Leatherwood Farm, Bluefield VA.

The long journey across Virginia has brought me to a small part of heaven. Every morning I wake up to the sound of birds singing their welcome to spring. In the distance I can hear a horse or two snorting and neighing.

I am surrounded by a small farmhouse, paddocks for the horses and a few barns where the horses are stabled. A forest of trees hugs one border, they go on for days as they reach the top of the East River mountain. Down another end you can see a brook making its way toward the low lying ground. The grass is green providing sustenance to the horses and occasional deer.

I can smell blossoms, mixed in with straw and earthly freshness. Dandelions caress the tops of the blades of grass. First a tractor putters past on its way to do a days work, then the John Deer lawnmower goes on duty, chomping away at the rolling lawns creating an even tone of curves and lines.

I can abandon my watch, time does not exist. I sleep when I am tired, eat when hungry and wake up when I feel rested.

I can’t sit still and absorb the beauty though, there is so much space my legs itch to be stretched. I climb over a wooden fence post and head in to the woods. The gentle trickling of the brook my companion, the leaves and dried out branches from the past winter crunch beneath every step. I can feel that I am no longer at sea level as my lungs start to feel the gradient.

When I have had my fill of seeing trees and need the sun to warm my skin, I burst out of the forest and into another paddock. Down in the valley the house and barn now look like toy replicas.

There is a lovely breeze that cools my skin when I have absorbed a few rays. I start to head home and something catches my attention. At first I think they may be foals but these are light on their feet. A second, more concentrated glance confirms they are deer among the horses in the distance. A squirrel scurries across an old tree trunk that lies parallel to the ground. He looks at me and decides that I am a threat, disappearing into the think bush.

I haul my body over a few more fences and am greeted by two very friendly horses. I play hide-and-seek with these majestic creatures and finally make my way back to the trailer that I get to stay in, sun setting over this scene.