Bluegrass Evening

Saturday night I wandered over to the county lake because I had heard a rumor there was to be bluegrass music and a chili cook off happening. Well I arrived to late for the chili but was thrilled I didn't miss the music.

This time of year the fall music festivals begin, the really big one was over in Winfield this week. For 30 years I have sworn "next year Ill get there", never have. The three bands that were cookin here tonight filled the warm late summer evening with some sweet music.

"Whiskey on Sunday", "The Wildwood Flower", and John Prine's "Paradise" were some of the favorites tonight. Not exactly Winfield but not too shabby at all.

The Weekend in Black and White

Window in Cato School

Crawford County Kansas

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My World Tuesday

Yesterday I decided it was just too nice to do chores.  I loaded up the camera and went for a ride. Our part of the world still has gravel roads that wind through the countryside, up and down hills. Its hard to get lost as  most head east and west.

I came across this old church built in 1915, the last remnant of a once thriving town called Cato.

Mules and Horses sharing some shade.

Pastures

and creeks along the way, a lone coyote, red tail hawks, turkey buzzards, scissor tail flycatchers, all shared the mid day with me.

For more places around the world visit here.

Todays Flowers

Todays flowers are Thistles being busily visited by Swallowtail Butterflies.

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Hollow Tree

We came upon this amazing sycamore tree while hiking.  The hollow core still held a living branch that reached toward the sky like an upright arm. The "door' was more than six feet tall, an entrance to an imaginary place. There was some wooden planks secured across the top giving it a house like appearance. Phone booth? elevator?

The rest of the tree was lying across a ditch to our right. It must have been incredibly tall.


I looked up some interesting things about these trees.

A sycamore can grow to massive proportions, typically reaching up to 30 to 40 meters (98 to 130 ft) high and 1.5 to 2 meters (4.9 to 6.6 ft) in diameter when grown in deep soils. The largest of the species have been measured to 51 meters (167 ft), and nearly 4 meters (13 ft) in diameter. Larger specimens were recorded in historical times. In 1770, near the junction of the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers. George Washington recorded in his journal a sycamore measuring nearly 45 feet (14 m) in circumference at 3 feet (91 cm) from the ground.

The sycamore is able to endure a big city environment and has been extensively planted as a shade tree. It bears transplanting well and grows rapidly.
I remember as a young boy the streets of Flatbush in Brooklyn had many really tall trees of this type. The canopy  shaded the streets and made stickball games in summer a little cooler and a bit more challenging chasing pop flies way up in the leaves.

Skywatch Friday

A late evening sky

Crawford County Kansas

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Morning Hike

Some photos from a hike we took yesterday morning along Shoal Creek in Cherokee County.

Over the years my wife and I have returned to this spot, walked in the early morning light, been hunched over in silence for what seems eternities scouring the rocks in the stream beds for who knows what. We are never disappointed.