I can't resist taking photos of thistles everytime I pass them by. There is something beautiful and intriguing in the brilliant fuchsia blooms, even though their thorny leaves are a menace to the farmers.
Beauty is all around me on the path that leads to home. It is unpaved and set deep with ruts that make it near impossible to travel by car. That's why I like it. The chances of running into another person are remote and thus, I have the whole place to myself.
But kneel down and take another look. Intrusive, perhaps. Common, most certainly. But one cannot question their beauty against the cobalt of a bright May sky.
A few days ago I took some students outside to write. It was a picture-perfect spring day; blue skies and sunshine. Very conducive for writing. To encourage self-expression and so I don't 'hover', I write along with them. On this particular day we sat at different places on the playground, and my thoughts led me here...
For some reason this weather makes me miss Salina and my mind returns there.
I miss my old back yard, the glider on the deck, the flowers I planted: larkspur, lantana, iris, lobelia, daisies and marigolds, yarrow, dianthus and my butterfly bush. I miss my little corner - the creeping phlox and low-growing evergreens in the front yard...the porch swing where I sat and read and watched the rain fall. I miss seeing neighbors working in their yards, calling across the fence and sharing tips about flowers...advice about life. I miss riding my bicycle down the path by the airport and the pizza plant where the smell of dough and spices permeated the air. I miss the neighborhood children I've known since they were little; their laughter ringing from the backyard, the sound of screen doors as they ran in and out. I miss the old grade school and familiar faces in familiar hallways. I miss my job at the university with close connections and diverse people. I miss the lack of gossip and the positive feeling of support - of help from friends, but also space to reside in one's own place without interference or judgement.
But of course I know, if I went back now it would all have changed. A new family lives in what once was home. The trees have grown, the flowers are gone and what once was familiar no longer remains. Front porch melodies are silent where the swing once hung. Neighbors have moved, some passing to another life. Children have grown and left for college, and the lovely little school has grown into a building with new walls, rules, and faces. Co-workers from my days have moved on to new locations and vocations. Time stands still for no man....and I am hardly an exception.
The sunset tonight was amazing. I sat in the grass in our backyard, hidden away from the rest of the world and watched as the sun descended silently below the horizon.
The preparations were many, including these five foot cards I drew for the backdrop. Several kids helped me paint them; a task I could never have completed by myself in those last two days.
Then it was time for a walk down the "red carpet" and photos in the limo...
These are my closest neighbors; a group of Angus cattle who live across the road from us. A storm was trying to blow our way as I crossed the ditch and looked over the barbed wire, though it never quite materialized. The cattle, used to these spring tirades, lumbered slowly towards me. I'm sure they expected hay and feed instead of a lens pointed at them.
Two nights ago we had a big storm pass overhead. The worst of it skirted to our NE, though a rotating cloud passed just outside our backyard.
As always the sunshine returns with the promise of clear skies on tomorrow's horizon...
It's almost spring...and he knows it.
Friday I was working outside, clearing up brush in the trench when I came across this little critter.
The sky never fails to amaze me. You can look in one direction on a dozen different nights and be treated to a dozen different views.
It started out as a beautiful rainbow in the eastern sky. A storm was skirting all around us, spilling a few raindrops on the ground yet allowing the sun to display a double rainbow that stretched all the way across the sky. 
on the highway could run right into the pot of gold - the prismatic rays appeared so close - and there almost seemed to be a glow arising from the first and brightest rainbow.
e whole image in my lens so settled for watching it "first person" as it spread its finery against the gray clouds.
escaping from his bottle.
the making. 
early reminder of what a spring in Kansas can hold.
