Green Hills I Love

This is Doughty Valley. It's down in Amish country, where Doughty Creek runs through a long valley in southern Homes County. I discovered it many years ago and it's a place I take people who think Ohio is a nowhere place. It's only one of many beautiful places I long to see in the winter when the roads are bad. This is a pretty isolated spot, difficult to find, along a lot of twisty, hilly roads. I have taken many photographs of it in all seasons, even in snow one year when the roads had been well cleared, but the hills still white-blanketed. I took this particular picture some years ago when Polly was home for a visit. Everyone I've ever taken to this place has loved it. They just stand and look at it and sigh. Peace.

It is almost completely quiet, except for the whirring of a windmill and the tinkle of cow bees. Once when I was there in late afternoon, in about the center of this picture, I saw a young Amish boy leading a long line of cows from the hills in back to the red barn you can see behind the white house. I've been there when a farmer in a horse drawn mower was cutting hay. There's a meadow close to the road, which you can't see in this picture, and there are usually a couple of horses which occasionally break into a gallop. There are no telephone poles or wries to obstruct the view. I'd love to be there on a night when there's a full moon.

I'm always worried that one day when I go down there, I'll discover a housing development right in the middle of those lovely hills, the road widened, and a strip mall in place of the horse meadow. Heaven forfend!!