Jim Doing Better - a Look at Fall River

I'm happy to say that my brother, Jim, is doing much better today. He had surgery last week and then his incision broke open and he had to have surgery again. So, he has had a rough few days. But I talked to him just a little bit ago and he's doing very well.

I am confused by the time change. I keep thinking it must be about 8 p.m. and it's 9:30. We know this is one of the hardest things for humans to adjust to, so we institutionalize it. It's so bizarre.

Why don't we just adjust the work day hours instead of the time? In the words of Greg Holmes, it's noon when the sun is straight overhead, regardless of what the clock says. I can't say I disagree.

I saw the most unusual sunset tonight. It was the most purple I think I've ever seen the sky. That's the upside of the time change - I expected it to be dark long before it was.




The sunset started out as pretty, but normal looking. It morphed into that purple/pink extravaganza.

I am sharing some photos here of a recreational area - Fall River, near Eureka, Kansas.




Some of the shoreline had some really unusual rock, with tons of striation. I do so love rocks!




These rocks were the oddest ones I've seen in awhile - they were a bright yellow on the outside and seemed to crack easily. All were already cracked when I spotted them.

Inside they were layered, with some red, gold and black layers. Very interesting. I've never seen any rocks like them. I don't really know much about rocks, other than I like them.

I pretty much had the place to myself, and that was good. I needed some time to think and some space in which to do it. I had no contact with other humans. These visitors were not thrilled to have me invading their space.




I drove on in to Eureka, where "The Kansas Guidebook" directed me to the Lo-Mar drive in. The burgers are cooked with ground beef from the local grocery, and they're not started until you order. I had time to take a few snaps of the building. I only had to wait a few minutes for my food, and I can tell you that the locals are fond of this place, as opposed to the few chains the town boasts, because the phone was ringing constantly with take out order. I had to wait behind another customer to place my order. A cheeseburger with everything and criss-cross fries racked up a total under $5.

Five Mile Creek

This afternoon Greg, Mia and I went down to where Greg's family used to have a cabin, just over the line into Oklahoma. We chatted with Madella, who owns the property, and wandered around the creek a bit.




Madella reminded me how everyone finds beauty in their world. She had a bouquet of jonquils sitting on a table on her front porch, and also a cloth over another little table on the porch. It was such a nice scene. And, the white kitty that made an occasional appearance completed the view.




I hunted rocks, making some good finds. There are lots of fossil rocks there. There's also a lot of variation in colors in the rocks. It makes rock hunting all the more fun. The first rock I picked up has a hole all the way through it. It will be jewelry for me sometime very soon.

The water there is clear and so you can see the rocks through it. We also spotted tadpoles and frogs and lots of snails. Snails are a good sign because that means the eco system is healthy.

I also did a little quickie watercolor of a log in the water. I hadn't played with my watercolors in awhile, so it was good to have them out again.

I have made my own little travel set of things for watercolor, complete with a mini M and M's tube that was in my Chritmas stocking two years ago to hold water. Amazingly enough it's water tight and it fits into the carrying case where I keep everything I need for watercoloring. I love Ninj brushes - they truly changed my art life.

This afternoon I also played - ever so briefly - with the small colored pencil set I bought at the Getty museum in LA. I had forgotten all about it, but rediscovered it today in my bag. I didn't have time to do much with it but that's just a good project for another day.