Friday, March 28, 2014

No place like home


Once upon a time there was a little red haired girl who left her home to travel around the world.  She flew in big and small airplanes, rode in cars on the wrong side of the road, and ate food
she did not know.
She was very happy.

 But now and then she thought about
her friends back home 
and wondered if they thought about her.

 Days and months passed
and although she continued to be happy

 she began to dream of the time
when she would once again return
to her home.

 One day as she was walking along a wooded path,
a friendly hawk swooped down and began to speak to her (with a French accent!).
"Silly girl!  Why do you visit all these countries
when you have the very same beauty in your own back yard?"

Aside from the fact that she was shocked that the hawk could speak with a French accent, 
she gathered her wits about her and exclaimed, "Excuse me?"



"Yes, I have been observing you 'oohing' and 'aahing' beautiful sights, 
but don't you remember the beautiful sights you have in your own back yard?"
  
With a tilt of her head, the little red haired girl said, 
"Well, yes, I do remember.  Like the northern pines and their reflections 
bouncing amid the shoreline waters."

"Oh, and the lighthouses!  How I love their twinkling search light."

"And I do so love the boats, especially at sunset, when golden light plays on their decks. "

"Oh, Mr. Hawk, you are so right," said the little red haired girl with a loud sigh.
"I didn't need to leave my own backyard to see such beauty.
It was there all along!"

The Hawk leaned down closer to the little red haired girl and whispered, "I overheard a scarecrow once telling of a story where this little girl was lost in some land called Oz and was so missing her home that a Wizard told her that if she clicked her shoes 3 times and repeated ' There's no place like home, there's no place like home,'  that she would somehow be transported home."

The little red haired girl looked down at her blue tennis shoes and said, "Really?"

The Hawk said, "Yep, that's what I heard.  You might give it a try.
But now, I must be off.  There's a lion in distress.  Something about a mouse.
Arrivederci!"

With a broad swoop of his wings, the hawk took flight.  
The little red haired girl thought about what he had said.  
She had seen many beautiful sights 
but she did long to return home.   


And before the hawk was fully out of view,
the little red haired girl closed her eyes and tapped her blue tennis shoes and said, 
"There's no place like home.
There's no place like home.
There's no place like ..... "


Home.
It was just that fast that she found herself once again in her
own backyard!

Happy to have returned home, the little red haired girl never ever wanted to leave again.

Well, at least for a while anyway!

(P.S.  We had some wonderful travel experiences over the last 6 months, 
but it has also been wonderful to spend some time here in beautiful Maine.  
Even in the winter, which was when all of these images were taken.)