Mother Nature

Once again Mother Nature has saved our day. Friday we were having "one of those days", full of drama and frustration for everyone, raised voices and hurt feelings, all of us reluctant to let go of our positions and our anger. So, I packed the girls and I some lunch and we headed out to the woods at Stroud's Run, about 6 miles away from our house.  The girls dragged their feet, but I insisted, having spent the previous day in a similar frustrated state and not wanting to continue in the direction we were going. We found a trail down at the end of the campground that begins with a tromp across a little bridge above a few puddles of a creek (pronounced "crick", dontcha know) and then winds up and up and up, gently swaying back and forth through the trees. The girls RAN. For an hour. Up and up and up. Then they paused to collect a LOT of acorns, pick some boneset flowers, and check out a few decaying logs, large rocks, and mysterious holes. Finally we decided to turn around and head down for some lunch. we changed our minds halfway down and plopped down in the middle of the path to start our sandwiches.  We were peaceful, happy, enjoying each other's company. BIG SIGH. The photo above is what I stood gazing at for long minutes while they collected acorns, and the photo below is what my little chipmunks collected (well, actually there was more. a lot more.).  We then spent another 2 hours on the bridge and in the creek (until Eliza spotted a crawdad! then it was happy play next to the creek). Four hours of lovely, rejuvenating green time...

             It is always entertaining to see what form the play takes. On the trail it was Mei and Saske, from My Neighbor Totoro by Miyasaki - some of our favorite sisters on an adventure.  The creek brought out another story we love - that of Omakayas, an Ojibwa girl living on an island in Lake Superior, told in The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich.  The girls gathered and pounded and piled and climbed and sang and I participated when needed (I spent most of the day as "granny". hm...) and otherwise sat happily against a tree, listening to a woodpecker's tapping ringing through the woods...