Sunny with a Chance of Butterflies

Botanica Gardens, Wichita

Today's forecast: Sunny with a chance of butterflies.

Today's suggestion: Look up!

The annual fall migration of the monarch butterflies has come to Kansas. On Saturday evening, I saw the first monarchs of the season when I walked to the sudan field.

(I didn't take this photo. I would have liked to have taken it, but I didn't.
I did take all other photos in this post.)

The butterflies arrived with a frontal system. They winged their way to Kansas along with cooler north winds Saturday evening.

I think we would all like to return to the cooler north winds instead of the blast-furnace south winds right about now. Surely the butterflies who are heading south would agree.

Butterflies are truly miraculous.

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.

- Author Unknown

That's quite a reminder for this change-challenged person. They are the ultimate symbol of transformation. As George Carlin once quipped, "The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity."

I'm not sure that's true of monarch butterflies. It sounds like a lot of work to me to travel for two months, across thousands of miles, bucking wind and rain and predators. And it's all to get to a destination they've never visited before.

They begin the journey in their summer home in Canada and the northern regions of the U.S. They are headed for a mountain range 70 miles west of Mexico City in central Mexico, where they find the perfect habitat to survive November through March in the Oyamel forests. As many as 300 million spend the winter there. Wouldn't that be a sight to see?

It's not like ducks and geese which migrate year after year. They will only make this journey one time. So how do they know where to go? It is just another miracle of God's creation. Researchers say that it appears to be a combination of directional aids such as the magnetic pull of the earth, the position of the sun and the availability of milkweed, where the butterflies lay their eggs.

No matter the reason, they are a beautiful signal of fall.

They are, however, not the easiest to photograph, especially with the winds roaring the past few days. The butterflies tend to congregate high in the trees. And while they were visible to me again when I was walking yesterday morning, they were too far away for my little camera.

Take my word for it: They were there. I walked with my head up and watched them flutter among the treetops on the County Line. What a way to start the day!

(Not the best photo, but maybe you can get the idea.)

I thought yesterday afternoon I just might hit the butterfly jackpot. I was visiting my parents between a couple of meetings in Pratt. I asked if they'd seen the monarchs this year. A little after noon, my dad had seen thousands in the trees at Byers, a little town 3 1/2 miles from them. Around 3, we drove over to see if they were still there. A few flitted between the trees, but most of them were gone.

I have had better luck with other butterfly photos in the past.

I took these at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens when Jill lived in Nashville, TN. They're the right color, but they aren't Monarchs.

Someday, I want to go to Monarch Mania at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge. At that event, participants catch and tag the monarchs, then release them to continue their travels. It's practically in my own backyard, but the timing always conflicts. The 2010 version was last Saturday, when I helped make apple butter at the church (more on that later). Other years, it's been game day in Manhattan.

So, until then, I'll just have to be content with remembering the delicate dance of the fluttering visitors in my mind's eye instead of a camera lens.

I got my own chance to "fly" last week in the Kansas State Fair's air tram. Could this be the way butterflies feel?

Probably not, since they have to fervently flap their wings and battle the elements. On the other hand, I just got to sit there and enjoy the view.

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."

Nataniel Hawthorne, 1804-1864

Wishing you happiness today ... and a monarch sighting!

Again, not a monarch, but a pretty butterfly, nonetheless.

The Leaning Tower of Pizza

An average annual Kansas wheat harvest of 360 million bushels would make 23.5 BILLION large pizza crusts.

Yep, that's right ... 23,500,000,000 - with all those zeros.

A stack of 23.5 billion pizza boxes would be more than 740,000 miles high. That's three times the distance between the Earth and the moon.

That's a lot of pizza. But even a pizza box stack reaching toward the ceiling of the Pride of Kansas Building at the Kansas State Fair created a conversation starter.

And that's what Kansas Wheat was hoping to do. They wanted to start a conversation with people to tell them about the importance of wheat.

Randy was one of the wheat spokespersons at the booth last Friday. He's on the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers board, one arm of Kansas Wheat. The other is the Kansas Wheat Commission.

He handed out 2010 Kansas Wheat Commission recipe books to the masses. (A side note: Our son, Brent, helped layout and design the recipe books the past two years as a summer intern at Kansas Wheat.)

If you know Randy, you would guess that his favorite part was talking to kids who came by the booth.

At one stop, they could spin a Wheel-of-Fortune-like wheel. If they answered a wheat question correctly, they got a prize. Actually, I think they got a prize either way.

One prize they could choose was a Twizzlers licorice stick. I'll bet you didn't know that flour is the second item listed in the ingredient list. (Neither did I until I visited the Kansas Wheat booth!)

This little visitor also learned what a bushel of wheat looks like and how much it weighs (approximately 60 pounds.) She also knows that one bushel of wheat provides enough flour to produce about 42, 1.5-pound loaves of bread. One bushel of Kansas wheat also produces enough flour to make 67 Pizza Hut large pizza crusts (that's how high the stack was in the Pride of Kansas Building!)

I'm not sure what prize this little girl won, but I think when she left the booth, she knew a little more about Kansas wheat.

People could also choose a postcard with a little packet of wheat attached so they could grow their own little crop in an empty yogurt container or drinking cup.

One little boy kept coming back for more and more postcards. He told Randy he needed more so he could plant his own field of wheat. He was obviously a future farmer in the making.

Besides providing a Field of Dreams for one little boy, the postcards also shared these wheat facts:

• Wheat is the most consumed grain in America. It feeds people, animals and the economy around the globe.
• Wheat is grown annually in 42 of the 50 United States on 63.5 million acres of land.
• On average, Kansas farmers produce one-fifth of all the wheat grown in the U.S. That's more than any other state and why Kansas is called "The Wheat State."
• Americans eat nearly 138 pounds of wheat flour each year in baked goods, cereals, breads, crackers, pasta and tortillas.
  

Here is a recipe from this year's Kansas Wheat recipe book. I haven't tried these muffins yet, but Cindy Falk of the Kansas Wheat staff does test all the recipes. Enjoy!

Cracked Wheat Muffins

1 cup cracked wheat
1 cup skim milk
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey or 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries (opt.)

In a medium bowl, mix cracked wheat and milk. Cover; place in the refrigerator to soak overnight. Remove from refrigerator. Let sit 15 to 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with paper baking cups or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In small bowl, whisk together egg, oil and honey. Whisk into cracked wheat mixture.

In medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir cracked wheat mixture into flour mixture; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake 23 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Variation: Presoak 1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries in 1/2 cup water 5 minutes. Drain well. Add raisins or cranberries in with wet ingredients.

Yield: 12 muffins. Each muffin (without raisins or cranberries): About 167 calories, 4 g protein, 26 g carbohydrate, 2 g dietary fiber, 5 g total fat (1 g saturated fat), 15 mg cholesterol, 31 mcg folate, 1 mg iron, 174 mg sodium.

If you want to learn more about Kansas Wheat, check out their website.

A Beautiful Day for Elise

Kelly & Elise Ballard

"It's a beautiful day."

A year ago, Tony & Kelly Ballard regularly heard those words from their 3-year-old daughter, Elise, to begin the day.

(The Ballards, Christmas 2008)

This time last year, Elise lived a normal 3-year-old life: She played with her baby sister, Abby. She loved becoming a princess during dress-up time, complete with ruby slippers. She poured over books and loved to sing the silly songs of childhood.

But in October last year, she had several episodes where her speech, balance and coordination were affected. The episodes increased in frequency and eventually led to tests and her hospitalization on October 27, 2009, at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.

A few days later, Tony and Kelly got the diagnosis no parent wants to hear: Their beautiful little girl had acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

It began a journey no family ever wants to make.

Friends and family have walked alongside the family since the journey began, though none of us can really "walk" in their shoes.

But on September 11, we did a little walking in Elise's honor. And it was indeed a beautiful day.

The Junction City Fire Fighting Association Local 3309 sponsored "Running for Elise." There were 135 of us there. Some of us chose the 5K. Others the 10K. Some of us walked. Some of us ran. The littlest participants were pulled along in wagons or pushed along in strollers.

Some of us know the Ballards. Others didn't, but they came to walk and run anyway. Our family has kept in touch since the Ballards moved away from Stafford, where Kelly was the elementary music teacher and Tony was the high school music instructor. Kelly also gave both our kids private voice lessons. As a school accompanist, I worked with Kelly and Tony as we helped students prepare for music festivals.

Jill and Eric came from Omaha and ran. Randy & I came from Stafford and walked.

Randy & I had stayed overnight in Manhattan, so we began our day with a short drive to Junction City. On the way, there was just the faintest remnant of a rainbow in the skies looking westward to Junction City.

"What a great way to begin the day!" I told Randy. For me, it seemed like a message from God, directly to Elise and the Ballards. I had remembered a post on Kelly's Facebook page in August:

August 12: "After shopping, we were loading Elise into my car when I noticed a rainbow. It was a complete arc with brilliant colors. Then I noticed half of a second arc. Just beautiful. It was a wonderful reminder of God's love and His promises. I definitely needed this reminder. God is love!"

That gives me goosebumps. Kelly is still finding beauty in this world, even in the midst of this long, slow journey:

Round 1 of chemo was 42 days, from November 5 through December 16.
Round 2: 52 days, December 21-February 10.
Round 3: 33 days, February 24-March 28.
Round 4: 33 days, April 5-May 7.
Round 5: 34 days, May 17-June 26.

On June 26, Kelly wrote on their Caring Bridge website: "We have been fighting cancer 1 day short of 8 months."

They were preparing to leave the cancer treatment area of Children's Mercy at that point, but they knew the journey was far from over.

When the Ballards began the journey, they knew that they would spend the majority of Elise's treatment time at Children's Mercy, with only brief respites at home between treatments.

But during Round 2 of chemotherapy, Elise had some complications beyond the leukemia. In late January/early February, their doctors determined that Elise had encephalopathy, an inflammation of the brain, along with HHV6 (Human Herpes Virus 6). She spent 22 days in the PICU. During Round 3, she was again in the PICU with septic shock from a bacterial infection.

An MRI showed damage to Elise's brain in the areas that control movement, speech, eating, body temperature and sleeping. She quit talking, moving, eating or showing facial expressions.

As Tony explained before the Run for Elise event, it was like their 3-year-old daughter was an infant again.

Elise is still cancer free, but she continues the journey toward recovery at the Rehabilitation Institute in Kansas City five days a week. That will continue through October, when doctors will reevaluate Elise's progress.

As Kelly says:
"There is no timeline for recovery. As our neurologist said, 'Never give up hope.' He said that when you give up hope, she will stop recovering new skills. He is hopeful that, because she is a young child, she will regain most, if not all, her previous skills."

And she is making improvements. She celebrated her 4th birthday in August. She's sleeping more, eating more, sitting up, reaching for toys, playing, coloring, walking with assistance, kneeling, talking in sentences, making her needs known and "antagonizing Abby," Kelly says.

Elise and Abby, Summer 2010

I got a follow-up email this week from the walk organizers and the walk raised $5,800 for the Ballards.

The messages of hope were everywhere that day, from the orange and yellow balloons ...

To the beauty of nature along the River Walk trail in Junction City.


But for me, the most powerful message of hope was in the love I saw exhibited. When Tony was talking about their journey and had to swallow back his tears, Kelly grabbed his hand. And Elise's little hand was intertwined with theirs. It was a picture of a family, holding on to one another through the storms of life and through a journey no one ever wants to take.

And they are doing it together.

In the midst of all this, Tony just lost his job. They would never ask for your help, but I will. There is a fund set up to help with expenses related to Elise's rehabilitation and the family's needs while they help their daughter battle back from cancer and encephalopathy.

If you can help, you can send donations to:

Elise Fund

Sunflower Bank

520 N. Jefferson

Junction City, KS 66441

And if you can't help financially, I'd ask that you join a multitude of other prayer warriors praying for Elise, Tony, Kelly and Abby.

In an email, Kelly told me:
"The community has been wonderful. We have tons of people supporting us with prayers as well as financially. It is amazing how a friend of a friend keeps circling out and you have a huge network praying for you. Our pastor & his wife ate in City Market in KC last week and the cashier said he was praying for a girl from Junction City who was at Children's Mercy. Our pastor's wife asked if it was Elise and he said yes. He went to church with someone who know us. AMAZING!"

The Ballards continue to find hope as they walk this journey.

Last November, Tony and Kelly were trying to explain to Elise that she had cancer and they would need to live at the hospital to get medicine to help her get better.

"Tony and I were trying not to cry," Kelly says, "And Elise said, 'I'll be OK.' We continue to hold on to her statement and believe it will be OK one day. While in the hospital, before and after diagnosis, Elise would wake up and say, 'It's a beautiful day!' What hope she gave us! We can't wait until we hear that again!"

And I also urge you to think about something Kelly said on her Facebook page earlier this month:

September 4: "Even though we knew it before, a lesson we have learned from this journey is that time is precious and finite. LOVE YOUR FAMILY! Take the time now, today, to tell the people in your life how much they mean to you!"

It's a message worth repeating ...

A Quarter Century in the Making

Our beautiful daughter is 25 today. I could go on and on about the labor and delivery, which was not much fun.

But it was SO worth it!

She started out itty bitty - only 5 pounds, 13 ounces - though she was full term. But it didn't take long for her to make a huge impact on our lives.

She is the firstborn of two firstborns. Though we had no idea what we were doing, she seemed to thrive.

And that smile ... It can still make us melt.

She dreamed dreams. And we dreamed right along with her.

She's the big sister...

And Daddy's little girl ...

no matter how old she is.


She runs the race of life with focus and vigor.

I learned this week that she really was listening when we told her, "Do what's right" and "Be the bigger person" and that made my heart swell with pride and thankfulness.

(Wedding photos by Gina from Gingerroot Studios, Wichita)

She's filled all our lives with LOVE.

And even though she's a quarter century old today, she's still our girl.

Happy Birthday, Jill!

The Dance of Life

(This was taken with the panorama mode on my new camera. I still have some work to do in figuring out how to use this feature. But, for the most part, it captured a beautiful rainbow in this photo taken September 8, 2010.)


It was another Message from God via Facebook:

On this day, God wants you to know
that this world was made for you.
Enjoy it, explore it, experience it.
Don't hold back. It is God's gift to you.
Don't be a wallflower in the dance of life.

I have a couple of Facebook friends - a mother and son (thanks Jane & Mike) - who occasionally post Messages from God as their status.

And even though these messages are winding their way through cyberspace to hundreds of people, it often feels they are directly aimed at me.

Yesterday I was busy, busy, busy. I spent much of the day sequestered in the basement working on the Stafford Main Street newsletter, my KFRM Central Kansas reports, my blog and other assorted projects. I made several trips to the field to help move vehicles and take meals.

I crossed several things off the to-do list, but the list is never ending. It seems to multiple as quickly as dandelions after a brisk Kansas wind.

I walked outside, but it was more about getting it done than enjoying the view. I was trudging along, kicking up the dust from a gravel road and depositing it in my socks. With my brain moving 90 miles an hour and my feet steadily pounding away at 4 miles an hour or so, I walked with purpose.

But did I walk with joy? Did I walk with eyes wide open?

And I have to admit: No, I did not.

But I should have. I know there are people who want to walk, but their bodies don't let them.

There are people who would love to witness the vivid colors of seasons in Kansas, but their eyes can't see them, due either to a physical ailment or a weary heart.

Sometimes beauty happens where you least expect it. Sometimes we have to look a little harder to find it. When we were in San Francisco back in 2007, we toured the prison at Alcatraz Island.

There was nothing beautiful about the buildings, which had served as a federal prison for years and were covered with graffiti. But while there, I took one of my all-time favorite photos.

In the midst of all the ugliness, there was a calla lily, framing a view of the ocean.

At the K-State football game last week, I was struck by another irony. It was a typical college football game day atmosphere, full of laughter, music, families and fun.

But on the north end of the stadium, the huge American flag hung at half-mast. It was September 11th. There was a moment of silence to remember those who lost their lives on 9-11 and the troops who have fought the war on terrorism since then. A group of young recruits took their oaths to serve their country in front of a stadium filled with 50,000-plus people.

There was another goosebump moment when the team ran onto the field, following linebacker Brian Hertzog, who had the privilege of carrying the American flag that day.

With the huge Stars and Stripes gently rippling in the background, we listened to the same Ceremony of Allegiance that we hear every game day.

But on September 11th, the words seemed to have more weight:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Instead of singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" by rote, the familiar tune struck a new chord.

The opportunity for appreciating all we have comes each and every day. Sometimes, the appreciation is buried under a voluminous to-do list, a weary body, a tired spirit.

But then there's the Message:

God wants you to know

This world was made for you.
Enjoy it, explore it, experience it.
Don't hold back. It is God's gift to you.
Don't be a wallflower in the dance of life.

***

Dear Lord,

Today, instead of being a wallflower, help me to be a sunflower, helping to shine Your light in this world.

Help me to never forget the joy in the dance of life and to give thanks in everything.


Amen!

Child's Play

When I grow up, I want to be a little boy.

Joseph Heller

They may be balding. Their hair may be more "salt" than "pepper" these days. But somewhere beneath the hurting hips and slower step, there's a little boy just aching to get out.

Last week, Randy had an equipment breakdown, and I was several miles away at the grocery store. After he'd made his way to the road, he settled in to wait for me.

When I picked him up, he could hardly wait to get the door open to let me know he'd found an unexpected treasure. There were goldfish swimming in the ditch.

He assumes they made their way from the Rattlesnake Creek, just a half mile away or so. He thinks rains swept them away from the creek and into the ditch, where they congregated at the end of a driveway.

Earlier in the week at breakfast in town, he'd heard that the children who live in the nearby farmhouse had a budding business. The little entrepreneurs were selling the runaway fish to local fishermen. He's not sure what price they were fetching, but even with their salesmanship skills, there were still several fish left in the ditch.

A bigger goldfish with its flash of orange caught his eye.

But I was in the car and I was fresh out of any equipment deemed suitable for fishing.

Later in the day, however, we had to make a return trip to retrieve a pick up. And Randy went back prepared with an old coffee can and a 5-gallon bucket of fresh water. He was goin' fishing.

This expedition was a bit different than our adventure along the Ninnescah River earlier this summer. But he was no less excited.

With no rain for a couple of weeks, several of the fish had already succumbed to the lack of water. And most were just little fingerlings.

But then there were these beauties:

Randy could hardly wait to get them back to the farmstead to show Trevor, Jake's little boy who's a first grader. This real little boy was suitably excited about the great surprise from the "big little boy."

It reminded me of the goldfish that came to live at our house during a long-ago Kansas State Fair. Jill and her friend, Holly, had done their pretzel making demonstration at the 4-H building. The little brothers - Brent and Bradley - were along for the day.

To celebrate the girls' purple ribbon, our families went to the Midway, where the kids competed in a game of chance. And the prize? Goldfish.

Both families carefully carted home the wonderful treasures in plastic bags. I believe there was a detour and an investment in a small plastic aquarium and fish food before we set off for home. I don't remember how much money was spent on the game before all the kids were rewarded with their prizes. It probably would have been cheaper to buy fish at WalMart to begin with. But that wouldn't have been nearly as much fun now, would it?

The fish lived longer than the kids' interest in the fish lasted. I think Bradley's fish won the prize for ultimate longevity.

Even though our kids are grown and gone, I still am lucky enough to live with someone who can see the world with childlike wonder.

And that's a good thing.

If I needed any further confirmation of his lighthearted look at the world, the K-State game left no doubt. A family behind us had face paint, and the mom overheard Randy remarking to me about the kids' war paint.

She fixed him up with his own rather unique placement of Purple Pride.

In every real man, a child is hidden who wants to play.

Friedrich Nietzsche

And here is Exhibit A.