The Ranch

Let me take you for a walk.

It is the Espinosa family ranch near Calistoga.

 

I did some growing up on this unchanging land.

Everything is just as I remember as a child.

Everything in it's same place.

 

With guitar in hand,

and my pet goat at my side,

I spent many hours wandering here as a young girl.

Today is a rainy, somber, yet beautiful day,

for both grandparents have passed.

Mama and Papa are gone,

 

leaving their love behind.

For this dirt, and all that has life therein, is how they loved.

 

The ranch is a peaceful, beautiful place.

My sister and her son have lived there.

They have always lived on this land,

always known Papa's love.

This was where our Papa could often be found,

colorful words flying at his attempts to keep machinery working.

The scent of tractor grease is gone,

but in our memories, will remain still longer.

This is the field that grew rocks.

Seriously. 

We never understood how.

They just kept popping up out of the ground.

Year after year.

My cousins tell stories of hot summers spent picking up rocks.

The wood pile remains.

Tools lie untouched.

Papa's work worn hands searched this jar for the perfect bolt,

so many years ago.

Tools that toiled the land for years line the shed wall,

A phone hangs quiet and unused.

This is the table were we gathered for dinners.

Papa taught me to drink beer at a very young age,

and eat the world's sweetest red onions that only he could grow.

He would remind me where 'my spot' on the ranch was, 

just by the pond in back,

for these grandparents often talked of this place being for their family.

For generations to come.

Here is where Papa hung his hat.

My sister's little red straw hat hung next to his.

Both hats are gone now.

This is where the young took a bath.

It was a sad day when one was 'too old'.

 I love this world.

It stands still in time.

It is beautiful.

But it never belonged to me. 

My heart was called away to a distant place with My Love.

But I am thankful for my Sister and her Son and their Loves 

who carry on the vision

and keep the beauty.