The 12 Days of Christmas #4

The weather has finally improved to the point of being tolerable so I wandered town during my lunch hour, trying to capture a few oddities that make our town so unique. I marveled at this field corn that had no doubt survived many stops and starts balanced precariously on the edge of the combine intake as it traveled down the highway on the back of a semi. It is a feast-in-the-making for a lucky bird this winter.

At the end of Main Street there lies a yard of green farm implements, mostly older, awaiting willing takers in need of a good deal. Or, being of no more use to anyone, they sit there as potential parts donors for repair work on newer models.
The farm implements also sit in lots scattered through town and at the edge of town, so that as you drive the streets and turn the corners, there is no doubt that this is an agricultural community.

They save the shiny ones for Main Street.

Noticing my camera and my oddly out of place activities for a small town ("What is she DOING? Where is she going to put those pictures? These out-of-state girls are so ODD!" Is she WALKING? In the middle of WINTER?" is what the town natives are saying), this nice trucker pulled over to pick me up and save me from embarrassing myself further. He was hauling wheat from Brockway to Wolf Point and offered to buy me lunch. Don't tell Danish Cowboy.

The nice trucker even offered to drive me back to work so as to save myself from even further embarrassment, but I declined. Christmas had yet to be documented.
The few storefronts that we have as well as our three blocks of Main Street have all been lovingly decorated. They are simple, but it is what we have.
So every day, when I see Main Street looking like this, I am pleased when I walk out of my office and see Main Street all lit up. I am reminded of what my friend's daughter remarked about the lights of Jordan, Montana a few years ago. My friend had gone home from work, picked her daughter up, and headed up town for some groceries. Seeing the simple lights and the decorated tree in the middle of Main Street, her daughter remarked:

"Oh, Mom! Aren't they beautiful!"

Sometimes the best things in life aren't the fanciest or newest or glitziest. These lights ARE beautiful and the philosophy of a child will remind me of that forever.