Getting Stitched on the Farm

A blog is like a road, a journey

There is a very famous poem by Robert Frost that was read at my mother-in-law Betty's memorial service over twenty years ago. It is called The Road Not Taken and I have always loved it. You can find it here. Betty was such an inspiration to me as a young person just starting out in my adult life. She raised three sons by herself after her husband died, holding onto a 200 acre farm which had been in their father’s family a few generations. It wasn’t easy for her nor the boys but they all made it through and are fine adults and fathers and farmers. I often think about Betty when I am pouring hot water from her antique tea kettle and marvel at how she lived her life. These final lines from the poem sum up her life:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Writing a blog is like a road and a journey. When you first start out, you don’t know where it will lead. It was scary at first – definitely a new journey, a new turn in the road…. but I kept on posting, writing, thinking, snapping photos…. It all started to mesh and mold and have its own life. The layers began to build upon each other.

I thank you for all the kind comments yesterday, suggestions, and advice. It was great to hear from so many of you. Thanks so much. (I still don’t know what the heck those white berries are - nothing looks quite like them on the internet photos you referred me to.)

I have been saving these two photos of our little country road for just the right post and today is it. The top photo shows the road lined with maple trees as they were turning gold and falling a few weeks ago. The bottom photo is how it looks now and will look for the next few months. I’ve got to get used to it because it is here to stay for awhile. I must say though, I am looking forward to January when the days begin to lengthen and to April when I can post the road with some fresh chartreuse leaves.

I’m going to keep on blogging, journeying along the road that some of us choose to follow and we’ll see where it leads. I hope you’ll come along.