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I have always had a thing for single trees, and I find myself taking more pictures of them. As well, as wondering why people will leave just one tree in the middle of hundreds of acres. The above is actually in someones backyard, or almost their backyard looking out over farmland. I like the way it leans and curves.
The above was taken just to show the clouds...they almost don't look real.
This one was actually in a pasture, and it had a partner. I wonder if they were left for shade for cattle...or what for. They make the whole scene inviting...makes one want to have a picnic under its branches.

The above photo was taken by Roger.

But if you want to talk inviting...doesn't that little face above just make your heart melt? We spent the day with her and her mom, and her daddy got home before we left. I think kitties are cute and puppies are cute, but oh my, when it comes to babies. They are so innocent and so adorable....you can't stand to think of them being hurt or hungry or sick. You just want to protect them the rest of their lives. I told Roger we better hold her all we can, because before we turn around she will be up and about and too busy to want to be held much.

You've got mail...

Please click to enlarge for better viewing.

We went for a little drive yesterday...and came across this mailbox. It is one I had never seen before. I like to find the unusual and I must say this one was.

I really enjoy email, and would be lost without it now. Yet there is nothing like a handwritten note or letter. I am not sure how many of you know that Neal and I come from a big family...there were 8 of us children. So by the time I could remember, three of my sisters had left home, and then another one left before I started school. If I remember correctly, I was in about 5th grade before we got a phone--it was a party line at that. (More about that later.) Anyway, even after we got the phone, we just did not make long distance calls. Money was too tight. So letters was our means of keeping in touch.

Anyway, the rural mail did not come to our area till later...so we had to get our mail at the post office. When we were in school that was fine since we passed right by it every weekday and could pick it up. But in the summer, a special trip had to be made....sometimes one of my brothers road their bike down to get it, others another brother would pick it up if he was down there. The post office was about a mile away...not far. If walking, we walked the railroad cause it was an even shorter distance.

It was almost like Christmas to get a letter from one of my sisters, or even Neal after he left home. If I picked one up after school, I flew up that railroad as fast as I could go. Soon as mom got it, she would take time from whatever she was doing and sit down and read it aloud to all of us that happened to be there, with all of us hanging on to her every word. Such joy that just a few written lines could bring.

I mentioned being on a party line...there were four of us families on it. I can remember who two of the others were, but I cannot remember the fourth. So maybe I am wrong and there were only three....but that is not important. What is important is this. One of my best friends was on it. I cannot remember the exact way we were able to call each other...if we called each other the way you normally do, we would get a busy signal. I know we dialed a number, not sure if it was the right phone number or some other number, and quick hung up our phone and let it ring, and then when we thought it was picked up by the other, then pick our own phone up.

You might ask was was special about that...there were 4 or 5 of us girls that had went through grade school together and we tended to stick together in high school. Well, if there was something we were working on in school, Becky and I might talk. We would hang up and she would call one of the other girls, I would give her time to get them called, and then I would pick up on my end and the three of us could talk. We were ahead of the time!

Even with the phone, some of us girls wrote letters back and forth...and I still really enjoy getting a letter. Even if it is typed, there is just something about holding it in my hand. Maybe somehow I am unconsciously thinking about the fact that my hand is holding something that a loved one's hand has held. Not sure. I just know I still enjoy getting a letter, but that does not happen often these days.

So I eagerly await Christmas cards, and the ones that have a note in them add something to the season. But do I write notes in the ones I send--no. It is usually a hectic time and I don't...though there are always one or two that I write in. People that I don't hear from except at Christmas. I hope it adds as much to their day as it does when I hear from someone.

Doors

I took two or three pictures of the barn above last fall...the other day when we went fishing and came home a round-about way and passed it again..I took this and a couple more of it. I just love the style of it. I like the colors, I like the lightening rods. You know though, I just now got to really noticing all the doors. Wouldn't you love to know what this barn was used for? And why had I not noticed them before.
It makes even less sense when I tell you that I seen this barn for the first time when I took this and a couple more photos of it. When I enlarged it, one of the first things I noticed about it is the little door in the center...the one that is about one third of the way up. It is a regular door below it, but it is kind of hard to tell that it is a door because it blends in so well.

That little square door above it really has my curiosity up...I would love to know what it is for. And I also wonder why I really noticed it but all the white doors on the other barn barely registered.