“Sammy” at the Piano

        The thing came home from work one day. With a broken foot it had landed in the trash bin, but I figured the grand-kids would find a use for it, and they did. One summer it watered many a dandelion. Later it served as a planter. When it arrived on Bonanza Street, it still had a lid and a handle. It has been a hard life for a yard decoration...but even an old beaten up samovar can have its moment of fame...  

From Deak's Mail Box

        Here is a drawing from 1997. This is from the east side of the first road turning up into Quincy. The kids had been married a couple years at this time. We may have gone quail hunting with Deak that day or maybe it was one of the later trips. You can see the old Methodist church in the background. The artist has taken some liberties with the drawing. (Oh well, ya get caught some times.) I did not feel that the goal was complete accuracy. If that were the case no drawing would ever get done. Pencils have a way of interpreting things in their own way. There are places where accuracy is important. Art is not always one of them. There are other things to be recorded besides shape and tone. If you want it literal, use your phone! But after all it has been a while since you could even trust a camera image let alone a digital one.   

Ol' Hedge

        

       Most hedge rows were planted when? Before the turn of the last century? During the WPA? They were an essential part of early farming practices. I do not suppose any of the existing trees are that old, but I may be wrong. Some were here before we moved into the area 30+ years ago. The trees grow old, die and the wood just gets more hard and more dense the longer it stands. It was a warm winter day with me just in a frayed jacket. I was not able to see any sign of life in this ol' fella, peeled of its bark, hard and dark. Where it stood at the south end of the ancient row it leaned as if it were trying to escape from the row across the fence into the creek below.

Over the Tracks

        If you follow the railroad out of town north toward Midland Junction you will before you get to the junction pass this place which is over the tracks to the west. If you keep on in that direction you should arrive at the river and the site of the old time Lawrence landfill of the early 1970's. This is the Kaw River bottoms; and the November sun is dropping fast, so catch the shadows while you can! Light and shadow- that is what makes a visual memory.   

Mud Work

        Done on a rainy day of which there were few last summer when they were getting the footings set for the new bridge on 23^rd Street in Lawrence. The date on the bottom says 7/12/12. We had very little rain in the spring and even less as the drought worsened over the Mid-west. But this day I sat in the truck a few minutes with the window cracked and the drizzle trying to spatter my paper. Wanted to get some remembrance of what it was like when they had the bridge torn out. They were setting re-bar boxes for the pillars of the bridge. Why they had the boom up in the rain I am not sure... Nor am I sure why it took such a fancy bridge (or a bridge at all!) but it looks pretty good now that it is done. Maybe now it also needs another drawing?