This past weekend we journeyed south to Kansas. My family lives there, and the main intent of our trip was to see my nephew play football. Tanner is a senior at Paola High School and Friday, October 14th was homecoming night with a football rivalry between the Paola Panthers and the Osawatomie Trojans. It was a beautiful midwest, late-fall evening. The crowd of parents, students, and residents gathered early to enjoy tailgating and conversation. The homecoming presentations were made, stands filled with fans for both teams, the fireworks went off, the teams took the field, and the game began. Although Osawatomie scored first the tone of the game soon shifted to all Paola. By the time the full moon was rising in the east and the first half ended Paola was leading 48 to 12. The final score was Paola 62 and Osawatomie 18. I’m proud to say my nephew had 116 yards rushing and averaged over 19 yards per carry. And as Paola also won their game two nights ago they can now look forward to the playoffs. Congratulations Tanner, and go Paola!
Kansas
The joy of library books
In the hustle and bustle of the holiday weekend I needed to return a book to the library. For some reason whenever I return one book I always leave with multiple books — it’s just the way I do things. Today I had a list of books I was hoping to find. I knew I would be happy if just one of those books was available for check out. But today was my lucky day as I found three of my hoped-for books on the shelves. Not to be disappointed though, I found two other books that caught my eye. With a smile on my face I breezed through the self check-out and walked out of the library into the afternoon sunshine. I was surprised by the great feeling and happiness that I felt carrying my pile of books — I felt lucky and fortunate to appreciate the joy of reading and books. You can tell a little bit about me by my selection of books. I have photography books, books about the midwest plains, a couple of books about the canoe and boundary waters area of northern Minnesota, and a book about a woman who returns to her roots in Kansas (my native state). So later this weekend you’ll likely find me relaxing on the deck with a cool drink and immersing myself in one or more of my library books.
The power of memory
I was out photographing early this morning at a nearby garden. It was still and peaceful with the sun slowing dawning an a clear day with the promise of summer. As I wandered through the garden my eyes were stopping on different flowers and shrubs. But when I turned around and glimpsed a rhododendron in bloom I stopped in my tracks. In Minnesota we do not have many rhododendrons that can survive our cold winter climate. So when I saw this beautiful white rhodie I was quickly taken back to the time I lived in the Pacific Northwest. There, with the temperate marine air rhododendrons grow to be the size of trees, their blooms the size of large bowls. All this was going through my mind as I photographed this lovely white rhododendron that was blooming its heart out, but was only three feet tall. I realized how easily we associate things and how powerful our memory can be. In our home garden we have three peony plants with buds that will be bursting into bloom in the next week. One of these plants was purchased in Minnesota, the other two I brought from my parents’ home in Kansas. It is a wonderful memory I have of growing up and having the peonies blooming on the side of the house. How lucky I am to be able to surround myself with items that bring back delightful memories, or to happen upon something as simple as a small rhododendron that holds fond remembrances.
A blue thumbs up for KU
This past week brought a new blue plastic brace for my surgically repaired thumb. What first struck me about it was how my thumb looks so large as it’s immobilized out to the side, and then I noticed it was a great shade of Kansas University Jayhawk blue. But as much as I was cheering for my home-state KU Jayhawks, they just couldn’t pull through in today’s NCAA game. However, it was not all for want…my weekend consisted of the following: three full tanks of gasoline, one hotel room in Ames Iowa, and 850 miles on I-35 for a surprise visit to Kansas City to celebrate my Mom & Dad’s 60th wedding anniversary…it was all priceless! We succeeded in showing up at Mom & Dad’s house prior to a big celebratory dinner with my brothers and their families. Everyone was successful in not letting Mom & Dad know of our plans for a quick trip south to join them. It turned out to be a grand surprise, and a great celebration with all my nieces and nephews in attendance too. Congratulations Mom & Dad on a grand celebration of 60 years of marriage!
A hike on the prairie
This past weekend found us traveling south to Kansas to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with my family. Looking for a way to enjoy the unseasonably warm and sunny weather, we ventured west from the Kansas City area to Manhattan, Kansas. After driving into the Flint Hills we came upon the Konza Prairie, a preserve of The Nature Conservancy that is managed as a biological station by Kansas State University. The late fall colors were golden across the 8600 acres of the prairie. It was a joy to hike through this area surrounded by a sea of grasses blowing in the wind, as they must have done when the early settlers came through this same land hundreds of years ago.
lindastaatsphoto.com 