Ark Valley News - The View from Sunflower Gardens

The View from Sunflower Gardens
By Marilyn Bentley
Last Updated: October 11, 2018

Early Wichita was fort, trading post

Among the dear hearts and gentle people who live here are all the gardeners. They do weeding, plant flowers, help give color to all our doorways. Thank you. There are marigolds near some of our walls near our green lawns.

We take pride in our home.

New speed bumps on the new driveway help slow down some drivers who visit here.

Verse of the week: "Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, whatsoever is of good report, think of these things." (Philippians 4:8)

Remember to keep in prayer all our troops and their families, our Congress and president and road repairmen.

We note cooler days here. Thanks to TV weathermen, we can know when to wear a sweater or jacket and our daily weather is new everyday.

The symbol of the eagle is the emblem of the U.S.A. Our eagle has sharp eyes.

New housing and new roads sow the progress of Kansas in our economy.

Some comments are true and funny. A Kansas cowboy said: "Our budget is lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut." Colorful talk.

We know geography exercises a powerful influence on history.

Many of our Sunflower residents came from other states: Arizona, Arkansas, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, New Mexico and others.

We are like a family here. We like our coffee chats, movies and game nights, and our library. Many here like to do puzzles in our puzzle rooms which are mini-greenhouses with colorful plants.

Wichita had an early fort and trading post. Many Native Americans brought furs to the trading post.

Fort Riley is known as a military post, a modern fort, training troops to handle helicopters and airplanes.

We make history every day in our modern Kansas agriculture.

If tradition has correctly preserved the customs of the past, it is like preserved in story form.

We use our own library. We have fiction, mystery, inspirational books also humor in story form.

Today folks use Internet, computers, radio, TV, Facebook, to teach us.

Note all the monarch butterflies flying south.

Whether you are "dawn's early lighters" or "twilight's last gleamers," be glad you live in the U.S.A.

On Friday nights we like our sing-alongs of hymns. We sing "In the Garden," "The Old Rugged Cross," "How Great Thou Art," "Jacob's Ladder," " Brighten the Corner Where You Are."

Happy birthday to all born in October.

Outdoor sports are important to our families.

We watch favorite teams on TV or locally.

Remember in Kansas — the deer and the antelope play.

"Be kind, anyway." — Mother Teresa