Good-bye Kansas

I'm home!  Left Mama Moss behind and flew back west this morning.  Thank you for all of those great comments while I was gone.  My sister and I had fun reading them!

Since the hunt for the wagon ruts, I've pretty much gone off the deep end.  I'm breathing and dreaming covered wagons.  Thinking about all of those pioneering people who came out west.  Thinking about how 160 years or so isn't that long ago.  Thinking about how young this country is.  Thinking about how Istanbul is so steeped in history.  Lots of thinking, comparing, wondering, imagining. 

I read that this area of prairie is still the same as it was back in the mid 19th century.  A sea of green and yellow. 

I have my next Kansas wild goose chase all picked out for next time:  The hunt for Laura Ingalls Wilder's house!   Thanks Nancy for planting that seed!

I'm thinking of a reverse Santa Fe Trail road trip all the way to Kansas.  Sometime.  You know... in the future.  Matching bonnets for Mama Moss, my sister, and me. yadda yadda yadda

 

Luis.  Giant grey Kansas housecat.  Meow.

What was waiting for me when I got home this afternoon:

The Path had bloomed.  wooooooosh.  And just like that I was back in California.

Comments

[Michelle Rydell]

I've been enjoying reading your blog for quite awhile now, so I figure it's time to start commenting! I love seeing all your creative ideas and Luis is ADORABLE!!! Thanks for sharing!

[Nancy]

Mama Moss has your smile!
Every time I drive across Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, etc etc, I think of the women in the wagons with a string of children, cooking over a campfire in 100 degree heat in long dark dresses with long sleeves. It's no wonder so many women died of "summer complaint".
Particularly western Wyoming and Utah--the Basin and Range region--just one long hogback after another, with a river to cross at the bottom of every descent. How they must have sighed when they got to the top of a hill, only to see more and more stretching to the horizon, and know that every single one of them would be a struggle to climb and a worse struggle to descend. They were brave women.
Gorgeous hibiscus--but then you know how I love them. Happy Turkey packing!

[Janet]

Your mom is such a cutie! You look a lot like her. My dad's family was from Kansas and I spent lots of summers and holidays there. Thanks for bringing back a lot of memories with your pictures.

[Brian Kasstle]

Happy safe travels ladies! Thanks for taking us along... thank you for inspiring. That hibiscus is soooo freaking beautiful...

[Jenny]

There have been many days when I ask myself, "Why oh why do I live in this place smack dab in the middle of the USA?" And then your pictures remind me; wide open spaces, prairies full of wildflowers and Indian Paintbrush, starry nights, sunflowers, wheat fields and thunderstorms! What fun the three of you must have on all your adventures! During one of your future visits to Kansas, you'll have to drive south of Overland Park to my hometown of Louisburg, stop at the Cider Mill for cider and cider donuts, and head a little further south to the buffalo farm. They are quite a site to see so close-up. Be safe in Turkey!

[cheryl]

Welcome back! I love that orange and pink flower what a pretty bloom

[Vale]

Hi Mary Ann!
I have been a regular visitor to you blog for a very long time. It is beautiful, and very refreshing and inspirational. I love your photography and your creations, and, adore your cats! I have a question, I really enjoying seeing the work you recently posted that your sister does. By chance does she have her own site where I could view more? Thanks big bunches for the inspiration and uplift you give every time I take another visual stroll through your blog, it is truly lovely.
Warm hugs from Vale in Ontario, Canada :)

[Angela]

Mary Ann you'll want to brush up on your French so you can read this blog - http://petitsbonheurs123.wordpress.com/
Beautiful pictures. My French isn't very good sometimes so I just edit the text by inserting posts from Dispatch from L.A. :) Makes it really interesting.

[Linda]

Welcome Home Moss Cottage, Mama Moss wonderful and glad you had a wonderful magical trip. Little house on the prarie sounds wonderful for dreaming. Kittys must be so happy your home they missed you so.:)
Always,
Linda

[Lisa Hoffman]

take the trail back through Colorado and stop HERE.
I'll keep the candle burning in the window of your room.

[Gwen Delmore]

Mary Ann, you might want to look at a wonderful book I read earlier this summer about the Donner party. It is by Gabrielle Burton, called Impatient with Desire. (I think the title alone will peak your curiosity...) It is fiction, based on the life of Tamsen Donner, wife of George Donner. The author researched her and what letters were still in existence, and her story is fascinating in itself (the author's) she was interviewed by Terry Gross when the book came out.

It was a great book, I have always been fascinated by the Westward Expansion, and have stood in the deep ruts of the Oregon Trail in a couple of states, it always gives me goose-bumps!

have a great trip to Istanbul, I join your many admirers in anticipation of a little vicarious travel, via your journal!

[amanda]

I personally think you should try the Butterfield Trail as my dad just recently put up an outhouse along the way. It makes for easier travelin' having an outhouse handy.

[Jesse/Joan]

Hmmm. I was always under the impression that the Spanish Trail originated in Sante Fe, NM and came through NV, passing just west of my home in Las Vegas, through the quaint little village of Blue Diamond and on through Baker, CA with it's terminus in San Bernardino...the trade hub of that era.

I'll have to do some research on this...which I love to do. My sister and I stopped at the Donner Memorial during our annual trek to Lake Tahoe...it gave me the willies...I couldn't wait to leave knowing the story of that ill fated group. How they survived for as long as they did in 20 ft deep snow is incredible. They recently had the descendants of the survivors at the site, some milestone anniversary.
Joan

[Tyn]

catching up on my reading and I just have to say- the visual journey is delicious as usual. Also, no one fords rivers anymore. Just saying. :)

[lynda howells]

Welcome home!xxlynda

[stephanie]

I have sent a telegram to mom. Requested the pattern for the bonnets she used to make me as a kid from the pages of wallpaper sample books. Will get it to you post haste. You will look smashing.