A Touch of Small Town America Charm . . . . . .

This time last week, Lee and I were still in Kansas, on one of our trips back to my home town of Abilene, to visit family.

Born and raised in Abilene, I spent my first eighteen years there, before I went off to school. And though I’ve now lived in Utah for many more years than I lived in Kansas, images of this small midwestern town are indelibly etched in my mind.

Lee and I have been making the trip from Salt Lake City to Abilene twice a year for over twenty years, and during this time, Abilene really hasn’t changed very much. It’s still a quiet little town with a strong sense of community.

There are summer band concerts in the park, church ice cream socials, sidewalk sales sponsored by the handful of local merchants, home tours and garden walks, and various other community events throughout the year.

All those years ago when I lived in Kansas, growing up in the country a few miles outside of Abilene, I pretty much took my surroundings for granted. But over the past years of Lee’s and my travels back to my home, I think we have both begun to appreciate how truly unique and memorable this little midwestern town is, particularly if one just takes the time to look.

And that’s one of the things that Lee and I did last week. In between visiting with friends and family, and with camera/s in hand, we tried to keep our eyes open for local scenes that typify my little home town of Abilene, Kansas. I’m happy to say that we managed to snap a few photos which I think do just that . . . . . .And I wanted to share some of those with you, my friends and fellow Bloggers.

I hope you enjoy viewing these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them. . . . . . .

(And once again, you can click on any of the photos for a full sized image.)

The scene below is of Mud Creek, which runs north and south through town. The little bridge in the distance crosses Third Street, the main east-west street. Most of the time, Mud Creek is completely dry. But this year, even in July, the creek bed was filled with water and the banks were lush and green, as a result of unusually heavy amounts of rain.

In some of our more recent trips back to Abilene, Lee and I have actually seen a Blue Heron perched atop an old log near the lower banks of Mud Creek.

And this is Third Street . . . tree lined with hundred year-old deciduous trees of varying types.

One of my personal favorites about Abilene, is the wide array of wonderfully unique Victorian style homes. . . most are nicely restored. And many are scattered along Third Street.




The sign out in front of this lovely multi-story home is for the local Garden Tour, of which its grounds are part.

And here is another Victorian style home on Third Street that has been converted into a Bed and Breakfast, the Abilene Victorian Inn. Lee and I have never stayed there, but one day we may (IF they have wi-fi!).

I love how these tall Echinacea leaned over the sidewalk. These were planted on the outside of the fence alongside one of the old homes on Third Street.

And this lovely cottage garden was also something we happened upon, just beside the sidewalk leading to the Abilene city park.
Here is the Lebold Mansion, located in West First Street in Abilene, and it has the distinction of being the oldest house in Abilene. The current owners of this restored historic home offer daily guided tours for a nominal fee. Lee and I have been through it twice, and it's well worth the time!



This is another historic building in the older part of town. . .It's up for sale now, but its history includes being a grocery store, and later I think an apartment building.

Thursday evenings in Abilene during the summer are Band Concert nights. And my mother has always loved going to the band concerts. So we took her last Thursday, which happened to be the last band concert of the season.

The concerts are performed by the Abilene Municipal Band, pulling its members from several of the small surrounding towns. And the members can range in age from high school students to retirees!

The band concerts are held in the Abilene city park, and it's quite the community event. Some folks park their cars around the band shell and just roll down their windows to listen to the music, honking their horns at the end of each piece, for applause. Others grab a seat on one of the metal benches in front, for a better view. And yet others (like Lee and me) stroll around the beautiful park gardens and admire the flowers (taking pictures all the way) while we enjoy the music.






Thanks once again for visiting my blog!

And until we meet again . . . . May you always keep your sense of new discovery and wonder.

Deep in the Heart of Kansas

Growing up in the country, and in the middle of Kansas, I’ve always had a deep love of nature and all its faces.

But it wasn’t until I moved away from Kansas, and experienced it from a visitor’s perspective that I began to more fully appreciate the natural beauty of my heartland home.

Lee and I just got back this weekend from one of our twice-a-year trips to visit my family in Kansas. And while we were there, we made it a point to take a drive into the Kansas “outback” searching for interesting landscape photo opportunities. We were not disappointed.

Like other parts of the country, Kansas has had more than its usual rainfall this season, and as a result, much of the natural prairie land, pastures, and countryside were particularly lush and green.

I never cease to be amazed by the beauty of natural landscapes, and the timing of our trip this year worked out well for us to get some nice photos of the Kansas countryside.

So, of course, I wanted to share a few of these images with you . . . . .I hope you enjoy them.

(You can click on any of these images to see them full size.)

I'll be posting more photos from our trip back home to Kansas later this week, so I hope you'll check back.

Thanks once again for visiting my blog.

Until we meet again . . . . . I wish you lush green pastures and peaceful moments.

A Christmas Tour of a Historic Mansion

When Lee and I went to my childhood home of Abilene, Kansas recently to visit my family over Thanksgiving, we took the opportunity to tour a local historic landmark, the Seelye Mansion.

From my childhood memories, I have only a vague recollection of the old Seelye Mansion. What I do recall in my mind's eye is a huge, rather gray and slightly run down looking house on one of the main streets, Buckeye, that runs north and south through Abilene.

Now, many years later, and thanks to a local entrepreneur, this wonderful Georgian styled mansion built in 1905 has been restored to its original beauty, and is now open for tours all throughout the year. You can read more about the Seelye Mansion here.

Lee and I make a trip back to Kansas twice a year, usually in the Spring and in the Fall. Our trips are typically by car, so we try to schdule our road trips from Salt Lake City to Abilene, KS (1,000 miles one way!) when the weather and road conditions are fairly good. Hence, we don't usually travel home during the winter.

This year, however, we'd decided to make a trip to see my family over Thanksgiving, so we flew.

And since we were there later in the year than usual, we were lucky enough to be in town when the Seelye Mansion opened their first round of annual Christmas tours, right after Thanksgiving.

The mansion was all decked out for Christmas, with red bows and wreaths on the front porch, and Christmas decorations and lights scattered throughout the inside of the home.

I wish now that I had taken photos of EVERY room inside this house . . . it truly is amazing.

Lee and I, my sister and our niece took the tour, and it was such fun to see this lovely and unique home in all its splendor, restored so beautifully.

But, despite the fact that I don't have photos of the entire inside of the house, I think you can get a feeling for its ambience!

Here's the main foyer of the mansion, looking from the inside out toward the front yard.

This is the "library" off to the right of the foyer as you enter the house.

To the left of the front entry, here's what I would call the "music room".

This lovely tiled fireplace is in the large central foyer/parlour/sitting room of the home.


The inside of the mansion was decorated with poinsettias and Christmas trees in just about every room

AND, there were also literally HUNDREDS of decorative nutcrackers placed all throughout the mansion, also in honor of Christmas.

(We were told by the woman conducting the tour that this vast collection of nutcrackers was donated a few years ago by a woman who originally discovered the Seelye Mansion while traveling through Kansas with a motorcycle group.)

Here is the main staircase leading from the central foyer upstairs toward the second floor bedrooms and the main "ballroom".

This is one of the three or four antique Victrolas (record players) throughout the house.

Here is one of the second floor hallways leading to a bedroom

Here's are a couple of photos of one of the second floor bedrooms on the front side of the house.

I lost track of how many bedrooms there were . . . but there were LOTS!

I do remember that there were also several bedrooms and a small bath toward the back of the house, for "maid" quarters!)

Back on the main floor again, this photo is looking in at the dining room from the central foyer.

This is at the far end of the dining room, showing a curved wooden stairwell, leading down to the lower level to . . . . . .you'll never guess . . . . .the "bowling alley"!

And yes, HERE is the "bowling alley", located just below the dining room. No doubt, this was quite the novelty in Abilene, Kansas, in its day!

Off to the right is the "storm shelter", a definite necessity in the Midwest!

Here's my dear sis, posing for me in yet another curved wooden staircase going from the back of the basement (where a laundry area, food storage, and safety vault were located) up into the kitchen area of the mansion.

And here's a photo taken in the kitchen, located along the back of the house.

No, this photo isn't sideways! This shot was taken near the kitchen area and inside back door, looking up at the various staircase levels.

As I look at the Seelye Mansion today, right here in the middle of my home town, I find it hard to believe that I hardly noticed it in my growing up years.

But then I guess it's not SO unusual that, in our youth, we don't always notice (or perhaps we take for granted?) much of the uniqueness and beauty of our surroundings. Who knows, maybe we're just too "busy" with the task of growing up!

In any case, I wanted to share these few photos of my newly "discovered" home town treasure with you, and hope that you enjoy them at least ALMOST as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Until we meet again . . . . .may you never lose your sense of new discovery.