I just realized I haven't been "home" in 4 years, and it's driving me crazy, but that's okay I'll get there eventually (probably in a couple of years). I'm on a "Kansas kick" right now, which I do every so often. Here's a cool poem I found, which I found really interesting since I live near beaches and palm trees and poinsettias....
Sweeter to me than the salt sea sprays, the fragrance of summer rains.
Nearer my heart than the mighty hills are the wind-swept Kansas plains.
Dearer the sight of a shy wild rose by the roadside dusty way
Than all the splendor of poppy fields ablaze in the sun of May.
Gay as the bold poinsettia is, and the burden of pepper trees,
The sunflower tawny and gold and bronze is richer to me than these.
And rising ever above the song of the hoarse insistent sea
The voice of the prairie calling, calling me.
~~Miss Esther Clark, 1907 Long Beach, California
