Flyover People Daily News

Dave and I took a hike at Lyon County State Fishing Lake this weekend and we came across this tree that is about to fall, thanks to work of resident beavers.

landscape, nature

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: Sunset, rural Dodge City OUR MIDWESTERN HOME When a national weather map shows up on TV, where do we look? At the center of the screen, of course. Map-wise, Kansas is the star of the show, sitting in the heart of the country. There are […]

columns, Kansans, landscape, life on the ground, nature, sky

  A FLINT HILLS MEANDER A March day without wind? Yes. It actually happened. The last Saturday of March was sunny and the breezes were shallow. One shouldn’t stay indoors on a nice day like that, so Dave and I ventured into the Flint Hills. The lack of wind made it an active day for […]

columns, Flint Hills, landscape, nature, seasons, traveling

  Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: MAXWELL WILDLIFE REFUGE A fragile white moon hung against a blue winter sky. Below that nearly-full moon a dozen bison grazed. Atop a nearby ridge, seven head of elk, “the bachelors,” looked on.  The elk and the winter grasses were the same shade of […]

columns, landscape, nature

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette:   In Toronto TRAVELS WITH MOM The pumpkin cheesecake tasted even better than it sounded. When my mother visited recently, she insisted on taking Dave and me to Ad Astra in Strong City. So we had no choice but to go – and to eat […]

columns, landscape, nature, seasons, small towns, traveling

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: WHERE THE HIGHWAY ENDS In the summer of 1965, my parents took my brother and me to the Arkansas River, a mile south of Pawnee Rock, to see the flood. Heavy rains in Colorado had sent a crash of water downstream. This was a mighty […]

columns, E-town, Flyover Weather, life on the ground, nature, weather

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette:   WHERE THE LILACS BLOOM Winter can be a bully; it’s been shoving spring aside for weeks now. Spring break is always cold and wet so that was no big surprise, but during February and March we often get a week of dancing-in-the-sun warm days. […]

columns, nature, nostalgia

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette:     LOVING THE WIND “How can you call yourself a Kansan if you don’t love the wind?” Dan Markowitz accused me when I ran into him at the Java Cat. “Um,” I stammered. “Too much of a good thing?” In a recent column, I […]

columns, Flyover Weather, Kansans, nature

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette:   TUMBLING TUMBLEWEEDS Just as many of us like to roam across Kansas, Russian thistles, too, are full of wanderlust. I don’t think about tumbleweeds often, but was reminded of them on a recent trip to Dodge City with my friend Tracy Simmons. While the […]

columns, Flyover Weather, landscape, nature, traveling, weather

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette:   AUTUMN DAYS The sun moves across the sky more quickly these days, and the once-bright evenings have become cobwebs of darkness. October drives us into that blind curve of autumn with its increasingly uncertain forecasts. It begins the time of year when out-of-town trips […]

columns, Flyover Weather, nature, seasons

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette:   IN THE PRESENCE OF TREES An abundance of shade, a concert stage, the state’s largest southern magnolia, and an independent young cat named Twiggy. Those are just a few of the things that you’ll find at the Bartlett Arboretum in Belle Plaine. This Sumner […]

columns, history, Kansans, landscape, nature, other people's stuff