The homestead

If you squint you can see where I grew up...my yard, driveway, house, storage barn.

The tree on the left with signs on it had a little notch where I was convinced an elf lived in. Behind the tree, a forgotten dog was buried and sometimes I would walk past with sadness.

The wooden fence holds in a steep grass lawn where I would play slip and slide on a steep incline, sometimes plowing into the fence (ouch!) and I would also roll down the hill on summer days. A large oak tree provided a branch for a large slow porch type swing and other branches to climb. Daffodils lined the hard and shielded eggs during an Easter hunt. Two like trees lined the left side of the fence and one held a huge wooden moon, pained white with lights around it.

Between the chain link fence and the winding stairs is the steep dirt driveway which was a blast to sled down and a pain to walk up. The fence wasn't there when I was a child, and a small pine tree stood partway up, the "home" to my imaginary friend, Betty.

Near where I am parked is the spot my mom parked, and sometimes channel 9 news would pull in and film the falling s is for the flatlanders to see on live TV.

The storage barn was my summer home for a summer or two in college, giving me a private place except of course I had to walk outside and inside the main house to use the restroom or get food.

The house is a cabin, a modified a-frame built by a man, Mitch, for his wife. It has gnarled wood and little holes that let in the cold and spiders. An old wagon wheel hangs as a light fixture.

And this my friends is where I grew up. Not the best photo as there is window glare but I did not feel like hiking up for a better shot...I have hiked that hill enough for a lifetime.

I moved nearby and have decided to stay put now that I will have kiddo number two. I want my children to get outside, appreciate nature, use their imagination to look for elves and other types of "pretend". I see so many city and even suburb kids with no appreciation I the outdoors and no imagination. Kids that ask, why would you want to play outside? What do you do outside? I want my kids to have an awesome exploratory childhood just like I did.