twilight and tractor engines

On Sunday Jon and Christopher and I joined Jon's church family at Greenbluff for a late afternoon of pumpkin carving and tractor driving, carmel apples and hot dogs. This event was hosted by a retired farm couple, one of whom collects antique International letter-model tractors. There were at least 6 tractors, the oldest dating back to 1934. I asked to drive his model M Farm-all because it reminds me of my dad's tractor. He helped me get it started and showed me the shifting pattern and how to adjust the choke, then sent me off across the field. As I puttered along in the twilight, across the wide open close-shorn meadow I listened to the sputtering growl of the engine and inhaled the exhause fumes that came back at me from the smokestack on the tractor's top. It reminded me so much of home. The sounds and smells took me back to riding on the tractor while mom and dad made hay or helping pick rocks or even later getting to rake hay and cultivate by myself. There was nothing better than riding home on the tractor at dusk, pleasantly tired and just starting to drouse to the sound of the tractor engine, looking forward to the glowing kitchen windows, washing the field dirt off your hands and face and out of your ears and then a warm supper before bed.