# The Meadow



## tinacrabapple (Aug 4, 2016)

The Meadow

This is a description of the meadow running off the dirt road just down the way from my house.

You enter the meadow by turning onto a tractor trail.  You leave behind the road and the peeling farm house that once gleamed from a slick coat of blue paint.  The trail is like a magic path into God’s country.  The heavy grooves revolve deep into the mud from continuous planting seasons.  Boot prints from a duck hunter and paw prints running parallel pressing into the waves of mud flattening the petrified wheel imprint.

As you walk down this trail, you may notice that you are surrounded by a sea of flatten yellow grass from the weight of the winter’s snow, now melted.  One of a conservatively fiscal nature, may wonder why the  farmer never harvested his hay. The sea feels endless, as the meadow is of a luxurious space, like a pent-house apartment found at the top of a skyscraper.  No money can buy this kind of beauty; it is untouchable.

It is truly alluring to listen to all the variety of bird calls busy in the evening twilight.  They are hidden in the whithered grasses and bare trees.  Although Spring is still in her infancy, she only reveals what she wants.  It is a great secret. How does she  keeps her little creatures hidden and safe, when so much is still exposed?  

I hear and see a mated pair of geese fly overhead while honking excitedly.  It is as if they are spring’s herald, a great friend coming up the long driveway honking in great excitement to be present and see you.  From this vision my eyes descend on the first pair of hosting trees that invite one into the apple orchard.  The trees are bare, but the branches are straight and angular, rigid from years of producing a gratifying seasoned crop of apples.  They stand erect saluting and assuring the farmer that this year will be as good, if not better, than the previous year.  

The trees are small and filed in short rows, widen enough for the picker to circle the tree to find the best pick of fruit without knocked into its neighbor.  It makes one smell and taste the crisp first bite. I imagine all these things and have a vision of the apple blossoms emerging.  I will come here and sit under the trees in my chair, while the child plays about with sticks.  This is my hope for spring as I neglect my house and husband’s meals.

Beyond this small orchard, the track meanders along a local river with high eroding banks and waterfowl bobbing on its rippling current.  The mated geese return raising my eye to follow their honking once more.  The one mate is honking louder than the other, but they stay airborne flying and arching side-by-side.  One is more upset, but the other stays flying lower or higher, but always staying close.  It is an urgent kind of honk and I wonder what could be the cause of such dismay.   Finally the honking ends with a great splash in the river, as if a cool bath will calm the fellow off and give his poor mate some relief.  

I circle back into the orchard again leaving the river behind with a view into the blackened hills under the gray sky.  It is not a beautiful evening awash in color, but there are so many other sensations, one does not miss the clarity of a cloudless sky.  It is the peace and serenity of nature’s symmetry.  Everything is aesthetically just so, because evolution weeds out what does not belong.  There is never too much, but always just enough in the space of this particular meadow. The ecology of this little patch thrives in a beauty that I can never find in my daily travels, but I come to for inspiration so I may bring it back into my own place of habitat.


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## Plasticweld (Aug 6, 2016)

Just a thought, being a little be familiar with some of your writing.  See how it reads if you leave out the word "I" and just let the observations speak for themselves.   Example instead of "I circle back to the orchard" let the reader envision themselves in your scene.   Same as "I will come here and sit under the trees" 

I think you have made some good universal points that anyone can identify with, I think that you have the ability with your skills to really draw them into the meadow and what your feeling by making them see some of this stuff through their eyes instead of yours...As I said just a thought.


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## tinacrabapple (Aug 7, 2016)

Hi Plasticweld,

I appreciate you taking the time to read this piece.  I often get this kind of feedback, so i think you are very accurate in your suggestion.  The writer's voice that interferes with the audience's reading pleasure.  I will strongly consider this when writing my next piece.


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## escorial (Aug 7, 2016)

i read it as your emotional experience and feeling towards the environment you are often exposed to...it was bursting with enthusiasm and full of vitality...i myself was more interested in your passion than the actual scene........


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## tinacrabapple (Aug 8, 2016)

Thank you for reading.  I am glad that the piece touched you in whatever way.


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## Bard_Daniel (Aug 9, 2016)

I'm with escorial on this one. It was great to see the enthusiasm that you had for your setting but I found the details of its realization less interesting to me than the viewpoint. 

Just my two cents!


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## Donnam (Aug 10, 2016)

I was enthralled right until the end. I loved the way your passion, love and care for the environment shone through and put me there in the meadow with you.  Concluding paragraph was great.  So many good parts but I think the touch of magic for me was, "I hear and see a  mated pair of geese fly overhead while honking excitedly.  It is as if  they are spring’s herald, a great friend coming up the long driveway  honking in great excitement to be present and see you." I can still hear those geese honking in my ear and feel the inner exciting when someone drives up my land honking while I am typing this. Thank you. A real pleasure to read.


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## DATo (Aug 11, 2016)

I enjoyed reading this very much. I could almost feel myself walking beside you as you traveled through this narration.

Very, _VERY_ small points ... you might consider changing "evolution" to "nature" and I think you might have meant "flattened" where you wrote "flatten".

Thank you for sharing this. Reading it was a beautiful way for me to start my day!

[:- )


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## WildPolitics (Aug 17, 2016)

Wonderful insight about what surrounds you. I enjoyed it very much. You took me to the apple trees and the river. I saw the sea of yellow grass and I heard the geese.
I especially loved these two lines:
'_Although Spring is still in her infancy, she only reveals what she wants. It is a great secret. How does she keeps her little creatures hidden and safe, when so much is still exposed?_'
'_It is the peace and serenity of nature’s symmetry. Everything is aesthetically just so, because evolution weeds out what does not belong_.'
Beautiful.


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## tinacrabapple (Aug 19, 2016)

Thank you so much.  I really appreciate the feedback.  It is good to remember that I can compose something worth reading and sharing.  I am glad you were able to enjoy this.


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## tinacrabapple (Aug 19, 2016)

Dato and Donnam- Thank you also for reading this and providing feedback.  I am so glad you enjoyed reading this piece- whether over a beer ot a morning cup of coffee or simply taking a break from work.  It makes me so happy and encourages me to want to write something else.


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