There….patiently waiting in my email was this lovely little note from Charlotte—
Found in our garden in (Burgundy) France. Just out in the yard among the thousands of rocks in the courtyard.
X Charlotte
There…for her a perfect stillness, just waiting to be noticed.
Then for me…the solitude of a heart in nature.
Now…for you to share with us!
From my world to your heart,
Linda
Yesterday was my Momma’s birthday. If she were alive today she would have turned 88.
Saturday, August 5th, we woke to a world full of low, dark clouds, following a night of gusting wind and hard heavy rain. Although, the clouds started to thin, my thoughts still remained heavy…sadly I was missing Momma. ( I know that many of you can relate to this type of sorrow…the swirl of memories of that one person, whose heart beat alongside yours…right from the beginning.)
Often times throughout my life I was told that I looked like my Momma.
Looking back over old photos — at certain times and in certain ages I can see the similarities. But I must confess I didn’t while I was growing up. 
Momma was one of those ‘good souls’. She was gentle and kind and given to helping every animal who came within her reach. Maybe in today’s world she would have been a Veterinarian.
Often times ‘people’ would say of her Daddy…”He would give his shirt off his back to help you.” Momma followed in his footsteps.
Momma gave all the little children who followed the fruit (people who came to pick fruit) clothes from our own closets, often times their very first (and only) birthday cake and a small party…those children remembering her kindly wrote to her for years and years…letters telling her about their marriages, the birth of their children…that first real job. She treasured those letters.
She always, always told me life was full of turbulence and cares, which can make a heart heavy….we, as human beings, do not need to add to sorrows of another’s soul.
Ah, well, memories are wonderful! But they do have a tendency to cause my eyes to blur with tears — misting the day…even though the sun broke forth from the clouds.
Momma died August 10, 2000…her heart stopped; cutting her life’s threads, which bound her to this earth.
But the thing that gives me the most peace, about that most ordinary day, that wasn’t ordinary after all….was Momma was ready to go.
A few days before she died—- she had just returned from a long and wonderful trip to Ireland. My brother took her. They saw everything possible, spent a night in a castle, walked on that green, green Isle she dreamed of walking on all her life.
An old old dream of her heart.
She told me: “I am finally at peace, Linda. There is nothing more I want to see or do. It is the most amazing, but odd feeling, to have nothing forward to accomplish.”
Hours later I was rushing to the hospital, following the ambulance…time passes slow when you NEED to GET THERE.
But finally I made it—Momma waited for me. She also waited for my Brother…although she was in a coma. Then in the night’s heart she left.
I miss her still. I always will. I love you, Momma. I love you.
I know each of you understand.
From my heart to your world,
Linda
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”–Rachel Carson
I must confess I have a favorite word…it is a word I don’t use often, nor do I find ways to incorporate it into my conversations…like those common words: COOL, DUDE, YA KNOW…I don’t even sprinkle in this word here and there
but it is a word I think describes how I feel on a daily basis….
The word is Dazzle.
I feel dazzled as sun touches the word’s edge…morning or evening
Or the glittering lights sparkle on the ripples, making the rather muddy irrigation water twinkle like jewels — sending a blessing to all the water touches
Even the run, to check water, in the deep silence of the night brings out the sky drenched with twinkling stars, or moonlight seeping into everything — turning the world to silver
I feel a most profound and deep joy when the horizon is edged with a Rainbow…
Or the color of flowers is captured in a heap of clouds
I must confess I am most blessed…living on this amazing earth, which sails noiselessly between the stars
Dazzled…that pretty much sums up how I feel about life.
From my world to your heart,
Linda
We were heading into town one day last week and came to the stop in the road which takes us to the bypass; thus on into town…
OOPS! Someone lost a huge straw bale.
Terry says straw is very slick and hard to stay stable on a load….I think this photo agrees with his statement! 🙂
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Around four o’clock yesterday afternoon a wind-fretted bundle of clouds blew in churning the air into a seething angry mess!
The little hummingbirds started feeding in a desperate and determined manner.
Suddenly the wind shifted moved west, then north, and finally east, where it slammed into our area with a vengeance untold
Dropping rain in torrent, flattening anything which stood in it’s path.
Then in swirl of angst the wind-fretted rain moved on…drenching everything in it’s path.
By evening the sun started disappearing; sending slivers of gold and silver among the slate colored clouds.
This morning is clear and bright, although very muddy! The smells of warming corn stalks and the heady scent of Four O’clocks fill the air. Along with the chirps and clicks and the buzz of many little wings as the hummers fill their tummies.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
The last two days we enjoyed rain showers…sometimes the rain rode the sky in the morning
Or kissed the earth on a mid-night wind
At points the rain came in wild and untamed—
Cooling down the earth, so at one point we lived within a cloud
The moisture from the warm earth rising up to meet the cool air…fog –a most glorious and unusual gift in the high mountain desert!
Then yesterday the clouds all scuttered away on high wind, neither seen or felt here on on our little part of the earth
Walking among the flowers I could feel the Magic of the Old Ones
It’s still here, clinging to the earth…
Lifting us up for a heartbeat
(The Red Day-lily is a gift from Marianne )
In the shadows of ancient clouds.
From my world to your heart,
Linda
Terry came in from making waste ditches…(see the mud) announced that it’s so muddy he was having trouble.
Totally frustrated he called John Deer to order parts for his cultivator (which had broken down just before he finished this years cultivation)
Yes, they had them on stock.
“Okay! I be right there.” he hung up the phone, asked me if I wanted to run to Montrose…
Well, not at this time….Linky and I were waiting for her BFF to show-up so they could head out to http://www.lakepowell.com/rv-camping/bullfrog-rv-campground/ for the week.
“Alright, I think I need a vacation…everything is going wrong right now.”
“How about a little ride in the go-fast car?” I asked, with a smile on my face.
“Yes, Grandpa! That’s a vacation!” and young girl’s voice chimed in.
“Sounds good to me!” he replied.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
This year’s pinto bean field..almost weeded! Almost!
I don’t have much time left…the feelers are starting to grow shut!
That’s okay…I’m tired of weeding that huge field.
The ears are starting to form now…within each one is a tiny kernel of corn!
Summer…MY TIME!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm
Linda
Joe Cooper sent me a series of lightening photos he took with his IPhone and
Instructions on how to ‘capture lightning’ with your smartphone.
Hi Linda.
I use an iPhone, and this is what works for me.
Take a video of the thunderstorms, that way you’ll surely catch a good bolt of lightning at some point.
Then play that back on your phone. Pause it when you see a good bolt. There should be a scroll bar of your video at the bottom of your screen.
You can move that video forward and back frame by frame by touching the scrollbar of the video at the bottom. And while it is staying in pause mode, you might be able to find a good shot of a lightning bolt.
Once you have a good frame of what you would like for a picture, touch the screen again, but off to the side, so it does not come out of pause mode. This should remove the menus and show only the picture on the screen.
Then by pressing the home– then the power button — in quick, but not hurried fashion, it takes a screenshot picture.
After reading your post the other day I thought about it in relation to a thunderstorm that I had shot on video just a few days before. So I tried it, and it works.
The light at the bottom is the street light in front of our neighbors house.
This was a thunderhead of a storm at least 20 miles to the south of us, going like crazy. It was a clear sky above us. And there was not a sound coming from all the lightning!
Hope all is well, and good to hear Boomer is well.
Joe
Then in a couple of days he wrote:
“Staying downtown Chicago tonight, at friend of my wife’s. Caught this one.
Joe
How cool this all is! Thanks, Joe! Now those of us who have IPhones, can maybe get some good shots of lightening.
I think I’m going to try this on my regular camera to see if it might work the same way. One never knows!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm
Linda
The corn is starting to tassel out…
And baby ears of corn starting to form
The pinto beans are shooting feelers (last year’s photo–I lost this years somehow—I’ve been weeding the 16 acres early morning and late evening. Once the rows grow shut anything nasty growing out there—corn, cockleburs, ragweed, Pigweed, yellow sticker weed, scotch thistle….gets to grow. Not a good thing, but how it is.
My yard is doing
Great! The new railroad ties beds are softening up and looking ever so much better
The air smells lush and rich– full of sweetness
Summer — I can’t ask for anything more!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 