It looks like this right now.
I moved away from Pennsylvania for the first time in 2005. I came home for the whole summer, then went back to Chicago for the fall semester.
In the summer of 2006, I lived in Chicago. I came home in May and in August.
In 2007, I moved to California. I was home in May, September, and October.
In 2008, I surprised the family by showing up at the 4th of July party at my parent's house.
In 2009, I made it home at the end of July.
It is 2010. I have not been home since December.
Every year, getting to go to Southwestern PA in the summer is refreshing. It's a break from busyness. It is quiet, it is beautiful. The air is fresh. The stars light up the night sky. The paths in the woods are all overgrown. Usually I have a bonfire in the yard with friends. It is country living, and it's perfect. I miss it right now.
This picture was near the end of one of my walks through the woods. Being that the paths truly are overgrown in the summer, I tend to find my way back differently every time. This time I emerged in the field next to our house.
This was taken with a generic wide angle/macro/zoom lens on my Canon AE-1 film SLR. The extreme vignetting on the edges is completely real, not added digitally. Just a few steps after taking this picture, I changed lenses again and put this one in my pocket. A few minutes later I put my foot up on a rock, and this lens fell out of my pocket and bounced off a rock. After a lot of fiddling with it, it finally works again. But I've moved on to other lenses. :)
I would really like to visit this place sometime. The way you describe Southern Pennsylvania--makes me think of where my heart has always longed to be. Outside of California and in the country where the definition of beauty has nothing to do with models, make-up, architecture, or any vanity--but instead has to do with solely the nature, God's creation, around us. I miss the country, too! The only country I've really seen though, is in Trussville, AL. LOTS of green--and quite different then this.
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