You Are Here

Andy and I used to walk through this park together often when we were in Minnesota.  I always looked forward to the deep peace I felt when we were there and how it seemed to linger long after we left.  I enjoyed winding around the trails there with no real sense of time, holding hands, brushing along the tall grasses and talking about our dreams.  They are beautiful memories that are always with me.

When we walked in to the park this year everything felt so different.  I could see stretching out along the trail in front of me how much things have changed and oh how we've multiplied.  I could never have imagined how much my heart would grow as we moved along the path of our dreams from a couple to a family.  I could never have imagined that a place where I once felt so much peace could change so much with the addition of just a few small people.

Now of course it is not quite as peaceful as you can imagine, but it does feel exciting and magical.  These kids notice everything!  They don't want to just walk around and chat.  They want to run and see what's behind the next bend.  They want to examine every spider web, taste all the wild grapes they can and then run fast, so fast to break open a milkweed pod and scatter the seeds.  And, they want us to do it with them.  I felt pulled to experience this place in such a new and different way.  It was wonderful.

It's a privilege to visit a place that offers such a clear reflection of the path Andy and I have traveled together and are still traveling.  To be able to see so clearly along a dirt path the richness and growth these people have brought into our lives is such a treasure.  It's such a good reminder...

You Are Here.

Today

Gone Fishin'

Blue Skies

Wonderful Weekending

We are basking in the glow of a holiday weekend spent in the most familiar places with friends and family. We hope yours was wonderful too.

The Ant Farm

We put together an Ant Farm a little while back, gathered ants, placed them inside and fed them wonderful sugary treats. After all that we discovered something very important about Ant Farms...

Never leave them in the sun.

So, off we go to collect more ants!

Hope Everyone has a great weekend.

Creatures of the Valley

{Tenting out in the front yard, Carmel inspecting a turtle saved from the middle of the road, 911 birdie emergency, Carmel checking out the froggy in her froggy diaper}

So many little critters and creatures have come and gone into and out of our lives recently. Each visitor brings along with it an opportunity to develop a great respect for both the wonder and frailty of nature and her tiny beings. It has been such a good lesson for us as we dance around the issues of life and death doing our best to give answers that are both reasonable for a two and four year old as well as true.

I love to watch these little people as they examine each creature that comes to us. They notice so much and I always feel inspired to try to see more of something. To see what they see. They don't ever just see a frog. They feel it, smell it, listen to it. Sticky slippery skin. The smell of pond water. The loud deep calls. Big round eyes. I watch and learn as they form their own definition to go with the name frog, bird, turtle. What wonderful little teachers they are to have around. I have so much to learn from them.

Nesting Eagles

This is a surprise my sister took me out to see a couple of weeks ago.

(Little Miami River, Dozens of Heron's nests with one Eagle's nest, close up of Eagle's nest, Eagle flying away from her nest for dinner)

Feeling like Spring

Then and Now

Today.

Today. Last year.

Birdie cookie

Did you happen to know that February, in addition to being irritating to spell, is National Bird Feeding Month. True story. I was all keen on making bird seed cookies last year for this occasion but never got farther than making our traditional pinecone bird feeder people. We have tried out one batch of bird cookies so far and we did not have too much luck. They turned out pretty cute but so crumbly that we couldn't really string them like we had planned. The other problem, that is certain to remain a problem, is the whole idea of calling them COOKIES. When a person, especially a small person, makes a cookie they expect (and often demand) to EAT the cookie.

So today, to avoid long explanations about why we should not eat the suet cookies that we made for the birds, we decided to just celebrate the little birdies with some bean drawings.

Maybe we will try the bird cookies in a few more days, but the cookie calling has to go. How about birdseed wafers? Birdie biscuits? Tweety treats? Any ideas?

Ending January

To close out January properly we all took a nice long walk through the creek just at the foot of our little valley. I love to wonder along the frozen path of the water stopping to look every few feet at so many small and beautiful treasures just waiting to be found. Each little ice crystal. Some moss with an icy coat. A leaf just peeking through a frozen stream. It's all so beautiful and then with a few degrees of extra warmth the next day, it's all suddenly gone.

Here is a little something we tried to save from our walk.