Tall Tales from Kansas

I don't tell people I am going to make a masterpiece of their likeness

This past weekend the Oh My Gouache class met on Sunday and did some ZOOM painting together. In our previous sessions we have tackled portraits and I have been practicing on everyone. Taking quick screen shots in ZOOM meetings gives an opportunity for all sorts of expressions and angles to be captured. I don't tell people I am going to make a masterpiece of their likeness.  I just do my thing. 

This week the topic was landscapes and it was great fun. I wish I had a week after each of these sessions to immerse myself totally in doing nothing but eat, drink, sleep, and paint... but that's not life and it does not stop me from painting when I can, how I do, and the outcome is not judged too harshly.  

If you want to see "pretty", let's look at the sunflowers from the farmers market.   

On the reading/listening front I finally finished all 8 episodes of the Trojan Horse Affair podcast. Wow. That is investigative journalism at a very high level.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Link below if you are interested in listening. Each episode is around 40 minutes or so. I loved all the conclusions they drew at the end, about what happened, about each other, about expectations. Link provided below.

The Trojan horse Affair podcast

Last but not least here are some of this week's zinnia clippings. 

I rather like the pale peach colored ones in the very center. Almost as much as I liked Barry (the newest Harvey boy) coming to let me pet him while I was cutting them. 

when they are sold by smiling vendors with sunflower masks and cool glasses

This accordion player added extra goodness to the farmers market in Lawrence this weekend.

He was positioned right next to the brown butter peach cake ... 

...which of course I had to try. 

There was also a basket of peaches from Mrs. Peters. As long as peaches are in season, a basket comes home every Saturday. I remain hooked on them for breakfast. The whole concept of eating seasonally has come late to me. But boy is there something to be said for it. A juicy peach picked (for me) the day before it comes to market is unbeatable. 

 Sunflowers are in season too. In many different forms.

I haven't met one that I don't like. Especially when they are sold by smiling vendors with sunflower masks and cool glasses.



The morning light on this basket of basil was simple perfection, as were the bundled carrots and the beautiful purple eggplants. 

My favorite sign this week is below.

Lately I have taken note of several booths with lemonade. I am always in a coffee frame of mind early in the morning at the market, but as I write this, I am thinking I need to take a mason jar to put some in next week. How delicious would that be on the porch, in the shade, in the afternoon after waking up from a nice weekend nap? With lots of ice and maybe some kind of fresh herb thrown in for good measure. 





As I write this, the cucumbers and onions have been pickled and are in jars in the refrigerator. The green beans were boiled for just a few minutes and a bit of butter, salt, and a squeeze of lemon went on top.  The cake has been sampled and I am giving it 2 thumbs up. 

These carrots will be roasted tomorrow. Really simply with salt, pepper, and olive oil. I did a bundle of these like that in Lincoln last weekend and they were incredible. 

The sunflowers are perfect next to the zinnias don't you think? My friend Jamie gave me that vase with the long skinny neck a few years ago - absolutely perfect for long stemmed flowers. I love that she knew I needed it.  

this time I mean it

Through the years, during zinnia season, there have been postings where I have declared one specific zinnia my absolute favorite. Today, an addition to that list is this hot orange number with lavender on the tips of its petals towards the center. 

You will notice the queen lime reds along with all those wonderful pink/fuchsia colors. They are special too. 

But seriously, and this time I mean it, the orange with lavender is really my absolute, final, selection for favorite.  

Until I see a different bloom next week.  

Sharron recommended it

With some trepidation, but trusting the recommendation of a friend, I recently picked up Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, from the library. 

I am certainly glad I listened. On my own, this would have most likely passed me by. I am not typically a fan of futuristic tales of the world ending and what life is like for survivors, but Sharron recommended it, and we tend to have similar tastes in books. 

I'll not go into great detail about who's who and what's what. There's a pandemic, the world as we know it changes drastically, most people die, some survive, they get on with life the best they can. It follows a group of characters over a span of years, allowing the reader to see how some cope with death and some with survival. There are some unbelievable/coincidental connections through the years (it's a book, that's allowed). 

In the middle of a pandemic, it's quite interesting to read a book written in 2014 about a fictional pandemic. 

Recommended. Thanks Sharron for the heads up about it. 

 

in case you want to cook up your own perfect get away weekend

When we went to Lincoln to the quilt museum this was our home base. Because why wouldn't you want to rent a house that looks like this? We were operating under the "you only live once" principal. There was not a book with the history of the house and its former occupants contained in the home (that we could find anyway), but we used our imagination and made up (really excellent) stories. 

There was a visit to a local restaurant where we started with grilled peaches, lemon ricotta, basil/arugula, crispy prosciutto, balsamic and honey.  The moaning after each bite was done as quietly as possible to avoid being asked to leave. Every single thing was wonderful. If you go to the quilt museum, DISH restaurant on O street is the perfect place for dinner. 

While I am on the topic of food, we had a wonderful appetizer spread for dinner at home one night - a personal favorite for supper. Please note that we did not let the lack of a vase in the house stop us from making flower arrangements to put us in a festive frame of mind.

We checked out The Mill coffee and tea and LOVED these Wheat Paste Murals on the building! Done by Nebraska artists - they were striking. I wish I had captured more images, but you get the idea. 

There was time for a morning neighborhood walk to check out all of the unique homes with their great porches.  I love a neighborhood with all kinds of different houses and yards.

At the quilt museum we stumbled upon these reclaimed wood "quilts" by Laura Petrovich-Cheney. Oh! What we wouldn't give for a pile of unclaimed old painted lumber, safety glasses, a power saw, and a big table to play around with pieces on. Here is more about her and her work. 

In addition to knitting and stitching, we also made time in the mornings for yoga on the wide front porch and wine sipping in the early evening while we sat in the rocking chairs.  

These details are provided as a partial list of ingredients in case you want to cook up your own perfect get away weekend.  

whatever superlative you use to describe an amazing experience...

This weekend, Ann and I ventured up to Lincoln Nebraska to check out the Red and White exhibit at the International Quilt Museum. Shut The Front Door! Holy Smokes! %$&%*! Insert whatever superlative you use to describe an amazing experience... and this is what this exhibit was like.

Apparently there are 652 quilts in the entire collection. This display contained maybe 100... which was just the perfect amount.  More than this would have overwhelmed.  As it was this allowed us to ooh and ahhh and "look at this!" about all of them.







Some of these designs we had never seen before. Not that we are quiltologists or anything... but to be surprised by the unexpected brilliance of some of these makers was mind blowing.







We really enjoyed the variety of ways in which they were displayed for viewing.  







I was struck by the fact that the makers of these quilts were mostly unable to be identified. It seems a shame that these masterpieces did not have a history of the maker (photo included) right by them. 







I hope their spirits were hovering close and they heard every single thing we said about how unbelievably amazing their art is. If you are in the area, and love quilting, you MUST see this. I think the exhibit is up until mid September. 

hello Barry

Please do not be fooled by this first photo and think this is another post about zinnias. It contains zinnias but it is about something much more important. It's about what is in the right bottom corner of the first photo.

Trying to blend in among the zinnias. That's Barry. He is a Harvey boy. Over the last 6 months he has been very wary of me, despite the fact that his older brothers think of me as their adopted cat mom.



Today all of that changed. We had "first contact". First contact of the serious petting kind. He has approached before but only sniffed then backed away.



Today there was the sniff, the lick, the brushing against my legs, the head butts on my hand with the petting, the PURRING. It was magic. 

The rest of the summer and fall look very promising. For lots of kitty love. 

What could be better than a cat in your zinnia bed? Nothing. That's what.

I was captivated by all that I saw

I finally made it back out to the Baker Wetlands to check on this years showing of the American Lotus blooms.

It was lovely. Nature's lacemakers had been out spinning overnight and the new cat tails were pretty. 

I did a quick scan of the ponds near the boardwalk and was rewarded with glimpses of 2 blue herons. 





All in all a wonderful morning. We had a really wet early spring here followed by this period of super hot days that everyone is experiencing. The lotus blooms have been more plentiful in previous years, but I was captivated by all that I saw. Just as it was. 

served al fresco on a patio with twinkling lights

Peaches were the hot item at the farmers market Saturday here in Lawrence. 

I picked the perfect little basket and brought them straight home and proceeded to eat them for breakfast. Sliced up, in a bowl, with greek yogurt, a drizzle of honey, a few toasted walnuts. Equally as delicious as in a pie or cobbler, so easy. 

A few heirlooms were also selected for this week's BLT's or Turkey Clubs or just by themselves between some sliced bread with Duke's mayo and salt. 

Below are this week's shining examples of what the best dressed vendors and shoppers were wearing at the market. 

Can't you just see these carrots roasted in the oven, lightly sprinkled with a bit of feta and some chopped pistachios. Bread and butter on the side and a nice cool glass of sauvignon blanc. Served al fresco on a patio with twinkling lights... tuscan pines off in the distance down in the valley.

The zinnias were plentiful - in ALL the colors. These were my favorites on display. While we are at it, how about Lin, Lin, and Moe's orderly display? 

Since I wasn't making pie with my peaches, I had to bring home some strawberry - lemonade cake.  The sign said it was "zingy and refreshing" and I am in total agreement with that assessment. 

Happy Sunday night friends, or Monday morning... depending on where you are in the world as you are reading. 

I did not find any flaws

The other morning I took a cookie sheet, some clippers, 5 vases, and myself out to the back yard. Here is what I did. 

I cut a bunch of zinnias and greenery, threw them on the cookie sheet, then sat down in a comfy chair on the deck (in the shade), and made arrangements. 

When all the stuff on the cookie sheet had been placed in a vase, I brought them all inside and admired my handiwork. 

I did not find any flaws. Not one.