A Place with A View

Ever since we found that we had the power to obtain a mortgage, I have dreamed of having a second one, or the second home that comes with it - a vacation place. Being from Michigan, the "vacation place" is a common thing. So, now, I actually DO have a second place, but not in the way I imagined! My former primary residence has still not sold, but I am living in my second primary residence in Iowa. . .hmm. . .not my dream situation and Iowa was never really on the radar for that the state to hold my vacation dreams. Although, as an aside, Iowa may be on the verge of a vacation destination trend. I personally know TWO people who have vacation property in the state. OK - a vacation home. When dreaming about said second-residence, I always imagined it would have a great view. I have vacation snapshots in my memory that form the perfect view - the water, the mountians. . .So, here I am, now living in Iowa, in a primary residence (although, I still have that non-view-like back-up residence in Chicago) that actually possesses a gorgeous view! Go figure! Again, I never imagined that this ideallyic house & view would be procured in the corn state.

But, here it is, this fall at sunrise. I have found that corn and soy fields offer their own viewing aura, and it's an aura that changes with the seasons. When we moved in, in August, our view was one of healthy green plants, bursting with the stuff that powers this state's economy. Over the next weeks, we were able to watch the plants prepare themselves for harvest. They slowly truned to a brilliant shade of gold before fading to the pre-harvest brown in October. As the harvest began, our view changed to a patchwork of half-plowed fields as the farmers completed what they could as the weather allowed. The partially-mowed landscape was dotted with huge red and green farm toys that slowly made their way around our house. Now, as winter sets in, the fields are flat, either showing the remnants of the harvest season or the neatly turned rows of a field that has been fall-tilled in preparation for next spring's plantings. On any given day, we can see black and brown dots that are the neighborhood cows grazing on the left-overs, or perhaps we can spy the orange jackets of the hunters seeking pheasant and deer. These plains of Iowa don't boast mountains, for sure, but they certainly boast a knock-out, if unexpected view. And, I am lucky enought to get that view in my actual home, not in a second, vacation-home in some far-flung location. Of course, I still pine for the fairy-tale concept of owning a vacation home, but I imagine the view would be different, and, of course, it's something I cannot consider until I am ready to part with my back-up home back in Chicago.