The rural scene, dominated by a blue sky, unfolds before us.
BLUE SKY STRETCHES before my husband and me as we traverse back gravel roads northwest of Faribault Sunday afternoon.
A drive along country gravel roads always uplifts me, no matter the season.
I yearn for this escape, for this reconnection to the land, this attempt to rejuvenate my spirit.
This scene inspires the poet in me.
Just being in the country calms my soul, brightens my outlook, causes me to pause and appreciate this land, this place God has created and given into our care.
Memories in this scene…
In this moment, at this time, I slip into the past, envision myself laboring in the barns we pass. Soothing thrum of the milking machine. Cocooning warmth among cows snugged in mounds of golden straw. The comfort of ‘CCO radio.
I envision these fields seeded in corn or soybeans.
In farm fields, I see a much younger and skinnier version of myself plodding between rows of soybeans to yank cockleburs on a scorching summer day.
The comfort of memories in a farm yard.
At the sight of a farmyard, I hear my buckle overshoes crunch upon hard-packed snow as I follow the path from house to barn.
An ocean of snow-washed land.
Memories unleash in this landscape, in the view of farmyards anchored into hillsides within an ocean of snow-washed fields.
A remnant of yesteryear in an old corn crib.
I am happy here. Content. At peace.
Splashes of red jolt the blue and white landscape.
Yes, even in this winter of too much cold and too many snowy days, I find solace in blue skies and sunshine, barns and white-washed fields.
The punctuation of a red wagon and its shadow stretching across the snow draw my attention.
FYI: To read my previous post featuring photos from this Sunday afternoon drive, click here.
Ā© Copyright 2014 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Great photos and thoughts. I especially like the picture of the country gravel road and how we don’t know where it leads. We have a big hill behind our house, with the suggestion of nothing but wilderness on the other side. Your picture gives me the same feeling!
Thank you. This was an area of Rice County where I had not previously traveled, thus the sense of venturing into the unknown definitely existed. And you’re right about that hill, wondering what lies on the other side.
The photos are wonderful but your word pictures are so much better!!!!!!
Thank you. When I take photos as we are driving, they are hit and miss. I typically have only one opportunity to capture a scene. Shooting through a vehicle window, with glass as an in between, always diminishes image quality, too. That’s why I chose to edit these photos using the “cartoon” tool. That gives the pix a bit of an artsy edge.
Always superb!!!!
Simply beautiful Audrey, and so soul-touching! So glad you posted this. Cheers!
Thank you. Anytime I photograph rural areas and draw on my childhood farm memories, I share a bit of my soul.
As always you chose the perfect words to accompany your lovely pictures. Even though winter is not my favorite season I do appreciate the beauty that is all around during this time. I just get tired of it when the sub zero drags on and on and on and onā¦..
Thanks, Beth Ann. Yup, the bone-chilling cold does get to a person after awhile doesn’t it? But I sure like the bright sunshine that typically accompanies such frigid air.
More lovely countryside scenery. Beautiful day, blue sky and sunshine; hard to beat that.
It was a lovely day, a respite from winter.
short lived though…sub zero again.
Yes, but I will take every day of warmth and sunshine we can get to give me hope on these sub zero days.
For sure. At least the sun is shining. Are you seeing any snowy owls out your way? I haven’t seen one yet; that might be due to not looking real hard. There have been a lot of pics posted of snowy owls on the Minnesota Photography Club fb page.
I haven’t seen any snowy owls, but then I haven’t been looking for them either. I really am not into photographing animals/birds. But I’ll mention this observation to my husband. He has an eagle eye for spotting eagles, hawks, etc. Thanks for the tip.
Yay, more beautiful pictures. Reminds me of the trip to my Grandparents farm. ITS LIKE HOME TO ME. Thanks for the smile you put on my face.
You are most welcome. Always happy to make my readers smile.
Loving your captures – brings back the memories of the farm for me:) Happy Tuesday!
Always happy to take you “back home” to Minnesota.
I miss the simple life some days. Just going out and working in the garden or taking care of the animals.
Me, too. Me, too.
LOVE that 3rd photo! Wow!
Yes, there’s something mysterious and poetic about that scene and you have that writer’s mind to see what I saw.
It’s marvelous.
It’s like a painting…like Andrew Wyeth.
Oh, Gretchen, my goodness, comparing this image to the work of Andrew Wyeth.
It’s true. Wyeth in a photo.
I am humbled, dear friend. Truly.
Lovely as always Audrey! Love the photo’s, love the words to describe your memories of your youth. Favorites are the gravel road….you know how I love those, and the white barn with the two silo’s š
Thank you, Jackie. You would have loved this drive along sometimes curving, sometimes climbing gravel roads. I thought of you and Rick.
Do you think we you retire you’ll go back to living on the land? It’s such a beautiful scene and so different (vastly) to what’s outside my kitchen window. I don’t know how you manage to drive along those frozen, icy roads; it looks perilous. But pretty and serene too xx
I would love to return to the land to live. But I doubt that will happen given the cost of buying acreage in the country.