It doesn't take much to make me happy. Others might scoff at the simple pleasures we enjoyed last weekend, but they were just my cup of tea.
On Saturday afternoon we decided to take a drive. First we stopped at the new bridge over County Road 460. The new highway isn't open yet, so we had free access for photos.
Kansas is the Sunflower State, so-called because of the Maximillian sunflower. Its seeds lie dormant for many years, awaiting the opportunity to sprout and grow in disturbed soil. Construction of the new Highway 59 has disturbed an amazing amount of soil, and the Maximillian has responded in force. All along the highway vast swaths of the flowers, freshened by Isaac's rain, are now gloriously blooming. Here, for example, they are on the side of the bridge.
Here they are, growing in rubble on the opposite side.
On we went to the Baker University Wetlands Reconstruction Project. There, too, were sunflowers and vast patches of blooming knotweed and false sunflower. The project manager has sown prairie wetlands plants such as this sedge, which is plentiful around one of the ponds. At first I mistook it for cocklebur, but when I touched the seed heads they were soft, not prickly.
Because of this summer's drought the ponds are down, even in the wetlands. Near the pond's edge Dennis spotted this unperturbable frog with its yellow eye and effective camouflage.
On Sunday morning Dr. Michael Soft dropped in for coffee. He announced that the MDS (Mowing Deprivation Syndrome) crisis has passed. Rain from Isaac brought the grass back to life, restoring peaceful mowing to both suburbs and countryside.
After Dr. Soft left I helped Dennis put new plastic on the cold frame and he helped me make peach jam. I recently obtained re-usable canning lids in a group purchase through the New Boston Buying Club. This is the first time I've used them, and I found that they work quite well. I hadn't prepared enough jars to hold the unexpected amount of jam. The overage went into two bowls, one of which we shared with Laurie and Greg, who gave us hot peppers. These are the pleasures of belonging to a community.
We ended the day by another community activity: taking recycling to Walmart. Whatever else one may say about Walmart, this store in south Lawrence provides the only public access to recycling in Douglas County.
Imagine how fast a landfill would fill up with beer bottles from all over Lawrence!
Another great thing about the Recycle Center is that it is run by Community Living Opportunities by and for their disabled residents.
This doesn't seem like much of a weekend, I suppose, but everything we did made me happy. I hope your weekend was happy, too, and that you, too, found pleasure in life's simple things.
On Saturday afternoon we decided to take a drive. First we stopped at the new bridge over County Road 460. The new highway isn't open yet, so we had free access for photos.
Kansas is the Sunflower State, so-called because of the Maximillian sunflower. Its seeds lie dormant for many years, awaiting the opportunity to sprout and grow in disturbed soil. Construction of the new Highway 59 has disturbed an amazing amount of soil, and the Maximillian has responded in force. All along the highway vast swaths of the flowers, freshened by Isaac's rain, are now gloriously blooming. Here, for example, they are on the side of the bridge.
Here they are, growing in rubble on the opposite side.
On we went to the Baker University Wetlands Reconstruction Project. There, too, were sunflowers and vast patches of blooming knotweed and false sunflower. The project manager has sown prairie wetlands plants such as this sedge, which is plentiful around one of the ponds. At first I mistook it for cocklebur, but when I touched the seed heads they were soft, not prickly.
Because of this summer's drought the ponds are down, even in the wetlands. Near the pond's edge Dennis spotted this unperturbable frog with its yellow eye and effective camouflage.
On Sunday morning Dr. Michael Soft dropped in for coffee. He announced that the MDS (Mowing Deprivation Syndrome) crisis has passed. Rain from Isaac brought the grass back to life, restoring peaceful mowing to both suburbs and countryside.
After Dr. Soft left I helped Dennis put new plastic on the cold frame and he helped me make peach jam. I recently obtained re-usable canning lids in a group purchase through the New Boston Buying Club. This is the first time I've used them, and I found that they work quite well. I hadn't prepared enough jars to hold the unexpected amount of jam. The overage went into two bowls, one of which we shared with Laurie and Greg, who gave us hot peppers. These are the pleasures of belonging to a community.
We ended the day by another community activity: taking recycling to Walmart. Whatever else one may say about Walmart, this store in south Lawrence provides the only public access to recycling in Douglas County.
Imagine how fast a landfill would fill up with beer bottles from all over Lawrence!
Another great thing about the Recycle Center is that it is run by Community Living Opportunities by and for their disabled residents.
This doesn't seem like much of a weekend, I suppose, but everything we did made me happy. I hope your weekend was happy, too, and that you, too, found pleasure in life's simple things.
No comments:
Post a Comment