Monday, May 30, 2011

Hope Deferred

Hope Deferred
Maketh the heart sick. A line from a quotation that my great Uncle Arthur Nevard used to bring out on occasion. Arthur, or "Harthur" as great Uncle Jack referred to him, was a great one for quotations for all occasions. They ranged from the bible to Shakespeare and beyond and were no doubt a source of amusement, annoyance and hopefully inspiration to those around him.
This one, from Proberbs 13:12 of the King James bible came to mind recently while working on "Harthur's" old homestead trying to get the crop planted while rain clouds threatened. As farmers we have hopes of getting the crops planted in a timely manner but that hope is often deferred by the weather. And it came to pass that the rain did fall , effectively shutting down spring planting for a few more days. Planting a crop in Sask. always carries some risk but planting in June becomes even more risky as the threat of early August frosts becomes a factor.
The photo below shows Arthur and Daisy at their homestead cabin , probably in the pre WWI era. They must have had a lot of hope deferred in those early days of trying to turn prairie and bushland into a profitable farm.