We just got back from Kansas, where Lynne Ann taught at the Heartland Bead Market in Lenexa.  They have a great group there and a really good classroom space.  I got a chance to visit my aunt and uncle who live in Central Kansas while we were out that way.  It was a very nice time for me.  It was odd to see how my youthful stomping grounds had changed so much over the years.  My Jr. High is now some kind of a church/social service agency.  The little zoo is a shambles of chain-link fence while the little community pool that shares the same park has become some kind of mini waterpark.  Of course many things remain the same… the little gravestones that mark where my mom and dad are buried, they are still the same and still kind of hurt to look at. 

All in all, Kansas remains as it has always been… flyover country to most of the nation, but a place of memory and wonder for those of us who grew up there and have grown up enough to appreciate it.

Tommie