local merchants.   

Now for my reading...it is article after article on NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System).  I am working on literature reviews for these to assist in determining the direction of my research with Dr. White.  According to the EPA, "nonpoint source pollution is the single largest threat to water quality in the U.S."  Stormwater and efforts made by small communities to comply with this policy are the focus of our research project. I had never given much thought to this as there is little stormwater in Phoenix.  Consequently, I have not read any "good books" lately; however, I think you all might find "Water Follies" interesting as four chapters in it deal with Arizona and it is written by a professor from the UofA.  Will close for now to try to gather my thoughts and get busy writing.  Sundays are typically very quiet with many of the stores closed...in other words, very different from Phoenix .  Hope you all are doing well.  Thanks for reading.