Small Town, USA

I needed to go to school today.  Changing grade levels means an endless to-do list.  Thankfully, I am really enjoying the change and so the list feels more like "want-to's" than chores.  The Mister had to work this morning so it didn't make going in on a beautiful Saturday in September quite so difficult. 

Trudy loves everything about life except her crate, so I decided to take her along.  She is really only a crazy dog when other people are around and the odds of anyone else being at school at 7 on a Saturday morning were very slim.  She bounded through the house at the word, "ride" and did everything she could to jump into the Jeep without help. 

We saw shadows of the cows in the pasture as we headed down the drive.  The heron wasn't on the dock this morning, but we thought maybe we would see her when we returned.

I decided a hot caramel cider was in order this morning and swung by our local coffee shop drive-through.  Trudy was super excited to hear someone's voice on the speaker and her tail went crazy when we pulled up to the window and a woman handed her a dog treat!  (Trudy is more excited to see the person than to get the treat, but she still graciously accepted the gift!) The woman chatted with me while my drink was made.  She asked where we were headed and shared that she has a seventh grade boy at the middle school.  I didn't know him by name, but probably would have recognized him if I saw him.  With only one set of schools in our town, it's pretty easy to know most everyone that attends.

As I drove to school, the sun was now fully up and the beauty of our little town caught my attention once again.  The residential streets are all lined with beautiful trees: oak, maple, pine, ash, birch, elm... every yard seems to have more than one mature tree and it won't be long at all now before they will be bare.  The school sits on the edge of residential streets and fields full of corn and grapevines.  With woods around the backside of the building, it really is pretty in its own right. Sitting in my classroom, typing up lesson plans, I am able to look out my window at a beautiful ornamental tree, as golden leaves drip to the ground.

The Mister stopped by after work on his way to pick up hay.  He finished helping a local farmer cut hay last week and was off to collect the round bales he earned in trade.  We have more than enough now to last through the winter, more than we can even store properly, to be honest.  He will find a way to get them covered as best he can as we are grateful for the bounty with three grazers this year.

Back at home I transplanted a perennial from a porch planter to the front bed.  Trudy inadvertently dug it up shortly after I got it planted as she ran wild and crazy around the yard playing with a stick.  I filled bird feeders and cleaned leaves out of the bird bath before filling it for nearly the last time.  Tomorrow we have plans to clean up the remains of the garden.  While it disappointed us this year, one of the joys of gardening is the eternal hope that "next year will be better". 

My household list for today includes little more than a couple loads of laundry, storing boxes of heirloom dishes my dad brought last weekend and clearing the week's detritus off the counter before friends come for pizza and cards later tonight.

I'm not sure what it is today, the fall temperatures, the sun speckled through autumn leaves in the yard, the happy puppy at my feet, the smooth transition to a new grade level at school, a husband still delighted by the sight of round bales in the barn or the prospect of an evening filled with laughter that makes me feel so contented, but I'll take it with open arms.  Days like these make me feel so blessed and downright lucky to live in a small town, in Midwest America.

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