I woke up yesterday to let the dog out, and to my right was a very beautiful sunrise. You know the kind, where the whole sky is kind of an orangey-red mix, and the clouds take on a pink-like hue.
I raced inside, got the camera, and then walked to the road to take this photo. My little camera doesn’t do the best job taking pictures of sunrises and sunsets, but I thought it came out pretty cool.
As I wrote yesterday, spending time in the rural part of Maryland for the past several days has been really good for me. I came back refreshed and relaxed, which I guess is the point of any retreat/vacation. I hear it repeated over and over again how so many people need to take a vacation from their vacation. Sad. That’s not supposed to be how it works.
Back to gentler times. While walking on Four Points Bridge Road, I came upon a little cemetery. I could tell that many of the gravestones were old, and thought the little marker just outside the fence might tell me about the people buried there.
I don’t know about you, but when I come upon anything from the 1700’s, I am always impressed. The fact that, on the land I was standing on, people had built not just one church, but several churches dating back to 1757, humbled me. Here in the middle of nowhere, nearly twenty years before the Revolution, people were coming together to pray. Not that long afterwards, and not just down the road from this spot, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first recognized American born Saint, would set down roots. Amazing, mainly because, well, if this is considered country now, it must have been wilderness back then. I guess the old churches must have been made of logs…
If I had more time, I would have liked to have found out how many farms are in the area. Soybeans and feed corn seemed to be the biggest crops, but there were a couple of farms where cattle were being raised too. You knew were they were long before you saw them, if you know what I mean. 🙂
This long horn steer had it better than most. I could make out just one other cow in the whole field, which was huge. Maybe the horns scared everything else away.
Overall, the long country walks did me good. I came back about five pounds lighter 🙂 Throughout the last several weeks, I’ve been trying to walk twice a day, once in the morning, then again after dinner. It’s been a big commitment, and I’m not always faithful. But these twice daily walks sure have helped with my stress. Maybe it could be the same for you.
I still have more to tell you about my days in the country. So, look for the last installment tomorrow. I hope you’re enjoying them. It’s been fun to tell you about it 🙂
