The sights, the smells! It's country!

Last night I was driving home later than normal, enjoying the varied shades of greens and the different leaf textures I see in the trees and shrubs as they break into summer finery, and realized how much I love the sights and scents of the country.

Before you giggle (yes, because not all scents are even slightly enjoyable in the country, especially pig manure), let me explain.

Yesterday evening smelled clean and fresh. It was raining, and had been all day. Every surface was dripping, so the scents of plants and things were masked by the water, but the freshness was undeniable.

The day before was overcast but warm and muggy. I could smell a sweet grassy smell…maybe freshly mown hay? (Or weeds, perhaps…although lovely smelling weeds.) That sweet smell is probably my favorite. My nose leads me here and there around my flower bed and raised garden, touching and smelling new leaves, trying to determine what’s what. (Yesterday I found scented geraniums at the farm store in Gig Harbor…I love those! I’ll have to get some.)

And the sights…I drive by the boringly named Acme Cattle Company (apologies if the owner ever reads this!), which in spite of sounding like something out of a Road Runner cartoon, is a gorgeous farm with red-painted out buildings, perfectly fenced pastures, and softly rolling green meadows, dotted here and there with happy cows and calves in brown and white. Yesterday morning as I passed by on my way to work I saw three calves kink their tails and run…so cute! (Cows are such odd creatures, but I love ‘em.)

Every morning and every evening I’m greeted by the glory of a Crowder Road farm’s five Belgian Draft horses and six Percherons grazing in one of their several paddocks.

The hills are ever-changing as the weather and daylight moves across, sometimes so foggy they’re invisible, other times glowing gold in the evening sun or softly draped with misty clouds in a drizzle. And every day delights me with birds and bees…the drab little hummingbird I see drinking from the columbine flowers by the front porch, busy scrub jays and barn swallows going here, there and everywhere, fat bumble bees like B-52s careening across the lawn, the visiting honey bees from Dad’s Honey swarming in whichever is the plant du jour. (Pine tree one day, the big fat shrubs at the north end of the house another…I wonder how they decide?)

Ah, the joys of country life!