Sand and pebble crunch absently under foot while a rooster cackles on the other side of the barn and rabbits thump in their cages. This is a balmy June day coming to a quiet close while the sun’s last ray’s slant across the walkway in long shadows. A northerly wind gently sweeps across the courtyard and tousles the canvas fabric hanging from fluffy cushions on the swing. This is a perfect summer day in the country.
Somehow, I fear that this is a dream that will snap in half sharply as reality sets in. Fortunately, today is my day off. This is my Sabbath and I intend to shut out concerns about paying bills on time or when the next oil change is due. So, I lean into the cool and dry cushions with my iced tea and magazine.
Wrens splash in the birdbath that looks like a crooked bronze sunflower with a green patina. Mamma-dog interrupts for a ritual scratch behind the ears as her newborn pups mew and whimper on the porch. A bird in the big white oak imitates my whistle for the dogs to come home to dinner. Bleats echo in the distance as a kid calls for its mamma. My tea sweats as I take it all in and banish all wayward worries.
It’s too bad more days aren’t like this! But, if there were too many, they would get ignored and the regular hustle and bustle would obscure opportunities to banish a banal existence. The reality is that bills have to get paid, hay and manure needs mucking out, while laundry stands stiffly in the corner as family members hold out their plates for supper. Goats don’t milk themselves, hens hoard their eggs and rabbits pretend to be Houdini as they devise new ways to escape their cages.
Right now, I am in another world. Dinner is done. My hubby is replacing the O2 valve on his pickup. The in-laws are firmly engrossed in a Clint Eastwood movie with the volume turned all the way up, in their own home far up the hill. Blackberry pie cools on the kitchen counter. The neighbor’s John Deere is silent and nowhere in sight. And the cool evening breeze wafts over my slumbering face with the magazine long forgotten. This is a summer day in the country!
Let tomorrow worry about itself, I’m busy!
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