Day 302 - Harmony, MD

(Click any photo to enlarge.)

***Scroll down to see my offer for Red Cross donations.***

Harmony Church of
the Brethren.

Knee high before the
4th of July!

There is less harmony to life in Harmony since they widened the road, according to a longtime resident I spoke to there today.  Used to be, according to Mr. and Mrs. Stine, life was a lot quieter in this tiny little village in western Frederick County.  Nowadays, cars just whiz by, despite the posted speed limit of 25.  One day, they told me, they sat on their front porch and counted 200 cars in one hour.

I can attest to the fact that the narrow road with no shoulders is a busy one.  If I had not used my ears to listen for cars coming over the blind hills or around the blind curves, I'd have been clipped by one, for sure.  It's sort of a mystery as to why there are so many cars on the road, since it does not seem to be a shortcut from one major road to another.   Either way, drivers should slow down, obey the speed limit, and enjoy the beautiful rural scenery spread out before them, for it is everywhere you look.

Tire Swing

Outbuilding

Harmony has two active churches:  The Harmony Church of the Brethren and the Harmony Community Lutheran.  The churches are on the same road, surrounded by cornfields.  I parked at the Lutheran Church, then walked along the road beyond the Church of the Brethren.  When I turned around, the church on the hill below me looked like a New England village scene.

At the intersection of Harmony Road and Brethren Church Road, I turned left and walked along Harmony Road.  There was an old stone mill building, circa 1765, now a private home.  Next door to it was a former church, also stone, with a sign advertising the Harmony Cornet Band, organized in 1916..  That's not something you see or hear every day.

Fields of Green & Gold

Lutheran Steeple

I kept crossing the street to avoid the blind curves and blind hills, so that drivers could see me, and that's when I encountered the Stines.  They were out working in the yard.  They are lifelong residents of Harmony, and they said that they'd live nowhere else on earth.  Married 62 years last week, Mr. Stine is 85 years old.  Their son recently bought the brick farmhouse next door and is fixing it up.  We chatted for quite a while, and they even let me take their photo, but they said they did not want it posted on the Internet, so I will respect their wish.

The rolling farmland is beautiful, with fields striped in green and gold.  Big clouds overhead allowed the sun to shine through from time to time, lighting up various sections of the fields.  My camera did not do it justice.

Daylily Delight

Life in Harmony has changed over the years, with the widening of the roads and the disappearing of old outbuildings like chicken coops and hog pens.  But people like the Stines are the backbones of these small communities, the constants in an ever-changing world.  Happy anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. Stine.  And may you have many more.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

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Forward me by email any receipt for an online donation made to the Red Cross for disaster relief, and I will send you a 5x7 print of your choice from any of my daily photo walks or from my website.  Offer good until September 2, 2013.

Visit my web site: camscamerashots.zenfolio.com
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Email:  cam.miller@comcast.net

Cam's rules for the Daily Photo Walk:

1. walk every day
2. the walk must be in addition to any other planned activity for the day
3. post a photo every day
4. use whatever camera is easy and convenient for walking comfortably; always have a backup camera at the ready in case of mishaps (I use the Nikon Coolpix P7700)
5. no weather excuses
6. walk only where it is safe to do so