Detour

This blog is closed.
The last photo is, as so many of them were, by Andif.

Flowing, flowing, gone. . .

Blog closed for a few weeks.

Photo by Andif, of course!

Happy birthday to the bird!

A little bird told me (You knew I'd have to work that in somehow) that today is our favorite Katiebird's birthday! Many many happy returns of the day, kb!

Splash

Lovely photo by Andif

Bon jour

I believe Katiebird requested coffee yesterday? Hey, around here? We deliver.

Coming attractions

Photo of summer, by Andif

CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE

Deer watering hole at sunset

This is our neighbor's little stream in their back yard. The critters, especially the deer, love this fresh water. Soon, it will be surrounded by tall flowers.

Click on photo to enlarge.

Cedar Waxwing/Flowering Crab

My neighbor says the magnificent tree in our front yard is a Flowering Crab, which I'm pretty sure is the same thing as a Crabapple Tree, which is what a couple of you said the other day. There seem to be several varieties. I just call it Pretty. The Cedar Waxwings call it yummy.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Last leaf of winter

Photo by Andif. Powered sugar by nature.

Wedding bouquet

The tree in our front yard looks so pretty now.

Click on photo to enlarge to maximum pretty.

Mr. Handsome

I just love this photo by Andif. Go, big fella, go!

Infusion

Need yellow. Must have it. Now.

Invigorating photo by Andif.

Equal time

Cloud the Long-Haired Beauty informed me today that in her opinion there have been, and I quote, "too many damned dog photos on this website." So when she posed on top of a bed, what could I do but obey? I warned her this may produce a spurt of canine adorableness from Andif's camera, but Cloud merely sniffed at that threat, much in the way that Miss American might sniff at a pack of Boy Scouts. Hey, I'm not responsible for her moods; I'm just the photojournalist here.

Yes!

May I introduce Porch Sally and Mr. PS? He's crouching down, because I whined that he was too tall for my camera. She's holding an early copy of her new mystery novel, Patterns in the Sand, the second of her new Seaside Knitters series. It will be available in bookstores in May, and the paperback of the first book in the series, Death by Cashmere, is in stores this month. And that's not even all the good news. Maybe the best news of all is that Friday was Sally's last day at her full-time job as an editor. She had just arrived home from work--FOR THE LAST TIME--a little while before this photo was taken. Now she can WRITE fulltime. On her screened-in porch. With ME.

Congratulations, Sally Goldenbaum, and congratulations to Sally's fans, too!

Moon

Guess which one is the moon. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Night and day

The dark side of these very small towns I've been visiting is the economic struggle, which is intense and felt all along Main Street and beyond. The light side is the amazing spirit, intelligence, humor, and energy I've seen in their libraries and beyond. The photo above is at sunset in Courtland, Ks., where I ate at the only place to have supper--a pool hall on the western, "dark" side of this particular Main Street. I had a cheeseburger and fries cooked the way French fries ought to be cooked--soft inside, crunchy outside, greasy and hot. Then I crossed the street and gave my speech inside their beautiful, immaculate Arts Center, a remarkable testament to how much they want the arts--and their home town--to thrive. There were homemade cookies, and iced tea, and I'm pretty sure a good time was had by all. It sure was had by me.

I love these towns. I wish them well!

prairie fires

I drove home through the Flint Hills where ranchers are in a rush to get their spring burnings done. Everywhere on the horizon there was smoke. In the bottom photo, you can see how close some fire got to an interstate ramp. About a hundred yards west of there, fire had consumed half of a billboard, so it was clear that it wasn't all under perfect control, heh. When I took these photos I wished I could include sound so you might hear the crackle, and only now does it occur to me that if I would ever learn to take videos with this camera you *could* hear the snap, crackle, and pop.

When fresh growth comes up through the burn, it will be the prettiest light, bright green.

Click on the photos, especially the top one, to see the smoke in the near and far distance.

On the road again

My road won't look like this tomorrow, however. It will be I-70 to Salina, and probably with a bit of snow and--they're predicting--gusts up to 40 mph. Whee! If only it could be an east wind, I'd get there so much sooner.

This is the last of my multi-library treks, sob, and this one is only three towns. After this, there will only be the stray single library here and there. I'm going to miss this traveling from small town to small town, although I'll admit I'm also reaching the end of my stamina for it. For now. It has truly been great while it lasted and it's also been so nice to be able to share my photos and tales with you guys. Thanks so much for being so receptive.

I'll be back on Wednesday, but I'll see you here while I'm gone.

Hope?

Ice melt, by Andif

Poetry, Day 2

These vertebrae of ice brought to you by Andif.

National Poetry Month?

A little bird named Maryb dropped a hint that this is National Poetry Month. Well! I guess we know what that means around here, don't we? Poetry is ON for the rest of this week, at least. Bring 'em, read 'em, write 'em, any time you please.

The photo that looks like a poem? It's by Andif, our photographer laureate.