Last Saturday some friends suggested we go for a long walk in the country. Our kids – the youngest are 14 – are too cool to go for walks with their parents so it was just us adults. We found a new route that took us through freshly ploughed fields, small woods, and across the village of Ochsenbach.
It was a warm afternoon and we left home early so as to catch as much of the sun as possible. My husband took one of his many cameras along and captured the day for us in a few images.
We allowed a tractor to pass and watched as it entered a field just ahead of us and proceeded to spray manure on the field, letting off a right stink. I have no photos to document this activity, so you’ll have to imagine it for yourselves. I actually wanted to turn back at that point but felt that was sissy behavior. So we kept on and eventually found ourselves, two hours later, back at the same place. It was then that we spotted the same tractor approaching us, liberated of its load.
It was a bright green tractor and my husband raised his lens to get his shot as I stepped off the path. Instead of passing, the farmer choked the engine and halted, opening the door of the tractor, and inviting me up into the cab. He’d had a little wine, he admitted, with his lunch, and was on his way home. Yes, these were his fields.
He patted the seat, nudging his own backside to the edge, making room for me to join him behind the wheel. I love how he puts his hands on full display for the camera in this photo. Seconds later, he put his arm around me in a familiar way, reaching around for a good feel.
There’s a great German word for men like Heinz that my husband reminded me of, adding that Heinz was probably notorious in his village for being one: Schürzenjäger. Apron-chaser. We are putting prints of the photos in the mail for Heinz, as requested.
Angela Dunn Weblog 