This is a painting I did from a memory I had while working at my first real job. Growing up, our neighbor was a mortician. When I was 15 he asked if I could come and work for him doing mostly landscape work at about 7 times the minimum wage. Of course I said yes. I wasn't so interested in the job as I was the pay! Though I did enjoy it. The next Summer when I got my driver's license I became the guy who would hand out memorials at funerals all across Southeast Minnesota. I am not an expert on many things, but I've been to close to 300 funerals in dozens of churches working for that mortuary in my High School years. I'm not sure I like being an expert on funerals, but the pay was really good! I'll elaborate on that another time, but another part of the job was to gather all of the excess flowers the families couldn't handle at the service and run them to various Nursing and Assisted Living Homes around Southeastern Minnesota. I was always slow at this job because the flower's vases would fall over and get water all over the company's Suburban if I didn't take the time to carefully pack them. When I arrived at the Elder Care Homes my arrival was usually met with the enthusiasm of kids greeting Santa on Christmas morning. The old folks loved what I was peddling! Free fresh flowers and an open ear from a young person. I would stop and listen to stories and jokes from the residents that were really funny, much to the consternation of my no nonsense boss who was waiting for me back at the mortuary. I would tell my boss about some of the jokes told to me and try to reason with him about that's why I was late, and in an annoyed sort of a way, he would gruffly reply, "Ok. Let's hear some of them." Some were so good and well told, often with really funny accents the old joke teller at the residence would add with gusto, that I could get out of trouble by reciting them back to my boss and getting a laugh out of him instead of getting told off for being late again. Quite a feat for me as I have never been much of a joke teller as I either start laughing at my own punchline or would forget the punchline altogether. So one time I was in a hurry after a funeral service at a country church. I was driving on something called the Apple Blossom Drive. There are miles of apple orchards lining it and it has high views overlooking the Mississippi River Valley at times. As I was travelling along at highway speeds, I saw this outstanding scene briefly and thought about how I was late again. I gave it a second thought, and decided to turn around and go back and pull over for awhile. It was amazing! So still, quiet and peaceful. No one came by on the road, it was just those horses on the pasture and me. I got out of the Suburban and breathed in the heavy sweet fragrant smells of early Summer in rural Minnesota. An evening mist began to rise from the river as the colors of the sunset washed through the shrouds. At the moment, I felt enormous gratitude for having the best job on the entire planet to have landed in this place at this special moment in time. I had no camera, which in those days was common. I decided to try and park it in my memory and committed to try and paint it someday. I didn't tell my boss about my willful tardiness this time back at the Funeral Home. If my boss could've seen this view, somehow I think he would've forgiven me.