Here we are in May and we are not the only ones wondering where the past few months have flown by to! The weather has been very mild, deceptively so, which brings out the urge in Darrell to prepare and plant our vegetable garden. The annual jaunt into Mount Vernon to trailer home a rental tractor and rototiller just seems to herald growing season is upon us. Although we have two tractors of our own as well as more than one walk behind rototiller, the size of Darrell’s garden plot is such that our big tractor is too big to maneuver in there with a piece of farming equipment behind it and our small tractor is not quite stout enough and is of an ancient age whereby a good rototiller just will be too much for it. Hence the trip to the rental shop to haul home a dandy little machine all set up with bucket on front and tiller behind. It makes short work of the garden spot as well as allows Darrell to do some other handy tilling here and there on the place.
So now the garden is freshly turned over and the earth just inviting plants and seeds to be placed in the good old ground. Of course there is always the fear in the back of the mind that a killing frost can and often will come along before the month of May is over. There have been times in late May when the garden has been flourishing and a late frost comes along, severely nipping and even killing some of the carefully tended plants! But there is just something about freshly tilled earth that gets the farmer and gardener’s soul in us all just aching to get out and get our hands grubby in the soil. I am actually off to England in a few days time with a dear friend of mine and know when I return ten days later the brown plot of earth will have green sprouts popping up all over the place to show where Darrell has been at work planting.
Yes, England! My dear pal Lynda Thomas and I are heading off for a little holiday in my homeland. We will visit some of my dear friends; meet new ones that up to this point have just been correspondence pen pals and most of all give Lynda a brief look at the country in which I was born and raised. I really think I am almost more excited to watch Lynda experience the English countryside and people! Quite a few years ago I made a jaunt to England with another dear pal, Debbie Cole. It was her very first trip to England and through her eyes I was able to see how much I had taken the country in which I grew up, greatly for granted. When entering a churchyard where higgledy piggledy gravestones of ancient age were resting under a mantle of moss, the names, dates and epitaphs barely visible due to extreme age, I saw the wonder in Debbie’s eyes as she realized how old these gravestones were. To see her look in awe at the towering interior of York Minster cathedral or stand in front of the tomb of Queen Elizabeth the First in Westminster Abbey and realize she is actually standing where rests the remains of a queen who ruled in the 1500’s!
As Lynda and I plan for our English excursion I also realize how different it will be for her, someone who grew up in the wide open spaces of Montana, someone who thinks nothing of a four and a half hour drive of over 250 miles just to go to a doctor appointment! As I look at the map of England and calculate the mileage between places we plan to visit I have to smile and find myself so looking forward to seeing Lynda’s reaction as we drive a mere 20 miles and in those 20 miles pass through nearly 15 villages! Distance travelled in England is not the same as travelling here in the United States! For example: the distance from our house to Lynda’s is about 20 miles and can be traversed in about 25 or 30 minutes… not so in England! Yes, it will be such fun to once again be over there with someone who will see things with such fresh eyes. To see her try black pudding, steak and kidney pie as well as other more tantalizing fare such as Cornish pasties and Melton Mowbray pork pies not to mention cream buns and such!
When I arrive back in Monument it will be to more greatly appreciate our home and land, to appreciate the wide open spaces and yes, the simple conveniences of everyday life. I know a part of me will always reside in the land where I was born; I shall always be “English” even though I now hold citizenship in this great country of America and am very thankful to live where I do. My jaunt east to England will allow me to visit dear friends and family but I will find myself always looking westward… towards my dearest Darrell… and “Home”.