Take a Photo Holiday

Take time to smell the roses ... er, the yellow wildflowers?

 

Take pictures as if you were taking a holiday in your own life.

That was one of the photo prompts from the book, "One Photo a Day Keeps the Doctor Away" by Joost Joosen, which Brent and Susan gave me for Christmas last year. On the same page was this Alexandra Horowitz quote:

Together we became investigators of the everyday. ... In this way, the familiar becomes unfamiliar and the old becomes new. We do have the ability to pay attention. We just forget how to use it. 

We're all quick to share the moments from the highlight reel of our lives. Maybe it's the visit from our grandchildren. The beauty of a National Park is sure to generate dozens - if not hundreds - of photos. But there is no shortage of beauty hiding in plain sight along our normal routes.

Several times, I drove past those yellow "flowers" at the corner where I make the turn onto the Zenith Road. But on a day when the clouds were like a 3D painting on a bright blue canvas, I made the time to stop.

The same clouds and sky provided a counterpoint to the green alfalfa field and hay bales.

They also gave me a different backdrop for my sunrise tree ... even though it was the middle of the day and not sunrise.

When I took my "photo holiday," we were coming back home from a Labor Day trip to the Stafford golf course. 

I spent a lot of the time reading my book. But I also took a few photos with my favorite model, framed with some natural "decor."

It's not often that it's wet enough in August to find mushrooms on the golf course!

All the rain this summer has offered other unusual August photos. Last week, we had a total of 3 inches of rain, and Peace Creek was uncharacteristically flowing.

This was the scene at our new bridge - which is done, by the way! 

On the Zenith Road looking east

I always like looking at Peace Creek from a view on the Zenith Road, too. 

On the Zenith Road looking west

 It's certainly prettier with water than without!

August 10, 2022 - from the Zenith Road

To prove that point, here's a photo from August 2022. (For the record, the water is back down this week.)

Last sunset of August 2025

 Sunsets are always an opportunity to take a holiday in my everyday life. 

First sunset of September 2025

Storms that went north and east of us provided the drama in the sky last evening.

We only see what we look at. 

To look is an act of choice.

--John Berger 

 

 

 

***

I love the nature all around me. But the "highlight reels" of life can be fun, too. K-State football games have been part of my life since I was a little girl. 

The drone show following the home opener win was certainly worth commemorating with photos.

It may have been man (or woman) made, but the formations were certainly worthy of a "photo holiday." 
 

 

Do-It-Yourself Scenic Overlook - Kansas-Style

 

I suppose I've always taken sunflowers for granted. As a Kansas native, these sunshiny flowers have become part of my peripheral vision as I motor down the road in the summer, usually in a hurry to get to where I'm going.

In our immediate area, they seem a little less plentiful as ditches have narrowed or been mowed. So as we were traveling down a more secluded dirt road in our Gator and I saw the blanket of sunflowers stretching toward the horizon, I wanted my chauffeur to stop. The national parks have scenic overlooks. I could do a make-your-own version, Kansas-style.

Summertime is sunflower time in Kansas. And even though our Iowa friends may believe it's a noxious weed, it's our noxious weed, thank you very much (with apologies to my son-in-law's Iowa family). The genus Helianthus comes from the Greek "helios" meaning "sun" and "anthos" meaning "flower." The species "annuus" means "annual."

The sunflower grows in every Kansas county due to its adaptability to soils from sand to clay and its toleration of dry to medium moist soils. In the summer and early fall, the yellow flowers give the prairies and roadsides a golden glow.

From the Kim's County Line archives

Sunflowers were cultivated in North America as far back as 3000 BC and were introduced to the rest of the world by Spanish Conquistadors in 1500. 

According to an article in The Hutchinson News by Steve Gilliland, in 1901, George Morehouse, a state senator from Council Grove, attended a rodeo in Colorado Springs where all the Kansas folks in attendance wore sunflowers identifying them as Kansans. Morehouse was so moved and inspired by the Kansas spirit, that upon returning home, he drafted the bill naming the sunflower as our state flower. It was adopted in 1903.

So, this year, it's especially appropriate to celebrate the sunflower, since it's the 120th anniversary of its status as official state flower. The 1903 proclamation said it was chosen for "its strong, distinct disk and its golden circle of clear, glowing rays."

In this original bill, Morehouse also stated:

 “This flower has to all Kansans an historical symbolism which speaks of frontier days, winding trails, pathless prairie and is full of the life and glory of the past, the pride of the present and richly emblematic of the majesty of the golden future, and is a flower which has given Kansas the world-wide name “The Sunflower State.”

I've transitioned to my sunflower decor in my living room. So I have sunflowers "blooming" all around me. 

The last several blog posts, I've reported on tourist spots in Iowa, Chicago and Missouri. We enjoyed those travels. But we are pretty fond of Kansas, too. 

 

Follow the Yellow Brick Road?

  

I saw a sweatshirt on Facebook recently that seemed made for me: Farm Uber. It was just another case of Facebook seemingly spying on my life. 

During my repeated trips to, from and yon in my Farm Uber role, I've been singing "Follow the yellow brick road, follow the yellow brick road" in my head. 

Granted, there's not a brick to be seen. But some of the road shoulders are "paved" with yellow. The gold in "them thar hills" may not have much street value or what most people might call a hill. But it sure has eye appeal (unless you're about to get your car stuck on poorly maintained roads ... but that's another story). 

Roadside sunflowers are producing a bumper crop.

 

It's just one of the glimpses of beauty that's all around us - free for the taking if only we pause and really see it.

On one evening trip to the field, I also loved the yellows (and all the other colors) during Golden Hour, that time right before the sun goes down. I had just talked that morning to the yearbook class at Stafford High School about advantages of light during the Golden Hour. There were examples all around me just a few hours later.

One milo field was illuminated by sunset.

 Another was catching a whole different light perspective looking to the east.

Peace Creek, looking east

One of my favorite local photo spots - Peace Creek along the Zenith Road - was looking especially peaceful as the sun was setting and the wind was settling down for the night.

Peace Creek, looking west

I couldn't resist one more stop before I headed for home. A windmill about a mile from our farmstead as the crow flies is a favorite western vista when there's a dramatic sky brewing.

Some curious bystanders came to check me out.

They definitely have a "room" with a view.

Punctuation Marks and Simple Blessings

 

 

We think it is the big moments that define our lives - the wedding, the baby, the new house, the dream job. But really these big moments of happiness are just punctuation marks. The narrative is written every day in the small and simple. 

Sarah Ban Breathnach, Author of Simple Abundance

 

Don't get me wrong: I look forward to big moments, too (especially a wedding coming in 2022 for our family!)

Brent & Susan - newly engaged!!

 

But I also appreciate the not-so-monumental times ... like rides to the pasture to replace the fence charger battery with my favorite farmer and some pretty scenes from Rattlesnake Creek.

The sunrises and sunsets from the Kansas flatlands may not have universal appeal like those from a mountain-top or from a sandy beach, but they are still moments to savor.

And they are a reminder to be thankful. I follow The Farmer's Daughter on Facebook. She has  finished a round of chemo for cancer, and I was struck by the post she shared on her birthday last month:

I'm just grateful.

This past year was tumultuous and upending and trying. I stared death in the face more times than I care to admit. And I finally understand that growing older is a blessing. An absolute blessing.

Folks, life is short.

Don't waste your time angry.

Prioritize the people you love.

Be kind.

Put down your phone.

Enjoy the sunsets.

Stop comparing yourself to others.

Slow down.

Be present.

Love.

 

Those are powerful words ... and a reminder to not let the little moments pass me by. 

 

 The message was reinforced with one of my daily email devotionals:

 

A Time to Think

If you begin to live life looking for the God that is all around you, every moment becomes a prayer. 

–Frank Bianco, U.S. journalist and photographer

Thankfully, the Kansas sunsets provide plenty of free beauty - just for the taking.

The sunset one evening seemed creased by a jet moving through gold-tinged clouds. And I hoped that the passengers were appreciating the view, too.

Simplify, slow down, be kind. And don't forget to have art in your life - music, paintings, theater, dance and sunsets. 

Eric Carle

A close-up of the clouds as the sun played hide and seek

 Good advice, don't you think?