A week away

I was in Kansas for a week visiting my mother. The little guy shown here is my mother's dog, Murphy. He's a little mutt with a raccoon face mask. Very cute, and very devoted to my mother. He likes other people well enough, but is really only interested in her. Nothing wrong with that.

He shares her complete intolerance for flies in the house, and like her, will stop at nothing to get one once he sees it. It's really funny to watch him snap at flies and pursue them around the house. It's equally funny to watch my mother with a flyswatter at my house in muggy and buggy Virginia where the doors and dogs let in a multitude of flies.

My mother has a wonderful yard and gardens. There wasn't too much that needed my help this time of year, but we got a few things done and had some fun as well.

Kansas was unusually green for this time of year. I guess they've had more rain than normal. The milo fields were at the stage where the heads of grain were just beginning to ripen, turning from green to gold. Native sunflowers were in full bloom along the roadsides, and here in my mother's backyard, grown up under a bird feeder. Sunflowers are now a cultivated crop in Kansas as well, and a field of them in bloom is an incredible sight. We saw some in the early stages of bloom on a drive back from Kansas City, but I didn't have my camera.

Well, one week away from the blog turned into two, and is now going on three. It's fairly easy to let things slide, even things I used to enjoy. My garden is one example, and fostering dogs is another. Since I've been back I've taken in just two dogs, but even worse if the fact that I haven't been promoting the ones I have. I have several dogs not yet on any website.