Topeka, KS Part I

Short crocus blades sheathed the purple-and-white hearts that so wished to be first they endured the chill and rain of early spring.

Toni Morrison, from The Bluest Eye

The crocuses here bloomed over a month ago. So did the violets, the irises and the wisteria. We are in full spring mode now, with hop vines taller than me; rose canes falling over from the weight of so many buds and blooms; watermelon-colored azaleas aflame; gladiolas, cannas, crocosmia lucifers all poking up or unrolling from their winter hiding places. We went away for one week. During that one week, our yard became a jungle. If I had a machete, I’d have used it to cut a path through the back yard. But we don’t have a machete. We have a reel push mower…and our hands. And I used both the reel mower and my hands last week to cut the grass. Slim broke out the weed eater last night. Some things you have to force into submission. Our back yard is one of those things…and so are the sawflies that are eating our rose bushes into skeletal remains. What is the most organic way to get rid of sawfly worms? Pick them off by hand and squish them. Which I’ve done most mornings before work. And because I would like to NOT have to spend precious moments picking sawfly worms off of roses, I neemed them, too. Neem is my best friend.

So, I mentioned that we went away for a week. Slim and I went to Topeka for his brother Steven’s wedding to the lovely McKenna Hall. Our visit was a whirlwind of nuptual merriment: brunch supplies shopping at Sam’s Club, reception room set-up, visiting the new apartment, wedding ceremony run-throughs, rehearsal dining at the Brickyard Barn Inn, photographs in Gage Park…and then, the wedding itself! Oh my, but it was a beautiful ceremony, with a delightfully sweet and funny slide show to start things off, communion with the bride and groom, and a reception of good food and jubilant dancing (with many touching toasts). The bride and groom were sent off in a literal blaze of glorious sparklers…sparklers that (for several tense moments) didn’t want to be lit.

The following day was made up of a relaxing brunch with visiting relatives, concocting embrocation with soap-lotion-lip-balm-specialist Lauri Wright, and dinning on Kansas strip steaks from a corn-finished animal of the bovine variety. All was right in the world…

Monday was spent sightseeing in Topeka (the state capital and Monroe school, where the Brown vs. the Topeka Board of Education Museum is located), Lawrence (the KU campus), and in Kansas City (the Plaza, the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Arthur Bryant’s Barbecue). I reserve the right to create a separate blog post for this day, as I am still cogitating on all of it…and may still be digesting some of the burnt ends I gobbled up at Arthur Bryant's...

Our final day in Kansas was spent sailing on Lake Perry. Lauri and George are negotiating the purchase of a new, somewhat larger sailboat, so we took Scout out for what may have been her last voyage with the Wright family. The weather was perfect for sailing…a comfortable temperature, mild winds, and lots of sunshine. Later that evening, we dined on delicate squash soup, field greens with fresh goat cheese & strawberries, sea bass (E) and scallops (me) with mashed potatoes & green beans at the quaint French restaurant, Chez Yasu. It was divine. Seriously, it was more than divine. I ate so much, I felt like a tick on a dog. Yep. That’s how I felt. And then I felt even more better (if I may mess with our language a tiny bit more) when we had crème brulee for dessert. I LOVE CRÈME BRULEE. DO YOU HEAR ME? LOVE IT! I slept like a log that night, and dreamt of jumping on a trampoline made of a giant scallop. My hair was flying high with each jump, and every time I landed, I took another bite of buttery scallop…when we got up to leave the next morning, I had leftover mashed potatoes and green beans for breakfast. Now that’s the way to end a vacation. Shazam!