Memories of My Childhood Home - The Big Sky


    I was thinking, because of my recent trip back to the hometown of my youth, about things that I remember  
    from that early period of my life.  What things still stand out in my mind, when I think back to my growing
    up years on the farm. 

    On the last page of this web site, the ETCETERA page, I have put up 5 links to pages of pictures that I 
    took while back in my hometown for the 2005 All School Class Reunion.  What I remember distinctly as 
    a child, is being able to see for miles and miles in every direction.  I did not think this was particularly 
    advantages when I lived there.  I considered the landscape to be uninteresting and boring.  If you look 
    at the hometown pictures I took, you will understand just how flat the land is.  

    But then there is the sky; horizon to horizon.  I remember the sky; always changing - never the same.  
                              
                               
 
   Throughout my life, I have always loved experiencing the thrill of watching thunderstorms.  I suspect that
    my early experiences, living where the sky is such a predominant part of life, helped mold this part of me.
    In my mind's eye I can still see the immense power and force of the big, big storms that would come out
    of the west to envelop us for a time in the excitement of survival.  This is what it was like.    
 
    During the summer, the temperature can get very, very hot where I live.  On these days, often there 
    is not a cloud in the sky.  The bleached out blue color of the sky actually takes on a metallic hue.  
    As the day progresses, the humidity rises along with the temperature.  The air is still; not a 
    breath moving.  By the middle of the afternoon, far to  the west,  just barely visible, coming up over the
    horizon, a few puffy, white clouds begin to appear. 

                                   

    As late afternoon approaches, the few puffy white clouds from early afternoon, join together to
    become giant, towering, cumulous thunderheads. The intense brightness of the sun has been 
    replaced by a sky now turning an ominous, even sinister, greenish, black and purple, the color of violent 
    bruising,  as the storm begins to quickly overtake our farm.  Lightning knifes through  the black 
    clouds with angry, jagged strokes, stabbing the ground then leaping back only to stab again and again. 
    The voice of thunder builds to a roar, becoming ever louder as the storm begins to roll and boil over 
    our heads.

                                    

    Finally, the wind begins to blow and with it comes the rain.  With no barrier of protection, the wind and
    rain pound the ground to mud and whip the trees into a frenzy while stripping them of their leaves.  
    Sometimes when the conditions are just right, hail mixes with the rain and flattens the crops in the fields.
    A farmers nightmare.
    
    As the storm moves on to the east, suddenly the sun appears, the wind drops to a gentle 
    fresh, breeze and the temperature and humidity fall to a comfortable level.  And so life goes on.

    Another aspect of this immense sky, is the display of stars at night.  Because we live in the country,
    there are no city lights to detract from their brilliance.  On a cloudless, moonless night the entire sky 
    is ablaze with countless twinkling lights, of which the big dipper, with the north star sitting just at the tip 
    of its handle, is the most prominent.  And the moon, especially in the fall, the full harvest moon, 
    fills the eastern sky as it rises in majestic, golden splendor so bright at night that lovers out walking 
    about are still being followed by their daytime shadows.

                                                                   

   *And then what has been called one of the most magnificent of all natural phenomenon, the northern 
    lights or more correctly known as the Aurora Borealis, is an occasional visitor for my night time viewing.  
    Because I live snug up against the Canadian border, the northern lights are exceptionally bright and 
    visible across the northern half of the sky, displaying strange and eerie, gently swaying, swirling 
    gossamer veils of red, blue, green, yellow, and violet.  At times I feel that these lights, so ethereal 
    and otherworldly, are giving off a humming sound that only I can hear.  Perhaps a hymn of praise
    to the Creator of this amazingly, beautiful universe.

                              

    I think my memories of the sky in all its many variations, are perhaps the most vivid and fond 
    memories that I have of life on the farm in my early formative years.  I wish that I could experience 
    the same heavenly phenomenon where I live today, but the sky is not so big here, the city is too 
    bright at night, and I now live too far south to even glimpse the northern lights except on very rare
    occasions.  

    But sometimes when we do get a good loud thunder and lightning storm, you will find me once again
    standing at a window trying to see the little bit of sky that is visible from my house.  And then I 
    am a kid again. 
     
   
    Thanks for taking the time to read My Thoughts.  I do hope you enjoyed reading it as much 
    as I enjoyed writing it.


    Going Home 2005 My trip back to my hometown for an all town class reunion.  44 years later........

  * Some information about the northern lights from Answers.com
      Copyright © 1999 - 2005 by gurunet; Online Encyclopedia, Thesaurus, Dictionary definitions and more.  
      All rights reserved. 

    Photo 1: Credit: Lois Bravo - Sky over Sam's Club parking lot.  Summer, 2005

    Photo 2: Credit: Jon Sullivan  PDPhoto.org is a repository for public domain photos. It's fantastic.

    Photo 3: Credit: Dave Schmidt  Lightning in the hills across town. Summer, 2004

    Photo 4: Credit: Simu Location Switzerland.  More moons on the Etcetera page.  A poem - The Moon.

    Photo 5:  Credit:Mark Urwiller  Five miles outside Kearney Nebraska.
                    Web site where this photo is found NASA
 

     Learn more about the harvest moon - why it looks the way it does
     Check out the harvest moon a NASA site.
     Also Earth and Sky  sky watching center.   

     Earth from Moon: A Different Perspective
        - This link Earth from the Moon: will take you to a NASA search page.  
          Type Harvest Moon into the search space.  Click GO.
           On the second item titled  EO Newsroom: New Images, 
           click on the highlighted URL just under the text of EO Newsroom: New Images
           An interesting photo - it might be worth the effort.

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    P. S.  The My Thoughts Archives link is located on the Etcetera page.