sunflowers fields forever

facebook is....something that drives me crazy, and makes me feel like everyone is having a happier and easier and better life than me. it's even a proven fact. facebook really does make us unhappy. some of the worst of human feelings, like envy, loneliness, and loss of self worth, seem to be intensified by social networks.

with that said, sometimes, people do some cool stuff and it gives me ideas. case in point: a field full of blooming sunflowers just a few miles from my house. there is a beautiful conservancy pope farm in middleton (or verona? or some part of west madison?) that covers a sloping hill, with a perfect stone fence, a few rotating crops, an original homestead site, and a gorgeous mature oak savannah. every summer, there is a patch of sunflowers that blooms in august. i never knew about it until a bunch of my facebook friends from madison went there, took beautiful pictures of it, and shared them on facebook. and because i learned about it on facebook, i went there, and i LOVED it. the kids mostly liked it too. but me? LOVED it. so i guess, yesterday, facebook did make me a bit happier.

but yesterday, a warm afternoon with a sprinkle of rain, spent with a good friend, her sweet little boys, and my happy children, walking through sunflowers and soy beans and corn fields and oak trees and rock walls. yesterday, these things made me happy.