Dusk and dust envelop this intriguing Amish couple, as she watches through the windshield of her parked car. She's been observing sporadically for well on seven weeks, as they've taken the old relic of a house from disrepair to today's refurbished splendor. It will be their home.
Away in the adjacent field, his straw hat barely visible, an elder guides a team of Belgians five across from the furrows of the tract toward the dying sunlight. She follows them with her eyes, marveling their magnificence and his unassuming control of their power. They are the source of the dust.
Outside the house another Amish woman, perhaps their mother, unhanging clothes, while a baby plays upon a blanket on the ground. Black bonnet on her head, flowing soft blue dress, and bib apron, she works serenely as the sun melts warmly down the western sky, leaving in its wake the dusk.
Dwindling moments of a day that mark a turning point for the young couple and their unseen spectator. For them a place to make a loving home amongst their brethren and for her a revelation in her life. She's committed once again to love's entanglements. Dusk and dust have claimed another.
"Counting Coup" was a game played by the Native Americans of the Great Plains. And while it meant to them a non-violent way of counting battle victories, I thought it appropriate for the victory achieved by the "Dusk and dust", when they claimed her heart