Moon Over Matter

Saturday, June 22, 2013, around 10 PM

I was super excited about the Super Moon ... until I was super disappointed in my photos.

I'd seen gorgeous photos of the Statue of Liberty in the rosy blush of the rising moon. (Other photos are at this link.) A jet plane looked like it was cruising right onto the moon itself. A runner looked like he had the moon nipping at his heels like a faithful dog.

(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Here on the County Line, sunset Saturday night was obscured in clouds, so I thought we might not see the moon at all. It finally did appear, but then it played hide-and-seek in clouds.

My grandiose ideas to capture the moon and the combine resulted in little more than eyes full of chewed up wheat straw and chaff as I stood downwind to get the "perfect" photo.

However, when I consider that the moon was still 225,623 miles away, I guess I might as well be happy with my little beacons of light in a Kansas wheat field. (Much of the time, the moon orbits at 238,855 miles away from Earth. Is it any wonder that being 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter didn't get the job done on my little point and shoot camera?)

My efforts paled in comparison to professionals and amateur shutterbugs alike. As Randy often tells me:

"It's good digital 'film' is cheap!"
Ah well! It's fun to try. 

Harvest Solstice

Sunrise

I began the Summer Solstice June 21 watching the sun rise over the wheat fields on the County Line. The clouds obscured the actual sunrise, which was officially at 6:09 on this longest day of the year.

But clouds couldn't obscure the pink-tinged beauty as light penetrated the morning.

We got started cutting wheat about 3 o'clock June 21.  So, I watched the sunset at 8:58 PM in another field.

Sunset

I was riding in the combine with Randy, so the sun had about said "so long" by the time I got out of the cab to end the day as I started it, with a wheat head silhouetted by the sun.

One of my favorite shots of the day was one I took in the combine cab as the sun was setting. The sun and the tree line were being reflected onto a window in the cab. The top image was the reflection, while the bottom was what I was actually seeing outside the window.

Last night's sunset (June 23) was even prettier. It had God's fingerprints all over it.

Summertime, And the Livin' Is ...

I noticed these pretty purple blooms among the sunflowers as I delivered my Father's Day treats to my Dad last Friday. I haven't seen them around here. I love purple and yellow together!

"Summertime and the livin' is easy" - or so says the song from Porgy and Bess. 

Today is the first official day of summer. Time will tell, but it also may be the first day of Wheat Harvest 2013. I don't think the song lyrics apply to wheat harvest, unless, of course, you are baby kittens lazing in the mid-afternoon heat.

Notice the one on the far left with a big old yawn!

Randy plans to do some test cutting today. We'll see if the wheat is as ready as he is.  

Our golden waves of grain provide a pretty spectacular backdrop this time of year. But even the ditches are ready for their close-ups, especially with nice little rain showers (another 0.40" earlier this week).

 

I noticed Katherine's day lilies blooming in the backyard for the first time yesterday.

The trumpet vine (a gift from my husband) is painting orange against a bright blue summer sky on my backyard windmill ...

... just in time to greet the summer.  Ah, summertime. The livin' may not be easy. But it sure is pretty.

Different Angles

Eyewitness accounts are only as reliable as the witnesses. It's a lesson I learned long ago in Reporting II at Kansas State University. Our class instructor was Bill Brown, who was director of student publications at K-State. During one of our first classes, he had a couple of people come into the room. I don't even remember what they did. But, after they left, we were supposed to write an account of their time in the room.

As I recall, the stories from this roomful of reporter-wanna-bes were similar. But there were some differences. We were training to be observers of human life and behavior, and yet, we had a lot to learn. It was a powerful lesson that I remembered as I wrote stories for The Collegian while at K-State and later took a job at The Hutchinson News. 

Mr. Brown had come to K-State after serving as editor and publisher of The Garden City Telegram. While he was there, two ex-convicts brutally murdered four members of the Herb Clutter family. Long before 24-hour news cycles and the internet, Brown witnessed how eyewitness accounts are colored by our own points of reference. National media saw the killings differently than homegrown journalists.

It's not only a lesson for journalists. It's a lesson for life. Our perceptions are colored by our own experiences.

Literally, no man ever sees himself as others see him. No photograph or reflection ever gives us the same slant on ourselves that others see. It has often been proved on the witness stand that no two people ever see the same accident precisely the same way. We see through different eyes and from different angles. But if we could see things as other people see them, we could come closer to knowing why they do what they do and why they say what they say. 

Richard L. Evans

We may see the same scene. We may experience the same event. But we see it through a different filter than the person sitting right next to us.

When we look at the big picture, we may see things one way.

When you look at an alfalfa field from a distance, you don't see the details in the beautiful purple blooms.

When we look more closely, our perception may shift, and we often see new details.We may see things as our neighbor sees them. Or, at least, we might consider their viewpoint.

It's not just a lesson for a neophyte reporter. It's something I should remember each and every day. 

I'm an adult Sunday School teacher at our church. For the past several weeks, Pastor Amy has been doing a series on the Sermon on the Mount. This coming Sunday, the Scripture is Matthew 7: 1-6, and her sermon topic is "Judging Logs and Splinters."

³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? Matthew 7: 3

Our Sunday School hour follows the church service, so we continue the discussion, based on the Scripture lesson. One of the books I've been reading as I prepare for this Sunday's Sunday School class is When Christians Get It Wrong by Adam Hamilton, pastor of the Church of the Resurrection. 

Jesus commands us not to judge, warns us against hypocrisy, and calls us to love all - both our neighbors and those with whom we do not see eye to eye. When we get it right, others see the fruit of the Spirit in our lives - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5: 22-23) and are drawn to our faith. 

Adam Hamilton

It's a worthy challenge, isn't it? It takes a big pair of tweezers to pull that log out of my own eye. Thankfully, Christ took on the wood of the cross and forgives me when I fail, time and time again.

'Harvest' Some Rock and Roll Beef Wraps

Beef: It's often what's for dinner around here. That makes sense when beef from our cattle herd is in the freezer.

Quinoa is usually not for dinner around here. Quinoa (keen-wa) is one of those trendy foods that ends up on lists like the 10 Top Food and Health Trends in 2013. Quinoa has been a staple of peasants in the high Andes for more than 3,000 years, but now it's peaked the interest of American cooks. U.S. imports of Peruvian quinoa more than quadrupled between 2007 and 2011.  It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal or grain, and it packs 8 grams of protein in a cooked 1-cup serving.
Rock and Roll Beef Wraps inspired me to try quinoa for the first time. Jill made the recipe first and recommended it. It was one of five new lean ground beef recipes developed with Beef Checkoff dollars to use in school lunchrooms to meet the USDA requirements for healthy school meals. K-12 students from five states participated in a pilot test of the new ground beef recipes developed to meet the revised USDA guidelines.

(photo on blue lunch tray was from the Beef Checkoff kitchen. Every school lunchroom needs those blue trays, right?!)

Spinach tortillas would have made a prettier photo, I suppose, but both Randy and I enjoyed the beef wraps. The recipe will likely make a repeat appearance on the Harvest 2013 supper rotation, and we'll see what Jake thinks.

All five recipes developed by the Beef Council can be found by clicking here. The Kansas Beef Council is encouraging Kansas school food service directors to try one of the new ground beef school lunch recipes at home this summer and then add it to their school lunch rotation for 2013-14. As an incentive, Kansas Beef Council is offering to reimburse, up to $10 through September 1, school menu developers for ground beef purchases to try one of the new recipes. I don't qualify, but if you do, you should take advantage of this promotion.

I may try out a couple more recipes, too, and will let you know what I think. But I do recommend Rock and Roll Beef Wraps. Try it and tell me your verdict!

(And, since I'd already bought the quinoa, I tried a salad recipe that I'll share with you soon. Stay tuned!)

Rock and Roll Beef Wraps

 Developed by Beef Checkoff Dollars

Total Recipe Time:  35 to 45 minutes.

Serves 4.

1 lb. ground beef
1 cup water
1/3 cup uncooked quinoa
2 tbsp. dry ranch dressing mix
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 cups packaged broccoli or coleslaw mix
4 medium whole grain or spinach tortillas (7- to 8-inch diameter)
Optional toppings: apple slices, red bell pepper strips, cucumber slices, carrot slices, sliced almonds, chow mein noodles

Cook ground beef in large nonstick skillet over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, breaking into crumbles and stirring occasionally. Remove drippings.

Stir in water, quinoa, ranch dressing mix and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 10 to 15 minutes or until quinoa is tender. Stir in slaw; cook, uncovered, 3 to 5 minutes or until slaw is crisp-tender, stirring occasionally.

Divide beef mixture evenly among tortillas. Garnish with toppings as desired. Fold over sides of tortillas and rolling up to enclose filling.

Nutrition information (without toppings): 418 calories, 12 g fat (3 g satured; 3 g monounsaturated fat), 76 mg cholesterol; 695 mg sodium; 41 g carbohydrate; 6.8 g. fiber; 31 g protein; 6.4 mg niacin. This recipe is an excellent source of fiber, protein, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, iron, selenium and zinc.

Notes: Romaine or iceberg lettuce leaves can be substituted for tortillas.

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I'm linked today to Ashley's What's In Your Kitchen Wednesday. Click on the link to check out other tried-and-true recipes from food bloggers.

Ten Days

June 6, 2013

Ten days doesn't seem like much time in the scheme of things. It hardly makes a dent in the span of 365 days. It's about a third of a month. But as the 2013 wheat crop nears harvest, 10 days was long enough to shift a predominately green landscape to a golden hue.

June 16. 2013

Look more closely, and there's still plenty of green in the fields. It will likely be several days before the combines begin rolling through the fields here in south central Kansas. But the transformation is still pretty remarkable in the span of only 240 hours. 

We scouted some fields as Father's Day 2013 came to a close. As Randy rubbed wheat heads into his palm, he found some variation in the amount of wheat berries separated from chaff. It will likely vary from one variety to another.

This field has two different varieties planted - Stout and Everest. We'll see which is the winner in the yield category this year.

Wheat isn't the only crop impacted in 10 days.

June 6, 2013

Another 1.4 inches of rain over the weekend has helped get the corn off to a good start.

June 16, 2013

The two corn photos above were taken in the same spot, 10 days apart. We've been fortunate to receive some timely rains for the corn crop, our first dryland corn venture here on the County Line.

The corn planted in the photo in the upper left was planted earlier than the other corn, so it's even bigger.

We're glad to have the rain on the corn crop, alfalfa and pastures, even though it slows down the start of Wheat Harvest 2013. We're not turning down rain after the past two summers, that's for sure!

Broken Chords

 

I'm a musician. No, it wasn't my major at college. I chose journalism after my Dad wisely suggested that being a music teacher was probably not the best career choice for my DNA.

I thank him every so often for that. He was so right. Last month, I completed my 18th year as an accompanist for the Stafford School system, most in middle school choir. Let's face it: The majority of middle school kids would much rather be in gym class than music class. As a middle school music director, I would not have survived my natural bent toward perfectionism and order in the midst of the adolescent hormones.

However, I do love music, so that's why I accompany. I certainly have no illusions that I am the most competent accompanist around. Mrs. Lighter, my childhood piano teacher, would be amazed that I am the one of the three Moore sisters who now gets paid to play the piano.

As I thought about the Lovely Branches Ministries theme for June, "Music for the soul," I remembered a time when my "job" didn't have a thing to do with my time on the piano bench. Instead, it happened in a bathroom after class several years ago. The encounter forever changed how I looked at the time I spent at school.

On that day, I ducked into the bathroom after the bell had rung. A middle school girl was there, washing her hands, but she waited until I came out of the stall and said, "Mrs., I have a question."

"Sure," I told her.

She was standing in front of a full-length mirror, pushing her long hair back and adjusting her clothes.

"What's wrong with me? Is my hair a mess today? Am I wearing the wrong thing? Do I smell?"

"No," I told her. "You look great. I think your hair looks really pretty today. Your outfit is cute."

She stopped me. "No, I really want you to be honest," she said. "Tell me the truth! When I come close to some of the other girls, they look at me and say, 'Oh, __________, get away.' Or they will turn their back, and I can hear them whispering."

I said again, "I am telling the truth. I am being honest. I want you to hear me. Even though it's really hard, you need to realize that sometimes other girls can be mean. I don't know why that is, but it is. So it's not about you. It's about their need to feel better than someone else. If they can put someone down, then maybe, for just a little bit, they can feel better about themselves.

"Try to remember it's not about you, even though it hurts."

I could not get that girl out of my mind. I remembered my daughter's middle school years. They were the absolute toughest for me as a parent (and no doubt for Jill as well). I will never forget how mean they were to one another. For several years, I saved a note that I found one day in Jill's pocket. It was from a girl who was supposed to be her friend. It said something about Jill looking like a pig in her cheerleading outfit.

I don't know why I saved the note. Was it to remind me of the power of words? Was it to remind me to really listen to my kids - whether they shared the hurts of the day vocally or exhibited it with a quiet, sullen mood?

Am I naive enough to think Jill was never mean to another girl? Of course not. I'm sure she had her moments even though my constant soundtrack with both my kids was, "Be the bigger person."

So I worried about this girl who I didn't really know. She was a face in the crowd on the risers before I heard the anguish in her voice that day. On the night of the concert, I made it a point to find her and tell her how nice she looked in her dress-up clothes. When I would see her at ballgames, I would stop and visit with her - even after she graduated from middle school and became a high schooler.

You see, I have been that girl. I wasn't the thinnest girl or the prettiest in my class or the girl every guy was clamoring to go out with.

But as I've gotten older, I've realized that most women have felt like that. Even those girls who from the outside looking in have it all - the thin girls with the perfect hair and just the right fashion flair - have that nagging feeling that they just aren't good enough.

It's been kind of a revelation for me as an adult.

But it doesn't change the hurt of a 13-year-old girl peering at herself in the mirror of a bathroom.

So, I hope she heard me - really heard me. If she did, it was worth all the time commuting to town ... practicing at home ... being annoyed at the noise ... the nervous stomach before festivals and concerts.

It was worth every second. If she heard me.

Not long ago, this arrived in my email devotional:

God has a beautiful way 

of bringing good vibrations out of broken chords. 

--Charles Swindoll

Christian pastor, author and educator

And I again thought of that girl. And I thought about myself. And I thought about all of we women who are so quick to be critical of ourselves.

But then I thought about it a little more. By definition, a broken chord is any chord whose notes are not played simultaneously; a chord played with separated notes. A broken chord is the way an accompanist gives each part of a choir its assigned note before we put all the parts together. Each and every part - soprano, alto, tenor and bass - is important for a harmonious chord. Through the brokenness of our lives we can become the strong chord - or cord - that God intended us to be.

2 Corinthians 12:8-10 New International Version (NIV)

⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

It's in His perfect love that we are made whole, even in our weakness and brokenness.

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Note:  This is an adaptation for my Lovely Branches Ministries post for June. My friend, Suzanne's blog, will have you whistling as you work in  your garden or sit on the porch with a glass of lemonade.

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I'm also linked today to Michelle DeRusha's Hear It On Sunday, Use It On Monday  and Jennifer Dukes Lee's Tell His Story. Click on the links to read what other bloggers of faith are writing about today.