My new position in SW Kansas allows me to drive at
least twice a week from Ulysses to Liberal and Garden City, so the artist
within me joys in the beauty I find as I go.
From moment to moment the light shifts, causing the colors of the
prairie to blend with one another and to change from mauve to golden, to peach,
to cobalt to silver, endlessly shifting throughout the day. And as I go along, I see remnants from older
days, such as this farmstead between Ulysses and the junction with 83.
I love to see these homesteads, and to consider where
the house would have been, and where would the barn and the
windmill have been. Sometimes you can see where
some pioneer brought a root or a a cutting from a
treasured plant that reminded her of the home she had left, had planted it, watered it, and caused
it to become established. Despite
drought, blizzard and scorching winds, the plant has survived.
Yesterday I saw such a treasure. Look closely, and on the left of this group
of surviving trees and shrubs, you will see a white lilac. Here is a closer view. After the blessed rains we have been having,
it is in full bloom. If
anyone knows who owns this property, please tell me, because I am planning to
try to propagate this from cuttings and seeds, but would love to ask permission
to dig a piece of the root this winter if the other efforts fail, and would be
happy to share with them, if I am successful.
These treasures from the
pioneers are precious, for they remind us of where our own roots lie. Where we are today has much to do with where
we have come from. We are a culture of
survivors, stubbornly rooted in the soil, our taproots reaching all the way
down to the Living Waters. We don’t ask
for help unless we need it, but we know life can be hard, and so are generous in helping
others before it is asked. We look for
beauty wherever we are, and we find it all around us.
