Dear Nature Loving Friends,
There are times when I literally ache because I was not born on a farm. (I did have the pleasure to spend 2 years on a farm, though, when I was a child.) I read wonderful books about farms and I ache more. We just finished Miracles on Maple Hill and again I longed to live on a farm. And here we are again, reading another wonderful, rich, beautiful book and here again I am longing to live in nature! Last night we began reading, Dune Boy, by Edwin Way Teale. After only reading the first three chapters, we are enchanted by his easy going narrative style.
Mr. Teale is writing about his own boyhood summers spent on his grandparents farm near my beloved Indiana Dunes. He spends the first few chapters telling us about his wonderful grandparents. His grandfather was born before the Civil War and was not well educated. However, Mr. Teale makes a good point in that his grandfather was also not spoiled by education either. His grandmother was educated and loved books. She would read aloud every evening and people would drop in to hear her. Just imagine that! She also loved flowers and every beautiful. Together they farmed a plot of land that might not look like a great place with its marshes.
If you can locate this gem, go get it and read it, right away! You too will be blessed. And just perhaps one day I will have a house near the Dunes. It could happen.
~Jenn
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