Postcards from Kansas

I failed to bring the necessary cable to download pictures from my camera, but today I realized I could take pics with the iPad. This is my mother's dog, Murphy. He's a little mutt, adopted from a shelter about 12 years ago. He's a great little guy, now, but there were some rough moments in the early years. He pretty much has my mother trained about the way he wants her.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad


This is a shot of the back end of my rental car, loaded up with over 30 pots of flowering plants that I put together on Saturday. There are two cemeteries near Delphos, Kansas where my father and extended relatives and maternal ancestors are buried, including those that homesteaded in that area back in the 1860s. This is an annual tradition for us and it's not the least bit morbid. It's more along the lines of the family gatherings at cemeteries in New Orleans on All Saint's Day. Although most people use artificial flowers these days, we use live plants. My mother and sister will go back later this week and bring them back home and use the plants in my mother's garden. It has been close to 100 degrees and extremely windy the last two days, but today was beautiful.

It Is harvest time in Kansas. It's early this year and I'm glad as it's been a long time since I've seen wheat this ripe and ready for harvest in Kansas. I've seen wheat elsewhere of course, but there is no place else to see the endless waves of wheat to be seen in Kansas.

We drove out to Kanopolis Lake today. Our family spent many weekends camping and boating out there when I was a kid. The place had changed of course, but the park and the lake looked great. It brought back many good memories. The days our family spent together out there were some of our best times together.

One thing Kansas has in abundance, other than wheat, is wind. Several wind farms have sprung up in Kansas, including this one near Ellsworth. On my drive up from the airport in Wichita I had seen a couple of the windmill blades being transported on an 18 wheeler. They are huge and there is nothing in this picture to give a good perspective on their size. Fascinating to see, and I hope we will be seeing a lot more of them.

Interstate highways speed people along. It's only necessary to stop for gas and that's what most people do, particularly in a place like Kansas that, for most people, is just a space to be crossed on the way to where they are going. One of the casualties of this are numerous lesser known parks and roadside attractions. If they are not at an exit off the interstate, most people pass them by. Mushroom Rock State Park is one of those. In truth, it's really not worth a detour for an interstate traveler, but it is an interesting place.





Wednesday I'll be heading back to Virginia.