Skywatch Friday

You have to know how to look at this country. You have to slow down. It isn’t pretty, but it’s beautiful.
–Kent Haruf in West of Last Chance
In the weeks before I went to North Dakota in June, I spoke to a couple people out there and the weather always came up in conversation, mainly the hope for rain to “green things up some.” Green it was, but every so often we’d come across a view like this of a pale ocean of prairie grass laid out to the horizon. More often than not there weren’t any trees to mark the edge of vision, the sky and clouds a kaleidoscope of moods, the play of sunlight on the land the only thing to distinguish one moment from the next.

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21 thoughts on “Skywatch Friday”

  1. Lovely photo and I like the comment under the photo that says to “Slow down” You have to know how to look at this country, It isn’t pretty, but it’s beautiful. You have to slow down. It Says that it is written by Kent Haruf. I really enjoy that comment, it is true, I think that we’d all find a lot more beauty in the world if we would just slow down!! Great post!!!!

  2. What a wonderful and calm view, Laura! Beautiful photo!

    I would like to invite you to join us on Ecological Day, in September 2, on my blog. You can see how to join on my page.

    Have a nice weekend.

  3. Flat landscapes are were I come from, and they are my passion to this day,
    and the one you captured is exquisitely beautiful!

    I have read Haruf’s “Plainsong” and “Eventide” and both books speak of a person who slows down to take a careful look at more than landscapes.

  4. That is a beautiful scene…when I see the flat land around here and in pictures like this I cannot help but think what the earlier settlers must have thought when they found it.

  5. I love Kent Haruf’s novels. The quote fits the point of view he is conveying in his work.
    I do love what you do with photos.

  6. All: Thanks for the nice comments.

    Merisi and KGMom: Kent Haruf is a favorite of mine and I found this new book just recently – desperate for something new from him!

  7. I love the wide open spaces, the green, the sere grass and that gentle sky.. all in perfect proportions. A picture for meditation.

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