my home has a big wrap around porch that makes it more a farmhouse style than cottage. i love farms and have always been drawn to things that remind me of them. baskets of eggs, milking stools, long dining tables, glass milk jugs, calico aprons and warm quilts. i went to school in rural virginia and driving around school was such a treat, rolling fields, big red barns, cows. so i was thrilled to go to the farm with my son this week. we went on a hayride, we watched the farmers milk the cows, we saw the chickens sitting on their eggs, we fed the goats. and i was reminded what farms really are - a lot of stinky hard work. there were bugs and manure piles everywhere, the farmers were sweating and swatting at gnats. the chickens were wild and noisy, the pigs, well you can just imagine the pigs. on our way out, i saw an old lady on the farmhouse porch rocking in a chair sipping on some lemonade overlooking all the activities of the farm. it made me wonder about all the work she had done in her life. and i'm kind of jealous of her experience. God bless her.