The Sun Sets At The Farm

I took a walk around the farm when I first arrived, leaving the dogs inside their fenced yard. It all looked good. The lawn was mowed and the apple trees were dropping fruit all over the grass. That's the back door to my little farm apartment in this picture:

I walked to the north side of the lawn by the gravel road which borders my north hay field and looked back, snapping this picture. I then walked across the county road to visit my neighbors, a friendly young couple with two young boys and another baby due shortly:

It was late afternoon by then, so I returned to my apartment and began getting settled for the night. The dogs made themselves comfortable:

I'd brought tomatoes with me from my garden at home. They'd make a tasty addition to nearly everything I'd cook while there:

I was getting drowsy. At dusk, I took another stroll around the yard. This apple tree looked particularly appealing:

And the farm house struck a friendly, homey pose in the slanting sunlight of the evening sun:

There were still hay bales in my north field, with the farmer's tractor parked out there waiting for weather dry enough to haul them all to his own farm. The shadows were lengthening:

As the crickets chirped, I thought the whole scene was just what I'd been looking for when I bought the place. This was indeed a good place to come home to. I may not yet be able to move my body up there on a permanent basis, but my heart has already relocated to the farm:

I heard a tractor on the road and noticed my neighbor driving by with his oldest boy in his arms. He'd been repairing an old tractor for a friend and was taking it for a test drive. It was almost dark by then, so I returned to my little apartment and began cooking dinner. I planned to do a lot of hiking the next day: