Sunflowers Make Me Happy
One thing I miss about being in Kansas this time of year is the sunflowers. Not those big monster sunflowers that produce the edible seeds you buy in grocery and convenience stores nationwide, but the smaller, Plains-native sunflowers that grow in unmowed ditches and unplowed fields. There's something about those gold petals surrounding Earth-brown centers atop deep green stems that just makes me smile -- kind of like the way dandelions make me smile in Spring. Sometimes you see one or two alone, subtly pushing against the tameness we humans insist in forcing on Nature. Other times you see them in great bunches, a rowdy horde rebelling against manicured lawns and row crops.
Ah, sunflowers!
Ah, sunflowers!