Lovely Moon Flowers

I can hardly wait until late summer each year for the moon flowers to bloom.  There is no sweeter fragrance or delicately detailed petals that is known to me.  Like so many things that have such awesome beauty, they are short lived.  Each blossom only lasts one night and then they are gone.  I've tried many times to bring them inside wishing they might last a few days and bring their sweet fragrance with them but they are stubborn creatures.  They refuse to relinquish their nature.

Union Pacific Steam Engine #844

The Union Pacific Steam Engine that stopped in WaKeeney as a part of their anniversary celebration in August.

 They just couldn't wait to 'blow off a little steam'  to impress the crowd.  The railroad has  been a part of WaKeeney's transportation system just as the Smoky Hill Trail, the Butterfield Overland Despatch Trail, Highway 40 and 283 and Interstate 70.  No longer is there a passenger train that stops in WaKeeney but loads of coal and wheat regularly pass through.  Occasionally you'll see rail cars loaded with wind generator propellers headed to a new wind farm.

FROM THE INSIDE LOOKING OUT

 I love the textures of this old house and the way the light plays through the windows.  Sometimes through the nearly frosted glass and other times through the unobstructed no glass/fresh air view.  Each frames a landscape as neglected as the house itself.  Is it laziness that things are not in order or is there a certain beauty in the untamed?

OLD HOUSES

Old houses are fascinating.  Do you ever wonder what the people were like that lived here?  They had no electricity and no running water and heated with a wood stove.  The old rusty water pump still sits proudly under the windmill.  On those quiet days when there was no wind to pump the water was when they had to pump it by hand.  There hands must have been strong and raw telling the tales of the early pioneers.

The Beginning of the End.

This summer was just not what I had hoped it would be.It seems like it was an effort to keep the gardens alive much less thrive. Oh, the vegetable garden provided for us, our friends, and a little for the farmer's market but it was the flowers that didn't take the heat. They are my favorites. So now, with the early snow, it's the beginning of the end of gardening outside.I've brought everything inside to my sun room that would fit and will hope for an early spring!

Secret Garden Cottage: WHAT TO DO... and forcing apple blossoms

Secret Garden Cottage: WHAT TO DO... and forcing apple blossoms

What an inspiration you are!

Can't you just here the windmill creaking? But, does anyone hear it out on the prairie? That's the beauty of it all!

Summer may be gone but not the beauty of the Kansas prairie. The grasses & cottonwood trees have been at their best because of the late freeze.

As seen from my kitchen window this morning. Thank you Gina for planting the clematis vine.

The Bachelor Buttons are probably the most prolific bloomers in the wildflower areas on the west side of Main Street in WaKeeney but it changes every week. There are Poppies, Baby's Breath and Larkspur blooming too. I heard there were to be some photo shoots using the flowers as a back drop so I may be able to post those later. Across Main Street and south of the railroad tracks in the native planting the Indian Blanket are just starting to bloom and the Cone flowers will soon follow.

Blue Flax Extravaganza

The blue flax loves the cool wet weather. Couldn't resist stopping by this afternoon and taking a shot. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

The blue flax is the first of many wildflowers that will be blooming in the native plantings at the corner of Main Street and South Railroad in WaKeeney. Stop by and take a look.

Texas Blue Bonnets and Cactus

Just returned from south central Texas in early April to take a look at their wildflowers and "do they do it right"! What a wonderful site to see. We were there a little too early but were impressed, none the less. Saw lots of blue bonnets along the roadside and in their native state in the pastures along some of the county roads. That's where we found the cactus. Can't identify this one but it was gorgeous! Later found a photograph in an antique shop where there was this cactus and a rattlesnake along side of it. The snake is missing from my photo, thank goodness.

Our new backyard.

We're back in the country and now this is my backyard. A nice frosty morning overlooking the valley slightly tinged with fog. You can see what remains of the nature planting in the background after the fire a couple of years ago. There will soon be spring wildflowers on the hillside just east of Charlotte's Web. (one of my kids favorite place to play in our pasture). I can hardly wait to start planting and moving things about for the gardens around the house. It's like a fresh new pallet just waiting to burst forth with all the colors of the rainbow. I suppose I should wait for the ground to thaw and the soil to dry a little though. Hurry spring. Patience is not one of my virtues.

WaKeeney's Christmas tree

Although you won't find many winter photos on this blog, it's too early to start ordering from the seed catalogs for spring. The City crews are about ready to bring the tree down so just wanted to share this photo of our Christmas tree that makes WaKeeney the Christmas City of the High Plains.

There are a lot of these moths in the garden this summer though we saw a real hummingbird one evening. The real ones are a somewhat rare site here and usually only in the spring and fall.

I couldn't resist planting a few Indian Blanket in the backyard. They have been blooming most of the summer and are still going strong and it's the middle of August. Gathered a few seeds this afternoon to share with a innkeeper friend.

We took another trip south on Hwy. 283 on the Smoky Valley Scenic Byway to check on the wildflowers. They're awesome. The Blackeyed Susans are blooming now along with the upright prairie coneflowers and purple bee balm.

Smoky Valley Scenic Byway

This photo was taken last year just south of the Smoky River bridge on Highway 283. Drive south of WaKeeney on the Smoky Valley Scenic Byway, past the bridge till you crest the hill and pull into the drive on the east side of the highway. Mexican Hats are the wildflowers blooming. They should be in full bloom in another week or two depending on the weather.