Late yesterday afternoon I was just sitting at my window looking out at the pond and the reflections. I decided to make this shot of it. As the season goes more into winter the bright colors of the fall leaves reflecting in it change daily.I love living in the country. I was born 80 miles north of here in the country and grew up there. We lived in cities all our working years but when we retired we came back to the country.
I love the sounds of the country. The frogs on the pond, the birds in the trees and the sounds of the animals in the woods nearby. I am losing my hearing and have to have amplification now but am trying to store all the sounds I can in my memory. The hearing loss started when I was working and lightning struck the phone I had on my head to test some trouble on the line. Then it gradually worsened. I look like I am listening to a radio with the earphones on my head. Hearing aids don't work for me and the earbuds worry me falling out so I stick to the earphones.
Back when I was growing up, the woods were so deep around the house we could hear the wildcats and other animals. Only once since I have been here have I heard a wildcat.
And I love the smells of the country. Although there is a highway that runs in front of my house, I still get the smell of the grass and flowers. Nothing has ever smelled as good to me as the smell of honeysuckle early in the morning. My idea of heaven would be fields of honeysuckle.
We lived in such an isolated place when I was growing up that we didn't have a telephone until I was grown so I didn't have the disadvantage of being bothered with it. After I left to go to work when I was 17 they ran the lines where my parents could get one. It was an 8 party line and everyone listened to everyone else on it. Lack of one freed me to sit under a shade tree and read after my chores were done. I used to set up an old army cot with a pitcher of Kool Aid and surround myself with books. There was no air conditioning. Children in those days had such an advantage over children today. It saddens me to think that they have to be entertained all the time instead of learning to be self sufficient and creating their own entertainment.
I know a lot of city folk look down on country folk because they think they had no advantages. But I feel they had all the advantages to become decent people.
Yes, I do love living in the country. And I wouldn't trade it for a blue nose mule as Aubrey used to say.
