This morning, around 7:00 AM, I took Roxy down to the mailbox with me - it's on the main hightway, about 100 yards down my driveway. About 3/4 of the way to the road, in the middle of the yard, there's a rusted, overgrown, antique piece of farm machinery ...
I like to believe that this hulking, delapidated skeleton was once hitched behind a horse and worked the fields in back of my house. If you look closely at it, as I have, you will see evidence of strain and wear, missing teeth and chipped tines. And if you listen you can hear the "Hup! Hup!" from some long-ago summer morning, the farmer urging on a broadchested Morgan through the reawakening land.
I don't know who painted the seat blue, or when - it's really much more gaudy than this picture would lead you to believe, an odd eccentricity that pleases me no end.
I've resisted all efforts to have it declared as junk and hauled away. It is, I suppose, junk. But hard work over generations should lead to a dignified, sedate retirement, and it warms me to provide just that for this old soul.
Roxy waited by the machinery as I went to pick up the newspaper. It was a chilly morning; 2 degrees C, or 37 degrees Fahrenheit. A clear, cloudless night meant a heavy front had settled on the land. At my mailbox, it still clung to the grass, bushes, and trees, its cold fingers yet to be pried off by the first warm rays of autumn sun.
I love early morning in the fall. The leaves are only now starting their change. In a week or two this Island will be a Wonderland of incredible colours. I only hope my camera - and my skills - are up to the challenge.
And there was me grumbling because it fell to 8 degrees last night! You certainly live in the most beautiful place. :)
Posted by: Emma | October 07, 2006 at 06:20 PM
I really need to come visit you.
Posted by: Torrie | October 07, 2006 at 06:49 PM
Wow.
I love it! I hope no one ever moves the old tractor. It's perfect where it is.
Is that a pond behind the spread of white behind the mailbox? What a setting.
Your photos tell a story, and that's just what we need to see. What a beautiful little island y'all have up there.
Posted by: Laura | October 07, 2006 at 10:23 PM
Come visit us, Torrie! You'll love it- everyone does. But consider yourself warned: it is very, very common for a visit to become permanent on this here Island.
Posted by: Allie | October 07, 2006 at 10:47 PM
I almost didn’t see the forest for the trees... or rather, the mailbox for the frost. I love autumn: frost and the changing of the leaves... I remember it well from living in the northeast as a kid. Down where I am now, the trees do change color, but it tends to be a three day cycle: color changes on Friday, big storm moves through on Saturday, leaves are all on the ground on Sunday. Ready for the leaf-blower (a profession I have never quite understood) to herd them into hefty garbage bags. Adios autumn.
I heartily agree about the tractor seat. I love funky things like that, the oldy-worldy aspect with a splodge of pop art thrown in. You write such lovely prose; I am thinking that this could be The First Chapter of Something (in addition to Part II of Where I Live.) Hmmm... ;-)
P.S. We don’t have frost yet, but on stepping outside this morning, I discovered the temperature had plummeted to 16 degrees C (61 Fahrenheit). Thank God summer is over. Just waiting for something to scrape off the windshield.
Posted by: Ortizzle | October 08, 2006 at 10:49 AM
Beautiful pictures...but the words...oh, Nils, the words! I could hear you telling them. No wonder you get paid to write.
Posted by: Sara Sue | October 08, 2006 at 06:21 PM
Never fear, your camera skills seem just great to me. I agree with the other commenters who stand in admiration of the extreme beauty that is the countryside around you. Some of those pictures just almost stand still for you, if you know what I mean. I think you're up to the challenge.
Posted by: wordgirl | October 08, 2006 at 08:06 PM
That mailbox picture looks like it could be a postcard or something. You have such beauty around you, and such a way with words... I'm just in awe.
Posted by: CircusKelli | October 09, 2006 at 08:53 AM
Yes, all those old pieces of "junk" do have their stories to tell for those who are willing to take the time to listen. Glad your hearing's so good! :)
Love PEI. Glad to have found your place with so many pictures to bring back memories.
Posted by: AuthorMomWithDogs | June 03, 2007 at 10:55 AM