What a view!

Friend Wendy and I drove around the country on Saturday, a beautifully overcast day with intermittent sprinkles. Our weather has been rainy for the past few days, which is a great blessing in our semiarid climate. In consequence, wheat fields are a carpet of green, a wonderful change from their state after our very dry winter.

This particular abandoned homestead stood on top of a hill that dominated the landscape. The hill fell off quickly to the south, giving the occupants a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside. I always wonder why people have left their homes. What was their story? Were they chased away by one of the successive farm crises that made working the land untenable for greater numbers of people? Or was there simply no one who wanted to take up the land when the previous generation could no longer farm it? I’ll probably never know the answer.

No matter the cause for this homestead’s abandonment, the view is still spectacular.