The Ozarks

As the rising sun threw strands of golden light through the trees, I drove an hour up into the Ozark mountains this morning to a little town called Shell Knob.
I performed the show for 70 kids at Shell Knob Elementary.
What a blessing of a morning! The hilly country side held white farm houses with green shutters nestled next to creeks and tall trees. The road was a roller coaster, winding up then down, left then right. It was as if someone had scrunched the ground together, the way a rug sometimes gets pushed all toward the middle when someone runs across it with a forceful step--all that ground was bunched up into hills and valleys, making the road feel like a bunched-up hem of lace at the end of the earth's skirt.
We passed through Aurora, where the store fronts on Main Street brought images of old Western film scenes to mind, particularly the old bank on one corner.
We crossed cool bridges built over full, lazy rivers.
Love small towns. I'm a small town girl, myself.
Glad my circumstances took me to Shell Knob, Missouri; it's not many who find their way down that little country road.