I am quite sure that I can't articulate how I have been feeling lately as I finish reading (and listening--I love audio books) the Little House on the Prairie series. There is a part of me that thinks of the Dakota prairie every day and longs for it like something I've never had before. Maybe everyone connects with these stories--that's why they are so wildly popular. Anyhow, I have now plunged ahead to read more writings by Laura and her daughter, Rose. I just have to know more!! I found several books at the library today and started on A Little House Sampler, writings from mother and daughter. Here is an amazing quote from Rose as she writes about herself as a writer:

"I love life because it is always, always interesting. Pessimists say that life is bitter and cruel and hard to bear; optimists say that it is bright and joyful and full of hope. I think they are both right. Pain and joy, happiness and suffering, as they enter an individual life, are alike in the one quality of being always a new experience, and therefore interesting. The value of life, to me, is that it is so big, and we are so small, that we can never get hold of all of it: there is forever something more, still unknown."


By the way, my new header photo is one of the cottonwood trees that Pa Ingalls planted at their Dakota claim. Still standing. We've seen it and touched it.