Anti-KXL Pipeline

There was a demonstration on September 26, against the Keystone pipeline project.

Interestingly, also attended by these folks below, who said they were union people.

They put their signs back in this vehicle,

And I'm betting eventually got back on this bus. I asked one of them, "Do you live in Kansas?" and he said, hesitatingly, "No, I live in Arkansas." Hmm.

Ah, well. As far as I know, all the pipeline opponents there were from Kansas.

Infamous Ice Cream

We found this late one night at the Dillon's at Fleming Place. Actually, it was pretty good. Lots of rum flavor.

Why, there was a Moon out there

Now that it's Full Moon time again already, I get around to posting last month's Full Moon. So, the Full Moon of September, at Lake Shawnee. Enjoy, I always do.

Moon in the water.

There was a lot of some kind of "stuff" in the water that added an interesting texture to the moon path.

Tardy Updates

Mitzi was sleeping on the couch (until I approached with the camera, of course) and Cricket got up behind her and laid down. They normally don't share their space this closely.

August 19, we had a nice storm, great storm! the night before. The downside is that what I thought I heard hitting the house were branches from the big maple on the NW corner. The tree seems basically OK. All over Topeka there were trees down, power outages, etc. And we got to enjoy some of that, too. Our power was out for 36 hours which seemed very long, especially at night. No electric lighting to see by, no air conditioning to sleep by.

The second day after the big storm, when we were still without power, we had the Parks Family Reunion here in Topeka, August 20th. Thankfully it was not at our house, and the shelterhouses at Lake Shawnee still had power. It was great. I am related to most all of these folks, and more. Whew.

More in the next post, still catching up.

Cricket

We have a new family member at our house. Her name is Cricket, and she's about nine weeks old now. Kathy lost her chihuahua Abuelita in June, and found Cricket who was home-raised by a woman in Clifton. This is the tiniest dog I have ever seen. So, here's Cricket, in her first close-up.

Doesn't that face just make you smile?

With other sister B's feet. I debated posting this one because she's blurry. Of course she's blurry, she's always in motion even when she looks like she's standing still.

Hi, Mom, what's up?

Oooh, a garden! Maybe I can eat this.

Cricket met her cousin Ursula today. Ursula is the big black doggie of sister B. in Lawrence. Ursula is a very good doggie.

Grrrass! It's tough, like me!

Are you still my friend?

Oh, too much excitement, must have a nap now.

Life is interesting with a little dog you can barely see running around under your feet. And crying when her mom goes to another room. She's delightful, though.

Ay, ay ay, July!

Of course it's hot, it's always hot in July in Kansas. It's just that there's been no break from it for so very long now. Sigh. Practicing patience and praying none of the window AC units break down.

Farmer's Market in Topeka July 9. I never seem to be able to capture the effect of the long row of stalls and the aisle full of people. I guess I need a ladder to get up on.

Ah, yes, vegetables! This is why I like to get to the market when I can, and what makes Summer worth the trouble.

Mmmm.

More mmmm.

I bought corn, yellow squash, zucchini, green beans, new potatoes, and red tomatoes for slicing for BLTs. All good, very good.

In the home "garden" the little Sungold tomatoes continue to arrive; I don't have a picture of any of them though. The plant doesn't look very well but there are still green and orange tomatoes, so I keep watering it. And watering it. And watering it. That is the real work of growing plants in pots, the watering.

Ms. Monarda has dropped her fancy clothes. All the purple petals either fell off or dried up. Now I'm waiting for the seeds to form and the heads to dry; I might try to save some of those. There are also little bitty Monarda plants where she's expanding her space, and I'm happy to let her do that, for now. I know that since she's a Mint, I may have to rein her in eventually.

Monarda heads, sans petals.

Not as glamorous, but still interesting to me. And...

There is still purple there, you just have to work harder to find it.

Just like I have to work harder to find enjoyment in this stretch of 100+ days that seems like it will never end. Whew.

More Monarda

Will she ever quit talking about that dang Monarda? Well, maybe eventually, but right now it's just so lovely I can't quit looking at it.

See?

And from the weather report, blue, blue skies, glowing green plants, and tiny little harmless white clouds. Life is good.

So much June going on

I'm getting behind on everything except going to work.

OK, the weather. It was interesting again a while back. We had one evening of a squall line slowly moving in and starting some ruckus just as I was supposed to going to sleep.

This same storm system brought some tornadoes to Nebraska, but I didn't hear about any major damage.

I have some Sungold tomatoes, but they want to ripen one at a time, which isn't very conducive to gathering in a salad's worth of them, so I guess I need more plants. But see,

I ate this one already, plucked one more today and am waiting on the other three that are almost there. Go, Sungold, go!

In other news, the Monarda is blooming, and now I know that it's Monarda fistulosa. This is the result of the tiny little plants I was given on my visit to the Akin Prairie in Douglas County last year. First picture, the head almost open the other day.

Then yesterday, here we are!

So happy to be out in the sun.

Merry Midsummer Mondarda!

Stella!

Stella de Oro, she is. These prolific daylilies burst into bloom seemingly all at the same time, all over Topeka, yesterday. It's amazing. They are very eye-catching en masse, and they are massed all over the place. Apparently a very popular planting in these parts.

I told Kathy I was going to drive all over Topeka and take a picture of every place I saw the Stella de Oro. I didn't do that, but I did get these down in front of the Blackbird today.

Stella de Oro, Star of Gold. Star of the show, right here.

"I'm ready for my close-up." Glad to oblige, beautiful Stella.

The Water is Wide--Kaw River State Park, June 03 2011

Last time we visited the Kaw River State Park, a couple of weeks ago, the river was fairly low. Not so today. After the rains of earlier this week, it is definitely not low now.

The water had been up nearly to the top of the boat ramp.

It looks good this way! And it actually moves.

Another pretty nice view.

The water is wide, I cannot get o'er...

A cottonwood at the river's edge.

The water almost looks inviting, it was in the lower 90s out there today. Whew. Shade was nice!

View from a little ways up toward a trail head. We weren't really into walking trails today, though.

Lovely, lovely leaves of three. Thanks to the rhyme, we let them be. One of my European friends says "but they look so innocent!" Uh, no.

On the way out of the trail head, there was some lovely flowering grass that needed its picture taken. I should know this, it's very common, but I can't think of the name right now.

It was a nice little trip, good to see a different face of the Kaw this time.