...freedom

Our day started with roller skating, in a dark old roller-rink in a neighboring town, of which I have no photos because I was busy holding hands, balancing giggling girls and moving my socked toes out of the way of rolling wheels.  It was a whole lot of fun, but we were sure glad to see the sunshine when we emerged two hours later, and we made for our nearby state park.

It was a new path for us, and as you can see, the girls steadily shed their clothes and left me behind, calling back regularly to make sure I was following.  We have a call between the girls and I,  inherited from my mom, that is something of a cross between a yodel and Tarzan's signature song.  One of us sends it out and the other repeats it back, and it means "I can still hear you!" and sometimes, "yes! I'm coming to check in with you!"  The older they get the more they are running ahead and adventuring on their own.  I can tell how much joy this freedom gives them, and what I heard from them today was that they were "taking care of each other" and making choices together.  This was an extra bonus to our wonderful hike today.  When I reached the top, they were eager to show me the rocks they had found, the abandoned shelter, and "Mama! Over here is some beautiful moss you can take pictures of!"  We saw our first "dragon tailed" swallowtail (er - commonly known as the Tiger Swallowtail!) as well as the gorgeous zebra swallowtail (sorry, they were too fast for photos).   

As we headed for home, after the promised walk on the beach, Anika told us that the most important things in her life were "food and freedom."  She was quoting her current favorite book, by Mordecai Gerstein, about the true story of the "enfant sauvage", or wild boy of France, found living in the wild of the woods in 1800.  He cared only for food and freedom.  To that we added family and friends, feeling fortunate to be able to do so.

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Here are some of the smaller beauties we discovered along the way:

Hello Jewelweed! We are so glad to see you...

a furry frond

that beautiful moss

Early Saxifrage

Round-leaf Yellow Violet (I love the whorls of its leaves)

Pennywort

New little Mayapple

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