Far! Far! Away!? Hmm!
Grandpa Martin's farmhouse and various out buildings sat
in the middle of his 160-acre homestead about a 1/4 mile
from the main highway. (The "hard-road"-colloquial) As
a child of 5 it seemed quite a jaunt down the rough-rock drive.
A natural rise in the swale of prairie hid the farm buildings
from the highway and secluded the farmstead with privacy.
It was a "Grand" venue for a boy with Wild-imagination and
insatiable-curiosity. Family! So very important! Peace! Amen!
3-ponds to water the animals, a woods for hunting wild Morel-
mushrooms in the spring and squirrel, rabbit and quail to hunt
in the late summer into crisp-fall and cold white-winter. Ice-
skating at night and Saturdays on the ponds. (4'-ice! Safe!)
And---Plenty of work! Always!...A chance to grow and learn!
I thought that distance from the house to the highway was
interminable; Dad and I walked in many a Saturday morning
after winter-snows and chill-winds drifted the road shut. Hmm!
They grew tomatoes and vegetables which they sold at a portable
roadside stand on Sunday afternoons. I wore blue-jeans and a
checkered western-style shirt with cowboy-hat and a pair of six-
guns ready to blaze away at the "bad" guys seen on T.V. shows.
Picking tomatoes to stock the roadside-"store" left dark-green
stains on my prized pants! Ugh! I didn't like tomatoes! Hmm!
After 7-decades I sometimes dream of those idyllic days. Love!
Today, I laugh at my naivete about the distance. Just-a dumb-kid!
I oft wonder?---Did I ever "grow-up"?...I sincerely hope-not! Amen!
Rivers of water under the bridge!---Time!...Still...a dumb-kid! Hmm!?
Aah!---Such delicious-memories!..."Worth-the-long-walk!" You-betcha!
Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment