Ode to Summer

Today I am participating in Wordless Wednesday. To see more photos visit our hostess Heather at http://simplyheathersblog.blogspot.com/. Enjoy.

Prairie Sunrise

I thought you might enjoy seeing what awakens me each morning. This is the view from my backyard. These photos were taken within a 7 minute time span on a cloudy summer morning. It's enough to make anyone want to get out of bed early. I hope you like the view as much as I do.

Glimpses of a Prairie Summer

Summer is glorious here.

We have lived a full year out on the prairie now, and what an interesting year it has been. There were definitely four distinct seasons here. Fall was short but stunning, bringing us golden fields of waving grain ready for harvest. Winter was long and treacherous, but breathtakingly beautiful in it's pure white silence. Spring, which seemed to take forever to arrive, didn't stay long and brought us only rain and dreariness. Finally though, the earth has warmed and summer has come to the prairie.

The sun awakens me early each morning now as if beckoning me to enjoy the new day.

The windows are open now most of the time, bringing the prairie indoors. The songs of a variety of birds including the meadowlark, doves and bob whites echo through the house all through the day. Occasionally, I catch a hint of sweet clover blowing in on the breeze. Sometimes I can hear a train whistle echoing in the distance, and I stop and wonder where it is headed. In the evening the crickets serenade us. Everyone and everything just seems more relaxed. Life on the prairie is slower, simpler, and purer in the summer.

Sometimes I wish it could be summer here year round, but then I remember that it is the hardness of winter which makes the summer so sweet.

Whatever season of life you are in right now, I hope you are experiencing peace and rest. Blessings to you.