Elmleaf Farm

Today was one of those days that are just so perfect that I find myself thinking: "I hope I remember this day forever"!  The sun was out, the trees were looking beautiful, and there was a hint of chill in the air--I love the fall!!  My brother-in-law asked if I'd like to go out for a ride on the razor before I headed home, so of course I said yes,  grabbed my camera and off we went!  After about an hour we were well into the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan), when I saw this farm nestled down in a valley & wanted to stop to get a picture. As I'm taking it we hear a voice asking  "Are you taking a picture of my Barn? If I had a dollar for everyone who stopped for a picture I'd be rich"! And then he laughed this huge belly laugh! It was the farm's owner, (Joe) out for a walk! We spent the next 45 minutes talking to him--he'd been born in the farmhouse that's across the road from the barn. He told us how it had been built by his grandparents, then his father inherited it & lived there until he died at age 92, and now he, his brother and his sister owned it. They all live elsewhere but make a point to "come home" every summer. He was so sweet!  While we were talking to him, another guy in a pick-up truck pulls up, rolls down the window & says "I want to get into this conversation!!" Turns out the guy in the truck (Art) had known Joe "since they day Joe was born"! Art lives down the road, just past Joe's farm, and what a hoot these 2 men were, with their easy bantering back and forth! Joe was teasing Art about (among other things) being "an old geezer" because Art was 80 & Joe's "only" 78!  We didn't escape the teasing either, & I haven't laughed that hard in a long time--my sides hurt--I was totally entertained! When we left I felt like we'd known them both for a long time--Art invited us to stop by and say "hi" if we were ever back that way, "providing I'm still kicking", followed by more laughing by the 2 of them! 
I was smiling all the way home! :))