The Kansas Icon

As summer passes and corn dries in the husk, the maize turns a deep ochre color, and the sunflower heads droop and no longer follow the sun each day, I am mentally and physically preparing for fall.

It is both exciting and poignant.  Summer is always my favorite time, and this one was an exceptionally good one.  Fall marks the advent of wonderful things like kids returning to school, but summer-summer is special.

Fall has pretty leaves. Summer has sunflowers. Each time we leave the state in the summer and return, my marker of getting close to home is a nearby field of sunflowers.

I watch them start as tiny green shoots, then suddenly one day there they are, all standing proudly at attention, saying "good morning" to the sun.

They lift their golden faces in a sunrise salute, then bend their green reedy necks to follow the summer timekeeper on its path through the sky.

And now, their bright faces have gone dark, the seeds centering their existance dry and brown and ready to be released to the harvester.

It's the signal for me to begin preparations for the changing of the seasons.  Readiness for school.  Different plantings in the garden.  Finding and airing the cool weather clothes.

To start keeping time with alarm clocks and school bells and deadlines. To be responsible and prompt and overdressed.

Good bye my hot weather friend.  Sleep well in your winter slumber and see you next summer!