Big Sky Country - Kansas Style!

Montana claims to be Big Sky Country.

I won't dispute their claim, but I think Kansas gave Montana a run for its money yesterday in the sky department.

When I came back from helping Randy, I noticed the sky and took a detour to the milo field to take a photo of the ripened grain against the spectacular backdrop.

Sunset over a neighbor's CRP hay

A little while later, I was still working in my basement office when Randy called to tell me the sunset was pretty. Now that's love - taking time to call me in the midst of planting wheat ahead of a storm.

Sunset over Peace Creek

He didn't spend a lot of time talking about it. He knows how quickly these things change. Sunsets don't wait for things like shutting down computers and such nonsense.

A neighbor's windmill

The cattle came to see what I was doing.

 Hey, guys! You're turned the wrong way! You're missing the light show! (And the photographer should have used the flash - ah well!)

 

This morning, before I downloaded last evening's photos, I opened my Guideposts email devotional and saw this message:

A Time to Act

Recognize that true gifts of life come 

from moments shared and beauty witnessed—

laughter with loved ones, a glorious sunrise, a rainbow after a storm.

A Time to Pray

Dear Lord, all the treasure of the world is already mine—

not to own, but to cherish and share. Thank you!

Good advice indeed!

Zenith Road, looking north

We got 1.80" of rain from those storm clouds, so our wheat planting has come to a temporary halt. I guess we won't feel guilty about going to Stafford's 29th Oktoberfest this weekend.

Broken Open: Thoughts at Sunset

In a video clip at Sunday School, we listened to a young mom talk about the death of her premature son. Though the interview was taped a few years after the baby's death, the loss was still visibly raw as the mom talked about the experience through her tears. Since I'm the facilitator for the class, I'd watched the video clip more than once before sharing it. It wasn't easy to watch - even the third time around.

In it, she talked about being "broken open" rather than simply "broken."  She acknowledged that she would never be the same. At first, she tried to be the same Amy she always had been. She tried to be the same at home, at her job and with her friends. But she soon realized that she was changed and she had to grow and evolve with that change. She said that being "broken open" had forced her to give up her own agenda. It had given God a chance to fill the empty spaces with His Light.

Sunday evening, Randy was baling alfalfa. He called me on the phone.
"Hey, the sunset has the potential to be really pretty," he told me.

He rarely steers me wrong, so I grabbed the camera and left the air-conditioned house for a twilight drive down country roads. And as I looked for places to capture the day's end, I again thought about the young mother's story and her thoughts about being broken open.

 

A crystal clear day doesn't produce a spectacular sunset. It just doesn't.

Adding a "frame" formed by a pasture gate.

It's the clouds that paint the evening's colorful canvas with texture and variety.

As the light played peekaboo with the clouds, the scene shifted with each passing minute. 

A look to the east provided a whole different perspective on the evening's light show.

Most of us would prefer our lives to be "cloud free." But it was not that kind of week last week around here.

Looking east over a neighbor's soybean field

But maybe - just maybe - those "cloudy" days can have some beauty after all if we're open to letting the Light shine through them.

I likely have a different perspective about clouds anyway. And, as a farm partner, all the rain clouds this month have been welcome. Though we aren't out of drought conditions, the rainfall this summer has been beneficial after a dry winter and early spring. So the rumble of faraway thunder was a welcome accompaniment to the full-screen picture show.

A Time to Think

Without faith, we are as stained glass windows in the dark.
--Anonymous

FYI:  The video clip is part of Scott J. Jones' The Wesleyan Way: A Faith That Matters.

Right Place, Right Time

 

There was plenty of action at the Stafford County 4-H beef show Friday night. With cooler temperatures and a storm brewing to the west, the cattle were restless. The 4-Hers dealt with skittish steers, setting them up and resetting them, no matter how ferociously the 4-Hers rubbed the bovines' bellies with the show sticks to try to keep them calm and in place. 

But the real action was outside the arena. A rainbow arrived about the same time our neighbor girl and her boyfriend got engaged. How is that for timing!?

I'm rarely happy with rainbow photos, but it was beautiful in person!

After that, I left the breeding beef show and walked across the street from the fairgrounds. With all the storm clouds, I knew the sunset was going to be one I didn't want to miss.

As I walked to the west with camera in hand, someone said, "Hey, Kim! You can't start your fair photos for next year yet! This fair's not over!"

Edited with HDR treatment

But I think I just might have gotten a head start. The sky was too beautiful to ignore.

I'm used to having hay bales, windmills and trees in the foreground of my sunset shots. It was a treat to be able to highlight the co-op and the Stafford Depot. I love being at the right place at the right time, don't you?

With all the ugliness in the world, it's easy to get discouraged. It seems that every newscast is filled with more hate and unrest. That's why it's so important to look for the beauty. Especially look for it in people - those who are like us and those who are not. Like shifting skies at sunset, our perspective can be changed if we look for the beauty around us.

A Time to Think

Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer.
And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.
–Maya Angelou, author and poet

A Time to Act

Pray and release your worries.

A Time to Pray

Oh, Lord, teach me to remember You in all things, every day of my life.

Email devotional from Guideposts.

Time Out

Nature's light show was last evening's after-supper entertainment. As lightning flashed against the dark blue sky like early 4th of July fireworks, we hoped it would stay north of us.

Instead, we got 0.35" of rain last night, with another 0.10" early this morning. That will keep us out of the harvest field for at least part of the day. But it is much less rain than some of our farm friends got in other locations across the state, some of whom got hail, too. We were happy to avoid that!

As the storm approached last night, it meant some pretty photos with the golden wheat silhouetted against a darkening sky.

Farmers don't ever like to admit that we'd rather it not rain. But when there's still plenty of wheat to cut, we would have preferred for it to wait a few days.

Still, the corn and silage will like the little sip of water, and our summer pastures can also use a little refreshment. Sometimes, you just have to find the silver lining.

The Sky's the Limit

Whether it's sunrise or sunset or the blue expanse dotted with the marshmallow puff clouds of spring, I love sky watching. 

Sunset, April 19, 2015

Friday night, as I was driving home from a birthday party in Stafford, I stopped several times to take photos of the stormy sky. If I would have driven straight home, I wouldn't have gotten wet. But I also wouldn't have witnessed the ever-shifting majesty of the Kansas sky.

Zenith branch of the Kanza Co-op (HDR photo treatment), April 24, 2015

Even though I didn't get any lightning photos, I marveled at the beauty and the power of God's creation. I'm thankful we missed the hail and tornadoes and just got the beauty shots.

I saved a devotional that arrived in my in-box last week from Guideposts. These photos seemed made to illustrate it. 

April 24, 2015, Stafford/Reno County line, looking east

God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.  Genesis 1:31

A Time to Think

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth
find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature–
the assurance that dawn comes after night,
and spring after winter.

 Rachel Carson

April 24, 2015, Stafford/Reno County line, looking northwest

A Time to Act

Look at the world with a vision magnified by the power of faith deep within you.

Sunset, April 19, 2015

A Time to Pray

Father, today I resolve to be a good steward of our world.