Peaches from Ponca City

Ponca City, Oklahoma has a great public library. If you go, be sure to tour the Matzene collection of western and Oriental art displayed throughout the library. I learned this a few years ago and was reminded of it on Friday. The library is across from the city hall, a huge and ornate building.


I drove away from my gig in Ponca City OK with a bag of peaches, a generous present from Janel, the children's librarian. She also gave me a wonderfully sturdy canvas library bag. She received the peaches from a patron as I was packing up and she gave me most of them. I ate one on the way from Ponca City to my next show in Arkansas City (pronounce all letters in Arkansas as written) and two on the way from Ark City to Lawrence.

That was the end of a short long trip. Short because it was only three days. Long because I drove over 1000 miles. Here's where I was: Salina, Long Island (north and west of Manhattan...KS), Norton, Quinter, Winfield, Ponca City and Arkansas City.

I thought I'd sleep well, but I had insomnia. On Saturday morning at 2:00, I got up and made a pie crust in the food processor. I put the dough in the refrigerator to chill. Then back to bed until 7:30, when I got up for the day. Before breakfast I made a peach pie for a potluck I was invited to that night. It's well and truly summer here in Kansas, so all baking happens early or late, in order not to heat up the kitchen.

It was a good pie. No pictures. We ate it all.