A quick trip to my favorite place in the world

The farm is summer to me.  To the left is where I turned bales over to help them dry; I charged per bale, if I remember correctly.  In this same field I tasted the salt lick when no one was looking.  To the right is where I'd ride my horse, bareback, free, entrusted with the ornery ways of the fattest little pony there ever was.  The right barn held hay to the roof and I spent hours in my own castle, my own fort, my own little house (well, I shared it with the occasional mouse).

Engines off in this picture, just so you know.  I'm a cautious one.  To the right here, twenty or so yards, is where I once helped my grandpa deliver a calf.  The vet wouldn't come, wouldn't come, wouldn't come and things weren't going well.  I learned a lot about freedom, nature, life and death on the farm.  Down the hill is the pond my grandparents put in, which looks as though it was always there.  I remember when it was just a pasture.  I remember swimming in the creek, grilling hot dogs at Horseshoe Bend, traipsing through quiet cedar groves with deer and owls.  Walking sticks, red vests, Grandpa and the scarecrow dressed the same up in the cherry trees, wheelbarrow rides, fixing bottles for baby calves and collecting eggs from the chickens and berries from the bushes...  Summer.

And now the boy has shared in a bit of it too.

Comments

[kathy]

There's no place like home. We just enjoyed a similar vacation, sharing some wonderful places I loved as a kid with my daughters and my husband. It brought back some very fond memories I hadn't thought about in some time.

[Bex]

Mum wouldn't let us ride on the tractor with the engine on either & she's THE BEST Mum in the world...

[Chara Michele]

It sounds like a lovely place to grow up and visit!