A Quiet Day

There are some days here on the farm where it is just quiet.  It might be environmental factors, like air pressure or humidity, but some days are just quiet.  Maybe it’s the blanket of clouds in the sky, holding the noise to a minimum and allowing the Earth to nap.  All I know is that it is quiet.  No people asking me questions about what to harvest or when.  No dogs barking, frogs croaking or chickens cackling.  No trucks or tractors on the road.  No sounds of distant combines.  Just quiet.

 

And birds.  I can hear the little twitter of birds but even they are soft background whispers.  Not like the loud honking of geese in the spring and fall or the shrill cries of crows in mid-summer as their young get old enough to fly; just the occasional flutter of wings and soft chirps as they go about the business of finding food – be it bug or nectar. 

Even the ever-present North Dakota wind is quiet today, preferring to keep things to a small breeze, just barely enough to move the leaves on the top of the trees. Not even a sound from the softly fluttering wind sock.  Usually you can hear the trees moving and swaying, the leaves rustling together and the branches waving.  But not today.  Today is quiet. 

The outside world has all but disappeared today.  I can feel it.  No phone calls, no IM Yahoo’s, no pings from the email.  Just quiet.

I have struggled to maintain the quiet.  I turned off the fans in the bedrooms.  I turned off the fan on the furnace – no need for air conditioning today and the temperature has stayed a comfortable one so need to move more air.  I have left all devices on stand-by for later use – no radio, no television.  Just quiet.

This is a day for a book.  This is a day for a nap.  This is a day for drawing or painting a picture as the world sits quietly to be immortalized in charcoal or ink.  This is a day for prayer and silent reflection or meditation. 

This is a day.  A quiet day.  For tomorrow we shall resume our regularly scheduled chaos and clatter.