Tall Tales from Kansas

miss sparkly sequin sleeves

In October, there is a rule about pumpkin photos predominating in all blog posts.  You have been so advised.

This past weekend there were also mums and nice sprays of decorative corn on display at the farmers market. 

It's time for autumn squash recipes, and in the event you have not heard about pump-culents I am here to inform.  See photo below. 

This big fella was in line for an iced latte, his cute handlers were going for something a bit warmer. 





I snagged a bag of "mean greens" that are getting dressed simply with a mustardy vinaigrette to go along side the crock-pot roast beef, potatoes and carrots that are on the menu for tonight.  Spelt garlic biscuits on the side. Did I tell you that mix turned out well? Oh it did indeed.  

If you prefer flowers in your pumpkin instead of succulents, never fear. There were plenty to choose from.

More gourds if needed for your front porch or table decorations. 

Yes please to these lovely, simple, arrangements of dahlias. 

Big sister was pointing out to all in attendance that her brother was going rogue, she seemed to enjoy him running so she could get a ride. Right on sister!

Little miss sparkly sequin sleeves was all snuggled up with mom, her treat safely in the bag, ready to eat when they sat down. 

Here's my haul this week. You already know what I am doing with the greens, sourdough toast is on the breakfast menu all week, butternut squash is getting roasted for work lunches alongside falafel. 



It's my favorite time of year at the market.  Did I already say that last week?  I am too lazy to go back and look. October you are simply the most glorious month of all. Marti Huff and I are in agreement on this, so it must be so. 

one of the owners is not coming clean about what he knows

The conclusion of The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny has left me with a bit of inner turmoil. This is book # 5 in the Three Pines series, featuring Inspector Armand Gamache and his team of agents from the Sûrete du Québec. Don't get me wrong, it's a well written ending. It had me guessing and hoping until the very, very, very, last sentence. Hoping for a different outcome even though I knew this was the way it had to go. 

Those of you who know the series know there is always a murder and a search for the perpetrator of the crime. In this book the main suspect seems to be one of the townspeople we know and love. In a nutshell - a hermit is found murdered in our favorite bistro where we, as the reader, feel we have consumed numerous wonderful meals with our friends, and one of the owners is not coming clean about what he knows. We want the murderer to be someone we don't know as well, we don't like so much... I will stop there. 

Another wonderful addition to this excellent series. I love learning a bit about Canada through these stories. Very highly recommended. 

time to sit and watch it all unfold

Warning: multiple sunflower images ahead. Some may appear redundant but I assure you they are each different. At least that's how they looked to me on my early morning walk at the start of a fresh day. When it also happened to be 50 degrees and I was wearing a sweatshirt. 

In addition to all these sunflowers, there was a discarded snake skin. Which I assume was left by a snake with a fresh new fall coat. Note to self: google the whole snake discarding their skin thing to understand why they do this. There were snails, furry caterpillars, and a lone great blue heron in a small wet area. The Baker Wetlands are not very wet right now. 

I saw several snowy egrets take flight then circle around and land in trees!  Say what? Of course that makes sense, but I don't think I have ever seen a snowy egret or a great blue heron in a tree. 

When I got home I took a shower, made a pot of coffee, sat on the front porch, and watched as yellow leaves fell from the trees across the street whenever the wind picked up. All of it was imprinted in the "good stuff" file in my memory bank. 



Fall is here and I love that this year I have more time to sit and watch it all unfold. 

tiny amazing colorful tomatoes

This morning at the farmer's market there were sweatshirts being worn, bittersweet bundles for sale, fall wreaths at the Pendleton's booth. Forgive me while I get giddy over the arrival of fall.

There was arugula, dahlias, and apples.  

My new "try" of the week were a few bags of dehydrated apple chips. While I generally prefer a nice juicy apple to munch on, these dehydrated chips are a wonderful addition to lunch. The very nice lady I bought them from told me they freeze well. 

Pumpkins and gourds were sprinkled here and there, even with this week's cake "Pumpkin Spice Latte" from Chonky Sweets and Eats. 

These tiny amazingly colorful tomatoes... the perfect topping for a piece of toast with some soft ricotta or burrata and a drizzle of balsamic. 

My happy couple prize for the day went to these two because, well just because. 

I came home with a lot of stuff this week. That always happens when I have missed a week. Arugula, kale, falafel, baklava, cucumbers, red onions, apple chips, an espresso muffin, and a piece of cake. Plus more JUICE from Liquid Garden.

This week I am trying watermelon, pineapple/orange, and another bottle of the pineapple/cucumber/mint/green apple that I got last time and enjoyed so much. 

That's it for this week from the very best farmer's market this side of the Mississippi, where everyone is smiling, and life is good in this exact moment. 

holding their wings open to dry in the sun

During my post-vacation return to the activities of everyday life I have been doing extremely important things.  Such as:

Meeting up with the Huff's for lunch. Stonefruit salad with kale, burrata, crouton, chopped hazelnuts. It was divine and only bettered by the piece of lemon meringue pie for dessert - the filling was tart and rich with an almost lemon curd quality to it. The meringue was whipped into a state of absolute creamy perfection and then torched. To. Die. For.  We discussed books, field sobriety tests and heel to toe walking. I think the topic of forgetfulness came up but I can't be sure. 

Washing my cantaloupe Hoka's. Which were beyond filthy. Wow did they come out clean!

Taking a morning walk, checking in with the natural world. There was a tree with a whole lot of turkey buzzards in it - holding their wings open to dry in the sun?  Not this tree that is falling slowly into the river, a big tall tree, it reminded me of the cormorants in their trees on the beach around Summerland

Making banana bread even though it is pumpkin bread season because these 3 bananas required using. Since the last batch I made, I  have become a firm believer in baking the bananas before putting them in the batter. Sort of the same way toasting nuts and roasting vegetables intensifies their flavor. 

Cutting zinnias.

There was other stuff, but this covers the highlights.

P.S. If there is a more divine color combination than pink and orange I would like to meet it. 

it's called making do

Today just a few more photos of our time down at Big Cedar Lodge. Over the last 30 years our family has been there numerous times, beginning with Ray and Angie for special occasion meals, taking walks, skipping rocks, playing putt putt, trick or treating with the great nieces and nephews... lots of good memories there.

There is something nice about returning to a place that feels familiar, where you sort of know what to expect, and you are surprised by new things.  

For me it's the well appointed paths to walk on, just outside your door, water, trees, birds, flowers, all that. 

On our last day there, I was greeted by 3 deer, 2 ducks, and a turtle... along with the regular crew of squirrels chasing each other up, down, and all around the trees. While I missed the usual displays of gourds, pumpkins, mums, and all things fall, there were plenty of other flowers in bloom. 



Chris was real sorry there was no wagon full of pumpkins to take the usual set up shot with. We settled for the Ma and Pa Kettle photo in the rockers in front of registration. It's called making do.  

general hang around sort of a 2 day getaway

Chris and I just got back from a trip to southern Missouri/northern Arkansas for the annual trip to freshen up the headstones, replace the flowers, tell stories, and have a picnic with mom and dad. It's a little earlier than usual this year, and it was just Chris and I, because that's how things go sometimes, and Ray and Angie taught us how to how to roll with what gets thrown our way. 

The leaves had not even thought about beginning to change yet at the Maplewood Cemetery, but there was some lovely colors on the bark of the trees.  Does that count?





Chris and I had a cozy cabin for two, we went out for dinner one night, we sat on the patio and played cards and had drinks.

The yoga mat was rolled out on the deck, stretching was done as I looked up at the leaves overhead, listened to the birds, enjoyed a breeze.



It's hard to beat a very nice, low-key, do what ever you want, general hang around sort of 2 day getaway. For those who keep track of these things, yes, we did hold the annual Moss family putt-putt tournament. I am holding onto the trophy with a score of a smooth 22. Chris however, was nipping at my heels with a hole-in-one and a second place round of 23. 

not one bit bothered by my presence

The back deck with the flower pots, and the zinnia beds, have been getting lots of winged visitors - butterflies and hummingbirds abound. Here are the ones I caught today. No hummingbirds here, and none of those yellow "sulphur" butterflies, but there was a very active swallowtail and maybe a monarch and a few that look like a monarch but are smaller. They are so lovely. 

A pure delight to watch them flutter about. Just another example of the wonders of the natural world.

P.S. The swallowtail was not one bit bothered by my presence. It came very close, almost landing on me several times. 

the combined collective energy of a group of like minded individuals invigorates me

In follow up from the farmers market last week let me just say this cantaloupe was flavorful, soft and firm (if that makes sense), and was the perfect addition to my lunches for work. I am a fan of pepper and a speck of salt on my cantaloupe. That's how Angie always ate it.

The bag of tiny potatoes was made into "smashed" crispy potatoes. Olive oil, salt, pepper, into a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes or so, slight cooling period, then coated with combination of melted butter, olive oil, chopped chives, grated parmesan, smashed with the bottom of a measuring cup, back in oven at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes or until crispy. Success! I made potato salad with the second half of the bag. Little potatoes are creamy and dreamy any way you make them.

There was an Oh My Gouache Art Zoom this past Sunday that was tremendously fun.  We painted together from parts near and far on ZOOM. Each of us working on what we wanted to...the combined collective energy of a group of like minded individuals invigorates me. Here is what I worked on. 

Flying birds, leaves, and a self portrait on toned paper with colored pencils. Good clean fun. 

Other activities this week have included a walk by the river and a "hot Indonesian" latte at La Prima Taza, one of the oldest coffee spots in Lawrence. 

Unbeknownst to me, there is a crowd of regulars that brings their chairs and sets up a coffee klatch on the sidewalk outside on Wednesdays at 9:00am. I can not say if this is a recurring weekly event, but I will say they all ordered "my regular" drink, and the barista greeted them by name. Just one more thing to love about Lawrence, Kansas. 

the lemon/white combination

Gosh it seems like just weeks ago that I planted this bougainvillea, when in fact it was near the end of May. How, in 4 short months did these branches get so long? Bougainvillea by their nature, like to sidle up, encroach, invade, dominate, which is something to be admired in a bright, flowery, heat tolerant - when everything else is fading - plant.  

The fact that this aeonium survived the summer is a huge surprise and I will winter it over inside. The succulent pots did well this year, in large part because I tried to move them under cover when it rained  a lot. That’s what I am attributing it to anyway.





The lantana is also a stunner right now.

It's the first year for the lemon/white combination along with the orange/pink and orange/red. It's very pleasing to me.