About The River

Friday, May 1, 2015

On the Road Friday ~ Down Memory Lane

 Today we are taking a trip down memory lane.
This is one of my favorite photos of my oldest son. I love looking back at photos of my boys when they are little and taking life in.
 Sam started Driver's Ed this week. He is growing into a wonderful young man.

The following photos were taken in 2005. The year of dandelions in my dad's hay field.
I love how the pollen looks like snow. 


And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker." So God made a farmer.
God said, "I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board." So God made a farmer.
"I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife's done feeding visiting ladies and tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon -- and mean it." So God made a farmer.
God said, "I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, 'Maybe next year.' I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain'n from 'tractor back,' put in another seventy-two hours." So God made a farmer.
God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor's place. So God made a farmer.
God said, "I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark. It had to be somebody who'd plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week's work with a five-mile drive to church.
"Somebody who'd bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life 'doing what dad does.'" So God made a farmer.
Paul Harvey's 1978 'So God Made a Farmer' 


Thank you for taking a trip down memory lane with me.

Wishing you a great weekend.


Carla

20 comments:

  1. Precious, treasured photos and I enjoyed Mr. Harvey's writing. Hard to believe Sam is starting driver's ed. Thank you for sharing your boys with us in blogland. Happy May Day!

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  2. Carla, that photo of your dad and Sam is wonderful! What a treasure. What an exciting time - taking driver's ed. Love the Paul Harvey excerpt. That was great!

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  3. Wow...what an amazing shot! Sweet memories...they grow up so quickly, don't they? We are in the midst of driver's ed, too. Yikes!!

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  4. Lovely memories! I love looking through my old photos of my little ones and wondering where the time went. Have a wonderful weekend x

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  5. I never saw so much dandelion fluff in one place. How cute to see your son with his face in the fluff. Good luck with driver's Ed.
    Very cute photos.
    Hugs,
    JB

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  6. What a wonderful trip down memory lane...how soon they grow up---way too soon. That is a LOT of DAMdelion fluff! xo Diana

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  7. What a darling photo, Carla! I want to jump into that woolly softness myself.
    Amalia
    xo

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  8. I love that Paul Harvey commercial. It's on youtube. I can't believe all the pollen. xoxo Su

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  9. I love to look at them too. My son had to do a senior project, gathering 12 picture of his life. I was almost crying while searching through them all as he has grown up so fast. We signed the dotted line on the university he will attend next Fall, yikes I can't believe I will have another one in college.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

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  10. Wow, I love these photos - what a beautiful boy you had! Hard to believe he started Drivers Ed - time flies. I bet he is just as special as ever - keep looking forward to those new memories, new stories, new photos. I know I'm trying - we are in it together girl! xo

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  11. Heartwarming indeed. Our best friends & neighbors are mostly farmers. Our boys did farmwork from picking rock to cultivating and feeding pigs from late elementary thru college..... though we grew up in the cities rural Minnesota is the best....:)

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  12. Great photos, but that last one is extra special. It reminds me of a farmer we saw at noon today (while we were standing outside the BBQ drive-in waiting for our lunch). He was driving a tractor with his little girl in the seat next to him, just like your dad and son. We smiled and waved, and gave him a thumb's up. xo ~ Nancy

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  13. What neat photos! I love looking back on old photos too and reliving the memories :)

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  14. Carla, this was the sweetest post. And that picture! How cute is that little face? I had never read Paul Harvey's piece on farming, thanks for sharing this.

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  15. Carla, I absolutely love this picture of your oldest son. what a treasured picture. And he's starting drivers ed this week! I am so thankful that stage is over with, and all my kids have been driving for years. May God watch over Sam on the roads. Thank you for taking me down memory lane with you. I love old pictures so.

    ~Sheri

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  16. Great to see and share family photo's ... they and our memories are precious.

    All the best Jan

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  17. Great to see and share family photo's ... they and our memories are precious.

    All the best Jan

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  18. What wonderful sweet memories. I loved Paul Harvey. Listened to him all of the time. Janice

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  19. Oh my gosh... that is a lot of dandelion "fluff"! What a fun memory for your sun to be playing in all that!
    Loved reading "So God Made a Farmer". That was new to me.

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  20. What a lot of dandelion fluff! It is an amazing photo and the photo of your son is precious. They really grow fast....

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High Fives from Wisconsin!