Hot Summer Drive

Bazinga and I took a long drive through rural Illinois today. It was hot and sticky, the air conditioning in my car doesn't work. Bazinga didn't seem to mind, he spent most of the first part of the drive with his head out the window. He'd turn to look at me, with a wind blown face and seemed to smile. He was enjoying being a dog on a hot summer day.

As we drove along I noticed how the fields that just a few months ago were full of roaring water and absent of life, were now flourishing. There was green everywhere. Fields of soy beans for miles and miles. Rows of corn seemed to turn the county highway into a tunnel, with a sweet smell that made me wonder when sweet corn stands would start popping up.

 There was a thick humid haze in the air. The corn was thriving in it. You could almost see it grow right before your eyes. The wildflowers lined the edge of the road like sentries protecting  the corn from the sparse traffic that drove swiftly by without a second glance.

There is so much beauty in rural areas. Life renewing itself. Life that sustains other life. Without the bounty of these fields there would be no life as we know it. Without the acres of soybeans there would be no tofu for the city dwellers that look down their noses at the people who produce every scrap of food they eat.

The Midwest quite often gets dismissed by those who live on the coasts as a place they fly over to get to the important places. New York City seems to like to believe that the world, and the universe orbits around it alone. If you don't live there, surely you must want to. Do they realize how quickly their city would fall into collapse if the American farmer decided to quit feeding them? But they won't. The hard working farmer continues the American tradition of feeding, not just New York City, but the world in general. Happy he lives in the quiet countryside that others just fly over. Glad that the snobby high society is away in the city where such folk belong.  He feels sorry for them, they will never know the joy of a sweet smelling breeze on a hot summer day. They will never experience the beauty that he sees all around him. A fleeting beauty that must be experienced day to day to be appreciated fully. They will always look past such mundane things in search of something they can't attain. He is sad for them, but very happy they aren't here to spoil it for him.

And, on a different note.... This weeks pumpkin patch pictures. It seems to be slowing down on its pursuit of the yard and is using its strength to produce pumpkins!

This looks like a white pumpkin, but it's getting pretty darn big already.

Looks like I have some gourds too.