Happy Birthday, Kansas!

[bojojoti]

Kansas celebrates her 150th birthday today.  She's a young state but has a rich history.  Our motto (on our state seal above), Ad Astra per Aspera, is "To the stars through difficulties," and she certainly has had her share of difficulties but never stopped reaching for the stars.




"The high plains at first gave him an overpowering impression of emptiness. Never before had he beheld such a sky--the cosmic vault of blue appeared to occupy a good three fourths of the world, making small and unimportant the scattered farm houses with their meager clumps of ragged trees and inevitable windmills.

But though the vastness at first oppressed him, eventually it distilled in him a sensation of fetterless freedom which he grew to love almost jubilantly." - Paul I. Wellman, The Walls of Jericho


"...Kansas glories in her days to be,
In her horizons limitless and vast...
She has no ruins gray that men revere--
Her time is 'Now,' Her Heritage is 'Here.'"
-Harry Kemp, KANSAS

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow.  It's what sunflowers do." - Helen Keller
(The sunflower is our state flower.)


"...no genuine Kansan can emigrate. He may wander. He may roam. He may travel. He may go elsewhere, but no other State can ever claim him as a citizen. Once naturalized, the allegiance can never be forswarn." - John J. Ingalls, The Kansas Magazine

Comments

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I love your wide, wide, skies and your swathes of sunflowers.

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

Each place has its beauty. Bojojr and Bumberjean recently spent a few days in Arizona and were entranced with the Sonoma desert. I'm sure the experience was enhanced with their area still being cold and snowbound, and the Somona being T-shirt weather; I'm not so sure they would be as enthralled with it come summer!

[jazzyglo.livejournal.com]

As we drove through Kansas last year, I was impressed with what a beautiful state it really is.

Happy Birthday Kansas!!

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

And you missed our spring blooms, too. Bojojr and Bumberjean recently spent a few days visiting the Sonoran desert in your part of the world. They loved their time there. Of course, they had snow at home, and it was T-shirt weather in the desert. I can imagine the desert is much less attractive when its in the 120° range!

[lilia2000.livejournal.com]

Beautiful pictures!! Every time you post pictures, it always makes me want to go out and get back into taking more photos!

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

Dust off that camera! You live in a beautiful part of the world. I hope you got some photos of your recent snow!

[bluiidmommy.livejournal.com]

What lovely pictures and quotes. I especially love the one by Helen Keller, but then again, I've always admired her. :)

Did you take the pictures?

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

All those photos are mine, shot in Kansas: the first was taken at a very nice rest area; the second was shot out of my car window while we were driving through the Flint Hills (one of my favorite places on Earth); the rainbow was snapped on our way back from Hutchinson; that's Bojoette at a local sunflower field; and the last one was shot on our way to a barbecue place in Smolan. I try very hard to give credit when I use others' photos. I post the kids' cell phone photos without noting it, but I really should be more specific with credit.

[bluiidmommy.livejournal.com]

I thought that was Bojoette! You've really changed my views on Kansas. The only ones I had were based on The Wizard of Oz (shameful as that is to admit). Now I'd love to see Kansas one day and admire her beauty.

Oh, and I thought that was Bojoette. :)

[bluiidmommy.livejournal.com]

Aaaand, I repeated myself. Heh.

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

Every spot has its own beauty, whether desert or jungle. The Rocky Mountains are in the next state in Colorado, and I am in awe of their beauty. Still, after I'm there for a week, I'm ready for the prairie. Mountains block the view!

[kiwi-kimi.livejournal.com]

Well, how about that! The 29th January is also Auckland's birthday!

Happy birthday across the oceans and the land!

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

Happy Belated Birthday, Auckland!

Well, yes, if your good wishes only went across the oceans, it would fall far short to reaching our land-locked state!

[kiwi-kimi.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

I should have mentioned that it's our 171st birthday, so we're a little bit older as an entity. The occasion has been celebrated by a yachting regatta ever since the 1840s, one of the oldest and largest sailing events in the world.

It commemorates the old province (the provinces were abolished in 1876, but administrative remnants remain) of Auckland, not just the city. So even in my childhood home in the countryside of the Bay of Plenty, we celebrated on this day.

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

Both our celebrations are young compared to many around the world. Toddlers, we are!

The regatta is a fun tradition. I'm afraid our celebrations aren't as thrilling. Mostly, the museums have special displays, and the libraries have events promoting books about Kansas. I've chosen to read PrairyErth by William Least Heat Moon to commemorate our sesquicentennial.

I was a young teenager when Wellington, Kansas, celebrated its centennial. I participated in the town's program which showcased snippets through the years. I recall I was a flapper for the '20s and did a Charleston in a red fringed dress. After a quick change, I was also a sweetheart and gratefully welcomed my soldier love home in another skit, and I can't recall what I wore for that, if it was WWI or WWII, or who I hugged and kissed. I remember the red fringed dress perfectly, however!

I was a young adult during our nation's bicentennial. It was one long year of bicentennial promotions and celebrations of this and that. I don't recall doing anything special that year to celebrate, but the entire year was memorable, because everything was star spangled from bicentennial burgers to bicentennial jeans. We got up in the bicentennial morning, ate bicentennial breakfast, and breathed bicentennial air. It was pervasive! And for an entire year. I don't even remember the Fourth of July that year, but I'm sure the fireworks were bicentennially massive!

And now, I celebrate my state's sesquicentennial by reading a book. It seems rather anti-climatic!

[auntconi.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday Kansas!
Such stunning photos ~ I enjoyed viewing them ~ thanks!!!

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

Thank you!