Sunrise Walk

 

I went out this morning for a walk on our place. Thirty three degrees, beautiful crisp dawn. With the stay at home orders there is very little traffic sound from the road. Three does greeted me with still silent curiosity. I looked down for better footing in the soft ground, and they vanished just as quietly into the trees.

 

The Redbuds are exceptional this year

Pears

New Decade

Its hard to believe a new decade is really here. Lots of things have changed in our home, the town, the world. Yesterday was Kansas Day a celebration of sorts. Some things do not change. The sound of coyotes at night or crows in the early morning, the sound of children playing, grand kids. Change is inevitable, but there are those things that keep you grounded in the storm.

Wendell Berry. The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

County Fair Time

Its County Fair Time again in south East Kansas.

Spent a warm morning watching young folks learn how to judge livestock the other day. It never fails to amaze me how much work, effort and pride they take in their work.

Evening Ride

 On the road to Prairie State Park, near Minndenmines Missouri.

The Sky Today

Sky near Prairie State Park 

Today was pretty humid although not as hot as it has been lately. I drove out to Prairie Park to look for Bison. They were off in the thick brush and I missed them. 

Wandering near Wamego

The Road to Flush Kansas

Home of Wiziarde Novelty Show Westmoreland Kansas

Wooden Grain Storage Built 1918 St. George Kansas

The Kansas River near St. George Kansas.

This past weekend my wife and I drove up to Manhattan Kansas. Thirty six years ago we were married in Westmoreland Kansas. We decided to elope back then, alerting only two friends to stand as witnesses. Up to Westy we drove in my 68 Pontiac Catalina. Judge "Doc" Maskill was the judge who married us looking every bit the role as the older statesman judge from Kansas. His secretary told him as we headed out the door; "Doc at least comb what hair you have left'. He read from Shakespeare as we stood in the July heat in the now gone Gazeebo behind the 100 year old rock courthouse. Just a couple of broke kids, with no money, we stopped at Pizza Hut and headed back to town. We called friends to help us celebrate in Brothers Tavern in Manhattan. I wouldn't change a thing.

Recent wanderings

Seems like I have not been posting here for a while, have to remedy that.

“Time is a drug. Too much of it kills you.” 

Terry Pratchett, Small Gods

Lake Life

There is nothing quite as life affirming as spending a week with your grown children and their children at a lake. Quiet mornings, coffee, eggs, playing with minnows, canoeing, late night discussions on the deck. In this day and age of such turmoil in the world an escape from it all serves to rejuvenate and refresh my spirit.