Postcards from Kansas

I'll be heading home on Tuesday. I grew up here and have been back to visit many times, but with the mother gone this is the first time I've said that I really have no idea when I'll be back. She died back in October and we came out to bury her ashes on Saturday in the cemetery next to my father and near many extended family members. It was a cool and wet for most of the weekend, but Saturday was beautiful. 

We did it our own way, very personal and informal, a send-off that my mother would have appreciated.

This was a rather severe storm and we were under a tornado watch for a while, but the worst of it missed us.

Flamingos at Rolling Hills Zoo near Salina.

This is Rock City, near Minneapolis, Kansas. It's a rather interesting and unique geologic formation.

When we flew in to Wichita, the choice of rental cars available was a Dodge something or this Ford Mustang. You can see what I chose. In just a few days I had multiple unsolicited compliments from complete strangers on my car. That hasn’t happened once in all my years of driving my van.  

Yucca in bloom at Indian Rock park in Salina.

One of my favorite Kansas wildflowers.

This is a t-shirt from Wichita Brewing Company. The beer and food are both quite good.

The image is of John Brown from a mural in the capitol building in Topeka.

In the original, John Brown holds a bible in one out-stretched hand and a gun

in the other. That is, unfortunately, very emblematic of Kansas still. The beers are a big improvement.

Paula, Kate, and Kim in front, me and Clay in back.