Glory Hallelujah! There were WHITE PELICANS at Clinton lake this week. Completely unexpected and a real treat. Such magnificent birds. They are so BIG. Right after I took this photo I did a Marco Polo and caught them taking off. The sound of the wings… ahhh. I have only previously seen them in the fall. Maybe they made a special visit because they knew I was going to be walking on that morning before I did. It’s good to believe in all sorts of things.
Whatever the reason for our coinciding visit, it was a serious boost of dopamine in the brain. Who doesn’t need that?
The deciduous trees are just starting to get their leaves again. Soon the redbuds will do their thing.
A good spring walk in the woods, by some water, with some amazing wildlife, is a win-win-win.
I recently finished listening to Vigil by George Saunders. It is read by a cast of narrators, which was initially a bit off-putting to me, but I got used to it fairly quickly. I wasn’t sure I was going to read it, after the rather less than favorable (to put in kindly) review in the NYT Book Review, but then Sharron, my trusty literary sidekick, gave it a thumbs up and I had to dive in. Let me also say that I really liked Lincoln in the Bardo – his previous work. If you didn’t, you may not like this.
As with Lincoln in the Bardo, it revolves around death. This time a man is dying, and Jill “Doll” Blaine is sent from the afterlife to comfort/console, and generally ease him into whatever his next chapter entails. I really liked the character Jill “Doll” Blaine and the dialogue written for her. The guy dying has been a not so nice person and other characters from his past also visit for a variety of reasons.
The story makes you ponder if we are inevitable. A great topic for a spring porch book club meeting complete with icy cold gin and tonics and leftover tuna salad from the fridge scooped up with mini saltines. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
This week, with only a wee bit of planning in advance, Chris and I hit the road, headed in a southwesterly direction towards Council Grove.
Council Grove is a town of just over 2,000 folks in the heart of the flint hills. Lots of stuff happened here a while back. It was a meeting up place for folks headed out on the Santa Fe trail. There were treaties signed between the native Americans tribes and settlers on the stump of an old tree. I am not going to begin to try and give you a history lesson. How about a few photos instead?
Gosh our history is fraught with so much injustice against the indigenous peoples of this land. As I walked through the Kaw Mission it was disheartening to read all the statements about how treaties were signed and yet it was never enough. More was always taken. As with many things in our history, this is not how we were educated about it in school (at least when I was taking American History). We must do better.
There is a wonderful bookstore in town. Flint Hills Books is in the old national bank building right on the main street and it has a wonderful selection of every single thing you did, and did not know you needed.
I have given Chris the assignment of choosing our next backyard field trip. I will let you know how he does.
This week, in Kansas, it has been warm enough to wear shorts, and today we just had some snow flurries blow through. It makes life interesting, this in between extremes, that is the beginning of spring. I have been tending my teeny plant above, watering it from the bottom, waiting to put it in a pot on the front porch when more temperate weather is here to stay. I very badly want to tell you the name of it. It starts with an “E” I think but it eludes me at this moment and so I let it go. It will come to me after I hit the publish button.
There has been some practice at painting French buildings in preparation for the trip coming up in May with sister.
The tree’s are budding out and hopefully will be just fine with a several day cold snap. Mother Nature knows how to handle this better than we do. Or so it seems to me.
I am progressing along on my hand quilting. It’s very meditative, except for when I stick myself unexpectedly which causes me to curse, then stick my finger in my mouth so I don’t get blood on the quilt. I feel fairly certain I am not alone in this.
If you have not been properly introduced to “black squares” from Bath England… please allow me to facilitate your getting acquainted. These are some amazing, unusual, extremely delightful, crackers that are the perfect pairing with a triple cream brie and a pour of your favorite crisp white wine. The olives, nuts, and dried cherries are icing on the cake. The crackers have a bit of chocolate in them. But not like a sweet chocolate, more like the effect you get when adding chocolate to a Mexican mole – it increases the flavor profile in a way you can’t quite put your finger on, but you know you like it.
This is a perfect addition to your spring cocktail hour. Plus your guests (if, and only if, you want to share them) will think you are a culinary trend setter. Thank you Annette for telling me about them.
While I am on the subject of really good things, let me recommend (HIGHLY) When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzen. If you can… the audio version is wonderful. Ivan Huw Dafydd narrates the 89 year old Swedish main character (Bo) beautifully. Bo is living alone, in his home, with the support of “carers” and his son Hans to check on him. His wife with severe dementia has been placed in a facility, and Bo misses her mightily. The story follows the last months of Bo’s life as he comes to terms with what his life has been, and where it is now. He badly wants to be sure he has done right by his son, but at the same time is inwardly intensely frustrated at being told what he must do. Isn’t losing our independence what we all fear the most? The author handles this subject matter honestly without backing away from what is hard.
Thank you so much Susan Bjerke for recommending this to me. It’s a real gem.
Since my last post about the marginalizing of trans people through the invalidation of drivers licenses and ID’s because of the requirement that gender on the card match sex at birth, I have been doing a lot of thinking. Mostly struggling with what to DO? We all want to DO something to amend this injustice towards one segment of the population. My indignation over the trampling of someone’s freedom out of ignorance about the trans community has me wanting to get this changed. Just like so many things of late that I want to see changed.
I read a great quote from Anne Lamott (one of my heroes), took a long walk outside (listening to the birds), and spent some time thinking about pluralism and why is it that we can’t be more open to all people and all beliefs. Which of course made me look in the mirror and think about my lack of tolerance to those in power in this country right now.
So what I want to know is what are the things that you are doing? I mean beyond our writing letters, making phone calls, donating to causes. I need to open my eyes wider, for ways I can help, so of course I want your help.
Here are the things on my mind… paying for the groceries for the person in front of me that is short “because it’s been a really hard month”, intervening when encountering conflict to interject calmness and kindness into the equation, and trying to stop being so angry about what I absolutely can not understand and try to learn about it instead.
We gotta talk about stuff before we kill each other. I am going to have to turn off the deep, dark, horrible, revenge videos playing in my head that aren’t working and instead hang out as a peace-keeper. I think I am likely a real natural for a flower child. Okay, that may be pushing it but I am pledging to try. In the meantime, I will keep lighting candles, waiting for the light to return.
P.S. Restorative yoga has also been incredibly soothing to my soul.
P.P.S. There is a hearing today to seek a delay in the enforcement of the law invalidating driver’s licenses.
I am ashamed to call myself a Kansan today. Disgusted by what our state representatives and senators have done. The Kansas legislature overturned the veto by our governor, of legislation requiring drivers licenses and identification cards to “reflect sex at birth”. This immediately made it illegal for a trans person to operate a motor vehicle. This leaves a population of humans unable to get to work, to vote, to travel… and basically do anything that requires an ID. Also included in this bill is legislation forcing individuals to use the bathrooms in public buildings that matches their gender at birth. Kris Kobach, the Kansas attorney general, and republican lawmakers have led this push for “law enforcement and medical purposes” as well as “protecting women and girls” specifically in relation to the bathroom issue. The language in this bill also authorizes anyone to sue anybody they suspect of being transgender for using the “wrong” restroom in public buildings. What kind of a cockamamy idea is that? Pitting individuals against each other because they don’t fit someone’s idea of what they should look like?
The ACLU has filed a lawsuit on behalf of transgender residents calling it a “direct attack on the dignity and humanity of transgender Kansans”. Am I wrong to expect more of people in leadership positions? I have made a donation to the ACLU and let Kris Kobach know what I think of this particularly cruel form of jackassery.
If we really wanted to protect women and girls, we would be investigating and holding to account all of the sex offenders and pedophiles named in the Epstein files. Enough is enough already. In the words of my dad I really “have my dander up” about this. He is right. There is no fury like the fury of a moss sister who see’s injustice and has reached a breaking point. At the same time, I want my better self to step up and take the reins when I am so angry I want to spit (and much more).
Hang tough friends. I want to believe we can get through this.
Happy last day of February and why are the bulbs in my yard coming up already? And while I am asking unanswerable questions what the Sam Hell is Donald Duck Trump doing doing attacking Iran – without any congressional input? Whew. Thanks I just had to get that out.
In the event that you do not have the most talented, creative, person on earth as your sister, you can pretend that you got the above valentines from your imaginary sister.
Chris and I took a walk today out at the Baker Wetlands and enjoyed the sun on our pineal glands.
I have begun the quilting portion of this small quilt whose exact purpose is yet to be decided. I was inspired by the quilt that won the award for best hand quilting at QuiltCon. Wow, wow, wow, to all the photos from the event of the quilts and the attendees. One of my favorite reels was on the Quiltcon instagram site – showing people wearing what they made. INCREDIBLE! The absolute joy on the faces of the individuals as they showed off their creations was over the top. A balm for these troubled times.
If you need something new to try with oats for breakfast how about this? 3 cups old fashioned oats, 4 smashed ripe bananas, 3/4 c peanut better, 1/4 tsp kosher salt, 1/4 cup chocolate chips (if you want), mix it all together, put it in an 8×8 pan, bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes or so. It’s like a breakfast bar but with no additives (well I guess except for what is in peanut butter). Not really sweet but I LOVED them. Will make again for sure. I served mine with a small cup of greek yogurt with hazelnuts and a drizzle of honey.
Tonight we watched Finding Nemo. Yes, I know it came out in 2003 or something like that. The people I work with were flabbergasted I had never seen it. It was the ultimate in fantasy escapism. I was all in for the full 90 minutes.
There has been a lot of buzz out there in the world of reading about Levi of Golden by Allen Levi. I decided to read it after a friend of mine read it in her book group and thought I might like it.
In the end, I really wanted to like it more than I did. I recall some review where the author was compared to Wendell Barry (which is one of the reasons I wanted to read it), but they must be reading a different Wendell Barry than I am because I found no similarity.
This is the story of an elderly Portuguese man who comes to a college town in Georgia and starts to meet people and quickly establishes a community of friends and acquaintances. We are not sure what has brought him there, or what he plans to accomplish. It feels a bit contrived with a cast of characters who have been through hard things. At times it seemed like a full length fairy tale with the main character delivering parables and soliloquies, veering off on a christian bent that was a bit too much for me.
Despite all this, I finished it because I do want to meet a Portuguese octogenarian and sit on a bench with him and watch the sun set and talk about meaningful things. Which of course is unlikely to happen. David Morse narrates the audible book beautifully. He does a wonderful Portuguese accent as well as a nice southern accent that is not overdone.
Hats off to Allen Levi for doing something he says he always wanted to do and in a way that has certainly struck a chord with many people. You may, like me, want to read it for yourself to see exactly how you feel about. It won’t be a waste of your time, unless you are really opposed to the christian theology. Which I would like to say, for the sake of clarity, I am not completely opposed to. I do stand against any faith that persecutes people in the name of religion – as in christian nationalism.
I would very much like to hear what others thought of this book. Please add your thoughts in the comments if you read it and have things to say.
Yesterday, to my great delight, there was a Huff + 1 lunch club meeting at 3rd Street Social on Main in Kansas City. I am not being one bit flip when I say that these women are an integral part of my mental health strengthening program. We are each “lifing” (life as verb?) it in our own way, tackling our own things and talking about it – literal and emotional nourishment. Food + kindness = solace. It’s a thing.
How about that peach rose? A surprise from my dear valentine.
Have you picked up The Look yet? Simply wonderful. Filled with excellent pictures – I love the joy in the one below. “I got this!” is what it says to me. I had the best time flipping through it, dipping in and reading here and there and everywhere all in the same sitting. The paper is a joy to run your hands over, the color so vibrant. Pick it up if you can.
That’s it. A quick hello from Kansas to each of you, blown from my hand and into your homes, on the wings of dragonflies.
Tall Tales from Kansas 