Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, June 23, 1929

The way to get the most out of life is to confine ourselves to a few simple things, so that we can absorb them thoroughly – I had the happy thought this morning of making a sunflower bed in front of my studio – when I was transplanting them I found one with an odd leaf – in a field of them I would never notice it – but among a few that I handle carefully, it becomes an individual—

Since we have bought this place it makes a difference – I like to think of it as a little community – a narrow strip of land – (33 X 450) in which the lesser creatures & insects belong as much as we do – Besides my wife & I, and our little children there are the hoptoads, and snails and angleworms – and visiting robins starlings, sparrows, and grackles, and there aren’t so many but that they become familiar, and seem as if they might have names – they attain significance because the earth that supports them is ours—

Charles E. Burchfield, June 23, 1929