When I was a child, I always loved a picture on the wall of my Grandma Ida’s bedroom in the old farmhouse where my mother grew up. It was like a "sampler" and it said, "Ost og Vest, Hjem Er Best". Translated from Norwegian, that means "East or West, Home is Best" and I heartily agree with that thought from the picture in my mind’s eye out of the distant past.
Since both Buffaloguy and I have retired from the workaday world, we have travelled a few times to places we wanted to see but never went because we were too busy or too tired from the work routine to take the trips. Now we have travelled to the east coast of the U.S….we regularly travel to the West where a brother lives; we have travelled to Mexico’s west coast’s "Riviera" paradise and we have travelled to the southern U.S. about 4 times taking in the Ozark Mountains and the towns scattered throughout those high hills (little mountains!!) Each time we head for our home in the Upper Midwest, I get a very happy feeling even though we have had a wonderful experience where-ever we have been. Going home is very special.
We have just returned from the Ozark regions and while there we attended a most marvelous concert at the Lawrence Welk Theater. It was a mostly classical concert with excellent artists performing and I am so glad we got to be there. One of the piano artists played the theme from Dvorak’s New World Symphony…the familiar "Going Home" . I was deeply moved hearing that music and I thought of our home.
Home means I can sleep in my own comfortable bed with my own pillows; I can go to bed early and read at my leisure or turn on the venerable little RCA television set which has endured years and years of use in our home and still is going strong (Nature, Mystery, or Law and Order are my best favorites viewed between my toes at night)
I can sit out on the deck in the pale fall sunshine which seems to be farther and farther away each day….but it is still strong and warm when I lean up against the outer wall which exudes warmth on my back; I can go for a walk in the fields close to our house and wander through the tallgrass prairie that is growing up on one part of our land—-Big Bluestem grass is higher than 6 feet tall and causes me to be "lost" in its luxuriant growth. The swish-ah, swish-ah sound of the grass is comforting as the wind plays on the grass like soft violin sound.
Home means I can walk around in my pajamas for half a day if so moved and I can be relaxed and comfortable on my own sofa, in my own recliner, with a book in one hand and a cup of something that warms and comforts me in the other hand. I can go outside in the sunshine and check on the raspberry canes which are ready for thinning and pruning—-when I feel like it!!! I can sit down on the sofa and pet my Kitty-Princess (only when she is in the mood) and enjoy the softness and warmth of her cat- body while I listen to the vigorous purring music she makes for me, showing me that she does really care about me after all!
Home means I can usually find my husband of nearly 48 years somewhere on the place; I might have to look through his pole building and shout above the sound of a welder or some other machine that might be running or I might have to go farther and find him in his big John Deere tractor clipping willows in the river bottoms. I will find him though, because he is as much of a homebody as I am. We love it here on our Buffalo River high bluff overlooking the river and the woods covering the river bottoms. We love seeing the deer and other wildlife that live near us. Flights of geese are rapidly flying South for the winter but new birds are evident….black capped chickadees are here making their "DeeDee Dee" calls. Nuthatches and Downy Woodpeckers are moving into the neighborhood for the winter season. Our people- neighbors are near us and we know that they will be available if there is a need of their immediate help. We are comforted by living in such a nice place as this.
My Grandma Ida’s sampler was so right! East or West…Home IS Best.
