Sunflowers and Wildflowers: There's No Place Like Home

 

Firekeeper Golf Course, September 23, 2026

 

"She's a sunflower from the Sunflower State." 

I am indeed.

 

If you were an elementary schoolchild in Kansas back in the 1960s, you likely learned that song by Mack David. It's one of those songs that's imprinted in my brain. Of course, I sometimes can't remember why I walked in a room, but I remember song lyrics from 50+ years ago. (Go figure):

I was born in Kansas, I was bred in Kansas
And when I get married, I'll be wed in Kansas.
There's a true blue gal who promised she would wait,
She's a sunflower from the sunflower state.

Chorus:
She's a sunflower, she's my sunflower, and I know we'll never part.
She's a sunflower, she's my one flower, she's the flower of my heart.

There are more verses, but they weren't absorbed in my memory bank like the first verse and chorus. My mom had a copy of the "Sunflower" sheet music. Her maiden name is carefully penned on the upper righthand corner. The music has a MCMXLVIII copyright. (To save you the trouble of Googling the Roman numeral translation, it's 1948. You're welcome!)

I framed the music and use it - along with several other sunflower keepsakes - to decorate my mantel during August and September ... and this year, into October because I haven't had time to change it. (True confessions.)

I'm not the only sunflower aficionado in the state. As I wrote about in another post, Poet Laureate of Kansas Traci Brimhall has been sharing her love for poetry and the state through collecting poems from Kansas students. The 2026 Kansas State Fair was the third fair that featured poetry on placards across the fairgrounds. 

Firekeeper Golf Course, September 23, 2026

More than one extolled sunflowers:

Kansas Sunflower

by Giovanni Santana

A sunflower stands proud and tall,

Watching summer greet us all.

Facing sunshine every day,

Growing stronger all the way.

Bright as hope and gold as wheat,

Standing where the sky and prairie meet.

When I think of home, it’s easy to see

Kansas blooms inside of me.

As we have traveled to tennis matches across the Flint Hills during September and into the month of October, we've been treated to "bouquets" of Maximilian sunflowers bordering the interstate. It's been like a colorful border on nature's quilt of browning grasslands as summer transitions to fall and then toward winter.  

In our immediate area, they seem a little less plentiful as ditches have narrowed or been mowed. 

Kim's County Line - 2023

 They used to spill over on our country roads. 

File photo from 2016

Sunflower (Another State Fair Poem)

By Pa’a Meyer-Yu

Sunflowers are everywhere

Sunflower seeds, sunflower patches,

Sunflower oil, sunflower butter

Sunflowers are Kansas

Yellow petals, slender stem, brown center

Always follows the sun

Always with Kansas

Sunflowers are Kansas

 

 Sunflower (State Fair Poem)

By Isla Parker

The sunflower finds the light

Captures every ray

Its golden yellow petals gleam

Wakes in the East to grow strong and tall

Turning through the day

Majestic rapid growth

Silent sentry observing the sun rise and fall

Absorbing the nutrients of the shimmering sun

Giant brown face makes the yellow shine

Bees hum amongst

Sea of golden soldiers marches

Across the open field

Harvest of seeds to nourish the birds

Creeping out dry, raw dirt

Roots spread deep and strong

 

A late September visit to the Firekeeper Golf Course near Mayetta offered another glimpse of Maximillian sunflowers.

   The golf course features 10 acres of dedicated wildflower and pollinator gardens. 

  

Our fall visit was the perfect time to witness how this program aims to preserve the natural character of the native Kansas prairie landscape, promote local biodiversity and provide crucial habitats for wildlife and native insects. 

Goldenrod - Fire Keeper Golf Course

It included sunflowers, but also some other native Kansas plants.   

We had an animal visitor, too. It didn't seem a bit fazed by the human interlopers. 

We'll be back on those Kansas highways later this week for the KSHSAA 6A state tennis finals in Wichita. 

  

Kinley and her partner, Annie, got second place in doubles in the regional tournament last week, losing only to their senior teammates from Washburn Rural. 

Photo from the KSHSAA Facebook page

The whole team qualified to compete in the state tournament. Good luck to Kinley and her fellow Washburn Rural Lady Blues tennis team! It's been a fun freshman season for Kinley ... and her grandparents!

 

Van Gogh Colors in Kansas

 

A quote by Danish-French Impressionist painter Camille Passarro stopped me in my tracks during our day at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City. Or maybe it was the pinks, purples and blues of the sky, hidden behind stark, leafless trees in a wall-size painting. 

I didn't know anything about Pissarro before our visit. But the quote inspired me to do a little research. The quote ties in with another of his reflections: "Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing."

It went on to say these quotes "reflect his artistic philosophy that true beauty does not depend on grand or inherently majestic subjects, but rather on the artist's unique vision and ability to perceive and convey the character of everyday scenes."

Now I can relate to that! 

So can some Kansas poets. When we visited the Kansas State Fair this year, I saw several placards that featured poetry with the theme, "There Is No Place Like Home." Later, I learned that the state fair poetry was part of a project spearheaded by current Kansas Poet Laureate Traci Brimhall. She partnered with Kansas 4-H groups to collect poems from Kansas students. This was the third year for the project, but it was the first time I saw them on our trek throughout the fairgrounds. (You can see all the poems at the poet laureate's website by clicking HERE. I love several of them!)

Sunrise, September 29, 2026

One of those poems was:

Van Gogh Colors in Kansas 

by Janice Northerns 

Thick slabs of gold hold up the cobalt sky 

in a vacant landscape. It’s the loneliness

of the prairie, the solitude of flyover country.

You, urban girl, sneer you’d never live here:

Kansas is no place like home to you.

Yet somehow each visit finds you drawn

to another quirky store or a house

you long to own. This place, patient

with secrets, waits for your gaze to linger

long enough to find the sunflowers, acres

of welcome ready to catch you as the blue-black

night, steeped deep in stars, calls you

to a memory you didn’t know you missed.

Isn't it amazing how life intersects in these random messages?

"Everyday scenes" are part and parcel of life here on The County Line, smack dab in the middle of "flyover country." 

Sunrise looking west, August 27, 2026

But why would I want to escape these "everyday scenes" that are so extraordinary, here "on the loneliness of the prairie," as the poet says. 

Sunrise, September 29, 2026

They are nature's Impressionist paintings, served up as a rich banquet before I even can finish a cup of coffee. 

Sunset, August 26, 2026

When I'm in the prairie ... when the wind blows a soft kind of sound almost like music, I think I hear big orchestras with lots and lots of people playin' all kinds of horns and violins, drums and things and it goes on and one for a long time - comin' and goin' with the wind ...

Gordon Parks
Kansas Poet and Novelist

Sunrise, August 27, 2026

Even though we love our "little house on the prairie," we also enjoyed getting away and touring the museum. 

We found the Monet Water Lilies I was looking for ... with a little help from a docent. I'd seen it on another trip to the Nelson-Atkins, but it had a new home this time. 

Water Lilies was created between 1915 and 1926. On the museum placard, it said Monet transformed his pond in Giverny, France, into a vast, living subject. 

"Its fluid rhythms and botanical abstraction reflect shared ideals between Impressionism and the "New Art" movement. Both hold reverence for nature and blur boundaries between environment and art."

The interpretation of the painting tied right into the nature, environment and art theme from Pissarro - just another subliminal message tying life together. 

Afterwards, we visited Andre's, a Swiss chocolate shop nearby, where we both had coffee and Randy had a rum ball. The place mat and much of the packaging had yet another art form: Scherenschmitte, a traditional Swiss paper-cutting art. 

Then, we got to spend time with Brent and Susan over the weekend ... and with grand dog, Clover. If only our 'Cats could have pulled off a win vs. Cincinnati on that football Saturday. 

 

Orange & Black Flying Machines: The Monarchs

 

For the past week or so, the shelter belts at The County Line have been the fall equivalent of miniature runways as orange and black flying machines seemed to practice touchdowns and takeoffs like student pilots practicing their craft. 

You have to look closely. They are camouflaged in the leaves and branches.

  

Monarch butterflies used the protection of our trees to shelter during their migration journey. But they flit in and out of the leaves as people amble by. They move so quickly that it's hard to capture their swoops and dives.

 

Randy's attempt yielded a pretty photo of clouds and silo. 

I didn't even do that well.  I had to dig through some old blog posts to find a mediocre flight photo to post of our fall visitors. Today, it seems most of the butterflies have departed. 

Monarch 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. 

The butterflies 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. 

File photo from Kim's County Line

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. 

File photo from Kim's County Line - Taken at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge

60 Minutes had a segment last year from Anderson Cooper about witnessing the Monarchs in Mexico. Click HERE to check it out, if you'd like. 

Tailgate Time: Pizza Sliders

 

Are you ready for some football? Are you ready for some tailgate food?

For me, the answer is an emphatic yes. My K-State Wildcats open their season Saturday against Nicholls. While I'm ready for football, I wish it came with some football weather. But I guess that's too much to hope for this weekend. Even with a 6 PM start, it's going to be hot.

The regular NFL season is arriving soon, too. And, for us, that means watching in the comfort of our air-conditioned living room. 

Whether you're coming up with football tailgate food or just trying to put together something quick, easy and tasty for an everyday meal, these Pizza Sliders are a great option.

I had a package of mini sub buns in my freezer, so I used those, rather than slider buns or regular Hawaiian dinner rolls. But any of those options work.  

Bring on the football! And the football food!  

Pizza Sliders 

1 package 12-count slider buns (I used a package of mini sub rolls)

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning

2 tbsp. finely-grated Parmesan cheese

12 slices mozzarella cheese, divided

48 slices pepperonis

3/4 cup pizza sauce

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 7- by 11-inch baking dish with nonstick baking spray. 

 

In a small bowl, mix together the melted butter, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese. Set aside.

 

Split rolls or mini subs in half and place the bottom halves in the baking dish. Top the bottom halves of the buns with 6 of the mozzarella cheese slices. Follow with a layer of the pepperoni slices, pizza sauce and the remaining mozzarella cheese slices.

 

Place the top halves of the buns on top and brush the top of the rolls with the melted butter mixture. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is hot and bubbly. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until the tops of the sliders turn golden brown. Remove from the oven, separate and serve. 

 

Note: I served with coleslaw and chips, but relishes and fruits would also be an easy accompaniment.  

 

Czech Mate

 "Czech"mate: Another Kansas day trip has been successfully completed.

A trip last week took us to the Czech Capital of Kansas - Wilson - and to Lucas by way of Claflin. (Exploring Millers of Claflin furniture store is a whole other kind of trip, but that's another story.) 

You know the saying about kids' allowance burning a hole in their pocket? Randy has that kind of reaction when he hears about road trips. Ever since he heard about friends who took their grandsons to the Garden of Eden in Lucas in mid-July, he wanted to schedule a similar road trip. 

With a little cooler day in the forecast last Thursday, he convinced me.  

  

During the 1870s, a large migration of Bohemian and Moravian immigrants from Czechoslovakia settled in and around Wilson. Many Czech families still live in the area and carry on Czech traditions, including Czech food, art, dancing and music. The City of Wilson acknowledged its pride in its Czech heritage in 1967, when the State of Kansas declared Wilson the Czech Capital of Kansas. Czech eggs are traditionally painted or embellished eggs exchanged at holidays and celebrations. The painting of the egg is known as the art of kraslice in the Czech culture. 

The idea of creating the World’s Largest Czech Egg began in 2003. Hess Services Inc from Hays delivered the fiberglass egg in August of 2012. Volunteers sanded the egg in the summer of 2013, and the black base coat was painted by volunteers in the summer of 2014. The egg design was done by Christine Slechta, the Wilson School art  teacher, with students and volunteers doing the painting in the summer of 2015. The egg was dedicated in July 2016, 10 years ago. 

The design includes an eight-pointed star, which symbolizes birth and the belief that every person has their own star. The radiant sun means good fortune, and specific colors like red represent joy and health. 

The World’s Largest Hand-painted Czech Egg stands 20 feet high and 15 feet wide under a gazebo in the Ed and LaVange Shiroky Park in Wilson. There are smaller decorated eggs scattered around Wilson's downtown.  

I loved this sunflower egg. (We should have stopped and taken some other egg photos, but Randy's real destination was the Garden of Eden. Plus, it was getting warmer.)

And who knew there would be a "news peg" for this blog post? On Wednesday morning (08-11-26), I saw that Governor Laura Kelly had announced that the State of Kansas and the Czech Republic signed a Statement of Mutual Cooperation. The statement will allow for greater cooperation between Kansas and the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Industry and Trade related to trade, business development, technological research, and several other key areas. The governor's office said it will foster even stronger bilateral relations and create new avenues of cooperation among Czech and Kansan entrepreneurs, businesses, scientists, artists, universities, and other institutions. The Statement of Mutual Cooperation focuses on four key industries: aerospace; agriculture, animal health, and biotechnology; advanced manufacturing; and nanotechnologies.

And Wilson was mentioned in the press release: "The statement strengthens ties between the citizens of the Czech Republic and Kansas and supports Czech cultural heritage in the state. Kansas is home to several Czech businesses as well as the town of Wilson, the Czech Capital of Kansas and one of the largest Czech-American communities in the United States."

We ate lunch at Made From Scratch in Wilson. Both of us were planning to order bierocks, but they were sold out. I had a delicious Reuben sandwich on homemade rye bread with house-made sauerkraut. Randy finished his meal with rhubarb pie ala mode.

Then we were off to Lucas. Driving by Wilson Lake was a trip down memory lane for Randy, who used to take the kids there on camping trips. He pointed out the convenience store where he'd let the kids choose Oreos and other snack foods. When he was a teenager, there were also plenty of excursions to Wilson Lake with his family and neighbors. 

From the Lucas Chamber of Commerce web page

Lucas is known as the Grassroots Capital of Kansas. Grassroots art is defined as creative work made by self-taught individuals. Lucas has grassroots art from more than 20 artists. Lucas was named one of the 8 Wonders of Art by the Kansas Sampler Foundation. 

The movement in Lucas began way back in 1907, when Civil War Veteran Samuel Perry Dinsmoor began creating his cabin home and sculptures using concrete and native post rock at age 62. 

He constructed the home using limestone logs, some up to 21 feet long. Then, using 113 tons of cement, Dinsmoor built 40-foot tall "trees" to hold his larger-than-life figures for his sculpture garden. The sculptures reflect Dinsmoor's views about Populist politics, life and the Bible. 

Dinsmoor built a 40-foot tall limestone mausoleum for himself and his first wife. Visitors can actually "visit" Dimsmoor in his handmade glass-topped concrete coffin. Yes, it's bizarre. But then again, I supposed The Garden of Eden is bizarre, too.

The mausoleum is the pyramid-shaped building on the right.

Adjacent to the Garden of Eden is Roy and Clara Miller's rock park. 

It was created by the Millers originally "as an oasis for weary travelers" and was located on the west edge of town. The Millers traveled to 37 states, picking up interesting rocks, minerals, shells and artifacts. They incorporated their finds into a series of cone shaped towers. The park opened in 1921 with sculpture construction started in 1932. In 1969, the site was sold to settle the estate and sculptures moved to Hays. But in 2013, the sculptures came back to Lucas.

These aren't the only bizarre attractions in town. Because Lucas has more than 15,000 visitors a year exploring the grassroots art, the city needed public restrooms. So the Grassroots Art Center and other residents created a public restroom that's also an art attraction.

The building is shaped like a toilet tank, the benches in front represent the curved toilet seat and the entrance is like a raised toilet lid. The sidewalk spools out of a toilet paper sculpture.

Inside, almost every surface of  the bathrooms - except the toilet and the sinks themselves - are mosaic art. 

 

Inside the women's bathroom: 

 

 

And inside the men's bathroom:

Toilet Bowl Plaza was voted the 2018 International Toilet Tourism Award for Quirkiest. Imagine that!

We also went into other art galleries and the Roadside Sideshow Expo, which features "the World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things." (Now that's a mouthful!) 

If oddities and curiosities are appealing, a road trip to Lucas might fulfill some of your hankerings for the bizarre.