Shadows, Shade
Two weeks ago I was out on Highway 6 and thought I would take a back way home. I wasn’t paying very close attention, however, and when I turned off the highway, I was driving East when I thought I was driving North. Had I turned left onto American Legion Road when I had the chance, I would have made it home, but instead I wound up in West Branch. A twenty-minute errand had turned into an hour’s detour.
Even so, I had never traveled those roads on which I was lost (inasmuch as one can get lost on Iowa’s unvarying grid), and despite the preponderance of cornfields and hog confinements, driving them reminded me of the back roads of Arkansas, and it awakened a small yearning for a return to rural life. That yearning or something like it drew me back yesterday with the camera.
Shadows
Not far off the highway I saw a high-roofed building with no roof, only trusses. No one was around, so I stepped inside. It was close to noon. The sun beat down and cast shadows from the trusses above.
Shade
Elsewhere, I discovered that modern farm equipment has uses besides farming.
I took a few other photographs on the drive, some of which I’m fond (like this one of a red-tailed hawk), but which didn’t particularly fit this post thematically. If you’re interested, you can see them on Flickr (start with the link and go left).
