Ahhhh… some beauty in my life…

Well, I made it home from Salina.  I have been working on this Character Education stuff for a long while now. The Toolkit Training for Power2Acheive was good, I actually love this stuff.  Everyone should have the basics to effectively communicate, solve problems and understand others.  I find it to be a perfect fit with the goals of social work and of my life time dedication to empowering others. 
More on this later I suspect.  I find it interesting that I haven’t written much about my job, my son’s diabetes and the impact of these things on my life because they are both pretty big things for me/us.I think that I will write some more about my job and life with diabetes in the near future.  There is much to ponder about both of these…
Anyway, I enjoyed the ride home.  Knowing that Marcus was at work and Marek was settled at a friend’s house I felt pretty relaxed with the drive and not rushing home.  The day was beautiful and the scenery is gorgeous along the way.  The Flint Hills are so amazing to me.  In every season they have something to offer.  While I didn’t take the time to stop and hike out into the hills, I could see the fall wild flowers blooming.  Yellow flowers, I don’t know what kind and asters.  I think I will walk and collect a bouquet tomorrow!  Anyway, the Geology of the region is also interesting.  The hills are rounded or flattened from erosion.  Seasonally the flowers and grasses change color and in fact texture with blooms.  My pictures don’t really do it justice.  This isn’t the peak time for the Flint Hills but I find each season to be beautiful.  I am grateful that I live in Kansas.  We talked today at the training about the scenery of Kansas.  Our presenter and project coordinator is originally from Idaho and now lives in New York.  He ended up driving all over Kansas this past month and reported that he came to appreciate the beauty of the Plaines.  I love the beauty of our country but as cheesy as some my find it, I love where I live.  Kansas is beautiful!  There are so many interesting sights, sounds and smells.  I saw many photo ops today, from the Red Tailed Hawks sitting on signs and posts along the highway to the combines working the fields.  I also love the yellow orange rows of soybeans at this time of year.  The rows are dramatic and the colors are SO amazingly variable.  I enjoyed my relaxing drive with excellent music and awesome scenery. 
While I drove, I planned a visit to this location, the Konza Tall Grass Prairie, in my mind.  I think I will bring the outdoor adventure 4H group here within the next few weeks even.  I have visited before with JDLA students.  It is so different than home – a mere 70 miles away and there are fewer trees, truer tall grass prairie. The Konza Prairie Biological Station is a project managed by K-State.  They have trails, bison and lots of research plots about managing prairies.  People from around the globe visit to learn about grasslands, savannahs and prairies… pretty cool.  Check out the website at  http://www.konza.ksu.edu/ or their Environmental Education link at http://keep.konza.ksu.edu/ they have a handy trail map and six miles of trails.  I think I will schedule a day in October!  Full month here we come!  Maybe we will stop and peruse the sedimentary rock layers along the way….