Years ago, I started walking with my dogs early in the mornings. First I had my best ever dog, Oscar, along with me. Later, after Oscar crossed the rainbow bridge, I got Frankie and then Marley who go for my morning walks with me now. On my Facebook author page, I started inviting my FB friends to go along with us as I shared the Sunday Morning Coming Down here on the farm. The idea for the morning title, Sunday Morning Coming Down, comes from a country song, but the singer’s Sunday mornings are much different from mine. Just the title is all that is the same.
I’m blessed that many of my readers do enjoy “walking” along with us on Sunday mornings. If you use Facebook, you may have strolled along with us on a Sunday morning or two. Also, you may see the memories that pop up for you of posts from the past. In my memory posts, I started seeing some of the old Sunday Morning Coming Down posts. I thought it interesting how they have changed over the years. For one thing, I’ve gotten wordier. But early on Facebook limited the number of words you could have. Now I guess they’d let you write a book and you may think I sometimes do.
I love seeing the sun come up. I love hearing the morning birds sing. I loved having patient Oscar walking with me and always being sure to stay close. I like Frankie’s energetic races across the fields. He does keep an eye on me and/or trails me if something distracts him and he either gets way ahead or way behind. I admire Marley’s persistent following even though he’s getting old for walks. I love it that many of you share your Sunday mornings with me. I hope you’ll enjoy taking a walk back through time on some past August Sundays.
Oscar is along for the first walks of the past.
August 9, 2014
Sunday morning coming down. Out with Oscar this a.m. after missing two early Sunday walks with him while on vacation. He had to go explore the treasures of morning by himself those days, but today we find them together. Sun up and pushing streaks through the trees in the fence row to set the grass to sparkling. Fog lingers in low places and the heavy dew spreads jewels on the hay field grass and reveals the webs that dozens of spiders have spun among the tall grass and weeds. Now the webs drip with dewdrop diamonds. A cardinal sits high in a tree, a spot of red on a bare branch and calls to his lady again and again. In the garden, the sunflowers stretch high toward the sky as if to say, “Look at me! Look at me!” Perhaps that’s what the cardinal is saying too. Back at my flower bed, the bees are already about their work, buzzing among the flowers. A good day to be about the work of life. Hope you have a beautiful day coming your way.
Sunday morning coming down August 7 2016
Sunday morning coming down. The sun is well up when Oscar and I go out. A beautiful morning after a front went through last night to cool the air that is now especially clear. The sun spotlights the tree tops and the neighbor’s barn on the hilltop across the way. I go by the garden where the raccoons have destroyed the corn and I try not to look. No corn for the freezer this year. Oscar is obviously not a coonhound. We move on out through the hay field where the Queen Anne’s lace blooms are turning brown and going to seed. Nature’s cycle. Blooms and seeds. Birds chirp and call, spreading the bird world news. The air seems totally still, but then I note just a touch of breeze making the poplar tree leaves shiver. A lovely day coming our way. Hope you are looking forward to a good Sunday.
August 13, 2017
Sunday morning coming down. A quiet day greets us when we go out the door. Oscar hurries to do the necessary and then settles down to wait. I find him a stick. He can’t chase them anymore but he likes to chew on them. Guess I fetched for him! Out in the hayfield the purple top grass shimmers with dew as the sun begins to light up the treetops on the other side of the field. Only a trace of a cloud along the horizon breaks the solid blue as a beautiful Sunday is in the offing. No deer peek out of the woods. No cows are licking at the mineral tub, but one cow somewhere out of sight moos for her calf to come to breakfast. Two crows fly away with companionable caws. I listen for something else to share and think I’m hearing a bug chirping, but then a bird flits between the trees, still chirping away. Very glad the bugs aren’t that big. As I head back along the quiet path to find Oscar’s breakfast, I admire the neighbor’s barn sitting in a pool of sunlight over on the far hill. What a blessing to have this cool perfect summer day without the August muggies. Hope you are looking forward to a beautiful day too
August 12, 2018
(Frankie was my walking companion in 2018 and he was always ready to get going. Here he is surely saying, what’s taking you so long. Marley joined our family later.)
Sunday morning coming down. No sign of the sun when we go out this day. That’s not exactly true. It is daylight which means the sun is doing its job, but thick fog rising from the rain drenched ground is hiding any sight of its golden rays. Frankie does sight a rabbit as soon as we go out the door, but the rabbit sights us too and slides under the gate and scurries away. Frankie watches but doesn’t even bother chasing. He knows he can’t get under the gate. We slip out the gate on the other side of the yard and head out into the hayfield. I stay on the tractor road while Frankie wades out into the grasses to sniff for something to pounce on – bugs, rabbits, moles, whatever he can sniff out. Because of the fog, it’s a day to listen more than see. The neighbor rooster crows and then an odd sound that has Frankie’s head up listening. Not a dog. Not a cow. Not a bird. Well, maybe a bird. Perhaps a hen over the way complaining about the rooster waking her up. We head on and I wade out into the grass with Frankie. Spiderwebs are laced everywhere in the grass. One or two black-eyed Susans are a bright touch of color among the green. The bugs are calling, the cheery bird is singing, and the dove is cooing. Can’t hear the traffic from the road but a plane rumbles past, invisible in the fog. We head back by the garden where a big spiderweb drapes down from a tree. No spider now. The tattered web is like a house past repair, deserted and ready to be torn down by the wind. Or perhaps by somebody walking into it. But this time I manage to dodge it and head on to the house, damp but blessed by the morning sounds. Time to get the day started. Wishing you blessings on this August Sunday.
And so I do wish you August blessings here in 2022 as well.
Did you enjoy this stroll back through time? Maybe I’ll do it again sometime.
Comments 18
This was beautiful! I shared it with a friend.
Author
How nice, Lauren. Glad you enjoyed it and I appreciate you sharing my walks with a friend.
I enjoy your Sunday morning walks. Not sure exactly when I first joined you, but I remember Oscar as your faithful companion. I love to see and hear nature through your eyes of your beautiful country surroundings. It’s always a pleasant Sunday morning. Thanks for letting us share it with you.
Author
You’ve been walking with me for a while if you went with Oscar and me, Connie. I didn’t realize I’d been doing the Sunday Morning Coming Down so long until these memories popped up on my FB. The time does slide by. But it’s been fun have some of you going along with me on those Sunday morning walks. It has made me pay more attention to the sounds and sights here on the farm so that I can describe them. I always think that you all might get tired of them, but one thing is sure. Frankie hasn’t gotten tired of going out on every morning to see what he can sniff.
Thank you for sharing, Ann. Have a blessed week.
Author
Thank you for reading my this and that, Lucy. I always smile when I see your comments because I’m glad to know you read my post.
I enjoyed “walking” with you this morning — especially because I’m currently housebound with a broken bone in my foot.
Your photo of the huge spiderweb bejeweled with dewdrops is wonderful!
Author
Oh no, Roberta. Hope your foot heals quickly, but a broken bone can definitely impede walking. So glad you came along with me virtually.
I do enjoy taking pictures of spiderwebs with the dew outlining every strand of the web. I took a new picture of one this morning. Good thing everything is digital these days and I don’t have to feel guilty wasting film to take a picture of a spider web. LOL. I did a post about spider webs back in 2017. Maybe I should re-post it. But in case I don’t and you’d like to see it, here is the link. https://www.annhgabhart.com/2017/08/13/natures-hidden-marvels/ I use the same spider web picture, I think.
I loved your words. I used to love to take pictures of sunrises and sunsets. Such a wonderful, beautiful, and calm time of the day to soak in God’s majestic sights. Maybe some day I will start taking pictures again…I miss it.
Author
Sunrises and sunsets can be beautiful, Pamela. I just point and shoot with my phone camera and get lucky with a great picture now and again. Sounds like you might be more on the professional side with a camera that you dial this way or that. 🙂 But for sure, taking pictures of the early morning sunrise or the evening sunsets is a way to, as you say, soak in the Lord’s majesty.
I always enjoy your walks.
Author
Thank you, Lisa. So glad to have you along to share the sights. 🙂
I always love to hear your words/thoughts/heart–you are such a positive person and have such a great outlook. I always get a lift and a blessing from any journey you take us on. You are a joy-spreader this cloudy August morning. 🙂
Author
What kind words, Amy. Thank you so much. I do hope my Sunday morning coming down posts bring a little color and the feel of nature to readers. I do very much appreciate your encouraging words. So glad you want to journey along with me in my writing.
So nice to take these walks with you and your sweet dogs. Keep them coming.
Author
Glad you enjoyed them, Sharon. Maybe I will share some more on another post. I had fun looking back at what I saw those other years on the same August mornings but different years. Something like a time capsule.
I enjoyed reading your strolls back in time. We love to go hiking
in Bernheim Forest every chance we get.
Author
Berneim Forest is a fabulous place to do some hiking, Grace. I wish I lived closer to take in more of the place. We did hike around and look at all the wood sculptures a couple of years ago. They are amazing. The whole place is amazing and such a gift to us here in Kentucky.