Back from the Ozarks

I spent most of last week either driving to southern Missouri, driving back, or attending the reunion of the family of NCW. It consisted of about 50 people from all over the USA, who gathered to see relatives that they hadn't seen for quite a while, some for the first time. We stayed three nights at a resort near Table Rock Lake near Branson, Mo. There was good food and a lot of fun and laughter. I had a good time, and even had an opportunity to engage in karaoke singing with the Old Folk sextet, an ad hoc group of seniors willing to make fools of themselves.

 On the way to the event, at about two thirds of the distance (660 miles to the reunion) we stopped in Independence, Missouri at the Harry Truman Presidential Library. It was interesting and educational, detailing his life and his time as President from 1945 to 1952. He was almost an accidental President, but managed to make important decisions that affect us even today. He was pretty unpopular when he left office, but has been somewhat resurrected since.

This is a pretty good shot of a bust of the 33rd President, which stood near the replica of the Oval Office.

There was a full size statue of Truman on display. I stood next to it and we appeared to be about the a same height. Wiki says he was 5 foot 9", the 31st tallest President. Abe was 6' 4" and James Madison 5' 4". Useless but somehow interesting information.

The Oval Office as it was when Harry was President. It was recreated with the help of the former Pres himself.
 

I've been back long enough to play some tennis and get reacquainted with the games of the World Cup. I was expecting a great game today and tuned in very early in the game. It was unnerving to see how easy it seemed for Germany to score on Brazil. It was 5-0 at half and ended at 7-1. Germany is likely to be the favorite when they play either Argentina or Netherlands in the final. It'll be hard to pick against them, but they still have to play the game and it can go either way.  The game tomorrow should be better than today's, but we'll only find out when they actually play it.