Deadman Flats and an afternoon in Hutchinson Kansas

Deadman Flats was playing a concert today in Avenue A park. Some of these guys are originally from Hutchinson, but now live in Lawrence. They refer to their music as, "Bluegrass at its most inbred."





Even puppy dogs were enjoying the music.





We were under the gazebo at Avenue A park. We're so fortunate to have this beautiful space in town.



You may notice the raindrops in the water. They were followed by many, many more. And it was in the lower 60s. A little nippy - particularly for July.







They are obviously very talented guys.

I had gone with a hat to keep the sun off my face, and neglected to get a jacket or umbrella. Fortunately, when Greg came later he grabbed a sweater out of my car for me, and I was thankful for it.

Despite the weather, there was a good crowd for them, and for Tallgrass Express String Band, which started the concert. That group was formed through meetings at the Friday night jam sessions at the Emma Chase Cafe in Cottonwood Falls.







This is another great example of the large number of things going on in Hutchinson. Sometimes people say there's nothing to do. I think those people aren't looking very hard. Today I missed a cooking demonstration I wanted to go to because I was at the concert. Seems to me there's usually more than one thing to do at any given time.

Oh, by the way, this was free. Completely free. Show up was all people had to do.

Tonight there's another free concert with nearly a dozen bands performing.
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Happy Birthday to a lovely lady

Today is the 88th birthday of Virginia G. Siebert McGovern. She is a lovely woman who is an honorary member of Chicks. Chicks meets in the historic Wolcott home owned by Doug McGovern, and Ginny is his mother. They are so generous to us, letting us come to the house every month for our group.

Doug was planning a party for tonight but I couldn't work it into my schedule so this afternoon I bought some roses and took over with a card, just to let her know I was thinking about her. I only stayed a couple of minutes because I'm sure they were busy getting ready, even though they were very gracious about my unannounced and unexpected visit.

These are the roses I picked up today. I snapped a few photos sitting in the car in the parking lot. They were wrapped in cellophane with tissue paper around that and I didn't realize until I looked at the photos tonight that you can see the reflections. The ones I took without flash have these tinted look from the tissue paper, and they're slightly fuzzy because the shutter speed was so low, but, I still like the look of it.



I didn't ask the birthday girl if I could take her photo since I was just dropping in. I didn't want to put her on the spot that way. Doug had created bookmarks to share with everyone that have four photos of his mom throughout her life. The first one is when she's 17 months old and being held by her great-grandmother who is 100. What a great photo to have.

I hope she has had a wonderful day. She's a lovely lady.




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Squash Recipe

I hadn't been out to the garden in a couple of days. Tonight I found a normal and  a monster zucchini, and two squashes. I decided it was time to cook something up. I've been giving things to my neighbor because I haven't had time to cook them. But, tonight I whipped up some squash for dinner and it was mighty tasty, if I do say so myself. And, it's easy!

Squash a la Patsy

2 squash, sliced
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
garlic
salt
pepper
cheese

I put the squash and onion in an iron skillet with a little olive oil and let it cook very slowly while I was cleaning up a bit in the kitchen. I added some garlic, salt and pepper to taste. When it was soft, I dished it out and melted some cheese on top. You could mix that in, too, if you wanted.

It was very good, easy and quick. And, it's a great way to use some of the squash which will, no doubt, be plentiful all summer.

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Friends

Greg took this nice pic of Jade and Mark watching the fireworks Friday night. It's so darned handy to have a photographer around. Mia, Greg's girlfriend, was sitting next to Mark, but she was too close for Greg to include in this particular photo.

We had a full weekend, and I have more pix to share. But, as you might guess, I haven't gotten around to dealing with them.

Maybe tomorrow... Maybe this weekend... Maybe I live in a dream world...

OK, we all know I live in a dream world. But, it's so nice and warm and fuzzy and purple in here.

Speaking of dreams... I've been trying to keep a dream journal lately. It's something I've read about for years and something that came up during the writing workshop. I don't quite have the knack of it yet. If I open my eyes, the dreams vanish. Unfortunately, my handwriting when my eyes are closed is not very good. I'm searching for the compromise there. Yesterday morning I kept writing over the sentence I had just written. It might make for a good art piece, but it leaves a bit to be desired in the journal/insight department. Perhaps tomorrow morning will be better. And I'm going to go dream something worth writing. Right now.
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Tonight during dinner at Skaets we noticed the oddest thing - it was raining in the street, but not on the sidewalk. You always know the line of rain has to begin and end somewhere, you just don't expect to be able to identify the exact spot.

After we had finished, Lisa mentioned there was a beautiful rainbow. I ran out to look at it. We were near the fairgrounds, and there wasn't a great foreground, but I couldn't resist snapping a pic with my phone (Palm Treo 755p).

It seems I spent the whole day running from one thing to another, without having a chance to catch my breath, so that was a nice way to end the day.

I've been working on things for the MHA's Victorian Tea on August 9. There are so many little details to handle. But, today I got the mail and found a check for a ticket had already come in. The only promotion I've done was in the garden tour booklet but this woman went ahead and ordered, which is great. And it's a new person, too, so that's very cool.

Those are always fun events. I enjoy doing them, although there's always a moment when I look around and think I'm living in a fantasy land that I think I can get it all done. But, with lots of volunteers and great board members it always comes together.

Last year we sold out and had regulars who were disappointed. I'm hoping people order their tickets early this year so we don't run into that problem.
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Steady as She Goes

"How, dear sir, did you cross the flood?"
"By not halting friend, and by not straining I crossed the flood."
"But how is it, dear sir, that by not halting and by not straining you crossed the flood?"
"When I came to a standstill, friend, then I sank; but when I struggled, then I got swept away. It is in this way, friend, that by not halting and by not straining I crossed the flood."
                                                         -Buddha

I ran across this quote tonight and realized it's perfect for my life right now. I need to just keep at things - steady - and get them accomplished. No struggling, no stopping, just keeping pace. It much easier said than done, but it's what I need to do.

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Greensburg Kansas Revisited

Greg, Mark and I went to Greensburg, Kansas, today. I had not been there since right after the tornado of May 4, 2007. This photo above, of the dead tree on the left and the other tree in the middle, was taken in the middle of town. Obviously, many homes are gone and have not been rebuilt - at least not yet.

Greensburg is rebuilding green. They have passed, unanimously, an ordinance to build all city buildings to LEED Platinum level standards. They are the first city in the US to have such an ordinance.

I'm so impressed with the resilience of the people of Greensburg. Although, for those who do not live nearby and may not be aware, many residents have not returned to Greensburg and probably will not. A series of events led to that, most of which can be summed up that people have created new lives elsewhere in the intervening time period. The reasons they've done that are sometimes as simple as they moved to be closer to family elsewhere, and as complex as they couldn't move the trailer they bought to live in back into Greensburg due to city regulations.

Obviously, there is no model for Greensburg officials to follow.

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