Yesterday was a beautiful day here on the farm. Early afternoon I was hanging a load of cloths on the line in the back yard. I had just taken a bath towel out of the basket setting at my feet, when a little plane flew over head, up there in that big dark blue sky. I listened as it grew fainter and fainter until it was gone off into the big blue beyond.
I stood there, with that towel in my hand and the cloth pin in my mouth. Standing there, looking off into the distance, and my mind went back to my childhood. I stood there remembering all those little noises that would bring peace to my mind, my heart. They still do today, when I once again visit those days of yesteryear.
I can picture my mother telling us girls that hot summer afternoon, of long ago, "I want you to take a little nap now. You will feel so much better." We complained of course. What little girls wanted to waste a perfectly good afternoon taking a nap, especially if they could play house with their dolls.
But mother was persistent. "You can lay here on the living room floor," she said as she laid down her old quilts to make it comfortable. Then she set the fan in the middle of the floor and turned it on. With that she tip toed out of the room and we lay there wide awake.
I can still hear the soft hum of that old fan. It hummed on and on as we laid there on the living room floor. I can remember how I listened to that fan. It moved back and forth, humming away. After a little while it's sound took me off into dreamland. It's sound smoothed me to sleep.
It is so easy to be taken up with the worries of life. The unrest around all of us. All the decisions we have to make everyday. I am one of the world's worst worriers. But I am thankful that there are little "country sounds" that bring a peace to my heart and mind. They just "pop up" sometimes and they calm me. There are times that I love to just be alone. It is there that I learn to trust in God. It is there that I see His greatness. It is there that I feel safe. So today I want to share some of these "country sounds" and special places with you. Then maybe when your day seems unhappy, or you are worried, or at a place of unrest....you will remember and be comforted.
Have you ever sat there in your car, beside a railroad track in a little hick town and listened as the bell started to ring, and the lights started to flash, and those arms came down to tell you that the train was coming. Then you hear it! Faint at first, then louder and louder as it gets closer. That long whistle as the engine rushes past you. Then the rumbling of the tracks as the cars rush by one after the other. Swish, swish. You sit there, counting the cars. 1, 2, 3, as the wheels roll along those tracks. Then from far away you hear the whistle once again. The train disappears around the curve and out of sight, leaving you there alone. Silence surrounds you and those arms go up and the lights stop flashing and you go on your way. I don't know why, but I love the sound of that lone whistle, and the thought of that train disappearing around the bend and on into the beyond.
Have you ever laid there in bed at night. All is silent around you. The windows are open and a light breeze is blowing in through your window. The air smells like country. So fresh and clean. You lay there just thinking. First you see it... a flesh through the window. Then you hear that low rumble of thunder. Then another flash. You get out of bed and make your way to the window. You stand there, your elbows resting on the pane, your chin in your hands, and you watch. Lightening lights the sky, then the rumble of thunder. You watch as it comes up there in the southwest. You wonder of its power. You wonder of it magnitude as it cuts across those dark skies. As you stand there, you feel like a little speck in that huge world of wonder just outside your window. You just stand there for a long time watching. You feel so tiny but yet so safe, so cared for by the One who controls the universe.
Then there is the big blue sky. That deep blue way up there in the beyond. The sky has many different pictures for me. Many different ways to speak to me. To comfort me. To make me feel special, loved and cared for. Many different ways to let me know that there is One who controls it all.
Out in the country you see the wideness, the vastness, the deep blue of the sky. On a day like today, it spreads out up there from horizon to horizon, a deep blue, with not a cloud in sight. It hangs there, over me standing here in the yard looking up. It hangs over the huge cottonwoods down at the creek, the big maple tree in our front yard. Beneath it a light breeze blows. Beneath it I feel so small, but so loved.
Sometimes I love to go out into the dark clear night. I spread my ole quilt out on the lawn and lay down there on my back. After awhile my eyes adjust to the darkness and I look up. There above me in that huge darkness, I see the first star. I lay there just looking up, one arm under my head. After a little while more stars appear. Then millions of them twinkle down at me. I am at awe at the beauty and vastness of that big beyond. What holds all those little stars in their place? Who controls all those little specks up there in that darkness? I can't take it all in that God thought of me as He was making all that beauty. I can't take it in that He made me and put me here so that I could lay here on this quilt tonight and look up into His beautiful and perfect handy work. I can't believe that He listens to me, such a small little speck among His great creation. I just lay there on that quilt for a long time, surrounded by darkness, quietness, greatness and love.
Then there are the sunrises and the sunsets. The reminder of a new day, or the end of a perfect one. Sometimes I have noticed that when there are a few clouds in the sky, the sunrise if even more beautiful. Sometimes when clouds dim my vision and they try to hide the sun, I just remember that it is shining up there somewhere. Sometimes the hard days are the days that teach me the deepest lessons.
I really have trouble with cloudy days. I get really down in the dumps. But sometimes just as the sun is starting to set, it comes out from under the clouds, for just a little while. It throws a beautiful glow on the cottonwoods to the east of our house. It turns their tops to soft yellows, oranges, and golds. I just stand there staring. It is beautiful. A perfect ending to a somewhat gloomy day.
And then there is that moon. I told my husband the other day, that if there is one thing I will miss in heaven, it is the moon. I know that is silly but that big orange ball of wonder has captured my heart. So many beautiful memories flood my mind when I sit under that big elm tree down by the pond, and watch as at first there is an orange red glow in the horizon and then the shape of the moon starts to rise. The higher it gets in the sky, the color turns to a yellow. There I sit out in the pasture surrounded by dusk, quietness, peacefulness. My legs are bent at the knees and my arms are wrapped around my legs. I sit there remembering.
I remember way back to childhood. I remember those cousin weeks we would enjoy every year as a child. Those nights under the moon when we would play "hide and go seek" in Grandpa and Grandma Dorothy's front yard. I remember listening to the strands of Grandpa's violin and Grandma Dorothy's piano as the music flooded out to me sitting there on the porch.
I remember the nights that my husband and I walk hand in hand down the dirt road, our shadows falling softly in front of us, the moon sending out its yellow glow behind us.
I remember the south bedroom in my childhood home. I remember laying there at night, the windows open and listening to the old bull frog down at the pond. Its deep croak, croak, sound came floating up to me. I would lay there and dream. I would wonder what I would be and where I would be when I "grew up". I never dreamed that I would be sitting here under this old elm tree. I never dreamed that I would be a farmers wife. I never knew that I would be the mother of two beautiful children and a Grandma to six beautiful grandchildren. I just sit there under that tree and smile. Then I turn and look into the darkness. Out there somewhere comes that call of the wild. A single call. A yip, yip then a long lonely howl. I could imagine that coyote sitting there on its haunches, its head thrown back, its eyes closed as it lets out its call.....echoing back down to me sitting there under the elm tree.
Then there are the walks along the mountain streams, the claps of thunder as it echoes through the mountains, and disappears. There is the song of the Tuttle dove, the bob white, the killdeer. There is the feel of wind in your hair as you ride the four wheeler to the pasture. There is the feel of snow flakes in your nose, and the cold air filling your lungs, as you take a deep breath of winter air.
Well I wanted to share some things that make me feel special, feel free and feel loved. I hope that if you are having a bad day, or a stressful day, that you too have some sounds that help lift your burdens. Or you have a special place to go, or special sights to see.
Yes, the world is getting hectic, and sometimes we wonder "what next". But friends.....Don't forget to stop and smell the roses. There are a lot of them out there. Don't forget to count your blessings. We all have some.
I stood there, with that towel in my hand and the cloth pin in my mouth. Standing there, looking off into the distance, and my mind went back to my childhood. I stood there remembering all those little noises that would bring peace to my mind, my heart. They still do today, when I once again visit those days of yesteryear.
I can picture my mother telling us girls that hot summer afternoon, of long ago, "I want you to take a little nap now. You will feel so much better." We complained of course. What little girls wanted to waste a perfectly good afternoon taking a nap, especially if they could play house with their dolls.
But mother was persistent. "You can lay here on the living room floor," she said as she laid down her old quilts to make it comfortable. Then she set the fan in the middle of the floor and turned it on. With that she tip toed out of the room and we lay there wide awake.
I can still hear the soft hum of that old fan. It hummed on and on as we laid there on the living room floor. I can remember how I listened to that fan. It moved back and forth, humming away. After a little while it's sound took me off into dreamland. It's sound smoothed me to sleep.
It is so easy to be taken up with the worries of life. The unrest around all of us. All the decisions we have to make everyday. I am one of the world's worst worriers. But I am thankful that there are little "country sounds" that bring a peace to my heart and mind. They just "pop up" sometimes and they calm me. There are times that I love to just be alone. It is there that I learn to trust in God. It is there that I see His greatness. It is there that I feel safe. So today I want to share some of these "country sounds" and special places with you. Then maybe when your day seems unhappy, or you are worried, or at a place of unrest....you will remember and be comforted.
Have you ever sat there in your car, beside a railroad track in a little hick town and listened as the bell started to ring, and the lights started to flash, and those arms came down to tell you that the train was coming. Then you hear it! Faint at first, then louder and louder as it gets closer. That long whistle as the engine rushes past you. Then the rumbling of the tracks as the cars rush by one after the other. Swish, swish. You sit there, counting the cars. 1, 2, 3, as the wheels roll along those tracks. Then from far away you hear the whistle once again. The train disappears around the curve and out of sight, leaving you there alone. Silence surrounds you and those arms go up and the lights stop flashing and you go on your way. I don't know why, but I love the sound of that lone whistle, and the thought of that train disappearing around the bend and on into the beyond.
Have you ever laid there in bed at night. All is silent around you. The windows are open and a light breeze is blowing in through your window. The air smells like country. So fresh and clean. You lay there just thinking. First you see it... a flesh through the window. Then you hear that low rumble of thunder. Then another flash. You get out of bed and make your way to the window. You stand there, your elbows resting on the pane, your chin in your hands, and you watch. Lightening lights the sky, then the rumble of thunder. You watch as it comes up there in the southwest. You wonder of its power. You wonder of it magnitude as it cuts across those dark skies. As you stand there, you feel like a little speck in that huge world of wonder just outside your window. You just stand there for a long time watching. You feel so tiny but yet so safe, so cared for by the One who controls the universe.
Then there is the big blue sky. That deep blue way up there in the beyond. The sky has many different pictures for me. Many different ways to speak to me. To comfort me. To make me feel special, loved and cared for. Many different ways to let me know that there is One who controls it all.
Out in the country you see the wideness, the vastness, the deep blue of the sky. On a day like today, it spreads out up there from horizon to horizon, a deep blue, with not a cloud in sight. It hangs there, over me standing here in the yard looking up. It hangs over the huge cottonwoods down at the creek, the big maple tree in our front yard. Beneath it a light breeze blows. Beneath it I feel so small, but so loved.
Sometimes I love to go out into the dark clear night. I spread my ole quilt out on the lawn and lay down there on my back. After awhile my eyes adjust to the darkness and I look up. There above me in that huge darkness, I see the first star. I lay there just looking up, one arm under my head. After a little while more stars appear. Then millions of them twinkle down at me. I am at awe at the beauty and vastness of that big beyond. What holds all those little stars in their place? Who controls all those little specks up there in that darkness? I can't take it all in that God thought of me as He was making all that beauty. I can't take it in that He made me and put me here so that I could lay here on this quilt tonight and look up into His beautiful and perfect handy work. I can't believe that He listens to me, such a small little speck among His great creation. I just lay there on that quilt for a long time, surrounded by darkness, quietness, greatness and love.
Then there are the sunrises and the sunsets. The reminder of a new day, or the end of a perfect one. Sometimes I have noticed that when there are a few clouds in the sky, the sunrise if even more beautiful. Sometimes when clouds dim my vision and they try to hide the sun, I just remember that it is shining up there somewhere. Sometimes the hard days are the days that teach me the deepest lessons.
I really have trouble with cloudy days. I get really down in the dumps. But sometimes just as the sun is starting to set, it comes out from under the clouds, for just a little while. It throws a beautiful glow on the cottonwoods to the east of our house. It turns their tops to soft yellows, oranges, and golds. I just stand there staring. It is beautiful. A perfect ending to a somewhat gloomy day.
And then there is that moon. I told my husband the other day, that if there is one thing I will miss in heaven, it is the moon. I know that is silly but that big orange ball of wonder has captured my heart. So many beautiful memories flood my mind when I sit under that big elm tree down by the pond, and watch as at first there is an orange red glow in the horizon and then the shape of the moon starts to rise. The higher it gets in the sky, the color turns to a yellow. There I sit out in the pasture surrounded by dusk, quietness, peacefulness. My legs are bent at the knees and my arms are wrapped around my legs. I sit there remembering.
I remember way back to childhood. I remember those cousin weeks we would enjoy every year as a child. Those nights under the moon when we would play "hide and go seek" in Grandpa and Grandma Dorothy's front yard. I remember listening to the strands of Grandpa's violin and Grandma Dorothy's piano as the music flooded out to me sitting there on the porch.
I remember the nights that my husband and I walk hand in hand down the dirt road, our shadows falling softly in front of us, the moon sending out its yellow glow behind us.
I remember the south bedroom in my childhood home. I remember laying there at night, the windows open and listening to the old bull frog down at the pond. Its deep croak, croak, sound came floating up to me. I would lay there and dream. I would wonder what I would be and where I would be when I "grew up". I never dreamed that I would be sitting here under this old elm tree. I never dreamed that I would be a farmers wife. I never knew that I would be the mother of two beautiful children and a Grandma to six beautiful grandchildren. I just sit there under that tree and smile. Then I turn and look into the darkness. Out there somewhere comes that call of the wild. A single call. A yip, yip then a long lonely howl. I could imagine that coyote sitting there on its haunches, its head thrown back, its eyes closed as it lets out its call.....echoing back down to me sitting there under the elm tree.
Then there are the walks along the mountain streams, the claps of thunder as it echoes through the mountains, and disappears. There is the song of the Tuttle dove, the bob white, the killdeer. There is the feel of wind in your hair as you ride the four wheeler to the pasture. There is the feel of snow flakes in your nose, and the cold air filling your lungs, as you take a deep breath of winter air.
Well I wanted to share some things that make me feel special, feel free and feel loved. I hope that if you are having a bad day, or a stressful day, that you too have some sounds that help lift your burdens. Or you have a special place to go, or special sights to see.
Yes, the world is getting hectic, and sometimes we wonder "what next". But friends.....Don't forget to stop and smell the roses. There are a lot of them out there. Don't forget to count your blessings. We all have some.
thank you cousin are another sweet story, and Thank God for making this beautiful earth for us to enjoy <3
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