Dispatches From Kansas

Time running out

2013-05-23T14:37:00.000-05:00

“How will we do this?” my wife asked. I looked out the window at the Cedar Point Mill and couldn’t help but imagine the entire structure crumbling into the river—with me inside. The cracks and seams spidering the limestone walls seemed wider and more pronounced than during my last visit two years ago. It looked none too stable, and my intent to climb to the third floor to

Roaming the Bisti Badlands of northern New Mexico

2013-05-23T14:34:00.003-05:00

The house on the river

2013-05-07T05:18:00.000-05:00

Sometime in the night whether through a hard wind coming off the river, a minute shift in the mole-tunneled undersoil or the implacable pull of gravity, a small handhewn sliver of limestone that had been teetering nearly untethered for years beyond count wobbled free from the lower front wall and tumbled in a series of shortening arcs to the frozen grass. It might have lain there

Chase County wanderings

2013-05-06T08:45:00.002-05:00

The faces of Palette and Palate, Marshall County Arts Cooperative's annual fundraiser bash

2013-04-28T13:37:00.002-05:00

Mini-road trip: Lincoln, Nebraska edition

2013-04-20T18:49:00.002-05:00

Preliminary results of Hanover Living History Day, with Mike Bruna, firefighter since 1965, and the renowned 3rd Kansas Light Artillery unit out of Valley Falls

2013-04-19T18:24:00.001-05:00

Backroads commute: Washington County edition

2013-04-15T19:31:00.002-05:00

The Blue River Valley tractor run from Blue Rapids to the ghost town of Cleburne.

2013-04-14T05:28:00.002-05:00

Mrs. Spunaugle sitting on the step of the house she was born in. Dennis Hampl telling of Cleburne before the town was dismantled for Tuttle Creek Reservoir.

SD #5 Osborne School near Frankfort, Kansas

2013-04-11T10:20:00.001-05:00

Close to home but starting to venture out

2013-04-09T06:40:00.001-05:00

Al Simmons as the Barber of Seville

2013-03-27T10:29:00.001-05:00

Borderland vignettes

2013-03-25T15:45:00.001-05:00

The cursor blinks with a cadence like an impatient tap of a foot. I’m waiting, it sneers. Would you speed it up a bit? I remind myself of the writer’s first rule: to bring order from chaos. Order. From. Chaos. It sounds so simple, so why is it so damned difficult? I write a string of gibberish, grimace, write another, highlight, delete. Start over. For every sentence

Circular thinking

2013-03-13T07:11:00.001-05:00

I saw my first roundabout several years ago when driving to the Topeka correctional facility to interview inmates who raise puppies for a local dog assistance program. First impressions linger longest, they say, certainly the case in point here. Rather than proceed blindly into the newfangled contraption, I pulled to the shoulder to study it. Then I opened the map to chart a different

The Way We Worked Project online exhibition now live

2013-03-08T09:19:00.003-06:00

http://www.storiesfrommainstreet.org Click on "Browse Items" and search for Blue Rapids.

Testing a new camera at the Black Vermillion River

2013-03-08T06:47:00.002-06:00

Oliver, Lilah and Hailey

2013-03-01T20:11:00.002-06:00

Where the wild things are

2013-02-15T08:53:00.002-06:00

My granddaughter, Hailey, asked, “Do you have mountain lions there,” and I said, “Maybe. Why do you ask?” “You must live in the wilderness,” she said. Her voice was thin and reedy and filled with a curiosity that bordered on uncertainty if not fear, and on this evening she was filled with questions about the local fauna. We’d already discussed spiders and squirrels and skunks and

The Marysville U.P depot: going, going...

2013-02-09T04:22:00.001-06:00

2013-02-01T22:04:00.000-06:00

The Way We Worked in Blue Rapids book 560 pages documenting the year 2012 in Blue Rapids in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution's traveling exhibit, “The Way We Worked,” and sponsored by the Kansas Humanities Council. Price: $30 plus 7.8% tax for Kansas residents: $32.34 total. $3 shipping for out of state orders. $5 from each sale will benefit the Blue Rapids Historical Society

At last, the day

2013-02-01T22:00:00.002-06:00

2013-01-30T06:42:00.001-06:00

The last picture, in three parts

2013-01-30T06:41:00.000-06:00

I didn’t want to go out into the cold and ice and snow and so fretted over it with altogether too much energy. It was the last night of 2012 and I was tired. My wife had been working crazy long hours so we’d barely seen each other for several weeks, and here we were snug and warm while outside winter honed its icy blades, the roads snowpacked and treacherous. I had a good book to read

Roc Day--a fiber celebration (extravaganza!)

2013-01-13T10:50:00.005-06:00

Alex Laughlin, shoe painter Shin-hee Chin Judy Scott, handmade jewelry Vernita Peeks, knitting tips and tricks Corsetry by Jen Horn Corsetry by Jen Horn Needle felting Fabric artistry by Shin-hee Chin German paper stars by Judy Hiatt Jay Rich, textile artist

Like a particular Way We Worked Project photo? Voting now open.

2013-01-07T07:42:00.001-06:00

Here's a thought: someone suggested a People's Choice photo for the Way We Worked Project exhibit. Let's try this--if you have a favorite, leave a description of it in the comments section. On Jan. 10 we'll do a final tally and the image with the most votes will become part of the official exhibit.