Posted on Sun, Nov. 01, 2009

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Book looks at Kansas through all four seasons

"A Kansas Year" by Mike Blair (University Press of Kansas, 240 pages, $24.95)

Nov. 1 . . . Simply go to a lake, a pond, or a stream, and look. You'll see the beauty as you explore, and you'll naturally go where the views are best. Find an open shore where water can be seen from a low vantage, and hillside color will reverse itself in a magic way. A leaf, a tree, a ridge . . . the best of fall awaits in mirror image.

Running through life, seeing many of the same sights every day, we often overlook the beauty around us: plants and flowers, wildlife, weather. Plenty of it is right in our own backyards; some dwells in city parks; some can be seen a short distance out of town.

In case you've forgotten, or never knew, Mike Blair has gathered reminders of the daily wonders of Kansas all year long. Blair, who lives in Pratt, works for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks as an editor, photographer and videographer.

"A Kansas Year," which takes the form of journal entries amply illustrated with lush color photos, is a beautifully realized exploration of nature through the seasons in the Sunflower State.

Some of the entries are informative: In the May 12 entry, I learned that "orange octopus" fungus grows briefly — and quite spectacularly, judging from the photo — in cedar trees, but doesn't harm them. It can, however, blight apple crops, but only if infected apple trees and cedar trees are within a half-mile of each other, because the fungus needs both to survive.

Others are pure poetry: From July 12, "Summer flags, that's the way I see them (sunflowers). They bridge the softer seasons with joyous accents. I look across a sunflower riot, and suddenly, the hot sun seems a friend."

"A Kansas Year" will delight the first time through, and bear repeated readings, one month, or perhaps one season, at a time.

* * *

"Seldom Seen: A Journey into the Great Plains" by Patrick Dobson (University of Nebraska Press, 279 pages, $29.95)

Some people buy flashy cars when they have midlife crises; some get divorced. Patrick Dobson — hitting his perhaps a little early at 31 — heard the call of the prairie and decided to travel to Helena, Mont., from Kansas City. On foot. A year later, having saved up to pay the bills in his absence and gathered the necessary equipment, he left.

His fond memories of Kansas sunsets from childhood instilled in him a longing for the calm, natural beauty and the unhurried life of the Great Plains, and he set out to experience this as an adult.

The first part of the book is his trip through Kansas, from Kansas City to Marysville. He encounters — in Kansas and elsewhere — a range of reactions to his somewhat scruffy self, from unabashed generosity to literally being ridden out of town in St. Marys (in a pickup, not on a rail, but the sentiment was pretty much the same).

Dobson gets a little navel-gazey at times, as most "finding oneself" memoirists tend to, but he's earnest in his quest to get out of his rut and change his life, and meets a lot of interesting folks along the way.

Lisa McLendon is deputy copy desk chief at The Eagle. Reach her at lmclendon@wichitaeagle.com.

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